Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wednesday . . .

A note arrived Wednesday from the Portland Winterhawks' Booster Club, stating that season-ending awards will be handed out prior to a March 5 game. The Booster Club presents one award, as it turns out. That would be the Donald Ickes Most Popular Player of the Year. . . . The award is voted on by members of the Booster Club. . . . It is believed that Kurtis Mucha is not eligible.
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If you are a hockey player who has experienced the agony of a concussion, or concussions, or if you are the parent of such a player, you may want to check out The Messier Project, if you haven’t already. You can do that right here.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed G Andy Desautels, a fifth-round pick (95th overall) in the 2009 bantam draft. Desautels, from White City, Sask., is 7-8-2 with a 3.59 GAA and a .884 save percentage with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians.
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According to this story, former Kelowna Rockets D Tyler Myers just missed being selected to play for Canada in the Olympic Winter Games.
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THE PLAYOFF CHASE
Teams in the running for playoff spots, showing games remaining (d — denotes division leaders, who are seeded one-two):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(top eight advance)
d-Saskatoon (17) 37-12-3-3-80
d-Calgary (16) 38-16-1-1-78
Brandon (14) 38-16-1-3-80
Kootenay (15) 35-17-3-2-75
Medicine Hat (13) 33-18-3-5-74
Red Deer (16) 31-21-0-4-66
Prince Albert (15) 28-24-3-2-61
Moose Jaw (17) 26-21-4-4-60
Swift Current (14) 28-26-0-4-60
Regina (14) 24-27-3-4-55
Wednesday: Prince Albert 0 at Medicine Hat 6; Calgary 6 at Regina 2; Swift Current 1 at Saskatoon 2 (SO); Moose Jaw 3 at Spokane 6.
Thursday: No games scheduled.
Friday: Swift Current at Brandon; Prince Albert at Calgary; Kootenay at Edmonton; Saskatoon at Medicine Hat; Regina at Red Deer; Moose Jaw at Seattle.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
(top eight advance)
dx-Tri-City (17) 39-14-0-2-80
d-Vancouver (15) 33-20-1-3-70
Everett (16) 35-18-2-1-73
Portland (14) 35-20-2-1-73
Spokane (16) 32-20-3-1-68
Kelowna (14) 28-26-2-2-60
Kamloops (14) 26-26-2-4-58
Chilliwack (16) 24-26-1-5-54
x — clinched playoff spot.
Wednesday: Kelowna 0 at Everett 4; Tri-City 3 at Portland 5; Kamloops 2 at Prince George 4; Moose Jaw 3 at Spokane 6.
Thursday: No games scheduled.
Friday: Spokane at Everett; Kelowna at Kamloops; Portland at Prince George; Chilliwack at Tri-City.
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WEDNESDAY:
In Regina, F Brandon Kozun scored three times to spark the Calgary Hitmen to a 6-2 victory over the Pats. . . . After a scoreless first period, Kozun scored twice, at 2:27 and 6:07 of the second. . . . Kozun completed his hat trick at 16:50 of the second, giving the Hitmen a 4-1 lead. . . . Kozun has 27 goals. . . . Calgary F Misha Fisenko had a goal, his ninth, and two assists as he was in on the game’s first three goals. . . . Calgary F Ian Schultz had three assists. . . . F Carter Ashton had a goal, his 23rd, and an assist for Regina. . . . The Hitmen were 1-for-5 on the PP; the Pats were 0-for-2. . . . Attendance was 5,527. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 33 shots. . . . Regina G Damien Ketlo turned aside 32 shots. . . . The Pats have lost six of seven but have points in 11 of their last 14 games. . . . Calgary has won six in a row and swept the four-game season series from Regina. . . . The Pats held a players-only meeting after the game. D Colten Teubert emerged to tell Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post: “We have to get our heads out of our asses or else we’ll be going home pretty soon. Individually we called ourselves out. We have to be accountable to ourselves first and not really point fingers because we have to be a tight-knit group and continue to work. Our season is not over yet.” . . . The Pats lost D Cody Carlson after he took a shot to the head in the second period. . . . Regina was without F Garrett Mitchell, who has concussion-like symptoms after taking a hit in a game in Brandon on Tuesday.
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In Medicine Hat, G Tyler Bunz, who turns 18 Thursday, stopped 25 shots to help the Tigers to a 6-0 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The shutout was the first of Bunz’s career. It also was the first of the season for the Tigers; it was the second time this season the Raiders have been blanked. . . . F Wacey Hamilton had a goal, his 20th, and two assists for the Tigers, who had lost three straight. . . . F Emerson Etem got the game’s first goal, his 33rd. . . . Medicine Hat was 0-for-7 on the PP; Prince Albert was 0-for-3. . . . Raiders G Garrett Zemlak stopped 39 shots. . . . Attendance was 4,006.
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In Edmonton, F Cam Braes broke a 3-3 tie at 18:19 of the third period to give the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . The Hurricanes, who were playing their sixth road game in nine nights, snapped a nine-game losing streak. . . . The goal was t he second of the game for Braes, who has 17 this season. . . . Lethbridge took a 3-2 lead into the second period. . . . Edmonton F Garry Nunn tied it on the PP at 10:46. He has 14 goals. . . . Lethbridge G Brandon Anderson stopped 37 shots, 10 fewer than Edmonton’s Torrie Jung. . . . Edmonton F Michael St. Croix scored the game’s first goal, his 13th. He has nine points, including five goals, over his last five games. . . . The Oil Kings (12-34-4-8) were 1-for-1 on the PP; the Hurricanes (17-35-3-2) were 1-for-5. . . . Attendance was 3,375
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In Everett, G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 36 shots to help the Silvertips to a 4-0 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Heemskerk has three shutouts this season and six in his career. . . . F Shane Harper and F Kellan Tochkin each had two assists for the Silvertips, who were 1-for-5 on the PP. . . . The Rockets were 0-for-5. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 30 shots. . . . The Rockets had won nine straight games, but only one of those was against a team with a record above .500. . . . Attendance was 4,119. . . . The Silvertips continue to be without Dan Iwanski (knee), who was injured on Dec. 29. He is skating on his own and hasn’t yet been cleared to practice.
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In Portland, G Mac Carruth stopped 38 shots to lead the Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . With the victory, the Winterhawks clinched their first playoff spot since the spring of 2006. . . . Carruth, 17, was making his seventh straight start as Ian Curtis continues to recover from a shoulder injury. . . . Carruth, who is 5-1-1-0 in those seven starts, stopped F Patrick Holland on a second-period penalty shot with Portland leading 3-0. . . . Portland freshman F Nino Niederreiter opened the game’s scoring with his 32nd goal. . . . Portland was 1-for-7 on the PP, that goal, from D Joe Morrow, coming on a 5-on-3 with 15 seconds left in the first period. . . . According to the WHL’s online scoresheet, Tri-City G Drew Owsley scored the game’s last goal, at 11:58 of the third period. . . . Owsley started in goal for the Americans, stopping 12 of 15 shots before being lifted at 3:20 of the second period after Portland’s third goal. Reliever Alexander Pechurskiy turned aside nine of 11 shots. . . . Attendance was 1,844.
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In Prince George, F Alex Rodgers had a goal and three assists to lead the Cougars to a 4-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Rodgers, who is from Salmon Arm, B.C., played the first 157 games of his WHL career with Kamloops. It was the first four-point game of his WHL career, coming in his 241st regular-season game. . . . The Cougars won for the 11th time in 55 games. Three of those victories have been against the Blazers. . . . Cougars G Hudson Stremmel stopped 34 shots. . . . Kamloops G Jon Groenheyde stopped 17 of 20 shots and left after Prince George’s third goal. Kurtis Mucha came on to stop 11 of 12 shots. . . . Kamloops C C.J. Stretch was hit with a slashing major and game misconduct at the end of the third period. . . . Attendance was 1,884.
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In Saskatoon, the Blades tied the game late and then scored twice in the shootout for a 2-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . F Jeremy Boyer and F Marek Viedensky had the circus goals for the Blades, while Swift Current F Cody Eakin and F Justin Dowling were blanked. . . . F Matt Tassone scored a PP goal at 18:48 of the second period for the Broncos. . . . F Josh Nicholls tied it at 15:21 of the third. . . . Both players have 12 goals this season. . . . The Broncos were 1-for-2 on the PP; the Blades were 0-for-3. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 22 shots, 10 fewer than the Broncos’ Morgan Clark. . . . Attendance was 3,685. . . . The Blades have won four of five.
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In Spokane, F Mitch Wahl had a goal and three assists to lead the Chiefs to a 6-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Chiefs were 4-for-7 on the PP. . . . The Warriors held a 2-0 lead when F Jason Bast scored his 27th goal on the PP at 11:17 of the first period. . . . The Chiefs tied it before the end of the period, on goals by F Tyler Johnson, his 25th, and F Levko Koper, his 22nd. . . . After a scoreless second period, the Chiefs opened the third by scoring four times. That included F Kyle Beach’s 37th and Wahl’s 25th. . . . Spokane G James Reid stopped 24 shots, while Moose Jaw’s Jeff Bosch turned aside 30. . . . Moose Jaw, which has lost four in a row, was 1-for-2 on the PP. . . . Attendance was 3,545.

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