Saturday . . .

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
VANCOUVER 2 AT EVERETT 5: F Tyler Maxwell had two goals and an assist for the Silvertips. He has four goals in two games, both victories. . . . F Landon Ferraro scored his first goal in an Everett uniform. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 24 shots. . . . The home side built up a 5-0 lead before the second period was 12 minutes old. . . . F Randy McNaught, acquired Friday by Vancouver from the Saskatoon Blades, was in the Giants’ lineup. He picked up two minor penalties and scrapped with Everett F Campbell Elyniuk. . . . Attendance was 5,027.
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EDMONTON 1 AT RED DEER 8: The Rebels swept a season-opening two-game series with the Oil Kings, having won 4-1 in Edmonton on Friday. . . . Red Deer scored three times in the first 11 minutes of Friday’s game. On Saturday, they led 2-0 by the 7:00 mark. . . . Red Deer led 3-0 after the first period and added four second-period goals. . . . F Andrej Kudrna had two goals and two assists for the Rebels. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and F Turner Elson, Kudrna’s linemates, each had one and one. . . . F Byron Froese helped out with a goal and two helpers. . . . Red Deer G Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots. . . . Edmonton starter Laurent Brossoit stopped eight of 12, with reliever Cam Lanigan turning aside 15 of 19. . . . Attendance was 5,547.
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PORTLAND 1 AT SEATTLE 4: F Luke Lockhart’s goal at 15:49 of the second period broke a 1-1 tie and stood up as the winner. . . . F Burke Gallimore scored twice for Seattle (1-1-0-0) and has three in two games. . . . Portland G Keith Hamilton stopped 38 shots. The Winterhawks are without injured goaltenders Ian Curtis and Mac Carruth. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 37 shots. . . . Attendance was 5,052. . . . The Winterhawks still have seven players in NHL camps. They play their home-opener Monday night against the Vancouver Giants at the Rose Garden.
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CHILLIWACK 5 AT KAMLOOPS 2: F Ryan Howse scored twice, giving him five goals in two games, as Chillwack evened its record at 1-1-0-0. The Bruins were beaten 9-4 by the Giants in Vancouver on Friday. . . . C Roman Horak, in his first game since returning from the NHL’s New York Rangers, had a goal and three assists. . . . “How good was he?” Bruins’ GM/head coach Marc Habscheid said after the game. . . . The Blazers lost D Josh Caron for up to six weeks with what head coach Guy Charron described as an “upper body” injury. . . . About all Kamloops fans had to cheer for was a pugilistic victory by F Chase Souto, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound Californian who turns 16 on Oct. 8. He squared off with Chilliwack D Zach Habscheid, who goes 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, in the last minute of the game. Souto won by KO with a straight right to the jaw. Habscheid was woozy as he left the ice. . . . Attendance was 4,010.
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PRINCE GEORGE 6 AT KELOWNA 2: The Cougars got four points, three of them assists, from F Nick Buonassisi as they spoiled the Rockets’ home-opener. . . . The Rockets had lost 5-2 in Kamloops on Friday. . . . F Spencer Asuchak scored twice for the Cougars. . . . F Brett Connolly, who rejoined the Cougars on Friday from the camp of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, scored once, giving him two in as many games. Why is this news? Because Connolly, one of the WHL’s top performers, missed all but 16 games last season with hip problems. . . . This was the fifth straight home-opening loss for the Rockets. . . . “The way our night went, I thought we were soft in confrontation areas, whether it was for pucks or bodies. That’s the way our forwards played tonight,” Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told Doyle Potenteau of the Okanagan Sunday. . . . Kelowna D Tyson Barrie (hamstring) started the game but left in the second period. . . . According to Huska, Barrie “wasn’t feeling right.” . . . Kelowna F Shane McColgan, who had his tonsils out earlier in the month, was a scratch. . . . The visitors held a 39-22 edge in shots. . . . Attendance was 6,178.
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SASKATOON 6 AT PRINCE ALBERT 5: The Blades got three points from each of F Marek Viedensky and F Josh Nicholls as they swept an opening series with the Raiders. Saskatoon won 3-2 at home on Friday. . . . Viedensky and Nicholls each had two goals while G Steven Stanford, who was acquired last season from the Raiders, stopped 34 shots. . . . The Raiders got two goals from F Brandon Herrod. . . . Attendance was 2,820.
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SPOKANE 3 AT TRI-CITY 6: F Patrick Holland had a goal and three assists and F Brendan Shinnimin scored twice to lead the Americans to victory over the Chiefs and head coach Don Nachbaur, who was making his return to Kennewick. . . . Nachbaur coached the Americans for five seasons before leaving after the 2008-09 season to coach the AHL’s Binghamton Senators. He left there after one season and signed a five-year deal with the Chiefs. . . . “Our veterans weren’t good enough tonight,” Nachbaur told Dave Trimmer of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “Our young guys learned as the game went on, but the young guys can’t win unless the old guys show them the way. I thought too many guys who played on this team last year took a back seat. If they keep that up, they’ll have a seat in the stands.” . . . The Americans had a 5-0 lead before the Chiefs scored three goals. . . . Tri-City was 1-for-9 on the PP; the Chiefs were 2-for-10. . .. It was the first game of the season for both teams. . . . The Americans, who have won 10 straight home-openers, raised two championship banners -- U.S. Division and Western Conference -- before the game. . . . Attendance was 5,922.
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CALGARY 0 AT KOOTENAY 4: G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 35 shots to earn the first shutout in the WHL this season. . . . It was his fourth career shutout and came in the Ice’s home-opener. . . . This was the first game as head coach for Kootenay’s Kris Knoblauch, an assistant last season who takes over from Mark Holick, now head coach of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. . . . Knoblauch, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on Friday, is the WHL’s youngest head coach. . . . Calgary had lost 5-3 to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes in its opener Friday. . . . F Max Reinhart had two goals. . . . The Ice continues to be without D Brayden McNabb. He played for the Buffalo Sabres against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. . . Slovakian Juraj Holly, 19, made his WHL debut in goal for Calgary. He stopped 30 shots. . . . The Hitmen were 0-for-9 on the PP; the Ice was 0-for-6. . . . Attendance was 2,549.
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MOOSE JAW 2 AT SWIFT CURRENT 1: Slovakian F Michal Hlinka scored his first WHL goal on a penalty shot, breaking a 1-1 tie and providing the Warriors with the winning goal. . . . Hlinka scored at 14:01 of the second period. . . . The Broncos had won 4-1 in Moose Jaw on Friday. . . . Moose Jaw G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 27 shots, as did Swift Current G Mark Friesen. . . . Nine of the game’s last 10 minor penalties were for roughing. . . . Attendance was 2,512.
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LETHBRIDGE 3 AT MEDICINE HAT 1: G Dylan Tait stopped 37 shots for the Hurricanes, who are 2-0. They won 5-3 in Calgary on Friday. . . . F Austin Fyten scored his fourth goal in two games for the Hurricanes, who led 3-0 in the second period. . . . Medicine Hat got a goal from captain Wacey Hamilton, who returned from the camp of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. . . . Fyten and Hamilton clashed in the game’s lone fight. . . . Yes, attendance was 4,006.
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On their way back from NHL camps are D Brandon Manning, to Chilliwack from the New York Rangers; F Cody Beach, to Calgary from St. Louis. . . . Chilliwack also expects to get C Kevin Sundher back from Buffalo on Sunday, while Kamloops expects D Corey Fienhage to return Sunday, also from Buffalo.
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F Triston Grant, who is in camp with the Florida Panthers, and F Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins danced on Saturday night. They were teammates with the Vancouver Giants for a moment at one time. More on that bout right here.
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The Calgary Herald is reporting that Chuck Matson, who at one time owned a piece of the Calgary Hitmen, was among three men killed in an Alberta plane crash on Friday. That story is right here.
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Rich Myhre of the Everett Herald takes a look at Silvertips goaltending coach Jordan Sigalet and how he is dealing with having to live with multiple sclerosis. That story is right here.
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JUNIOR JOTTINGS: G Kurtis Mucha, who finished up a five-year WHL career in Kamloops after being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks in November, made his CIS debut with Alberta on Friday. He stopped 25 shots in leading the Golden Bears to a 3-0 victory over the Regina Cougars. . . . As of Friday, the Brandon Wheat Kings had sold 2,969 season tickets, the second-highest total in franchise history, second only to the 3,611 sold last season when they were the host team for the Memorial Cup. . . . Two players drew suspensions from Friday’s opening night games. F Colton Stephenson of the Edmonton Oil Kings and D Alex Theriau of the Everett Silvertips each drew a one-game suspension after being tossed with a checking-from-behind major and the accompanying game misconduct. . . . The Medicine Hat Tigers assigned F Colin Mospanchuk, 17, to the MJHL’s Winnipeg South Blues. That leaves the Tigers’ roster at 24, including D Jace Coyle, who still is with the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
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The Windsor Spitfires will celebrate a second straight Memorial Cup title on Sunday afternoon when they play their home-opener. And, the way Bob Duff of the Windsor Star sees it, it could be quite an afternoon, what with the Barrie Colts providing the opposition. You see, the Spitfires beat the Colts in the OHL championship series last spring. That story is right here.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
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