know that. And they know they have a target on their backs but it doesn’t seem to bother them one little bit. Hey, they’re already talking Memorial Cup. If you want more, check out this right here from Kerry Eggers in the Portland Tribune. . . . The Everett Silvertips, one of the Winterhawks says, were intimidated by Portland’s skill. Seriously! . . . Of course, all of this was said and written before the Winterhawks went into Chilliwack on Friday night.———
How is Calgary Hitmen general manager Kelly Kisio dealing with the rotten start his club has gotten off to this season? Well, it seems he is watching a lot of late-night TV. George Johnston of the Calgary Herald details all of that right here.———
The AJHL set a single-game attendance record Friday as the host Fort McMurray Oil Barons doubled the Drayton Valley Thunder 4-2 in a game that was played outdoors. The game drew 5,726 fans, breaking the previous record of 4,400. . . .
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Some Friday highlights from the WHL:
In Swift Current, the Broncos won their fourth straight home game, beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-2. . . . F Jordan Peddle had a goal and an assist for the Broncos, with F Cody Eakin getting two assists. . . . Swift Current D Graeme Craig, a 17-year-old from Red Deer, scored his first WHL goal. It came in his 89th career regular-season game. . . . The Broncos had a 48-19 edge in shots, including 16-1 in the third period. . . . Attendance was 2,035. . . . The Broncos had F Taylor Vause (hamstring) back in the lineup, while F Dillon Wagner played his first game of the season after having undergone offseason knee surgery. . . . ———
In Moose Jaw, Mackenzie Royer scored a PP goal with 9.2 seconds left in the third period as the Warriors beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 5-4. . . . Royer has scored in each of four games since he was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen earlier this month. . . . The Wheat Kings led 3-1 midway through the game, but couldn’t hang on. . . . The Warriors took a 4-3 lead on goals by D Collin Bowman, F Quinton Howden and F Cody Beach. . . . Brandon tied it on F Mark Stone’s second goal of the game at 10:27 of the third. . . . Stone has 16 goals this season. . . . F Brayden Cuthbert scored his first WHL goal for the Warriors. He just happens to be from Brandon. It was his 24th game. . . . Moose Jaw F A.J. Johnson drew three assists. . . . Brandon has lost six in a row. . . . The start of the game was delayed when a pane of glass was broken during the warmup. . . . Attendance was 2,522. . . . The teams will meet tonight in Brandon. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak “sat 20-year-old Dylan Hood and 19-year-olds Antonin Honejsek and Jesse Paradis for the first 10 minutes of the third period. Paradis didn’t earn a shift in the third period and will be scratched tonight.” . . . Hunchak told Gourlie: “We didn’t get efforts from a handful of guys. It’s not acceptable and as a result a 20-year-old and two 19-year-olds sit for the better part of 20 minutes of the hockey game.”———
In Prince Albert, F Brandon Herrod scored twice to help the Raiders to a 3-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Herrod, who has 11 goals, broke a 1-1 tie at 16:59 of the first period. . . . F Lukas Sutter scored his first WHL goal for the Blades. It came in his 31st game, the 24th this season. . . . Sutter scored after Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix wrote a story on how the freshman still was looking for his first goal. . . . F Jonathan Parker added his 16th for the Raiders. . . . Attendance was 2,891. . . . The start of the game was delayed by some issues with the playing surface. Perhaps it hasn’t yet been cold enough to make ice in Prince Albert? Hey, just kidding. . . . ———
In Calgary, Red Deer F Adam Kambeitz scored at 19:58 of the third period to give the Rebels a 4-3 victory over the Hitmen. . . . Calgary F Kris Foucault had tied the score on the PP at 17:09 of the third. . . . Red Deer had a 25-15 edge in shots, including 14-3 in the third. . . . Foucault scored twice, giving him seven. . . . Calgary D Matt MacKenzie had two assists. . . . Attendance was 7,710. . . . ———
In Edmonton, the Oil Kings broke a 4-4 tie with two goals 43 seconds apart late in the third period and beat the Vancouver Giants, 6-4. . . . F Josh Laswoski broke a 4-4 tie with his second goal of the game at 16:06 and F. T.J. Foster provided insurance at 16:49. . . . F Brendan Gallagher scored twice for Vancouver and now has 22 goals. He is tied for the WHL lead with F Brendan Ranford of the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Oil Kings, who came into the WHL for the 2007-08 season, had never beaten the Giants. . . . Edmonton F Michael St. Croix had two assists and now has 26 points in 25 games. . . . Edmonton D Mark Pysyk and F Kristians Pelss also had two assists each. . . . Attendance was 4,726. . . . Vancouver head coach Don Hay has 499 career regular-season coaching victories. He now will go after No. 500 tonight in Red Deer against the Rebels. . . . F Brennan Rowinski, who was acquired by Vancouver from the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier in the month, played his first game with the Giants. He had offseason knee surgery and played two games with the Warriors before the trade. But the Vancouver medical staff didn’t clear him for game action until now. . . . ———
In Kamloops, the Blazers got two goals in the shootout and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-3. . . . The Chiefs had beaten the Blazers 10-1 in Spokane on Wednesday. . . . The Blazers had a 2-0 lead on two goals by F Jordan DePape. . . . Spokane got two goals from F Tyler Johnson, one of them while his side was down two men, to tie it. . . . D Jared Cowen, who had scored three times Wednesday, put Spokane ahead 3-2 as he finished off a 3-on-2 rush at 5:51 of the third. . . . Kamloops F Dylan Willick forced OT at 18:40. . . . F Brendan Ranford and D Austin Madaisky of Kamloops scored the shootout goals. . . . Ranford finished with three assists and now has 41 points, two behind scoring leader Linden Vey of the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The Chiefs lost G James Reid to a leg injury at 9:23 of the second period. He needed help getting off the ice. At the end of the period, he went onto the ice but wasn’t able to put any weight on the leg. He wasn’t on the bench for the third period. . . . Mac Engel replaced Reid and stopped 16 of 17 shots but was 0-for-2 in the shootout. . . . The shootout never looked worse than it did in this game. After the Zamboni scraped the ice, a problem with one net delayed things about 15 minutes. Finally, both teams were allowed to shoot at the same net. . . . Attendance was 3,974. . . . ———
In Prince George, F Troy Bourke scored three times to lead the Cougars to a 5-3 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Bourke, 16, was the 26th pick in the 2009 bantam draft. He has nine goals this season. He scored three in five games last season. . . . Yes, it was his first WHL hat trick. . . . Prince George D Sena Acolatse had two assists and now has 25 points in 21 games. . . . The Pats finished their B.C. Division tour at 1-2-2. . . . The Cougars held a 5-0 lead, with Regina scoring three times in the third period. . . . Pats D Brandon Davidson set up two of those goals. He has 15 points in his last 12 games. . . . Attendance was 2,098. . . . ———
In Kennewick, Wash., G Drew Owsley stopped 35 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-0 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . It was his second shutout of the season and the seventh of his career. . . . F Brendan Shinnimin scored twice. . . . Attendance was 4,455. . . . ———
In Chilliwack, the Bruins scored five times in the third period in spanking the Portland Winterhawks, 7-2. . . . Portland led 2-0 in the second period on goals by its Swiss players, Nino Niederreiter and Sven Bartschi. Niederreiter has seven goals; Bartschi has 17. . . . The Bruins tied it on second-period goals by D Brandon Manning and D Jeff Einhorn. . . . Einhorn’s goal was his first of the season and his eighth in 220 career games. . . . Chilliwack F Kevin Sundher had two of the third-period goals. He also had two assists. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 30 shots. . . . F Ryan Howse scored his 19th goal of the season for Chilliwack. . . . Attendance was 3,256. . . .———
In Everett, F Burke Gallimore’s two goals led the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-1 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Gallimore, who has 14 goals, gave Seattle a 2-0 lead early in the second period. . . . D Ryan Murray got Everett within one on a late second-period PP. . . . Seattle got insurance from F Marcel Noebels, with his seventh goal, just 17 seconds into the third. . . . Gallimore iced it with an empty-netter. . . . Attendance was 7,027.———
FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Six minors:
Lethbridge F Cason Machacek
Moose Jaw D Collin Bowman
Moose Jaw F Jordan Wyton
Red Deer D Matthew Pufahl
Kamloops D Austin Madaisky
Portland F Oliver Gabriel
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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