Taking Note

It seems that the AJHL’s St. Albert Steel is skating on rather thin financial ice. Jeff Hansen of the St. Albert Gazette takes an in-depth look at the situation right here.
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Swift Current, the Saskatoon Blades scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Broncos, 3-1. . . . The Blades had dumped the visiting Broncos 6-3 on Friday night. . . . F Brad Hoban got the game’s first goal, his 16^th, at 5:39 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon’s line of Brayden Schenn, Jake Trask and Curtis Hamilton then scored twice. Schenn got his fourth at 7:31, with Trask getting his 14^th, via the PP, at 10:09. . . . Each of those three, all of whom were blanked Friday, had two points. . . . The Broncos have lost six in a row. . . . Attendance was 2,117. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 35 shots as he improved his record to an amazing 26-3-0. . . . The Blades, winners of five straight, maintained their three-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, while the Broncos are seventh, three points up on the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Brandon Wheat Kings. . . .
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In Regina, F Jordan Weal scored at 1:20 of OT to give the Pats a 4-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Warriors had beaten the Pats 4-3 in Moose Jaw on Friday. . . . One night later, the Warriors opened up a 3-0 lead in the second period, then watched the Pats score four straight goals. . . . Weal forced OT with his 24^th goal at 19:24 of the third period. . . . D Myles Bell had three assists for Regina. . . . F Sebastian Svendsen scored twice for the Warriors before the game was eight minutes old. He’s got 21. . . . Attendance was 5,014. . . . The Pats vaulted into a tie for 10^th with the Prince Albert Raiders in the Eastern Conference, one point out of a playoff spot. . . . The Warriors are fifth, a point behind the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . .
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In Edmonton, the Oil Kings scored the game’s last four goals and beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 4-2. . . . F Dylan Wruck scored twice for Edmonton, giving him 28. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit stopped 36 shots. . . . It was Michale Jackson Night and apparently one of the highlights came when Edmonton F T.J. Foster moonwalked after scoring his 19^th goal at 18:36 of the third period to provide some breathing room at 4-2. . . . Attendance was 6,682. . . . This was a big victory for Edmonton as it moved the Oil Kings into sixth in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Raiders, who meet the Hitmen in Calgary today, are tied with the Regina Pats for 10^th, but are just one point out of eighth. . . .
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In Cranbrook, F Elgin Pearce’s 10^th goal, at 3:31 of OT, gave the Kootenay Ice a 4-3 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Ice scored the game’s first three goals and led 3-0 at 8:11 of the second period. . . . F Mitch Maxwell forced OT with his 13^th goal at 11:15 of the third period. . . . D Reid Jackson scored his first goal of the season for Lethbridge. It came in his 36^th game this season. The 17-year-old from Weyburn, Sask., had four goals in 50 games last season. . . . Ice G Mackenzie Skapski stopped 30 shots in his first WHL start. . . . Attendance was 2,701. . . . The Ice, with two straight victories, are third in the Eastern Conference, a point ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The loser point allowed the Hurricanes to move into a tie with the Brandon Wheat Kings for eighth. . . .
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In Medicine Hat, the Tigers opened up a 4-1 lead and hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . F Cole Grbavac’s 10^th goal, at 6:52 of the second period, stood up as the winner. . . . F Shayne Wiebe, with his 28^th, and F Mark Stone, with his 26^th, got Brandon to within one late in the second period. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . Medicine Hat F Linden Vey scored his 34^th goal. He and Spokane Chiefs F Tyler Johnson are tied for the WHL scoring lead, each with 83 points. . . . Medicine Hat F Wacey Hamilton had a goal and two helpers. . . . The Tigers, with four straight victories, are fourth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Kootenay Ice and a point ahead of the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Tigers hold two games in hand on Kootenay and three on Moose Jaw. . . .
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In Red Deer, the Rebels won their 11^th straight game, beating the Calgary Hitmen, 5-2. . . . Red Deer G Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 shots in running his record to 32-8-3. . . . F Byron Froese scored three times for the Rebels, giving him 27, as the home side was forced to erase a 2-0 deficit. . . . Red Deer F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three assists. . . . Attendance was 5,395. . . . The Rebels are first in the Central Division and just three points behind the Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon Blades. However, the Blades hold two games in hand. . . . Red Deer is 11-0-1 in its last dozen games. . . . The Hitmen have lost four in a row. . . .
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In Chilliwack, F Dylan Willick and F Thomas Frazee each scored twice to lead the Kamloops Blazers to a 4-1 victory over the Bruins. . . . The Blazers snapped a five-game losing streak as it won for the fourth time in its last 19 road games. . . . F Brendan Ranford added three assists for the Blazers, while F JT Barnett had a goal and two assists. . . . Willick, perhaps the Blazers’ most consistent player this season, has 16 goals, while Frazee has 22. . . . The Bruins took 59 of 110 penalty minutes. . . . Attendance was 3,748. . . . These two teams will play a home-and-home series on the weekend, opening Friday in Kamloops and finishing Saturday in Chilliwack. . . . The victory moved Kamloops into a tie for seventh with the Everett Silvertips in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Bruins. . . .
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In Spokane, F Mason Wilgosh broke a 4-4 tie at 19:23 of the third period to give the Tri-City Americans a 5-4 victory over the Chiefs. . . . Wilgosh scored his 11^th goal off a backdoor feed from F Patrick Holland. . . . The teams meet again Friday night, this time in Kennewick, Wash. . . . F Connor Rankin gave the Americans a 4-2 lead at 15:43 of the third period. . . . The Chiefs tied it on goals by F Tyler Johnson, his WHL-leading 38^th, at 16:05, and F Stephen Kuhn, his third of the game and 17^th of the season, at 18:51 on a PP. . . . F Justin Feser had three assists for the Americans. . . . The Chiefs were 3-for-5 on the PP; the Americans were 0-for-4. . . . Johnson’s goal ran his point streak to 17 games. . . . Attendance was 10,474. . . . The Chiefs slipped three points back of the Western Conference-leading Portland Winterhawks, with Spokane holding two games in hand. . . . The Americans, 8-1-1 in their last 10, are three points behind Spokane. Tri-City holds three games in hand on Spokane and five on Portland. . . .
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In Everett, the Silvertips opened up a 3-0 lead early in the second period and went on to a 4-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . F Tyler Maxwell scored twice for Everett, giving him 33. He ended up with his WHL-leading 11^th game-winner of the season. . . . Maxwell has 88 career goals, passing F Zach Hamill on Everett’s all-time list and leaving him second only to F Shane Harper (100). . . . The Cougars made it interesting on goals by F Charles Inglis, his 20^th, and F Brett Connolly, his 28^th, at 11:44 and 12:04 of the third period. . . . Maxwell iced it at 16:02. . . . D Ryan Murray had three assists for Everett. . . . F Brendan Rowinski had two goals for Vancouver, while F Spencer Bennett had two assists and Brendan Gallagher, the third member of that line, added two helpers. . . . Attendance was 6,179. . . . The Silvertips meet the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., today. . . .
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In Kelowna, F Geordie Wudrick scored three times to help the Rockets to a 7-3 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . The victory lifted the Rockets into first place in the B.C. Division, a point up on the Giants. . . . Wudrick has 29 goals. . . . F Cody Chikie, who had a goal and three assists in a 7-3 victory over the visiting Prince George Cougars on Friday, had three assists. . . . Attendance was 6,184. . . . The Rockets have won six in a row. . . .
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In Kent, Wash., G Mac Carruth stopped 43 shots to help the Portland Winterhawks to a 5-2 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Portland D William Wrenn had a goal, his first, and an assist, and was plus-4. He is plus-18 in 12 games since leaving the U of Denver and joining the Winterhawks over the Christmas break. . . . F Ty Rattie, F Brad Ross and F Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist for Portland. . . . Portland F Craig Cunningham scored once, giving him seven goals in four games against Seattle since being acquired from the Vancouver Giants. . . . Attendance was a ShoWare Centre record of 6,158. It was Teddy Bear Night and the fans tossed 5,031 stuffed animals onto the ice when F Travis Toomey scored for Seattle in the first period. . . . The Thunderbirds fell into the Western Conference cellar, one point out of ninth and two out of eighth. They are at home to the Everett Silvertips today.
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SATURDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Two minors:
Calgary D Peter Kosterman
Tri-City D Matt MacKenzie