Sunday, March 13, 2011

Saturday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Justin Keller (Kelowna, 2003-06) signed a one-year contract
extension with Linz (Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 21 goals and 12 assists in 34 games for Linz this season.
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If you read one thing today, make it this piece from Saturday’s Globe and Mail. Written by Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goaltender, the headline on the piece is -- Ken Dryden on hockey violence: How could we be so stupid?
The piece is right here.
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In Everett, F Nino Niederreiter ran his goal-scoring streak to seven games as his Portland Winterhawks beat the Silvertips, 2-1. . . . Portland G Keith Hamilton, starting again in place of the injured Mac Carruth, made 36 saves. . . . Hamilton is 15-5-2. . . . Niederreiter, who has 38 goals, has 11 goals over that seven-game run. . . . Everett has lost seven in a row, including a 6-3 loss to visiting Portland on Friday. . . . Attendance was 8,423, the Silvertips’ largest crowd this season. . . . The Winterhawks remain atop the Western Conference, one point up on the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Everett slipped into eighth, one point behind Prince George and two ahead of Kamloops. . . .
In Kelowna, shootout goals by F Geordie Wudrick and D Tyson Barrie gave the Rockets a 1-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 33 shots, seven fewer than Jeff Bosch, who made his 22nd straight start for Kamloops. . . . F Thoms Frazee had a shootout goal for Kamloops. . . . The Blazers, who lost 5-1 to the visiting Rockets on Friday night, now have lost five in a row. . . . Kamloops was without F Brendan Ranford, who is under WHL suspension after he was hit with a game misconduct for cross-checking linesman Kris Hartley on Friday night. . . . The Rockets are in Chilliwack today. . . .
In Kent, Wash., the Prince George Cougars scored four times in the latter half of the third period and beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-1. . . . F Spencer Asuchak broke a 1-1 tie at 11:02 of the third. . . . The victory lifted the Cougars into seventh place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Everett. . . . The Thunderbirds, with four games left, are four points behind Everett. . . . The Cougars will be in Kennewick, Wash., today to play the Tri-City Americans. . . .
In Spokane, the Chiefs got a shootout goal from F Levko Koper to beat the Kootenay Ice, 4-3. . . . Koper was the ninth shooter in what was a five-round event. . . . Spokane F Tyler Johnson had a goal, his WHL-leading 51st, and an assist. . . . The Chiefs have won seven in a row but continue to trail Western Conference-leading Portland by a point. . . . The Ice is fourth in the Eastern Conference, five points behind Medicine Hat with three games left. . . .
In Lethbridge, F Kellan Tochkin had two goals to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . The Tigers were without F Linden Vey (neck), who leads the WHL’s points derby. . . . The Tigers are two points behind the Central Division-leading Red Deer Rebels. Each team has three games left. . . . The Hurricanes are ninth, two points behind Prince Albert, with each team having three games left. . . .
In Moose Jaw, the final meeting in the Crushed Can between the Warriors and the Regina Pats went to a shootout before the home team won, 2-1. . . . The game drew 2,945 fans, which is a couple of hundred more than capacity. Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that fans “stood five-deep to watch the game.” . . . How much did the game mean to Moose Jaw? Here’s Warriors head coach Dave Hunchak talking to Gourlie: “Our whole focus was to try to win the game for the city of Moose Jaw and our supportive fans. Coaches come and go. Players come and go. But the fans have been supportive and consistent and behind this team for 26 years. It’s not that it didn’t mean a lot to us — because it did — it was focus of ours. To be able to pick up that puck in our building meant an awful lot to the fans that support our hockey team year in and year out.” . . . One more note from Gourlie: “Warriors left-winger Cody Beach left the game in the third period after Neigum ducked out of the way of a hit and Beach landed awkwardly after being undercut. Beach left the ice favouring his left leg and was taken to hospital post-game for further evaluation.” . . . The Warriors will finish fifth and look to be headed to a first-round matchup with Kootenay. . . . The Pats are six points out of a playoff spot with three games left. . . .
In Brandon, F Mark Stone picked up two assists, giving him 101 points, as the Wheat Kings dumped the Prince Albert Raiders, 7-3. . . . Stone is the first Brandon skater to surpass 100 points since F Eric Fehr (2004-05), who now is with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. . . . Brandon F Scott Glennie had a goal and three assists to get to 90 points for the first time in his career. . . . Prince Albert F Jonathan Parker left in the second period with an elbowing major and the accompanying game misconduct. . . . The Wheat Kings now are sixth in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Edmonton. . . . Prince Albert continues to cling to the conference’s last playoff spot, two points up on Lethbridge. . . .
In Saskatoon, the Blades blanked the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-0 to set a franchise record with their 53rd victory of the season. . . . G Steven Stanford stopped 35 shots to earn the shutout, his third this season and the fifth of his career. . . . D Stefan Elliott had a goal and an assist, giving him the franchise record for career points by a defenceman. He has 240. The previous record had been held by Pat Price (1970-74). . . . The Oil Kings still were able to clinch a playoff spot. They are seventh in the conference. . . . The Blades will finish first overall. . . .
In Red Deer, G Darcy Kuemper stopped 31 shots as the Rebels blanked the Swift Current Broncos, 5-0. . . . Kuemper has 13 shutouts this season and that ties the WHL’s single-season record. He now shares it with Bryan Bridges (Seattle, 2004-05) and Kelly Guard (Kelowna, 2003-04). . . . The Rebels have three games remaining. . . . F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three goals and two assists, to get to 101 points. The last Red Deer skaters to get to 100 were F Justin Mapletoft and F Kyle Wanvig, both of whom did it in 2000-01. . . . The Rebels, who meet the Hitmen in Calgary today, are the conference’s second seed, two points up o Medicine Hat. . . . The Broncos won’t be in the playoffs.
In Chilliwack last night, the Bruins got two goals from F Ryan Howse as they dumped the Vancouver Giants, 8-5. . . . Attendance was 4,193. . . . Howse has 50 goals, the second WHLer, behind Spokane F Tyler Johnson, to get there this season. . . . Vancouver, which still was able to clinch a playoff spot, has lost six straight for the first time this season and has been outscored 28-6 in the process. . . . The Bruins had beaten the Giants 6-2 in Vancouver on Wednesday. . . . F Spencer Bennett scored four times for the Giants, giving him 34 on the season. . . . The Bruins, who clinched a playoff spot with the victory, have closed to within a point of the Giants, who are fifth in the Western Conference. Each team has four games remaining. . . . The Bruins are at home to the Kelowna Rockets today. . . .
     
     

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