A touch of hockey history in a WHL game

TREVOR COX

There was a little bit of hockey history involved in a game in Swift Current on Friday night.
Trevor Cox, a 16-year-old forward from Surrey, B.C., scored his first WHL goal for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Cox, playing his seventh game of the season, scored at 12:46 of the first period, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead in a game they would lose, 3-2.
Cox, who wasn’t selected in the 2010 bantam draft, was added to the Tigers’ list and made the team in training camp prior to this season. He was the leading scorer with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League last season. They play out of Langley, Surrey and Cloverdale on the Lower Mainland. In fact, Trevor’s twin brother, Matt, is playing with the Hawks this season.
And now for the history part of this . . .
The Cox boys are great grandsons of the late, great Fred (Cyclone) Taylor, who played for, among other teams, the Vancouver Millionaires, who won the 1915 Stanley Cup. Yes, the Millionaires are the only Vancouver team to have won the Stanley Cup. Taylor scored six of the Millionaires’ 26 goals as they swept the visiting Ottawa Senators — 6-2, 8-3 and 12-3 — in the 1915 final.
Taylor, considered one of the greatest players of hockey’s early days, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. He died on June 9, 1979.
The Cox boys also are nephews of Mark Taylor, who played three games for the Kamloops Chiefs in 1975-76 and then moved on to the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, with whom he won the NCAA’s championship in the spring of 1980.
Taylor later played 209 NHL games, split among the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. He was a sixth-round pick by the Flyers in the NHL’s 1978 draft.
For more on Cyclone Taylor and the Cox brothers, check out this story from Peter Mansbridge of CBC’s The National. It was done last spring during the Vancouver Canucks’ playoff run. (Check out Mark Taylor wearing Cooperall's with the Philadelphia Flyers!)
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JUST NOTES: F Luke Gordon, who had gotten into one game with the Calgary Hitmen, now is with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. Gordon, 17, is from Terrace, B.C. . . . The Portland Winterhawks have assigned F Ryley Bennefield to the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm. Bennefield, 17, is from Wetaskiwin, Alta. He was pointless in three games with Portland. He was a second-round selection by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2009 bantam draft. Portland acquired Bennefield from Lethbridge in January, in exchange for the rights to D Branden Scheidl, a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . The Edmonton Oil Kings announced Friday that they have signed D Cody Corbett, who won’t turn 18 until Dec. 14. He is from Lakeland, Minn. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Corbett didn’t play last night in Regina. The Oil Kings are in Brandon tonight. . . . Just in case you missed it, the Edmonto Oilers revealed Friday that they will keep F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first pick in the NHL's 2011 draft, rather than return him to the Red Deer Rebels. This, of course, means that the first year of his contract kicks in. The Oilers could still return him to the Rebels at a later date.
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In Brandon, G Cody Beach had two goals and three assists as the Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Wheat Kings, 8-4. . . . G Brandon Anderson, acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, made his first home start for the Wheat Kings but was gone after surrendering seven goals on 34 shots. . . . F Justin Kirsch, acquired this week by Moose Jaw from Calgary, had two PP goals in his first game with his new squad. . . . Brandon F Mark Stone had a goal and an assist, running his season-opening point streak to 14 games. . . . Stone leads the WHL with 30 points. . . . The Warriors erased a 1-0 deficit by scoring five goals in a span of 12:39, the key goal being Beach’s PP goal at 19:59 of the first that gave the visitors a 4-1 lead. . . . Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath sat out his second game with an undisclosed injury, while D Kendall McFaull missed his fourth game. . . . This was Brandon’s first home game in three weeks, following a road swing that took it into the U.S. Division. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re NHL, junior, whatever, that first game back always seems to be very difficult,” Brandon head coach Cory Clouston told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun, “and credit to Moose Jaw, they came out, played well, they deserved the game. But we know we can be a lot better and it’s just managing the puck and being a lot more sure of the puck.” . . . The Wheat Kings play host to the Edmonton Oil Kings tonight. . . .

In Swift Current, F Taylor Vause broke a 2-2 tie just 17 seconds into the third period and the Broncos hung on to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-2. . . . It was Vause’s 11th goal of the season. . . . Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem scored his 100th regular-season goal in his 151st game. It was his WHL-leading 18th goal in 14 games this season. . . . The Broncos, who have won two in a row, and Tigers will play again tonight in Medicine Hat. . . .

In Prince George, F Jordan Martinook enjoyed his first career three-goal game as the Vancouver Giants beat the Cougars 4-2. . . . Martinook, who scored 11 goals in 72 games last season, has nine in 15 outings this season. . . . The Giants, who won for the first time in six road games, have won their last four games. . . . The Cougars have lost eight in a row. . . . Former Cougars head coach Ed Dempsey was among the 1,806 spectators. . . . Vancouver F Jackson Houck will be hearing from the WHL office after taking a major for checking to the head in the second period. . . .

In Lethbridge, Portland D William Wrenn had two assists and was plus-4 as the Winterhawks dropped the Hurricanes, 4-1. . . . Portland is 2-3-0 on its nine-game road trip. . . . The Hurricanes, who opened the season with two victories and a shootout loss, now are 2-12-1, and have lost 12 in a row. . . . Portland F Brad Ross, who is from Lethbridge, had a goal and an assist. . . . The Winterhawks will meet the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook tonight in a rematch of last season’s championship final. . . .

In Regina, F Jordan Weal set up two PP goals as the Pats got past the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-1. . . . Weal, with 21 points in 14 games, now has 290 regular-season points in 226 career games. . . .

In Red Deer, the Everett Silvertips came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Rebels 3-2 in a shootout. . . . The shootout went five rounds, Everett’s last three shooters all scoring. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 52 shots through OT. That was one save shy of the Silvertips’ single-game franchise record. He has a .912 save percentage to go along with a 3.42 GAA. . . . Leland Irving holds the Everett record for saves (53) in a game from a February 2008 game in Spokane. . . .

In Victoria, the Seattle Thunderbirds gave up the tying goal at 18:35 of the third period then beat the Royals 4-3 in a shootout. . . . Victoria F Kevin Sundher tied the game 3-3 with G Keith Hamilton on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Seattle scored twice in the four-round shootout. . . . Sundher has 27 points and is tied with Medicine Hat F Emerson Etem for second in the points derby. . . . Victoria took a 2-0 lead in the third periods first two minutes by scoring two shorthanded goals on the same penalty.
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Has the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the Manitoba capital had any impact on the Brandon Wheat Kings? Tim Wharnsby of CBC Sports takes a look right here.
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Four players have left the MJHL’s Neepawa Natives, the team that has become embroiled in a hazing scandal. Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press has that story right here.
It is worth noting that former WHLer Sheldon Kennedy has called the 15-year-old player who was a victim in the hazing. Kennedy gave the player his cell phone numbrer and told him he was available 24 hours if need be.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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