The Brandon Wheat Kings have lost G Corbin Boes indefinitely with a broken hand. Boes, 18, was injured in Thursday’s 7-3 loss to the Oil Kings in Edmonton. Boes is 11-5-1, 3.00, .908 this season. . . . G Brandon Anderson now will do the bulk of the Brandon goaltending — he went the distance in a 5-3 victory over the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday night. Jordan Papirny, a first-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft, is backing up Anderson this weekend. Papirny plays for the midget AAA Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club Athletics. . . .
F Sven Bartschi of the Portland Winterhawks will join the Swiss national junior team for its camp prior to the World Junior Championship that opens on Boxing Day in Calgary and Edmonton. . . .
D Colin Archer (Red Deer, 2007-11) has joined the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars, who play in the Avalon East senior league. They are based in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador. . . . Archer, the Rebels’ captain for the last three seasons, transferred from McGill University to Acadia University but has to sit out a year before returning to the CIS level.
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FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS . . .
In Swift Current, the Broncos overcame a 3-1 third-period deficit and beat the Kelowna Rockets, 4-3, in a shootout. . . . Broncos F Taylor Vause scored his side’s last two goals, the first one shorthanded at 8:17, and the second at 15:48. He has 18 goals. . . . Going into the game, the Broncos had but one victory in 18 tries when trailing after two periods. . . . In the six-round shootout, F Adam Lowry scored to give the home side a 2-1 edge. . . . Broncos G Austin Smith relieved starter Jon Groenheyde (ill) at 11:52 of the first period and got the victory. Smith stopped 14 of 15 shots. . . . Kelowna D MacKenzie Johnston, who is from Swift Current, beat Groenheyde shorthanded from inside the Rockets’ blue-line. . . . The Broncos had an 18-2 edge in third-period shots. . . . 
In Moose Jaw, F Lane Scheidl’s goal at 2:57 of OT gave the Regina Pats a 3-2 victory over the Warriors. . . . It was interesting that the Pats emptied their bench and celebrated right in front of the Moose Jaw bench. . . . The Pats, who had lost 10 straight in Moose Jaw, trailed this one 2-0 going into the third period. . . . F Chandler Stephenson, at 3:18, and D Ricard Blidstrand, at 2:57, got Regina even. . . . Regina F Jordan Weal drew assists on the first and third goals. . . . F Eric Arnold scored the Teddy Bear goal at 10:22 of the first period. . . . Regina was without D Brandon Underwood, who has an ankle injury and won’t play again until after Christmas. He was injured blocking a shot in a 2-0 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Sunday. . . .
In Calgary, the Hitmen erased a 3-0 deficit and beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 5-4, but they had to go to a shootout to get it done. . . . F Cody Sylvester, Calgary’s captain, got the winner. . . . Prince Albert F Mark McNeill forced OT when he scored on a penalty shot at 7:43 of the third. McNeill will stay in Calgary for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . McNeill scored on the penalty shot after the Hitmen counted four straight goals to take a 4-3 lead. . . . Sylvester was the last shooter in the three-rounder and the only one to score. . . . The Hitmen swept the four-game season series from the Raiders. . . .
In Cranbrook, F Scott McKay scored twice as the Medicine Hat Tigers dumped the Kootenay Ice, 6-4. . . . McKay has five goals. . . . F Hunter Shinkaruk got his 27th for Medicine Hat. . . . The Ice has lost four in a row. . . . The Tigers are 2-0 against the Ice, having won 2-1 at home on Oct. 18. . . . The teams will meet again tonight in Medicine Hat in the Tigers’ Teddy Bear game. . . . Medicine Hat was without F Boston Leier (concussion) for a second game. He was injured Dec. 3 against the visiting Spokane Chiefs. . . . 
In Red Deer, the Brandon Wheat Kings erased a 2-0 deficit and beat the Rebels, 5-3. . . . Brandon got two goals and an assist from F Mark Stone, who leads the WHL with 65 points. Stone has played 33 games so is dangerously close to two-points-a-game territory. . . . Brandon G Brandon Anderson stopped 40 shots. . . . The Rebels have lost 12 in a row. . . . Red Deer led 2-0 on two early PP goals when Stone scored his 26th and 27th goals. . . . Brandon went on to take a 4-2 lead. . . . Red Deer G Bolton Pouliot, the starter with Patrik Bartosak injured, stopped 24 shots. . . . The Rebels got all three of their goals on the PP. . . . Rebels D Alex Petrovic had a goal and two assists. . . . 
In Victoria, F Jamie Crooks scored three times to help the Royals to an 8-5 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Hurricanes led 2-0, trailed 3-2, led 4-3, were tied 4-4, and led 5-4 before giving up the game’s last four goals. . . . Victoria F Brandon Magee broke a 5-5 tie at 1:17 of the third, just 31 seconds after Crooks tied it on the PP. . . . Victoria F Kevin Sundher had two goals and two assists. He now has 21 goals. . . . Victoria F Steven Hodges scored the game’s last goal on a penalty shot. . . . Crooks has 15 goals in 33 games, after scoring 19 last season and 21 in 2009-10, both with the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . It was Crook’s second hat trick of the season and second of his career. . . . Victoria F Zane Jones scored the Teddy Bear goal. . . . 
In Everett, F Anthony Bardaro had two goals and an assist, leading the Chiefs to a 5-2 victory over the Silvertips, who have lost eight in a row. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray (high ankle sprain) played for the first time since Oct. 19. He missed 19 games. Murray took a regular shift and drew an assist. . . . He is to head to Calgary today for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . Bardaro has 16 goals. . . . Spokane F Liam Stewart, the son of you know who and you know who, scored his second goal. . . . Silvertips F Josh Birkholz took a checking-to-the-head major and game misconduct at 2:30 of the first period in Kamloops on Wednesday, but wasn’t suspended. He is Everett’s leading scorer and opened the scoring with his 12th goal of the season. . . .
In Kent, Wash., G Drew Owsley stopped 24 shots to carry the Prince George Cougars to a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Owsley has three shutouts this season — two by 1-0 counts — and 12 in his career. . . . The game’s only goal came from D Cody Carlson, his fourth, on a PP at 21 seconds of the second period. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 37 shots. . . . Seattle took 53 of 105 penalty minutes. . . . Cougars F Campbell Elynuik will be hearing from the WHL office after taking a boarding major and game misconduct at 3:11 of the third period. . . . Seattle F Branden Troock was back for the first time since suffering a non-displaced fracture of his first rib on Nov. 26 in Kamloops. . . . Seattle also had F Colin Jacobs in the lineup for the first time this season. He suffered an undisclosed injury while in the Buffalo Sabres’ prospects camp. . . . 
In Vancouver, F Jordan Martinook scored three times to help the Giants to a 5-3 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Martinook’s third goal, into an empty net, was his 20th of the season. . . . Martinook has 20 goals in 32 games. Last season, he had 11 in 72 games. . . . He also has 26 points, two fewer than he finished with last season. . . . Martinook, a 19-year-old from Leduc, Alta., has two career hat tricks, both this season. . . . Vancouver G Adam Morrison stopped 46 shots. . . . Martinook left the game late in the second period after stopping a shot on the inside of his left knee. He was back to start the third period. . . . Portland F Sven Bartschi ran his point streak to nine with an assist. He has 21 points over those nine games. . . . Assistant coach Glen Hanlon picked up his first WHL coaching victory. He’s running the Giants with head coach Don Hay in Calgary. Hay is head coach of the Canadian national junior team. . . . Hanlon, a goaltender back in the day, was asked about Morrison’s performance. “It’s his job to stop the first 50, isn’t it?” a laughing Hanlon told Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. . . . D Brett Kulak scored the Teddy Bear goal at 2:54 of the first period. . . . Vancouver D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen completed a three-game WHL suspension by sitting last night.———
The Victoria Times Colonist has used its editorial page to call for an end to fighting in hockey. That editorial is right here.
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Brett Popplewell has the story of The Team That Disappeared and it’s right here, from Sportsnet Magazine. Popplewell tells the story of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the team that was lost in a plane crash on Sept. 7. This has been a week of devastating reads and this is one more from that category.
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