D Tomas Fojtik (Portland, 2003-04) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Swindon Wildcats (England, Premier). He had four assists in 13 games with Basingstoke Bison (England, Premier) and one assist in two games with the Telford Tigers (England, Premier) earlier this season. . . .
D Jaroslav Obsut (Swift Current, Medicine Hat, 1995-97) was released by Donbass Donetsk (Ukraine, KHL). He had one goal and five assists in 23 games this season.
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F Mathew Barzal, the first overall selection by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2012 WHL bantam draft, played his third game this season with the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express last night. Barzal, who has yet to decide between the Thunderbirds and the NCAA, had one assist — his first point in the three games — and a minor penalty in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs.
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The Victoria Royals got down to two goaltenders on Friday when they assigned Jared Rathjen, 18, to the AJHL’s Whitecourt Wolverines. That leaves the Royals with Czech freshman Patrik Polivka, 18, and Vollrath Coleman, a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary, to handle the goaltending. . . . The Royals also assigned D Kolton Dixon. 17, to the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers.
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D Alex Theriau, 20, who was released this week by the Medicine Hat Tigers, has signed with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. . . . Thanks to Brian Wiebe (@Brian_Wiebe) for that tidbit.
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D Spencer Galbraith, 19, has ended his WHL career, the Lethbridge Hurricanes announced on Friday. Galbraith, from Spruce Grove, Alta., played in a 4-2 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals on Wednesday. He had been acquired a year ago from the Brandon Wheat Kings. He had seven assists in 52 games with Lethbridge last season. This season, he had seven points, two of them goals, in 20 games.
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Matt Gardner of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has an interesting story right here that details why a local brewing company is unable to sell beer in the Art Hauser Memorial Centre during Raiders games. Did you know that Molson pays the Raiders $30,000 for rights to the facility during their games.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:
G Luke Siemens stopped 28 shots to help the host Prince Albert Raiders to a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . That was his first shutout this season and the seventh of his career. . . . F Mark McNeill and F Mike Winther each scored their eighth goals and added an assist. F Dakota Conroy, an early-season acquisition from the Victoria Royals, added his ninth goal. . . . Seattle has lost three in a row and five of six. . . . The Thunderbirds are 1-4-0 in an East Division tour that ends tonight in Saskatoon. . . .
The Lethbridge Hurricanes ran their winning streak to four games with a 5-3 victory over the Wheat Kings in Brandon. . . . The Hurricanes, who have had their struggles in recent seasons, have won nine of 12. . . . Lethbridge erased a 2-0 first-period deficit with four straight goals — two in each of the last two periods. . . . F Russell Maxwell scored his 13th of the season for the visitors, who got 35 saves from G Ty Rimmer. . . . The Hurricanes are without F Graham Hood (broken hand). He is their captain. . . .
F Elgin Pearce scored one goal and drew two assists to help the host Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Tigers G Cam Lanigan stopped 29 shots to earn the victory. He is 6-2-0 with the Tigers after coming over from the Portland Winterhawks, for whom he had been 3-0-0. . . . F Curtis Valk scored his 15th of the season for the Tigers and F Hunter Shinkaruk got his 14th, while F Sam Fioretti got No. 15 for the Warriors. . . .
D Alex Roach broke in a new pair of skates with two goals and an assist to help the host Calgary Hitmen to a 5-2 victory over the Victoria Royals. . . . Roach had four goals in 61 games in each of his first two seasons. This season, he has four goals in 20 games. He also has 15 points in 20 games, after putting up 16 and 18 points in his first two seasons. . . . Calgary has won five in a row. . . . F Brady Brassart, returning after a seven-game absence due to an undisclosed injury, had a goal and two assists for Calgary. . . . Victoria F Steven Hodges ran his point streak to six games with a late goal. . . . The Royals have lost six in a row. . . . D Tyler Stahl scored his first goal in a Royals uniform. It was his second career goal in his 159th game. He played 127 games with the Chilliwack Bruins and the last 32 with the Royals. A concussion limited him to 20 games last season. Stahl, 20, is the Royals’ captain. . . . The Hitmen were without F Brooks Macek (ill), their leading scorer, and F Cody Sylvester (undisclosed). . . .
G Laurent Brossoit stopped 38 shots to lead the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 4-2 victory over the Cougars in Prince George. . . . Edmonton scored three goals in the first period and then watched as the Cougars mounted a comeback. . . . The Oil Kings scored two shorthanded goals, the second into an empty Prince George net late in the third period. . . . F T.J. Foster had his 11th goal and two assists for Edmonton. . . . Prince George G Mac Engel, who relieved starter Brent Zarowny with the score 3-0 to start the second period, stopped 19 shots. . . . The teams play again tonight in Prince George. The Cougars then will ride the bus to Vancouver for a Sunday game that is to begin at 4 p.m. . . .
F Shane McColgan had a goal and three assists to lead the Saskatoon Blades to a 6-3 victory over the visiting Regina Pats. . . . Saskatoon F Josh Nicholls scored twice, giving him 17 in as many games. . . . Cha-ching! There was a line brawl at 7:22 of the third period. . . . During the fighting, Saskatoon F Jessey Astles suffered a cut to one wrist and had to leave the game. “When he went down, his own skate caught him across the wrist,” Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPoenix. “He’s going to have surgery. That’s all I can tell you.” . . . The Pats took 83 of the game’s 159 penalty minutes. . . . The Blades had erased a 1-0 deficit with six goals before F Morgan Klimchuk scored two PP goals for Regina. . . .
G Austin Lotz recorded his first WHL shutout as the visiting Everett Silvertips beat the Tri-City Americans, 3-0. . . . Lotz stopped 35 shots as the Silvertips snapped their seven-game losing streak. Everett also had lost five straight in Kennewick, dating back to last season. . . . The Americans had won three in a row. . . . The Americans hadn’t been blanked at home since Jan. 5, 2008, when they lost 3-0 to the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Everett had lost four straight to the Americans this season. . . . Americans F Justin Feser played in his 300th regular-season game. He is the eighth Tri-City player to get there. . . . Everett was playing its seventh game in 11 nights. . . . F Trent Lofthouse’s fourth goal of the season at 18:20 of the first period stood up as the winner. . . .
F Riley Whittingham broke a 2-2 tie with his first career goal and the host Spokane Chiefs went on to a 5-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The goal was the first of Whittingham’s career. He is a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary. . . . The Blazers (17-3-1) have followed a franchise-record 14-game winning streak by losing three of their last four games. . . . Kamloops F JC Lipon scored his 17th goal. He and Saskatoon F Josh Nicholls are tied for the WHL goal-scoring lead. Lipon has a WHL-leading 41 points, one more than linemate Colin Smith. . . . Lipon’s goal came on the PP and ended an 0-for-17 drought for the Blazers. . . . F Todd Fiddler had a goal and two assists for the Chiefs. . . . Spokane F Mitch Holmberg scored in his return from a five-game absence. He had been injured on a high hit from Everett D Nick Walters, who served a three-game suspension for it. . . .
In Vancouver, the Portland Winterhawks scored the game’s last four goals and dropped the Giants, 9-5. . . . F Nic Petan had two goals and two assists for the visitors. Last season, Petan had 35 points, including 21 assists, in 61 games. Right now, he has 31 points, 21 of them assistds, in 18 games. . . . Portland now has won 10 in a row. . . . Vancouver G Payton Lee allowed five goals on 26 shots before being yanked for a second straight game. . . . Portland has a 58-18 edge in goals in its last 10 games. The Winterhawks are in Spokane tonight. . . . Vancouver F Trevor Cheek, who is from Vancouver, Wash., scored twice to pull the Giants into a 3-3 tie. . . . The Winterhawks yanked G Brendan Burke with the score 5-5 — he stopped 14 shots — and Mac Carruth came on to make one save and get the victory. . . . Vancouver G Tyler Fuhr took the loss. He came on with his side trailing 5-3. . . . The Winterhawks outshot the Giants, 51-20. Portland has outshot its opponent in each of its 18 games this season. . . . Winterhawks F Ty Rattie had three assists to run his point streak to 12 games. He has 26 points in the 12 games. . . . Portland D Tyler Wotherspoon had one goal and was plus-5. . . .
G Jackson Whistle stopped 23 shots to help the Kelowna Rockets beat the visiting Red Deer Rebels, 8-1. . . . Whistle is 5-0-0, 1.06, .961. . . . Kelowna G Tyrell Goulbourne scored his third goal in as many games. He has three goals this season and each one is a game-winner. . . . Kelowna got two goals from each of F Ryan Olsen, F Cody Fowlie and D/F Myles Bell.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Tim Traber, Victoria
F Mike Aviani, Spokane
F Caleb Belter, Prince George
CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
F Brenden Walker, Saskatoon
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
Regan Bartel (@Reganrant), the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets: “I am still trying to convince @my_ohs29 to rip a slap shot at the Prospera score clock in an effort to knock that thing down permanently.”
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