Saturday, November 16, 2013

Wheat Kings land Pilon

The Brandon Wheat Kings won the Ryan Pilon sweepstakes on Saturday, acquiring the 17-year-old defenceman from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
In exchange for Pilon, the third overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft, the Wheat Kings gave up D Nick Walters, 19, F Taylor Cooper, 18, and D Tanner Browne, 16.
Brandon also acquired the rights to F Colt Conrad, 16, who is playing for a midget team at Shattuck-St. Marys in Faribault, Minn.
Pilon had seven points, including three goals, in 17 games when he left the Hurricanes and went home to await a trade. Pilon, who is eligible for the 2015 NHL draft, is from Duck Lake, Sask. He is likely to play his first game with the Wheat Kings when they meet the Broncos in Swift Current on Tuesday.
Conrad, from St. Alphonse, Man., was a third-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft. He has made a commitment to attend Western Michigan in 2015. Should he end up signing with Brandon, the Hurricanes will receive a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
Walters is from Spruce Grove, Alta. Brandon acquired him from the Everett Silvertips last season. A draft pick of the NHL's St. Louis Blues, Walters has two assists in 21 games this season. He has played 195 career WHL games and has 43 points, including seven goals.
Brandon selected Cooper, who is from Sherwood Park, Alta., in the sixth round of the 2010 bantam draft. He has 10 points, seven of them goals, in 22 games this season. Last season, he put up 25 points, including nine goals, in 64 games.
Browne, from Kelowna, was a second-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft. He is playing for the major midget Okanagan Rockets, who are based in Kelowna.
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SUDBURY SATURDAY NIGHT:
In Saskatoon, F Jaedon Descheneau had two goals and two assists to help the Kootenay Ice to a 6-1 victory over the Blades. . . . Descheneau, who enjoyed his first career four-point game, has 18 goals now. . . . F Sam Reinhart added a goal, his 10th, and two helpers, while D Jagger Dirk had three assists. . . . The Ice scored the game's first three goals and the last three. . . . Saskatoon has lost five in a row. . . .

In Edmonton, F Mitch Moroz scored twice to lead the Oil Kings to a 4-2 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Moroz, who also had an assist, has 15 goals in 23 games this season. That's two more than he scored in 69 games last season and one fewer than he notched in 66 games in 2011-12. . . . Moroz's second goal of the game, on the PP at 7:48 of the third, broke a 2-2 tie. . . . Swift Current F Graham Black and a goal, his 15th, and an assist to run his point streak to 11 games. . . . WHLFacts tweets that Edmonton G Triston Jarry "has kept opponents to 2 goals or less in 14 straight starts (1.42 GAA over that span)." . . .

In Lethbridge, F Wyatt Johnson scored at 1:20 of OT as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Hurricanes, 4-3. . . . Johnson has three goals this season. . . . The Hurricanes forced OT with a pair of second-period goals, from D Lenny Hackman, his first, and F Brady Ramsay, his seventh. . . . The Rebels have won four straight. . . .

In Kamloops, the Portland Winterhawks scored three times on the power play and twice while shorthanded as they beat the Blazers, 7-3. . . . The Blazers led 2-1 in the first period, then trailed 3-2 at the break. Kamloops tied it early in the second but then gave up the game's last four goals. . . . Portland, which scored four unassisted goals, got two each from F Chase De Leo and F Brendan Leipsic. . . . Portland skaters totalled 11 points on the seven goals. . . . F Chase Souto scored twice for the Blazers, giving him 14. . . . Portland's rendan Burke stopped 25 shots in becoming the first WHL goaltender this season to 15 victories. . . . Kamloops has lost five straight. . . . The victory lifted the Winterhawks back atop the overall standings, two points ahead of the Everett Silvertips. . . . The Kelowna Rockets are five points behind Portland and hold five games in hand. . . .


In Victoria, F Jaimen Yakubowsk broke a 1-1 tie at 10:22 of the second period and the Seattle Thunderbirds went on to beat the Royals, 3-1. . . . It was Yakubowski's second goal in nine games since being acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Seattle had lost six in a row. . . . Among Seattle's scratches was F Mathew Barzal, the first overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft. Barzal, 16, has 22 points, including 19 assists, in 22 games, but has just three assists in his last nine games. . . . The Royals continue to play without D Keegan Kanzig, who has been out since sustaining a suspected brain injury in a fight with Edmonton Oil Kings F Brandon Baddock on Nov. 6. . . .

In Everett, F Troy Bourke broke a 1-1 tie at 15:41 of the third period as the Prince George Cougars beat the Silvertips, 3-1. . . . Bourke has 10 goals. . . . F Chase Witala scored twice for the Cougars, giving him 14. . . . Prince George G Brett Zarowny made 34 saves. . . . Everett F Josh Winquist scored his club's goal, running his point streak to 12 games. . . . F Alex Forsberg had two assists for the visitors. . . . Prince George F David Soltes left in the second period after taking a hard check along the boards. . . .

In Spokane, F Boston Leier scored the only goal of the skills competition to give the Regina Pats a 3-2 victory over the Chiefs. . . . F Mike Aviani gave the Chiefs a 2-1 lead with his 20th goal at 10:10 of the third period, via the PP. . . . F Dyson Stevenson pulled Regina even at 12:37. He's got 12 goals. . . . Spokane D Reid Gow drew two more assists, giving him 30, in 23 games. . . . Spokane F Mitch Holmberg, the WHL's leading scorer, was held pointless. . . . Regina F Braden Christoffer took a charging major and game misconduct late in the second period. . . . The Pats are 4-2-0 on an eight-game swing that continues Friday in Red Deer. . . .

In Vancouver, the Giants beat the Tri-City Americans 5-2 with all seven goals coming in the third period. . . . Vancouver took a 3-1 lead, only to have Tri-City F Brian Williams get his side to within one with his 19th goal. . . . The Giants put it away with two empty-netters. . . . Vancouver's first two goals, from F Carter Popoff and D Dalton Thrower, both came via the PP in the first four minutes of the period. . . . Vancouver F Tyler Benson, the first selection in the 2013 bantam draft, made his WHL debut. He was pointless and plus-1. . . . Vancouver is 3-0-1 in its last four games. . . . All told, 16 of the WHL's 22 teams have winning percentages of at least .500. The Giants need one more victory to make it 17. . . .

In Kelowna, the Rockets ran their winning streak to eight games as they beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 4-3. . . . Kelowna erased a 1-0 first-period deficit with four straight goals and then hung on as the Tigers scored twice in the second half of the third period. . . . D Madison Bowey scored Kelowna's last two goals, giving him eight on the season. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 33 shots in running his record to 12-0-2. . . . The Rockets lead the B.C. Division by five points over the Victoria Royals. Kelowna holds five games in hand, too.
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From Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) of the Vancouver Province: "#WHL Saw a couple of Moose Jaw Warrior scout types at Giants-Ams. Giants have five extra bodies."



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