Monday, February 24, 2014

Moores a hall of famer; Portland streak at 20

In going through some old clippings, I noticed a brief item pointing out that G Byron Penstock of the Brandon Wheat Kings, who was starting in place of Trevor Kidd, who was with Canada’s national junior team, “is winless in his last nine games.
“Penstock has an 0-8-1 record, but his goals-against average is a respectable 4.54 and his save percentage is a healthy .868.”
This was in December 1990, back in the live puck era.
If you were wondering how much the game has changed . . .
This season, going into Sunday’s games, there were 30 goaltenders who had played at least 1,200 minutes. The highest GAA was 4.29; the lowest save percentage was .876.
Of those 30 goaltenders, 16 had their GAA below 3.00 and 16 had a save percentage higher than .900.
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Billy Moores, who spent one season (1985-86) as the general manager and head coach of the Regina Pats, is in the 2014 class of inductees to the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame in Red Deer. . . . Moores, one of hockey’s really good guys, has been a fixture in Alberta hockey circles since he played for the Oil Kings in the late 1960s. In the years since then, he has worked with the Edmonton Oilers, U of Alberta Golden Bears and the Pats, as well as spending some time coaching in Japan and with the New York Rangers. He presently is the Oilers’ director of coaching development and special projects. . . . Also to be inducted are Gord Hira, Jim Fleming, Leroy Johnson and the 1994 Olds Grizzlys. . . . The induction dinner is scheduled for Edmonton on June 6.
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F Wade Allison, a Winnipegger who was selected by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the seventh round of the 2012 bantam draft, has committed to attend Western Michigan and play for the Broncos of head coach Andy Murray. . . . Allison made the announcement on his Twitter account (@wadeallison11). . . . Allison, 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, is playing for the Omaha AAA U16 team. He has 133 points, including 62 goals, in 68 games.
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Bob Elliott, the dean of Canadian baseball writers, has a terrific piece right here in which he recalls the life and times of the late Jim Fregosi, who was a much-loved baseball lifer.
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IF THE PLAYOFFS BEGAN TODAY:
Eastern Conference
Calgary (1) vs. Prince Albert (8)
Regina (2) vs. Brandon (7)
Edmonton (3) vs. Swift Current (6)
Medicine Hat (4) vs. Kootenay (5)
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Western Conference
Kelowna (1) vs. Tri-City (8)
Portland (2) vs. Everett (7)
Victoria (3) vs. Vancouver (6)
Seattle (4) vs. Spokane (5)
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MONDAY’S WHL GAMES:
None scheduled.
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TUESDAY’S WHL GAMES (all times local):
Lethbridge at Regina, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.
Edmonton at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
Prince George at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
Prince Albert at Seattle, 7:05 p.m.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Spokane, the Chiefs scored five first-period goals in 6:08 and went on to beat the Kamloops Blazers, 9-4. . . . The Chiefs got three goals and an assist from each of F Mitch Holmberg and F Dominic Zwerger. . . . Holmberg, who had three goals for the second straight night, moved back to the top of the WHL scoring race. He leads the WHL with 57 goals and now has 107 points, one more than Portland Winterhawks F Nic Petan. . . . Holmberg has had five three-goal games this season. . . . The Chiefs tied a franchise record with goals seven seconds apart when Holmberg (7:33) and Zwerger (7:40) scored in the first period. . . . In the last two seasons, Holmberg has put up 187 points in 129 games. In his career, he has 285 points in 305 games. . . . That is good for fifth place on the Chiefs’ all-time list. . . . Holmberg moved past F Ray Whitney and into third spot on the Chiefs’ all-time goal list. His 142 career goals are just four shy of franchise leader Pat Falloon. The Chiefs have nine regular-season games left. . . . Whitney holds the franchise record for three-goal games in a season (1990-91), with six. . . . Zwerger, a 17-year-old freshman from Austria, scored his first WHL hat trick in his 44th game. . . . The Chiefs also got a goal and two assists from each of F Adam Helewka and F Carter Proft, while F Riley Whittingham had three assists. . . . F Matt Bellerive scored twice for Kamloops. . . . Kamloops G Cole Kehler, 16, stopped 32 shots in going the distance. Blazers starter Bolton Pouliot didn’t return to Saturday’s 3-2 shootout victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds after a first-period goal-mouth collision. He was on the bench last night. . . . The Chiefs (36-21-6) are fifth in the Western Conference, two points behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, who hold a game in hand. . . . Kamloops (13-45-5) is 10th in the conference. . . .

In Everett, F Oliver Bjorkstrand’s shootout goal gave Portland a 2-1 victory over the Silvertips and ran the Winterhawks’ winning streak to 20 games. . . . The WHL record for longest single-season winning streak (22) is held by the Estevan Bruins (Oct. 6, 1967 through Dec. 12, 1967). When you take into account over-lapping seasons, the record (24) is held by the Victoria Cougars (Feb. 6, 1981 through Oct. 9, 1981). . . . The teams played through two scoreless periods before Everett F Ivan Nikolishin, with his 15th goal, scored seven seconds into the third period. . . . Bjorkstrand, with his 43rd, tied it at 7:13. He’s riding a 14-game point streak. . . . Portland F Nic Petan drew an assist, running his point streak to 16 games. . . . Portland G Corbin Boes stopped 23 shots through OT as he ran his record to 12-0-1. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz turned aside 37 shots. . . . The Winterhawks were held to a season-low four shots in the second period. On three previous occasions, they had been held to five shots in a period. Two of those low-shot periods were against Everett. (A tip of the hat to Portland radio voice Todd Vrooman for that info). . . . In the third period and OT, the Winterhawks held a 22-4 edge in shots. . . . The Winterhawks (46-12-5), who next play Friday when they meet the host Spokane Chiefs, are second overall, three points behind the Kelowna Rockets, who have two games in hand. . . . Everett (30-23-9) is seventh, one point behind the Vancouver Giants.
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From WHL Facts (WHLFacts): “15 - Assisting on (Saturday) night's GWG, Todd Fiddler now has the longest point streak for the @PGCougars since Hancock & Kwiatkowski in 1997-98.”
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From Portland Winterhawks F Brendan Leipsic (@bleipsic): “3 in 3's should be illegal #exhausted #getmeabed”

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