Friday, January 30, 2015

WHL coach gets to 400 wins . . . Hitmen really rolling . . . Chiefs not so much










F Marcel Hossa (Portland, 1998-2001) has signed for the rest of this season with MoDo Örnsköldsvik (Sweden, SHL). This season, with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL), Hossa, who was team captain, had seven goals and nine assists in 38 games. He also had two goals and two assists in four games with Dukla Trenčín (Slovakia, Extraliga). Hossa was released by Dinamo Riga on Dec. 20 as part of the team’s cost-cutting efforts. . . .
F Kris Hogg (Kamloops, Lethbridge, 2002-07) has signed for the rest of this season with Sanok (Poland, PHL). This season, with the Tilburg Trappers (Netherlands, Eredivisie), he had 34 points, including 18 goals, in 25 games. With the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL), he had one goal in six games. . . .
F Curtis Huppe (Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Tri-City, 1995-2000) has signed for the rest of the season with the Milton Keyes Lightning (England, Premier). This season, with the Guildford Flames (England, Premier), he had four goals and an assist in five games. He was pointless in two games with the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland, UK Elite).
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The Prince Albert Raiders are quite concerned about a drop in attendance at their home games, something that definitely is having an impact on their bottom line. . . . Myles Fish of the Prince Albert Herald has more right here in a story that appeared in Wednesday’s newspaper.
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Reverberations continue from Thursday’s announcement that the AHL is forming a five-team (for now) Pacific Division with all teams located in California. . . . The Calgary Flames are moving their AHL franchise, the Adirondack Flames, from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton. The Flames revealed Friday that they will move the ECHL’s Stockton franchise to Adirondack. . . . The Edmonton Oilers, who are moving the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons to Bakersfield, will relocate Bakersfield’s ECHL franchise to Norfolk, Va. . . . The Anaheim Ducks are moving their Norfolk AHL franchise to Ontario, Calif. . . . Also on Friday, the Las Vegas Wranglers announced that they have withdrawn from the ECHL. The Wranglers aren’t playing this season due to problems finding an arena to call home.
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“The NFL is great at selling things,” writes Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star. “Some of them, you just can’t buy.” . . . He is referring to the NFL’s figures that claim concussions are down 25 per cent over last season and 36 per cent over two seasons ago. . . . Arthur’s complete column is right here and it’s a great read.
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Congratulations to two old friends, Earl Seitz and Bruce Luebke, for having been honoured this week. . . . Seitz, the veteran sports director at CFJC-TV in Kamloops, gets a Paul Carson Award for 2014’s top sports anchor in B.C., outside of Vancouver. . . . Luebke, the longtime radio voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings, has been inducted into the Manitoba Media Roll of Honour.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:

WHL team logoIn Swift Current, F Jake DeBrusk scored twice and added an assist as the Broncos dumped the Saskatoon Blades, 6-2. . . . DeBrusk upped his goal total to 30, scoring a PP goal in the first period and adding his second goal at 18:53 of the second for a 5-1 lead. . . . Broncos D Griffin Foulk scored his first goal of the season to open the scoring. . . . Swift Current got two assists from each of D Brett Lernout, F Glenn Gawdin and F Zac Mackay. . . . Broncos F Carter Rigby got his 15th goal and added an assist. . . . The Broncos had a 45-30 edge in shots. . . . Saskatoon D Brycen Martin, playing for the first time against his former team, had one assist but was minus-3. . . . The same teams will play again tonight, this time in Saskatoon. . . . The Broncos (23-22-5) have won their last two games and now hold a seven-point lead over fourth-place Moose Jaw in the East Division. . . . The Blades (14-31-3) have lost two in a row. . . .

In Brandon, F Nolan Patrick scored two goals and added an assist to help the Wheat Kings to a 6-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Patrick, 16, isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2017. He’s got 42 points in 45 games this season. . . . Patrick got the game’s first goal, at 3:26 of the first period, then added an empty-netter at 18:27 of the third for his 22nd goal this season. . . . Brandon led this one 3-0 going into the second period. The Warriors then scored four times in 13:06, with F Tanner Eberle getting his 26th, F Jack Rodewald getting his 23rd and F Brayden Point getting No. 21. . . . Warriors F Torrin White broke the 3-3 tie with his 11th at 14:57. . . . Brandon F Morgan Klimchuk tied it with his 19th goal at 17:20 of the second. . . . Wheat Kings F Peter Klimchuk snapped the tie at 9:51 of the third, on a PP. He’s got 13 goals. . . . D Ivan Provorov and F Rihards Bukarts each had two assists for Brandon. . . . Brandon D Eric Roy played in his 300th regular-season game. He had one assist. . . . Brandon head coach Kelly McCrimmon won his 400th game, the 14th coach in WHL history to get there. Ken Hodge (742), Ernie McLean (548) and McCrimmon are the only members of the 400 club who got there with one franchise. . . . It was John Quenneville bobblehead night. The Brandon forward was back after missing one game with an undisclosed injury. He scored his 16th goal. . . . Warriors F Tanner Jeannot returned after being out since Dec. 10. He missed 18 games with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Wheat Kings (36-9-5) are 7-0-1 in their last eight and remain three points behind Kelowna, which leads the overall standings. . . . The Warriors (20-26-4) have lost two in a row. . . . The Wheaties and Warriors meet again tonight, this time in Moose Jaw. . . .

In Calgary, F Adam Tambellini scored two goals and added two assists as the Hitmen whipped the Prince Albert Raiders, 10-1. . . . Tambellini has 35 goals this season, with nine of them coming over his last five games. He has 12 points in a six-game point streak. . . . Hitmen F Kenton Helgesen also scored twice, giving him 16, as did F Radel Fazleev, who also has 16 goals. . . . Calgary scored 10 times on 35 shots. . . . Hitmen G Brendan Burke stopped 23 shots. . . . Calgary D Jake Bean had two assists. The 16-year-old from Calgary has 29 points, including 26 assists, in 39 games. He had one point, an assist, in his first 15 games. . . . D Travis Sanheim had three assists for Calgary and was plus-5. . . . Calgary F Pavel Karnaukhov scored his 17th goal and added two assists, while F Jordy Stallard, F Jake Virtanen and F Connor Rankin each had two assists. . . . The Raiders lost D Mackenze Stewart to a cross-checking major and game misconduct at 8:22 of the third period. . . . The Hitmen were 3-for-5 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-for-6. . . . Calgary (28-17-5), which entertains Edmonton this afternoon, has won five straight, outscoring its opposition 25-5 in the process. The afternoon game is part of a hockey doubleheader, with the NHL’s Oilers and Flames playing in the evening. The same thing happened in Edmonton last season on March 1. . . . Calgary has moved into a tie with Red Deer for second in the Central Division. . . . The Raiders slipped to 20-28-1. They will visit Red Deer tonight. . . .

In Red Deer, G Tristan Jarry stopped 20 shots to lead the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Rebels. . . . That was Jarry’s third shutout of the season and the sixth of his career. . . . Edmonton F Andrew Koep, playing his first game since Jan. 2, opened the scoring, with his 11th goal, at 4:49 of the third period. . . . F Lane Bauer had three assists and D Dysin Mayo had two. . . . Edmonton got two goals from Brett Pollock, who has 24. . . . The Oil Kings (24-21-6), who have won two in a row, hold down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, a point behind Kootenay. . . . Edmonton is in Calgary today for a matinee. . . . The Rebels (27-15-7), who are at home to Prince Albert tonight, were 7-0-2 in their last nine. . . .

In Cranbrook, D Rinat Valiev banged home a rebound to give the Kootenay Ice a 4-3 OT victory over the Regina Pats. . . . This was victory No. 700 for the Ice franchise, dating back to 1996-97. . . . Valiev’s seventh goal of the season came at 3:27 of extra time. . . . The Ice took a 3-0 lead in the latter stages of the second period, only to have the Pats come back and tie it. . . . Regina F Pavel Padakin scored his 16th goal of the season at 14:01 of the third period to force OT. . . . Regina F Austin Wagner had scored his 14th just 31 seconds earlier. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple stopped 40 shots. . . . Ice D Tyler King had two assist, while F Sam Reinhart also had a goal, his 12th, and an assist on the winner. He is on a 10-game point streak. . . . Regina D Connor Hobbs drew two assists. . . . The Ice began a seven game homestand with this one. . . . The Pats have brought in F Adam Berg, 17, from the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs. . . . Kootenay (27-23-1) is at home to Kelowna tonight. . . . The Pats (26-17-6) are 0-3-3 in their last six outings. They are second in the East Division, seven points ahead of Swift Current. . . . Regina is in Lethbridge tonight. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has a game story right here. . . .

In Lethbridge, F Leon Draisaitl scored the game’s first two goals and the Kelowna Rockets skated to a 6-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Draisaitl, who also had an assist, has six goals. . . . Kelowna F Gage Quinney also scored twice, giving him 12. . . . The Rockets got a goal, his 18th, and two assists from F Justin Kirkland, with F Rourke Chartier and F Tyson Baillie getting two assists each. . . . F Giorgio Estephan scored his 12th goal and added an assist for the Hurricanes. He had 24 points, including 12 goals, in 64 games last season. This season, he has 31 points, 11 of them goals, in 40 games. . . . Kelowna had a 51-25 edge in shots. . . . G Michael Herringer went the distance for the Rockets in his sixth appearance of the season and his first appearance since Jan. 16. He stopped F Jamal Watson on a second-period penalty shot. . . . The Rockets (38-8-4) are 4-0-1 in their last five and will visit the Kootenay Ice tonight. . . . The Hurricanes now are 12-30-6 with Regina coming to town tonight. . . .

In Portland, F Oliver Bjorkstrand scored once and added two assists, all in the first period, as the Winterhawks posted a 6-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Bjorkstrand has 32 goals. His 32nd allowed Portland to take a 4-0 lead into the second period. . . . Portland F Chase De Leo scored twice, giving him 24, while D Adam Henry and D Layne Viveiros each had two assists. . . . Portland G Adin Hill stopped 29 shots, five more than Cole Kehler of the Blazers. . . . With D Michael Fora and D Patrik Maier injured and D Ryan Rehill serving a one-game suspension, the Blazers had D Conner McDonald, 15, in their lineup. A second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft, McDonald plays for the Delta, B.C., midget prep team. . . . The Winterhawks (29-19-3) have won seven straight as they entertain Everett tonight. . . . The Blazers (19-26-6) remain alone in third place in the B.C. Division, two points ahead of Vancouver and Prince George. The Blazers are in Vancouver tonight. . . .

In Prince George, the Seattle Thunderbirds scored four times in each of the first two periods en route to a 9-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . Seattle F Ryan Gropp broke a 1-1 tie with his 19th goal at 15:16 of the first period and the Thunderbirds ended up taking a 4-1 lead into the second. . . . F Roberts Lipsbergs got his fourth goal at 16:06 and F Scott Eansor scored his seventh at 19:08. . . . Lipsbergs finished with two goals, giving him five, and two assists, while F Mathew Barzal had four assists. . . . F Keegan Kolesar helped out with two goals, giving him 17, and an assist. . . . Eansor also had two assists. . . . The Cougars could have two players suspended for tonight’s rematch, as D Josh Connolly took a slashing major and game misconduct at 2:59 of the second period and D Josh Anderson left with a headshot major and game misconduct at 16:23. . . . Seattle G Logan Flodell made his third career start, all against the Cougars. He is 2-1-0, including a victory in his only Seattle start last season. He stopped 21 shots in this one. . . . Flodell came in from the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks earlier in the week after G Danny Mumaugh chose to retire. . . . Seattle D Jared Hauf sat out a one-game suspension for getting into a staged fight nine seconds into Wednesday’s game in Kamloops. . . . Hauf had played in 193 straight regular-season games. . . . Cougars D Sam Ruopp completed a five-game suspension by sitting out this one. . . . After the game, Tbird Tidbits tweeted: “Winning tonight, TBirds are 3-0 this season when Ryan Gibbons works game and is lower-numbered linesman. They are 0-2 when his number is higher.” . . . The Thunderbirds now are 24-19-6 and are third in the U.S. Division, four points ahead of Spokane and Tri-City. . . . The Cougars (20-30-2) have lost 11 in a two (0-9-2). . . . They’ll play again tonight in Prince George. . . .

In Spokane, G Coleman Vollrath stopped 29 shots as the Victoria Royals blanked the Chiefs, 3-0. . . . Spokane has been shut out in three straight games and has been outscored 18-1 in their last five outings. . . . Portland freelancer Scott Sepich tweeted: “Spokane has 1 goal on 134 shots in its last 5 games. Seattle has 9 goals on 26 shots tonight.” . . . Vollrath has four shutouts this season and five him his career. . . . The Royals got two goals and an assist from F Tyler Soy. The sophomore has 17 goals. . . . G Greg Chase had two assists. . . . Spokane got D Evan Fiala back from an undisclosed injury, but still had seven regulars out of action with undisclosed injuries. They also scratched G Tyson Verhelst (ill). . . . The Royals (27-20-4) are comfortably ensconced in second place in the B.C. Division. . . . The Chiefs (23-21-4) have lost seven in a row (0-6-1) for the first time since 2006-07. . . . The Royals visit the Tri-City Americans tonight, while the Chiefs are at home to Medicine Hat. . . .


In Kennewick, Wash., F Curtis Sanford took over the WHL goal-scoring lead as his Medicine Hat Tigers got past the Tri-City Americans, 4-1. . . . Sanford, who also had an assist, has 41 goals, one more than Kelowna F Rourke Chartier. . . . Tigers F Trevor Cox, who leads the WHL scoring race with 85 points, got his 22nd goal and added an assist. . . . F Tyler Sandhu gave the Americans a 1-0 lead with his 12th goal, via the PP, at 4:18 of the first period. . . . Tigers F Matt Bradley tied it with his 11th goal, on a PP, at 9:51. He also had an assist. . . . Cox broke the tie at 19:53 of the first. . . . Tigers G Nick Schneider made 27 saves. . . . Eric Comrie was back in goal for the Americans. Evan Sarthou had made 20 consecutive starts while Comrie was with Canada’s national junior team and then out with an injury. . . . Comrie made 35 saves. . . . The Tigers continue to be without F Steven Owre (jaw), F Anthony Ast (concussion), F Kyle Becker (concussion) and D Kyle Burroughs (suspension), while G Marek Langhamer is nursing a wonky hip. . . . Because of that, the Tigers have D Brad Forrest and F Caleb Fantillo with them on the U.S. trip. Forrest, 17, plays for the AJHL’s Calgary Mustangs. The Calgary native was an eighth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. Fantillo, 16, was taken in the sixth round of the 2013 bantam draft. He plays for the major midget Vancouver North East Chiefs. . . . The Tigers (35-12-2) are on a six-game winning streak. . . . The Americans (24-24-2) have lost two in a row. . . . The Americans are at home tonight against Victoria, while the Tigers visit Spokane tonight. . . .

In Everett, F Patrick Bajkov scored three times to lead the Silvertips to a 7-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . A sophomore from Nanaimo, B.C., Bajkov has 20 goals this season. He has 38 points in 49 games. Last season, he put up 19 points, nine of them goals, in 56 games. . . . After the game, Bajkov told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that his first goal may end up going to D Tristen Pfeifer, who has yet to score a WHL goal. . . . F Ivan Nikolishin scored his 13th goal and drew three assists for Everett, while F Carson Stadnyk scored twice, giving him 20, and added an assist. . . . Everett D Noah Juulsen had three assists and F Matt Fonteyne had two. . . . With G Payton Lee (hand) on the shelf, Vancouver brought in Griffin Baillie to back up Cody Porter. Baillie, an 18-year-old from Merritt, B.C., plays for the junior B Aldergrove Kodiaks. . . . Vancouver also scratched F Matt Bellerive, who was ill. . . . The Silvertips (31-14-4) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Giants (20-28-2) have lost three in a row. . . . The Silvertips are in Portland tonight. Everett leads the U.S. Division by three points over Portland, which has won seven in a row. . . . The Royals are in Kennewick, Wash., to meet Tri-City.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:00 PM
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