Sunday, January 8, 2017

Rockets, Hitmen swap forwards . . . Warriors, Giants cut deal . . . Death of a landmark

WHL trades since Dec. 27:
Trades: 20.
Players: 33.
Bantam draft picks: 24.
Conditional bantam draft picks: 6.
(WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10).
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The Kelowna have dealt F Jake Kryski, 18, to the Calgary Hitmen for F Carsen Twarynski, 19, and a conditional third-round WHL bantam draft pick.
The Rockets had acquired Kryski from the Kamloops Blazers over the summer, sending brothers Dan and Joe Gatenby, both defencemen, and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft the other way.
JAKE KRYSKI
CARSEN TWARYNSKI
The Prince Albert Raiders selected Kryski in the first round of the 2013 bantam draft. He went to the Blazers on July 10, 2013, in a deal that had G Cole Cheveldave go the other way.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Kryski, from Vancouver, had 29 points, including 13 goals, in 37 games with the Rockets this season, but never really seemed to fit in there. The Hitmen are hoping that he can add some spark to their offence over the next couple of seasons.
In 173 career games, Kryski has 36 goals and 58 assists.
Kryski is expected to be in Calgary’s lineup on Tuesday when they meet the Blades in Saskatoon.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Twarynski, from Calgary, had 10 goals and 11 assists in 36 games with the Hitmen this season. In 161 career games, all with the Hitmen, he has 36 goals and 52 assists.
Twarynski adds some size to the Rockets’ forward ranks, something that will be needed in what is shaping up as a four-team battle for playoff positioning in the B.C. Division.
The Philadelphia Flyers selected Twarynski in the third round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. If he doesn’t return to the Rockets for his 20-year-old season Kelowna will get a third-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.
Twarynski is expected to make his Kelowna debut on Wednesday against the host Victoria Royals.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have acquired F Thomas Foster, 20, and two bantam draft picks — an
BRAYDEN WATTS
eight-
THOMAS FOSTER
rounder in 2017 and a fifth-rounder in 2018 — from the Vancouver Giants for F Brayden Watts, 17, a fifth-round pick in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2018.
Having added Foster to their roster, the Warriors were one over the 20-year-old limit, so they placed F Dakota Odgers on waivers.
Foster joins D Matt Sozanski and D Josh Thrower as Moose Jaw’s 20-year-olds.
The 6-foot-0, 185-pound Foster was a first-round pick by Vancouver in the 2011 bantam draft. In his fifth season with the Giants, he has 42 goals and 84 assists in 259 games. This season, the native of Slave Lake, Alta., has 10 goals and 18 assists in 38 games.
Foster was a late scratch on Sunday afternoon, prior to the Giants’ game in Cranbrook, B.C., against the Kootenay Ice. The trade was announced shortly after the game’s completion.
Watts is from Bakersfield, Calif., and was in his second season with the Warriors. The 6-foot-0, 165-pounder had four goals in 40 games with the Warriors this season, after putting up three goals and two assists in 57 games as a freshman last season. He was a third-round pick by the Warriors in the 2014 bantam draft.
Vancouver now has two 20-year-olds on its roster — D Dmitry Osipov and D Jeff Rayman.
Odgers, the son of former NHL/WHL F Jeff Odgers, is from Spy Hill, Sask. He was a second-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2011 bantam draft. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Odgers has 16 goals and 20 assists in 237 games split between the Broncos, Giants and Warriors. This season, he had two goals and six assists in 42 games with Moose Jaw.
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Kim MacDougall, who played for the Regina Pats when they won the 1974 Memorial Cup, is 62 years of age now. “The one thing I’ve learned as you get older is that nothing lasts forever — you, me, the buildings, everything,” MacDougall told Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post. “They have their time and their place. At some point, they outlive their time and their place and you move on.” . . . MacDougall and Vanstone were touring Regina’s venerable Exhibition Stadium, once the entertainment centrepiece of Saskatchewan’s capital city but a building that now is slated for demolition. . . . The Pats last played there on March 23, 1990, when they beat the Swift Current Broncos, 4-3 in OT, on a goal by Troy Mick. . . . Vanstone has more on the building’s history right here.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:

At Edmonton, F Zach Fischer scored twice to help the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Oil
ZACH FISCHER
Kings. . . . The Tigers took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by F John Dahlstrom (19), at 5:58, and Fischer, at 14:47. . . . Edmonton F Trey Fix-Wolansky cut into the lead with his 11th goal, on a PP, at 15:42. . . . Second-period goals from F Matt Bradley (18), shorthanded, at 5:30, and Fischer, at 8:05, put the Tigers back in control. . . . Fischer has 22 goals. . . . F Adam Berg’s fourth goal got Edmonton to within two goals, at 1:44 of the third period, but F James Hamblin iced it for Medicine Hat with his 10th goal, at 6:22. . . . The Tigers got three assists from D Brad Forrest and two from F Mason Shaw. . . . G Nick Schneider stopped 28 shots to earn his WHL-leading 26th victory. . . . Edmonton got 40 saves from G Patrick Dea. . . . Edmonton was 1-5 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 0-4. . . . The Tigers (29-12-1) have won two in a row. They are second in the overall standings, two points behind the Regina Pats, who have four games in hand. . . . The Oil Kings (18-20-4) have lost three straight. They are in possession of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Announced attendance: 7,885.
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At Cranbrook, B.C., the Kootenay Ice erased a 1-0 deficit as they skated to a 3-2 victory over the
PAYTON LEE
Vancouver Giants. . . . F Tyler Popowich gave the visitors a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 7:11 of the first period. . . . Ice D Cale Fleury tied it with his seventh goal, at 8:36. . . . F Barrett Sheen (7) gave the home team a 2-1 lead at 19:03 of the second period and F Austin Wellsby (4) stretched that to 3-1 at 3:17 of the third. . . . Popowich’s second goal of the game, and fifth of the season, got the Giants to within a PP goal at 9:52. . . . D Matt Barberis had two assists for the Giants. . . . Sheen added an assist to his goal. . . . G Payton Lee, who played three-plus seasons with the Giants, stopped 32 shots. A Cranbrook native, Lee went from the Giants to the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Ice. . . . Vancouver got 26 stops from G David Tendeck. . . . The Giants were 2-4 on the PP; the Ice was 0-3. . . . Vancouver F Tyler Benson missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Giants scratched F Thomas Foster, 20, just prior to game time and after the game announced that he had been traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . With the trade deadline arriving on Tuesday, the Ice scratched F Zak Zborosky and F Matt Alfaro, two of their top forwards. . . . The Ice (10-24-8) has won two in a row, but is 12 points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Giants (16-23-3) have lost three in a row and are eight points shy of the playoffs. . . . Announced attendance: 1,645.
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At Spokane, F Ryan Gropp scored at 15:39 of the third period to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 2-1
RYAN GROPP
victory over the Chiefs. . . . Gropp, who has 10 goals, redirected a point shot by D Ethan Bear, who assisted on both Seattle goals. . . . F Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored his 11th goal, on a PP, at 15:42 of the second period, to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. . . . The Thunderbirds tied it at 6:21 of the third period when F Keegan Kolesar scored his sixth goal. . . . G Rylan Toth stopped 27 shots for the Thunderbirds, while the Chiefs got 36 stops from G Dawson Weatherill. . . . Interestingly, Toth and Weatherill are both former Red Deer Rebels goaltenders. . . . Spokane was 1-3 on the PP; Seattle was 0-3. . . . F Scott Eansor was back in Seattle’s lineup after a one-game absence, but F Mathew Barzal has yet to play since skating for Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . Barzal is expected to play in Seattle’s next game against the host Everett Silvertips on Saturday. . . . Seattle F Sami Moilanen left in the second period with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Thunderbirds (21-14-4) have won three in a row. They are third in the U.S. Division, three points ahead of the idle Portland Winterhawks who had two weekend games postponed by weather conditions. . . . The Chiefs (17-17-7) had points in each of their previous three games (2-0-1). They are two points out of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Announced attendance: 4,125.
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MONDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Tri-City at Moose Jaw 7 p.m.
Prince George at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Calgary at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

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