Sentencing date set for Blazers' owner . . . Brandon, Lethbridge settle on goaltenders

Tom Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, will be in a Kamloops courtroom on Oct. 10 to be sentenced after being found guilty in August of two environmental-related charges. Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week reports that “the maximum penalties for harmful alteration of a fish habitat are fines of up to $1 million and/or six months in jail.” . . . Petruk’s story is right here.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings got down to two goaltenders on Saturday by releasing Josh Dechaine, 16, who will join the midget AAA St. Albert, Alta., Raiders. . . . That leaves Brandon with Jordan Papirny, 18, the Wheat Kings’ rookie of the year last season, and freshman Logan Thompson, 17, on its roster. Papirny, the 22nd overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, is in camp with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Thompson, from Calgary, was a sixth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . The Wheat Kings close out their exhibition schedule against the Warriors in Moose Jaw today. . . . Bruce Luebke, the long-time radio voice of the Wheat Kings, tweeted Saturday morning: “At Young Stars Tourney, @bdnwheatkings D and @NHLFlames prospect Eric Roy left in 1st period last night with upper body injury.” . . . Later, Luebke pointed out that Roy missed part of the Flames’ camp a year ago “because of an abdominal injury.”
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes got their roster down to 28 early on Saturday as they released D Connor Rokosh, F Reid Nemeth and G Jonny Hogue. . . . That leaves the Hurricanes with two goaltenders -- Zac Robidoux, 18, who was acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers earlier this month, and Stuart Skinner, who turns 16 on Nov. 1. Skinner was the 17th overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . The Hurricanes gave up a third-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft for Robidoux. If he is on a WHL roster next season, the Tigers also will get a fourth-round pick in 2017. . . . Hogue was an eighth-round pick in 2011, while Nemeth was a ninth-round pick in 2011. . . . Hogue was 2-10-0/5.94/.855 last season. . . . Nemeth had five points, including three goals, in 58 games last season. . . . Rokosh, a fourth-round pick in 2013, will join the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club midget AAA team.
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Former WHL D Bobby Zinkan, 19, has joined the junior A Summerside, P.E.I., Western Capitals. Zinkan, from Calgary, was a fourth-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2010 bantam draft. He played 102 games with the Broncos, picking up two goals and two assists, before being dealt in May to the Vancouver Giants for F Luca Leone and a sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. The Giants released him last week. Zinkan is likely to make his debut with the Capitals on Friday. . . . Tip of the hat to Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Broncos, for the tweet on Zinkan. . . .
Swift Current was without D Jordan Harris on Saturday night as they beat the Saskatoon Blades 4-2 in a game played in Maple Creek. Harris suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday night. . . . Last night, the Broncos played with only 16 skaters, two under the maximum allowed. . . . Broncos D Dillon Heatherington, 19, suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday night while playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a tournament in Traverse City, Mich. He didn’t practice Saturday, nor did he play in that evening’s 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. . . .
Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald reports that F Taylor Vickerman, 18, has been cleared to return to action with the Tri-City Americans. Vickerman, who is from Kennewick, Wash., suffered a knee injury on Feb. 15. He is expected to be available to play in the Americans’ season-opener on Saturday. The Edmonton Oilers have signed F Greg Chase of the Calgary Hitmen to a three-year entry-level contract. He was a seventh-round selection in the 2013 NHL draft.
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Former #BWK and @VanCanucks Ted Taylor is Saturdays ST #20in20 Contest winner! $100 gift card from @MontanasBrandon pic.twitter.com/PbRTyLK4Fa
— Brandon Wheat Kings (@bdnwheatkings) September 13, 2014

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Raiders 200 short of goal . . . Pats are Steeling for new season

F Jaroslav Svoboda (Kootenay, 1998-2000) signed a one-month contract with Red Ice Martigny (Switzerland, NL B) as an injury replacement. Last season, with Chomutov (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had eight goals and four assists in 25 games. . . .
F David Turoň (Portland, 2002-03) has been released by Havířov (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). Last season, with Meran/Merano (Italy, Inter-National-League), he had 22 points, 12 of them goals, in 25 games. He also had two goals and seven assists in 16 games with Fassa (Italy, Serie A). . . .
F Colton Yellow Horn (Lethbridge, Tri-City, 2003-08) has signed a one-year contract with Nippon Paper Cranes Kushiro (Japan, Asia HL). Last season, with Székesfehérvár (Hungary, Erste Bank Liga), he had 43 points, including 20 goals, in 43 games.
D Vladimír Sičák (Medicine Hat, 1998-2000) has signed a one-year contract with Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had three goals and eight assists in 40 games. The contract includes a clause that Sičák can exercise in December and January to move to another club outside of Czech Republic.
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The Prince Albert Raiders are hoping to sell at least 200 more season tickets between now and their regular-season opener. General manager Bruno Campese tells Darryl Mills of the Prince Albert Daily Herald: “At the moment, we’re at about 1,500. We need to be at 1,700.” . . . Campese wonders if tickets sales have been hurt by summer chatter involving the future of F Leon Draisaitl and D Josh Morrissey. . . . Mills’ story is right here.
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F Sam Steel was the second overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft. That means, of course, that he couldn’t play regularly with the Regina Pats last season, so now is preparing for his freshman season. As Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post reports right here, Steel is off to a great start with seven points in two games. Yes, it’s the exhibition season, but you're free to start with the nicknames.
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It appears that F Reid Duke’s camp did ask the Lethbridge Hurricanes to trade him when he chose not to report for the start of training camp. But, as Dale Woodard of the Lethbridge Herald reports right here, that didn’t happen and now Duke is back with the team and rarin’ to go.
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Portland freelancer Scott Sepich (@SSepich) tweeted Wednesday afternoon that “it appears that 20-year-olds Trace Elson and Trent Lofthouse have been removed from the Winterhawks preseason roster.” . . . He followed that up with: “Hawks decided to go younger with Evan Weinger and Jack Flaman up front, means they likely keep Josh Smith/Josh Hanson as 20s on back line.” . . . Elson and Lofthouse both are forwards with WHL experience. Elson, who doesn’t turn 20 until Nov. 25, played five games with the Red Deer Rebels in 2011-12 and 15 games with the Vancouver Giants last season. Lofthouse has split 148 regular-season games between the Everett Silvertips, Victoria Royals and Vancouver. He is the son of former WHLer Mark Lofthouse (New Westminster, 1974-77). . . . The Winterhawks are left with three 20s on their roster in F Adam De Champlain, D Josh Hanson and D Joshua Smith. Smith, from Lacombe, Alta., will turn 20 on Oct. 10. His WHL experience? He has played 93 games with the Prince George Cougars since 2009-10. He has 11 points, including one goal, in that time, but will bring some ruggedness to Portland’s back end.
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The Red Deer Rebels released D Kirk Bear on Wednesday. Bear, 19, is from Whitewood, Sask. He was pointless in 35 games as a freshman with the Rebels last season. . . . Bear is expected to join the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. . . . The Rebels’ roster is down to 26 players. . . . Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate reports that veterans Kolton Dixon, 19, and Devan Fafard, 20, both of whom played defence last season, are trying to make the Rebels’ roster as forwards.
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The Vancouver Giants have released D Bobby Zinkan, 19, who has 102 regular-season WHL games on his resume, all of them with the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Zinkan, from Calgary, was a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . In 102 games with the Broncos, he had two goals and two assists. . . . On May 7, the Giants dealt F Luca Leone, 18, and a sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft to the Broncos for Zinkan.
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The Tri-City Americans have released F Jake Mykitiuk, who turns 19 on Nov. 21, and he is expected to return to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. . . . The 5-foot-7, 160-pounder played two seasons (2011-13) with the Prince George Cougars, putting up 21 points, including seven goals, in 126 games. . . . F Dawson Leedahl of the Everett Silvertips will sit out two weekend games with a WHL-issued suspension. He took a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct against the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday. 
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Baseball broadcaster just used term, "concussion-like symptoms." Can't believe that terminology still exists.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) September 3, 2014

Well, this is happening at Dodger Stadium #dodgers pic.twitter.com/fbWJkc8uX5
— Greg Merideth (@gregofla) September 3, 2014

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Oil Kings, Winterhawks dead even in final

F Zdenek Okal (Medicine Hat, 2008-10) had the option year of his contract picked up by Zlin (Czech Republic, Extraliga). This season with Zlin, he had seven points, five of them goals, in 44 games. On loan to Sumperk (Czech Republic, 1. Liga), he had a goal and an assist in three games.
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1. When Ron Hextall was scrapping his way through the WHL (Brandon, 1981-84) and NHL, how many of you saw him as a future NHL general manager? Well, he now is the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers.

2. The Prince George Cougars will hold a news conference on Tuesday at the CN Centre to introduce the franchise’s new owners to media and fans. . . . The festivities will begin with a barbecue at 11:30 a.m., with the news conference set for 12:15 p.m. . . . All members of the new ownership group are scheduled to be on hand, including NHL defencemen Eric Brewer and Dan Hamhuis, both of whom are former Cougars players.

3. If you’re a fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, you should know that their championship-season DVD is scheduled to hit stores on May 23. There is more right here.

4. Former Roughriders running back Kory Sheets ran afoul of the law in Estevan, Sask., recently. This story right here was first reported by the Estevan Mercury. . . . This wasn’t Sheets’ first brush with the law. There’s more right here.

5. These are interesting times with the Penticton Minor Hockey Association, which is alleging that its treasurer embezzled $315,650. However, the woman who handled the association’s finances died in July. The Penticton Herald’s latest story on this situation is right here.

6. Ryan Ohashi, who knows his way around the WHL, has another blog entry right here that covers a lot of ground, including a pretty good rant brought on by attendance at Game 3 of the WHL’s championship series in Edmonton.

7. D Josh Morrissey scored his first professional goal Wednesday night as the host St. John’s IceCaps beat the Norfolk Admirals 2-1 in a second-round AHL playoff game. Morrissey was selected 13th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL’s 2013 draft. He played the last three seasons with the Prince Albret Raiders. From Calgary, Morrissey had one assist in eight games with the IceCaps at the end of this regular season. Last night, he opened the scoring with a second-period PP goal.

8. There are comebacks and there are comebacks. Then there are the Clinton LumberKings, a Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners who play in the Midwest League. Last night, they trailed the Burlington Bees, another Iowa-based club, 17-1 after five innings. The game, however, went 12 innings, with the LumberKings winning, 20-17. The eventual winners struck for six runs in the sixth inning, five in the eighth and five more in the ninth.
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To date, the roster of presenters for the 2014 Hockey Coaches Conference is at six. . . . That includes Barry Trotz, until recently the only head coach in the history of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, who will deal with bench management. . . . Frantz Jean, the goaltending coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, will deal with, yes, goaltending. . . . Martin Gelinas, an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames, will present on the power play, while Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska is to handle the penalty kill. . . . Jamie Pringle, the Flames’ video coach, will deal with video technology, and Matt Nichol handles physical presentation. . . . The conference is scheduled for July 18 and 19 at the U of British Columbia in Vancouver. . . . For more info, click on the ad at the top of this page.
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D Aaron Keller (Kamloops, 1992-96) has retired. The 39-year-old Keller, who played on two Memorial Cup-winners while with the Blazers, has played in Japan since 1999. This season, he had 35 points, including four goals, in 42 games with Oji of the Asian league. He also has played internationally for Japan. . . . Keller posted his on Facebook: “Just wanted to say thanks to my family, friends, teammates past and present and all of my coaches throughout the years who have been influential and supportive in my hockey career. The skates are officially hung up and on to the next phase of my career!”
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The Swift Current Broncos have dealt D Bobby Zinkan, 19, to the Vancouver Giants for F Luca Leone, 18, and a 2016 sixth-round bantam draft pick. . . . Leone, from Vancouver, had six points, including two goals, in 33 games with the Giants this season. . . . Zinkan was a fourth-round pick by the Broncos in the 2010 bantam draft. He had four points, two of them goals, in 52 games this season.
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G Marek Langhamer of the Medicine Hat Tigers has signed a three-year entry-level deal with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. Langhamer, who is to turn 20 on July 22, is from Pisek, Czech Republic. He was a seventh-round selection by the Coyotes in the 2012 NHL draft. . . . This season, he was 23-14-3, 2.58, .913 with the Tigers.
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THE OHL FINAL:
In North Bay, the Guelph Storm whipped the Battalion 10-1 and now hold a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven championship series. . . . F Scott Kosmachuk had a goal and three assists for the Storm, which scored the game’s first nine goals. . . . The Storm gets it first chance to wrap it up on Friday in Guelph.
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THE QMJHL FINAL:
In Val-d’Or, F Felix Girard, the team captain, scored at 14:41 of OT to give the Baie-Comeau Drakkar a 4-3 victory over the Foreurs. . . . The best-of-seven championship final is tied 2-2 with Game 5 scheduled for Friday in Baie-Comeau. . . . F Alexandre Ranger of the Drakkar forced OT with a PP goal at 16:25 of the third period. . . . The Foreurs got two goals from F Anthony Mantha, who has scored 22 times in these playoffs.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks have signed Todd Robinson as an assistant coach. . . . Robinson, who played in the WHL with the Portland Winterhawks (1994-99), spent nine seasons as a player in Muskegon, suiting up with the Fury (2000-07) and the Lumberjacks (2008-10), both of which were pro teams. . . . According to a Lumberjacks news release, “Robinson played 15 years of professional hockey with 13 different organizations spanning over seven different leagues and compiled a stat line of 1,546 points (402 goals and 1,144 assists) to go along with a plus-133 rating in 1,125 career games played.”
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The AHL’s Portland Pirates have signed a one-season extension to their affiliation agreement with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. . . . Portland head coach Ray Edwards has added the general manager’s duties to his portfolio, while assistant coach John Slaney and head trainer Mike Booi have signed extensions and will be back for their fourth seasons.
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The NHL’s Los Angeles Kings have chosen not to renew the contract of Mark Morris, who had been head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs. Morris, the winningest coach in Manchester history, had been head coach there for eight seasons. With a record of 338-251-39, .569, he is the 10th-winningest coach in AHL history.
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THE FOURTH ROUND (best-of-seven; all times local):
WHL final, for the Ed Chynoweth Cup
(x - if necessary)
(All games televised live by Shaw)
(All games televised on delayed basis by Root Sports)
PORTLAND (2, West) vs. Edmonton (1, East)
(Series tied, 2-2)
Season series: Portland, 0-0-1; Edmonton, 1-0-0.
Saturday: Edmonton 2 at Portland 5 (10,947)
Sunday: Edmonton 1 at Portland 3 (10,645)
Tuesday: Portland 2 at Edmonton 3 (6,799)
Wednesday: Portland 0 at Edmonton 2 (7,859)
Friday: Edmonton at Portland, 7 p.m. (Moda Center)
Sunday: Portland at Edmonton, 4 p.m.
x-Monday: Edmonton at Portland, 7 p.m. (Memorial Coliseum)
INJURIES
Portland: None.
Edmonton: None.
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WEDNESDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton, G Tristan Jarry stopped 26 shots in leading the Oil Kings to a 2-0 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . The WHL’s championship series for the Ed Chynoweth Cup now is tied 2-2 with Game 5 in Portland on Friday night and Game 6 back in Edmonton on Sunday. . . . The Winterhawks, who scored 10 goals in the first seven periods of the series, now haven’t scored a goal in 116:30. . . . Jarry has three shutouts in 19 games in these playoffs. He is 14-4, 2.01, .927. . . . According to WHL Facts (@WHLFacts), the Winterhawks had played 247 regular-season, playoff and Memorial Cup games without being blanked. . . . Edmonton’s first goal came at 8:40 of the second period when a shot by D Dysin Mayo bounced off the end glass and back over the net, from where F Mitch Moroz put in the rebound. . . . Moroz, a 35-goal man in the regular season, had gone eight games without a goal. . . . Edmonton F Curtis Lazar, who scored 41 times in the regular season, made it 2-0 at 6:17 of the third period. . . . Portland G Corbin Boes stopped 35 shots. . . . Edmonton was 0-for-7 on the PP; Portland was 0-for-3. . . . The Oil Kings got three power-play opportunities in the second period when Portland F Brendan Leipsic took three minor penalties in a span of 9:34. . . . In the first three games, the Winterhawks had outscored the Oil Kings 7-0 in first periods (3-0, 2-0, 2-0). Last night, the first period was scoreless. . . . The Oil Kings are 14-4 in these playoffs, including 10-0 at home. . . . Portland also is 14-4, and is 9-0 at home. . . . D Blake Heinrich made his WHL debut with the Winterhawks. A fifth-round selection by the Washington Capitals in the NHL’s 2013 draft, Heinrich spent this season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
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From Not Ron Robison (@NotRonRobison): “You Portland people thought I was going to hand your Hawks the cup on Friday didn't you?”


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