Happy New Year!
The Prince Albert Raiders served notice Tuesday that they are intent on spoiling the Saskatoon Blades’ Memorial Cup party.
With the WHL trade deadline arriving on Jan. 10, the Raiders began the day with a 12-point lead over the Blades atop the East Division. The Blades, of course, are the host team for the 2013 Memorial Cup but have had more ups and downs than a yoyo in the first 38 games of their season.
The Raiders, who haven’t even made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, perhaps sense an opening here, so they and the Medicine Hat Tigers got together Tuesday and agreed to swap five players and two draft picks.
The Raiders acquired D Dylan Busenius, 19, F Jayden Hart, 18, and a sixth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft from Medicine Hat for D Zach Hodder, 19, F Logan McVeigh, 18, D Connor Hobbs, 15, and a second-round pick in the 2013 draft.
Hobbs is the the only player involved who isn’t in the WHL. A fourth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft, he turns 16 on Friday and is with the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers. The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder has eight points in 22 games.
Busenius, from Edmonton, was in his fourth season with the Tigers. He has 26 points in 37 games this season. The 16th overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, he gives the Raiders some size – he’s 6-foot-1, 190 pounds – and some more offence from the back end.
Hart had been at home in Spruce Grove, Alta., having asked the Tigers to trade him. A third-round selection in the 2009 bantam draft, he put up 32 points in 67 games as a freshman. This season, he has 10 points in 18 games.
Hodder, from Delta, B.C., was a first-round selection, 20th overall, in the 2008 bantam draft by the Vancouver Giants. He has a history of shoulder problems and has played 87 games with the Giants, Saskatoon Blades and the Raiders over three season. He has three points in 25 games this season.
McVeigh, from Kenaston, Sask., was a second-round selection by the Kamloops Blazers in the 2009 bantam draft. In his third WHL season, he has 23 points in 38 games with the Raiders this season.
On Dec. 31, 2011, the Blazers dealt McVeigh, and a second-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, to the Raiders for F Brandon Herrod, 20.
Hodder and McVeigh were in the Tigers’ lineup last night as they brought in 2013 with a 7-2 loss to the Blades in Saskatoon. McVeigh scored the Tigers’ first goal, while Hodder was minus-4.
The Tigers meet the Raiders in Prince Albert tonight.
For more on the trade, check out the story right here by Dave Leaderhouse of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
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The Brandon Wheat Kings close out a three-game Alberta swing in Calgary against the Hitmen tonight. F Mike Ferland, 20, has an undisclosed injury and will be re-evaluated today before a decision is made as to whether he will play. He left in the second period of Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the host Edmonton Oil Kings.
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D Sena Acolatse (Seattle, Saskatoon, Prince George, 2006-11) underwent surgery for a broken jaw after being hit in the face by a puck on Saturday as his Worcester Sharks dropped a 3-2 decision to the host Providence Bruins. . . . Acolatse, in his second AHL season, had his jaw broken in two places.
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In the OHL, F Nikolay Goldobin scored four times, the last one in OT, as the Sarnia Sting beat host London 6-5 to end the Knights’ winning streak at 24 games. . . . That is one shy of the OHL record held by the 1983-84 Kitchener Rangers. The Rangers share the CHL record with the QMJHL’s 1973-74 Sorel Eparviers. . . . The WHL single-season record of 22 straight is held by the 1967-68 Estevan Bruins. . . . Goldobin, a Russian who isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2014, now has 18 goals. . . . London had won 3-2 in Sarnia on Monday. . . . The Knights actually had a 3-0 first-period lead.
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Concussions and how to prevent them will continue to be a big story in 2013.
Men’s Health magazine has come up with a list of “13 ladies to look for this year.”
No. 3 on the list is Dr. Ann McKee, the co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University.
There’s more right here.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Swift Current, the Lethbridge Hurricanes struck for five third-period goals and beat the Broncos, 6-4. . . . The Broncos led this one 4-2 with 13 minutes left in the third period. . . . F Tyler Wong got the visitors to within one at 7:14 and F Sam Mckechnie tied it at 8:05, with his 18th. . . . D Daniel Johnston got the winner, his seventh, at 14:42, via the PP. . . . F Graham Hood wrapped it up with the empty-netter, at 19:51. . . . Swift Current F Adam Lowry ran his point streak to 15 games with his 25th goal and an assist. . . . Johnston also had an assist, giving him 31 points in 38 games this season. Last season, he finished with 30 points on 55 games. . . . Lethbridge F Brady Ramsay had a goal, his 11th, and two assists. . . . The Hurricanes brought in G Jonny Hogue to backup starter Ty Rimmer as Chris Tai had to leave the club to deal with a family matter. Hogue, 16, was an eight-round bantam draft pick in 2011. Hogue plays for the midget AAA Lethbridge Pronghorns. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades opened up a 7-0 lead and went on to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 7-2. . . . The Blades had lost their previous four games. . . . F Adam Kambeitz had two goals, giving him eight, and an assist for Saskatoon. . . . Blades F Shane McColgan had a goal, his 11th, and an assist on his 20th birthday. . . . Saskatoon G Patrick Johnson stopped 38 shots in earning his first WHL victory. . . . F Josh Nicholls scored his 27th goal for the Blades and now is tied for the WHL lead with F Colin Smith of the Kamloops Blazers and F Todd Fiddler of the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Nicholls scored off a turnover high in the Medicine Hat zone. He went in alone on G Cam Lanigan, put his stick between his legs and went upstairs. “I practise that a lot in warm-ups just for fun,” Nicholls told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “It just felt like the right time to do it. I got it off nicely, luckily. I would have looked pretty stupid if I missed that.” . . . Nicholls, F Shane McColgan and D Dalton Thrower had been bench for the third period of a 6-2 loss in Regina on Sunday. . . . And what did Saskatoon GM/head coach Lorne Molleken think of the goal? “It was a highlight goal,” Molleken told Nugent-Bowman. “Those are things that the fans like to see. I’ll keep my own remarks to myself.” . . . The Blades lost F Nathan Burns in the second period when he didn’t return after being cross-checked from behind by Medicine Hat D Ty Stanton. “It doesn’t look good,” Molleken told Nugent-Bowman. . . . Medicine Hat lost D Kyle Becker following a first-period collision with Saskatoon F Alex Elliott. Becker may be concussed.
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The first time I saw the move that Nicholls used to score last night was in the mid-1980s.
F Theo Fleury of the Moose Jaw Warriors went in alone on G Stacey Nickel of the host Regina Pats, who went down and stacked his pads. Fleury tucked the stick through his legs, reached back and lifted the puck over Nickel’s pads and into the net.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Graeme Craig, Saskatoon

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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From hockey fan Chris Cote (@RealChrisCote): “Who needs a winter classic? The @SCBroncos play today.”
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From Everett Silvertips assistant coach Mitch Love (@mlovehockey): “I swear I grab a broken down grocery cart every time I attempt to go to the store. #nomoreshoppingfor this guy”

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Petr Sachl (Tri-City, 1996-97) signed a try-out contract with Pontebba (Italy, Serie A). He had eight goals and 15 assists in 44 games with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Erste Bank Liga) last season. The contract with Pontebba is for seven games, running through Nov. 3.
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The Portland Winterhawks have dealt G Cam Lanigan, 20, to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a seventh-round selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft.
Lanigan was 3-0 with a 1.00 GAA in three starts with the Winterhawks before the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks returned G Mac Carruth, who was Portland’s starter each of the last two seasons.
The Winterhawks had claimed Lanigan off waivers from the Kamloops Blazers over the summer.
The Winterhawks are left with three 20s — Carruth, D Troy Rutkowski and F Taylor Peters.
The Tigers, meanwhile, now have four 20s, although D Alex Theriau is on the injury list as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. The others are Lanigan, F Elgin Pearce and D Derek Ryckman. When Theriau returns, the Tigers will have 14 days to get down to three.
The Tigers have been using Czech freshman Marek Langhamer and sophomore Dawson MacAuley, a pair of 18-year-olds, as their goaltenders.
However, they are 4-7-1 and dropped a 7-6 decision to the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday night. MacAuley stopped 35 of 42 shots in that game.
The Tigers next play Saturday when they meet the Oil Kings in Edmonton.
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JUST NOTES:
F David Stephens (Edmonton, 2010-12) now is with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. Stephens, 19, has two assists and four penalty minutes in eight games. . . . He had three points in 30 games with the Oil Kings in 2010-11, then played only two games last season before moving on to the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior League. . . . Stephens, who is from Whitehorse, played with the major midget Cariboo Cougars in Prince George before joining the Oil Kings.
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The National Lacrosse League is introducing standardized concussion-testing protocol for all players and all games, and also has stiffened its high-sticking rule. No longer will the NLL rules include a minor penalty for high-sticking.
According to an NLL news release:
“Penalties for high-sticking will now be assessed by the game officials as either a major penalty (five-minute penalty) or a match penalty. A match penalty ejects the offending player from the game AND (provides) a one-game suspension for the team's next game. The offending player's team is also assessed a major penalty. The penalty assessed will be based on the severity of the incident as judged by the game officials. High-sticking infractions may no longer be assessed by officials as a major and game misconduct.”
According to Brian Lemon, the NLL’s vice-president operations, “The Competition Committee felt that by removing the middle classification of major and game misconduct penalty for high-sticking, we will create a greater deterrent for players from making contact on opponents with a high stick. Player safety is of the utmost concern to us, and the NLL will remain at the forefront of protecting its players."
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WEDNESDAY’S STUFF:
F Brendan Ranford and F Colin Smith, both of whom are from Edmonton, scored in the shootout as the Kamloops Blazers scored a 5-4 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. . . . The Oil Kings were 3-for-9 on the PP, with  the third goal, by F Henrik Samuelsson at 18:01 of the third, giving them a 4-3 lead. . . . Kamloops F JC Lipon scored a shorthanded goal at 35 seconds later to force OT. . . . Lipon, the WHL’s leading scorer, had two goals and an assist. He has seven straight multi-point games. . . . Lipon also missed 15 minutes after taking a fighting major and misconduct — his tiedown either broke or wasn’t done up. . . . After the game, Kamloops LW Tim Bozon, who plays on a line with Smith and Lipon, tweeted: “It’s not whl it’s #lipsleague.” . . . Smith had two assists in running his point streak to 11 games. . . . The Blazers, who were 0-for-3 on the PP, moved up from No. 3 to No. 1 in the CHL rankings that were released earlier in the day. At 10-0-1, they are the only one of the CHL’s 60 teams not to have lost in regulation time. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave ran his record to 7-0 with a 34-save effort. . . . Kamloops has won eight in a row. . . . The Blazers conclude their five-game trip by visiting the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday and the Kootenay Ice on Saturday. . . .

F Kohl Bauml’s two goals helped the Everett Silvertips to a 3-1 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current. . . . Everett G Daniel Cotton stopped 28 shots. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray had three assists. He passed F Peter Mueller and moved into fifth on the Silvertips’ all-time assists list, with 90. . . . Everett scored the game’s first two goals and Bauml sealed it with an empty-netter. . . . Everett plays Friday in Prince Albert and Saturday in Saskatoon before heading home. . . .

D Daniel Johnston had a goal and an assist on his 20th birthday to help the host Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 6-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Wheat Kings are 1-1 on a seven-game road trip, but have given up 12 goals in the two games. . . . F Macoy Erkamps and F Brady Ramsay each had a goal and two assists for Lethbridge. . . . Ramsay was playing his first game after serving a five-game WHL suspension. . . . Brandon F Jayce Hawryluk, whose freshman season was slowed by a concussion, scored his first WHL goal. . . . Lethbridge F Jamal Watson came up short on a second-period penalty shot against Brandon G Curtis Honey. . . . The Wheat Kings will be without F Jason Swyripa indefinitely after he suffered an injury to his left wrist during a 7-6 victory in Medicine Hat on Tuesday. His left wrist was in a cast on Wednesday. He is to undergo further tests today in Calgary. . . .

F Matej Stransky’s OT goal gave the Saskatoon Blades a 3-2 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . Stransky scored at 1:16 of OT. . . . F Josh Nicholls scored both of Saskatoon’s regulation-time goals, the second one tying the score at 17:37 of the second. He has 10 goals this season, eight of them coming over his last four games. . . . Nicholls’ first goal last night was the 100th of his WHL career. . . . The Americans, who play Friday in Regina and Saturday in Swift Current, had their four-game winning streak snapped, but have points in eight straight. . . . Tri-City G Eric Comrie stopped 31 shots in his 12th consecutive start. . . . Saskatoon D Duncan Siemens played in his 20th regular season game. . . . Saskatoon was without F Brent Benson (flu). . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix notes that Tri-City F Jesse Mychan and Blazers associate coach David Struch are cousins. . . . Mychan actually was a 10th-round selection by the Blades in the 2007 bantam draft. . . . The Blades, whose bandwagon was emptying a week ago, now have won three in a row to get to 5-7-0. . . . F Rodney Southam, who signed with the Americans earlier in the week, made his WHL debut and earned an assist. He is from Saskatoon and plays for the midget AAA Contacts.
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CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Tyler Bell, Kamloops

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:
From the Okanagan Sun (@Okanagan_Sun) of the B.C. Football Conference: “Older Sun director mentions Eagle Keys at practice. Someone responds: 'the ski jumper?' Lol, time flies when you are a CFL legend.”
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TWEET OF THE DAY II:
F Brendan Shinnimin (@shinboslice), who is with the AHL’s Portland Pirates, actually tweeted this on Tuesday evening: “Just as I go to sit down and eat my home cooked meal....earthquake!..literally. #scary #aftershock #hitthedeck @Martyman17 @vizzer29”
(Tip of the cap to Bruce for this one.)
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TWEET OF THE DAY III:
From Andy Eide (@Andy Eide), who follows the Seattle Thunderbirds for 710 ESPN Seattle: “My new mission is to get mentioned by @gdrinnan in his tweet of the day. #pandering #Ihavebigego #needtoseemynameinprint”
(Andy, keep trying!)
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Sponsors were abandoning Lance Armstrong like bees running from a smoking hive on Wednesday, all of them, including Nike, wanting to distance themselves from the scandal-riddled cyclist. Jason Gay of the The Wall Street Journal has his take on the Armstrong debacle right here.

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When the WHL’s weekly injury list is released today or tomorrow, the Portland Winterhawks likely will show F Oliver Gabriel as being out with an upper body injury. His left shoulder apparently popped out twice in Friday’s 7-6 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals. . . . An observer tells me: “The first time was in a fight early in the game; he basically had to give up the fight and he skated straight to the locker-room. He came back for a couple of shifts at the end of the period, then on the first shift of the second period, he just collapsed in a heap on the ice in obvious pain. He eventually got up and his left arm was just dangling as he skated off. From what I can tell, there was no contact at all the second time.” . . . Gabriel had his 2010-11 season come to a premature end when he needed surgery on his right shoulder. . . . He has signed with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets – he was a free-agent signing – and began this season with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons. If he is gone for any length of time, it could be a devastating loss for a Portland team that needs his grit up front.
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D Tyler Bortsmayer, 18, is back with the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings after a brief stint with the Regina Pats. . . . He joined the Pats in mid-December and was pointless in four games. . . .
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MONDAY’S GAME:
In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes broke a 2-2 tie with five goals and beat the Kootenay Ice, 5-2. . . . F Reid Duke, the fifth overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, scored his first WHL goal for Lethbridge. . . . F Max Reinhart scored twice for the Ice. He’s got 18 this season. . . . Lethbridge D Daniel Johnston had three assists. . . . Lethbridge G Damien Ketlo stopped 31 shots. . . . Lethbridge F Russell Maxwell’s ninth goal broke a 2-2 tie at 12:53 of the second period. . . . The Hurricanes were 3-for-9 on the PP; the Ice was 1-for-5.
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MONDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
F Albin Blomqvist, Lethbridge.
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Team Pacific went into Monday’s play at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge riding high atop the B Group with a 3-0 record. But then it lost 4-2 to the United States and now finds itself playing for fifth place against Quebec. . . . The U.S., Russia and Team Pacific all finished 3-1. According to the tiebreaking procedure, a sub-group is created “of the three teams that have the same record. The tie-break between the three teams is the goal differential in the games played amongst each other. The seeded teams then are: USA in first (+1), Russia in second (even), Pacific in third (-1).” . . . F Torrin White (Moose Jaw) and F Morgan Klimchuk (Regina) scored for Team Pacific. . . . Team West, meanwhile, lost 6-3 to Russia and now is 0-4, the first Canadian team to go winless since Quebec went 0-4 in Lethbridge in 2005. . . . F Denis Bosc (MJHL-Steinbach Pistons), F Cory Millette (Red Deer) and F Jordan Tkatch (Prince George) scored for Team West, which will play Germany in the ninth-place game. . . . Today’s semifinals feature Sweden against the U.S., and Russia versus defending-champion Ontario.
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WHL TRADE TRACKER (trades made since Dec. 27):
Trades made: 4
Players: 11
Draft picks: 4
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JUST NOTES:
The Chicago Blackhawks announced the signing of F Mark McNeill of the Prince Albert Raiders on Monday. McNeill, the 18th overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, has 39 points in 37 games with the Raiders this season. Capgeek.com actually reported this deal on Sunday, noting that the three-year deal calls for AHL salaries of US$70,000, annual NHL salaries of $1.175 million and a signing bonus of $277,500 payable over the three years. . . .
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Grant Thomas, a former QMJHL defenceman (Montreal Rocket, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Halifax Mooseheads, 2001-04), is the proud father of Langley, B.C.’s New Years baby. His wife, Katie, gave birth to Blake Colton Thomas at 8:10 a.m. He weighed nine pounds six ounces and already is 22 inches tall. “He’s thick,” Grant told Troy Landreville of the Langley Advance. “He’ll definitely be finishing his bodychecks.”
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Andrew Podnieks takes a look right here at linesman Kiel Murchison, who works WHL games while also serving as a Vancouver police officer. Murchison has been working the lines at the World Junior Championship.
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Jack Jablonski, a 16-year-old high school hockey player from the Minneapolis area, was left paralyzed after taking a hit from two opposing players on Friday night. According to his coach, Jablonski has no movement in his legs and minimal movement in his hands and figures. Dan Browning of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has more right here.
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Dave Paul of the Sarnia Observer talks with Alex Galchenyuk Sr., an assistant coach with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, and Sherry Bassin, the Erie Otters’ general manager, about the Punchup in Piestany that took place 25 years ago. That story is right here and, boy, have we come a long ways since that day.

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