F Kris Beech (Calgary, 1995-2001) signed a contract with AIK Stockholm (Sweden, Elitserien) for the rest of this season. Beech, who signed a "game-by-game" contract with AIK in December, has two goals in twogames with AIK. He started the season with Pardubice (Czech Republic, Extraliga), getting two goals and six assists in 21 games before his release in November. . . .
G Marek Schwarz (Vancouver, 2004-05) was traded by Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga) to Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga) for G Marek Pinc. Schwarz has a 3.84 GAA and an .890 save percentage in 16 games with Sparta this season. . . .D Darcy Werenka (Lethbridge, Brandon, 1989-1993) signed a contract for the rest of this season with Kapfenberg (Austria, National Amateur). Werenka has not played so far this season. Last season, he had four goals and 20 assists in 26 games for Rouen (France Ligue Magnus). Werenka has dual Canadian-Austrian citizenship.
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 |
| TANNER MORT |
Mort, from Post Falls, Idaho, was in his fourth season with the Chiefs. He suffered a suspected concussion on Oct. 12, during a 5-1 loss to the Blazers in Kamloops.
He suffered what the Chiefs are calling “an upper body injury.”
"Tanner's injury has steadily improved,” Chiefs general manager Tim Speltz said in the news release, “but he is still experiencing some discomfort so we all agreed that it would be best to shut him down to rest and recover."We are all willing to be patient with the process and understand that Tanner's health is the number one priority.”
Mort has 32 points in 137 career regular-season games with the Chiefs.
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Three Friday afternoon tweets from TSN’s Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie):
1. “NHL teams have until Fri Jan 18 to return underage juniors to their respective teams or they must be put on the NHL roster.”
2. “If an underage junior plays 6 NHL games this season, it burns a year of entry-level contract.”
3. “Underager can be returned to jr until April 3 (NHL trade deadline/roster freeze). If played in 5 NHL or less games, no contract year burned.”
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Put your team in front of a bus and you will get a three-game suspension. At least that’s what happened to Terry Jones, the head coach of the junior B Beaver Valley NiteHawks. There’s more right here.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:
In Moose Jaw, D Nick Walters drew three assists to help the Brandon Wheat Kings end a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Warriors. . . . The victory moved Brandon, which is last in the 12-team Eastern Conference, to within a point of the Warriors and kept them within a point of the Kootenay Ice. . . . Walters was acquired from the Everett Silvertips on Thursday. He had nine assists in 35 games with Everett this season. . . . This was the first three-point game of Walters’ career and came in his 146th regular-season game. . . . According to Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald, “Walters . . . drove from Everett to Abbotsford, B.C., at 5 a.m., caught a flight to Calgary, then flew to Regina where the Wheat Kings bus picked him up to drive him to Moose Jaw.” . . . Brandon D Rene Hunter scored his first goal of the season and was plus-4. . . . The Warriors have lost six straight games. . . . Among Brandon’s scratches were F Jayce Hawryluk (ill) and D Ryan Pulock (wrist). . . . F Ben Duperreault, who plays for the midget AAA Moose Jaw Generals, made his debut with the Warriors, who were without F Jordan Wyton (undisclosed) and F Torrin White (mononucleosis). . . . Moose Jaw is without D Morgan Rielly, who is in Toronto preparing for the Maple Leafs’ training camp. . . .
In Swift Current, F Adam Lowry ran his point streak to 19 games as the Broncos beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 3-1. . . . Lowry drew an assist on F Colby Cave’s empty-netter at 19:52 of the third period and now has the longest point streak in the WHL this season. . . . Swift Current G Eetu Laurikainen stopped 43 shots. . . . Broncos F Jay Merkley broke a 1-1 tie at 2:25 of the third period. He’s got 16 goals. . . . There was only one minor penalty called in the game, that to Swift Current F Daniel Dale for goaltender interference at 3:00 of the second period. . . . The Raiders were without F Mark McNeill (ill). . . .
In Regina, the Calgary Hitmen won their sixth straight game and 30th of the season, beating the Pats, 6-1. . . . F Brady Brassart and F Jake Virtanen had two goals each for Calgary. . . . Calgary F Brooks Macek may not be the second-coming of ‘Sudden-Death’ Mel Hill, but there has to be a nickname for him. He set a franchise record by scoring nine seconds into a game earlier this week, and then counted six seconds into the second period in the next game. Last night, he scored 13 seconds into the game. . . . Macek has 23 goals this season. . . . The line of Macek, Brassart and Cody Sylvester, who had two assists, has 38 points over its last six games. . . . The Hitmen lead the Eastern Conference and are three points ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings atop the Central Division. . . .
In Saskatoon, the Red Deer Rebels scored the game’s first three goals and beat the Blades, 3-1. . . . Red Deer G Patrik Bartosak stopped 34 shots. . . . Saskatoon G Andrey Makarov, in his first appearance since playing for Russia at the World Junior Championship, turned aside 29 shots. . . . Red Deer F David Volek scored his fourth goal in nine games with the Rebels, while F Rhyse Dieno got his 11th goal in 23 games. . . . D Matt Dumba was in Red Deer’s lineup. He leaves today for training camp with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.
In Edmonton, G Tristan Jarry set a club record as the Oil Kings blanked the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-0. . . . Jarry stopped 23 shots for his WHL-leading fourth shutout this season and the fourth of his career. That is a single-season record. He had shared the record with Torrie Jung and Laurent Brossoit. . . . Jarry has recorded back-to-back blank jobs — he turned aside 24 shots in a 5-0 victory over visiting Vancouver on Saturday. . . . F Trevor Cheek scored his first goal with Edmonton, and his 19th this season. He came over from Vancouver in a trade earlier in the week. . . . D Keegan Lowe had two assists. . . . This is the Oil Kings’ lone three-game weekend of the season. They are in Saskatoon tonight and in Medicine Hat on Sunday. . . . D Griffin Reinhart played for the Oil Kings. He leaves today for the training camp of the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . 
In Cranbrook, F Brock Montgomery and F Sam Reinhart scored three times each as the Kootenay Ice beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 7-5. . . . Montgomery’s third goal, his 18th, came via the PP and broke a 5-5 tie at 16:42 of the third. . . . F Jaedon Descheneau had three assists for the Ice, which has won seven in a row. . . . Reinhart completed his hat trick with an empty-netter, giving him 19 goals this season. . . . F Elgin Pearce, a former Ice skater, had two goals, giving him 18, and an assist for the Tigers. . . . The Ice was 3-for-5 on the PP. . . . F Boston Leier had a goal and two helpers for the Tigers. . . . According to Ice radio voice Jeff Hollick, it was the second time two Kootenay players have had hat tricks in the same game. F Marek Svatos and F Tyler Beechey did it in a 10-7 victory over Medicine Hat in January 2001. . . . Earlier Friday, the Ice named D Joey Leach, 20, as its new captain. . . .
In Kelowna, the Rockets erased a 2-0 deficit with four straight goals and beat the Tri-City Americans, 6-3. . . . Kelowna has won 17 in a row on home ice. . . . The Rockets next play at home Tuesday against the Spokane Chiefs. A Kelowna victory would tie the franchise record for longest home-ice winning streak. . . . F Dylen McKinlay had two goals and two assists for the Rockets. . . . The Rockets have won eight in a row and now lead the B.C. Division by four points over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 26 shots as he put up his 15th straight victory. . . . Kelowna F Myles Bell left in the third period after checking Tri-City D Zach Yuen from behind. Bell received a major and game misconduct; Yuen was helped off the ice but returned. . . . Tri-City F Justin Feser picked up an assist for his 296th career point. He is four points from becoming the seventh player in Tri-City history to get to 300. . . .
In Portland, the Winterhawks scored four third-period goals and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 5-2. . . . D Troy Rutkowski scored his 13th goal and added two assists. . . . F Brendan Leipsic of the Winterhawks broke a 2-2 tie at 15:06 of the third period on a PP. . . . Starting with Leipsic's goal, Portland scored three times in a span of 1:39. . . . Leipsic also had an assist and now is on an 11-game point streak. He had an 18-game run earlier in the season. . . . Portland F Nic Petan had a goal and an assist. He leads the WHL scoring race with 71 points. . . . Petan and Spokane F Todd Fiddler each scored his 28th goal, one shy of the WHL lead held by Saskatoon F Josh Nicholls. . . . This was the Chiefs’ first visit to Portland this season. . . . Prior to the game the Winterhawks assigned F Alex Schoenborn, 17, to the BCHL’s, errrr, NAHL’s Wenatchee Wild. He had two points in 18 games with Portland. . . . The Winterhawks also assigned D Layne Viveiros, 17, to the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks for the balance of this season. He had three assists in 20 games in his second season in Portland. Last season, he finished with three assists in 39 games. He was a ninth-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft. . . .
In Prince George, G Brett Zarowny stopped 44 shots to lead the Cougars to a 1-0 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Zarowny, a 17-year-old freshman from Edson, Alta., evened his record at 9-9-0 as the Cougars halted a seven-game losing streak. . . . Sophomore forward Jordan Tkatch scored the game’s only goal, getting his fourth of the season at 12:15 of the second period. . . . Zarowny stopped 23 shots in the third period to post his third shutout of the season. . . . This was the first time the Blazers have lost 1-0 since March 12, 2011, when Kelowna’s Adam Brown stopped 33 shots and the host Rockets won 1-0 in a shootout. . . . The Cougars took all three of the game’s minor penalties. . . . D Rinalds Rosinkis, who played for Latvia at the World Junior Championship, was back in the Cougars’ lineup. . . . Kamloops had F JC Lipon and D Marek Hrbas back in the lineup. Both played at the WJC, Lipon with Canada and Hrbas with the Czech Republic. . . . The Blazers, who have lost two in a row after having won three straight, and Cougars meet again tonight in Prince George. . . . 
In Everett, the home side struck for seven goals for the first time this season and beat the Victoria Royals 7-4 in the Silvertips’ first game with GM Garry Davidson running the bench. . . . Davidson replaced Mark Ferner as head coach earlier in the week. . . . Everett has won four of six. . . . F Ryan Harrison scored twice for Everett, with both goals into an empty net. . . . F Tyler Sandhu had three assists for Everett. . . . The victory lifted Everett into seventh place in the Western Conference, a point ahead of the idle Seattle Thunderbirds.———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Tyler Yaworski, Brandon
F Myles Bell, Kelowna (major)
F Mikulas Rimmel, Spokane
CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None
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From Swift Current D Reece Scarlett (@reecescarlett7): “Just got stuck for 45 mins. Thanks to the gentlemen that stopped and helped.. Still no thanks to you and your snowplowing swifty”
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From Paul Buker (@Pnbuker), a sports writer with The Oregonian: “Going to Winterhawks game vs. Spo, 7 p.m. Ladies night. They’re giving away a $7,000 pair of earrings. If a player’s mom wins this there . . .”
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Buker, cont’d: “. . . is a $200,000 reward for the first fan to report this egregious extra benefit to the WHL office in Calgary”
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