Chiefs, Pats swing deal . . . Raiders make another trade . . . Malm shoots Giants to victory

27% of Canadians wouldn't mind an early exit from the world juniors if it means they never have to see the Nike commercials ever again

— Stats Canada (@stats_canada) January 3, 2017

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WHL trades since Dec. 27:

Trades: 8.

Players: 14.

Bantam draft picks: 7.

Conditional bantam draft picks: 1.

(WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10).

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The reunion of long-time friends Rykr Cole and Dawson Davidson lasted about a week.

It ended Monday when the Regina Pats dealt Cole to the Spokane Chiefs.

RYKR COLE

RILEY WOODS

Cole and Davidson both are from Moosomin, Sask. They were reunited on Dec. 25 when Davidson found out that the Kamloops Blazers had traded him to the Pats.

“He’s my best friend, pretty much,” Davidson told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post after the trade. “We’re both from Moosomin. We played midget together in Moose Jaw and roomed together for a year. I saw him a lot over the break. When I got traded, I instantly called him.

“It’s going to be fun to reunite. He’s a great guy and an unbelievable leader. I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”

Cole told Harder: “He let me know he got traded to Regina and I was pretty excited. He came over and

WYATT SLOBOSHAN

we talked about it. I’ve been showing him around Regina a bit. It’s nice to have a guy coming in that you know, especially with Dawson being one of my really good buddies.”

While Cole and Davidson were enjoying the reunion, F Wyatt Sloboshan was choosing not to return to the Spokane Chiefs after the Christmas break.

On Tuesday, the Chiefs dealt Sloboshan, 19, who had been acquired from the Saskatoon Blades, and a third-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft to the Pats for Cole, a 19-year-old forward, and F Riley Woods, 18.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Sloboshan, from Vanscoy, Sask., has played 30 games this season, 29 of them with Saskatoon. He had four goals and 12 assists with the Blades — he was the team’s captain — and was pointless in one game with Spokane. In 146 career games, he has 91 points, including 33 goals. He was a third-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2012 bantam draft.

Cole, from Moosomin, Sask., was a third-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. The 6-foot-0, 185-pounder had six goals and seven assists in 34 games this season. He put up 27 goals and 30 assists in 166 career games.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Woods, a list player from Regina, had six goals and seven assists in 28 games with the Pats this season. In 59 career games, he has 15 goals and 12 assists.

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The Prince Albert Raiders have acquired F Curtis Miske, 19, from the Spokane Chiefs for a fourth-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. . . . The Chiefs, having acquired F Rykr Cole and F Riley Woods earlier in the day from Regina, had to make a move to get their roster down to 25 players. . . . Miske, from Beaumont, Alta., had five goals and nine assists in 28 games this season. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder played in 154 regular-season games with the Chiefs, scoring 22 goals and adding 36 assists. The Chiefs had selected him in the second round of the 2012 bantam draft. . . . This was the 13th trade made by the Raiders this season.

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The Medicine Hat Tigers, having acquired G Michael Bullion, 19, from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, have dropped G Duncan McGovern, 16, from their roster. He will join the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. . . . The Tigers picked up Bullion as veteran support behind starter Nick Schneider, who leads the WHL with 25 victories. . . . With the Tigers, McGovern, who is from Winnipeg, was 2-4-0, 4.06, .858. McGovern was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft.

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F Taylor Sanheim, a former WHL player, now is with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. They acquired Sanheim, 20, from the MJHL’s Portage Terriers on Monday, with F Ty Barnstable, 18, going the other way. . . . Sanheim had 12 goals and 39 assists in 132 career regular-season games with the Calgary Hitmen. This season, he had two goals and five assists in 18 games with the Hitmen when he was released.

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The Moose Jaw Warriors will be without D Dmitri Zaitsev when they meet the Raiders in Prince Albert tonight (Tuesday). He has been suspended for one game “for game misconduct” during a 2-1 OT loss to the visiting Wheat Kings on Saturday night.

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Apparently everyone's New Year's resolution was to pay more for gas this year. Should be an easy one to keep.

— 22Minutes (@22_Minutes) January 3, 2017

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MONDAY’S GAME:

At Calgary, F James Malm scored in the fourth round of a shootout to give the Vancouver Giants a 5-4

JAMES MALM

victory over the Hitmen. . . . The Giants erased a 4-2 third-period deficit to force OT. . . . D Dylan Plouffe (4) got the visitors to within a goal at 4:44, with D Matt Barberis tying it with his seventh goal, at 18:49. . . . The Giants grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals from F Ty Ronning (14), at 5:17, and F Tyler Benson (11), at 6:06. . . . Calgary appeared to take control by scoring the game’s next four goals. . . . F Jakob Stukel (12) got the Hitmen started at 9:09 of the second period. . . . F Matteo Gennaro followed that with two goals, his 13th and 14th, at 16:48, on a PP, and 50 seconds into the third period. . . . F Beck Malenstyn’s 16th goal gave Calgary a 4-2 lead at 2:46 of the third. . . . Benson also had one assist. . . . Gennaro and Stukel each had two assists, while Malenstyn added one. . . . Vancouver got 34 stops from G David Tendeck. . . . Calgary G Kyle Dumba made 36 saves. . . . Calgary was 1-4 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-4. . . . The Giants (15-20-3) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Hitmen (14-17-5) have points in three straight (1-0-2). . . . F Evan Patrician, a 15-year-old from Calgary, made his WHL debut with the Giants, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2016 bantam draft. He plays for the midget AAA Calgary Flames. . . . Announced attendance: 7,026.

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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Saskatoon at Brandon, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Regina at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Lethbridge at Swift Current, 7 p.m.

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Flooding misses Dumonts . . . OHL closer to banning fighting . . . Wheaties have new voice

G Tyler Weiman (Tri-City, 2000-04) has signed a one-year contract with the Daemyung Killer Whales Incheon (South Korea, Asia HL). Last season, with Val Pusteria Brunico (Italy, Serie A), he was 1.96 and .948 in three regular-season games. In 15 playoff games, he was 2.30 and .933. . . .

F Darian Dziurzynski (Saskatoon, Brandon, 2007-12) has signed a one-year contract with the Manchester Storm (England, UK Elite). Last season, he had two goals and two assists in nine games with the Tulsa Oilers (ECHL), 12 goals and 11 assists in 35 games with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL), 10 goals and three assists in 17 games with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL), and one goal in three games with the Binghamton Senators (AHL).

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The state of Louisiana has encountered some horrid weather-related difficulties of late. Louis Dumont, who played four seasons (1990-94) in the WHL with the Regina Pats and Kamloops Blazers, lives in Lafayette. When I asked how he and his family — wife Hayley, daughter Camille and son Jacques — are doing, he replied:

“My wife, daughter and son are well. Our home is in an older neighborhood that drains well, so we

Louis Dumont is the ECHL's all-time leader in assists
and points. (Photo: echl.com)

had no flooding. Everyone around us and in the surrounding towns are in rough shape.

“The water table is already extremely high down here. We received 22 inches of rain in a matter of 24 hours. The weather system rolled in an stayed. Multiple hurricanes have come through this area over the years, but none of them have produced this much flooding.

“The Cajun people are very resilient, and thankfully own a lot of boats.”

Dumont, who won a Memorial Cup with the 1993-94 Blazers, is the general manager of the Louisiana IceGators, a Southern Professional Hockey League franchise that has suspended operations at least for 2016-17 due to its home arena undergoing renovations. BTW, that arena may have the greatest name in all of hockey — the Cajundome.

If you aren’t aware Dumont, who was a real smoothie, is the ECHL’s career assists (566) and points (891) leader, having done it in 771 games during stints over 12 seasons with the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, Wheeling Thunderbirds, Louisiana, Augusta Lynx, Pensacola Ice Pilots, Mississippi Sea Wolves and Utah Grizzlies.

Dumont, now 43, retired after 2010-11. He spent his last five seasons with the CHL’s Mississippi RiverKings. He put up 282 points over 318 games in those final five seasons.

In the WHL, he had 380 points, including 172 goals, in 279 games.

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To its credit, the OHL is closer to eliminating fighting from its games after lowering the suspension threshold from 10 games to three. The league recently concluded its annual meeting and its board of governors has chosen to suspend players who get into a fourth fight. Last season, that number was 10 fights; this season, a fourth fight, and all subsequent scraps, will be subject to a two-game suspension. If an opponent is hit with an instigating penalty that fight won’t count in a player’s total.

From an OHL news release: “Since the adoption of the 10-fight threshold for 2012-13, the league has seen the number of fights decrease by 49.5% and for the last two seasons has not had a single player with more than 10 fights based on the threshold criteria established.” . . . According to a tweet from Adam Gretz (@AGretz): “82 players in the OHL had at least 3 fights last season. 56 went over that number.”

The OHL also has added a rule aimed at eliminating blindside hits. Again, from a news release: “There will be a penalty assessed for those players who check an opponent from the blindside. Based on the discretion of the referee, a minor, major and game misconduct or match penalty may be assessed. Such infraction would also be subject to review and possible supplementary discipline by the league.”

The OHL also has ditched no-touch icing in favour of hybrid icing, as is used by the NHL.

The OHL gets it. It really does. The OHL hands down stiff suspensions for headshots. Now it is doing something about blindside checks. And it continues to work towards the elimination of fighting.

It is all about player safety, something the OHL has been working to improve over the past few seasons. In a season or two, don’t be surprised if the OHL bans fighting altogether.

The QMJHL and WHL would be wise to get in step with the OHL on these matters.

Wouldn't miss fighting if eliminated in WHL. Gone are the days of two players scrapping because they are generally angry with one another.

— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) August 19, 2016

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D Dmitri Zaitsev has arrived in Moose Jaw and has signed a WHL contract with the Warriors.

Zaitsev, 18, is from Togliatti, Russia. The Warriors selected him during the CHL’s 2016 import draft. . . . Last season, with the NAHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, he had 22 points, including seven goals, in 53 games. He was named to the East Division’s all-rookie team. He was selected by the Washington Capitals in the seventh round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . Zaitsev joins Russian F Nikita Popugaev, who will be 19 on Nov. 20, as the Warriors’ two import players. Popugaev is recovering from offseason surgery to repair a knee injury suffered during last season’s playoffs, but should be ready for the start of camp. He had 47 points, 16 of them goals, in 70 games as a freshman last season.

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Branden Crowe is the new voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings on radio station 880 CKLQ. Crowe, who is from Boissevain, Man., replaces Bruce Luebke, who had called the play of Wheat Kings’ games for the past 23 seasons. . . . CKLQ and Luebke parted company last month; neither party has made any public comment explaining what happened. . . . Most recently, Crowe was marketing manager and radio voice for the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals. . . . The defending-champion Wheat Kings are heading into their 50th anniversary season; CKLQ is preparing for its 25th year as the team’s radio home. . . . Crowe will make his Wheat Kings play-by-play debut on Sept. 9 when Brandon meets the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors in an exhibition game.

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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.

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