THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Zdenek Blatny (Seattle, Kootenay, 1998-2001) signed a one-year contract with the Graz 99ers (Austria, Erste Bank Liga) after a successful tryout. He had two goals nad four assists in six games with the Hannover Indians (Germany 2.Bundesliga) and one goal and 10 assists n 16 games with Kosice and Dukla Trencin (both Slovakia, Extraliga) last season.
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JUST NOTES: G Brendan Jensen of the Vancouver Giants will attend rookie camp with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Jensen, an 18-year-old from El Granada, Calif., will go into Giants’ camp as the favourite to emerge as the club’s starter. . . . The Giants have been hoping to have Finnish G Jonathan Iilahti as their starter. However, Iilahti, a sixth-round draft pick by the Canucks in 2010, will play in Finland again this season. . . .  Mark Segal, who split time with Jensen last season with the Giants, won’t be back for his 20-year-old season. He plans on attending McGill U in Montreal and playing for the Redmen. . . . The Swift Current Broncos have signed D Brycen Martin, the second overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. From Calgary, Martin played for the Calgary Bisons of the Alberta major bantam league last season, putting up 42 points in 31 games. The Broncos have signed their first four selections from the 2011 draft. . . . The Regina Pats have signed their first two selections from the 2011 bantam draft. F Adam Brooks of Winnipeg was taken 25th overall, while F Dane Schioler, also from Winnipeg, was taken with the 36th pick. Brooks had 111 points in 40 games with the bantam AAA Winnipeg Hawks. Schioler, whose father Dave played for the Winnipeg Monarchs (1976-77), played on a line with Brooks and put up 77 points. . . .
Cory Cameron is the Kootenay Ice’s new athletic therapist. Cameron, from Revelstoke, B.C., has spent six years as a rehabilitation consultant with Crash Conditioning in Calgary. He has WHL experience with the Vancouver Giants (trainer, 2006-09) and Calgary Hitmen (assistant trainer, 2004-06). . . . Don Clark is the new president of the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ board of directors. Clark was elected Tuesday as the new board held its first meeting. He replaces Brian MmcNaughton, who wasn’t re-elected at last week’s annual general meeting. Also on the new board are Brian Wichers (vice-president), Adele Barrington, Herb Beswick, Rick Braden, Brad Cook, Auke Elzinga, Dick Gibson, Randy Joevenazzo, John Koliaska, George McCrea, Dave Olson, Duane Ptycia, Kelly Shigehiro, Pat Shimbashi and Jim Whittaker. . . . The U of Calgary Dinos announced Wednesday that they have received commitments from three former WHL players. G Jacob DeSerres (Seattle, Brandon, 2007-10) is from Calgary. He played last season for the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, who won the Memorial Cup. He will compete for playing time with two other ex-WHLers, Dustin Butler and Kris Lazaruk. Also attending the U of Calgary will be F Dylan Hood (Kelowna, Moose Jaw, 2006-11), who had 83 points in 71 games with Moose Jaw last season, and F Thomas Frazee (Portland, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Regina, Kamloops), who had 71 points in 70 games split between Regina and Kamloops.
Sophomore F Brayden Cuthbert is in camp with the Moose Jaw Warriors and will skate but won’t take part in scrimmages. He hasn’t yet received medical clearance as he recovers from a concussion suffered on Jan. 22. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald also reports that the Warriors are looking at F Markus McCrea, 19, who played the last three seasons with the Everett Silvertips and F Sean Aschim, 19, who played with the Prince Albert Raiders and Kelowna Rockets in 2009-10 and with the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs last season. . . . Slovakian D Filip Vasko has arrived in Kelowna and will be in camp with the Rockets. Vasko, 17, was selected by the Rockets in the 2011 CHL import draft. He will be one of 160 players in the Rockets’ rookie camp. . . . Stu Ballantyne, who resigned earlier this month as the Vancouver Giants’ chief operating officer, now is the chief executive officer of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, which are to be held in Prince George. The Games are scheduled for Feb. 12 through March 1. . . . The Everett Silvertips have their two new imports — Slovakian F Vladimir Dolnik and German D Dominik Bittner — are in town and ready for camp. . . . The Red Deer Rebels have welcomed Czech G Patrik Bartosak to town. He was picked in the 2011 import draft. It turns out he is a nephew of former NHLer Radek Bonk.
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THE COACHING GAME:
Former NHL D Mark Hardy, 52, has joined the ECHL’s Ontario Reign as an assistant coach. He’ll work with head coach Jason Christie, who left the Central league’s Bloomington Blaze earlier in the week to sign with the Reign.
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Jane Sims of the London Free Press was in court on Wednesday where she witnessed the sentencing of a former hockey player with a long history of mental illness. Her story is right here.

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Taking Note on Twitter

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Dave Hunchak expects the Kamloops Blazers to begin tonight’s WHL game with guns blazing.
After all, the Blazers have won four of their last five games and have climbed out of the 10-team Western Conference’s cellar and into seventh place.
“We’ve put a lot of miles on already,” said Hunchak, who is the Moose Jaw Warriors’ head coach and assistant director of hockey operations, on Monday. “Teams have been trying to come after us every game we’ve opened up.
“I expect Kamloops to come at us hard and physical. And I expect us to be able to push back.”
The Warriors began this trip in Calgary on Dec. 28, with a 6-1 victory over the Hitmen. Moose Jaw then beat the Vancouver Giants 6-3 on Thursday and the Chilliwack Bruins 4-2 on Friday. The run ended Sunday with a 5-2 loss to the Cougars in Prince George.
Still, the success has helped propel the Warriors (23-14-2) into fifth place in the 12-team Eastern Conference, just two points behind the Medicine Hat Tigers and four in arrears of the Red Deer Rebels.
“We’ve been able to find ways to win games,” Hunchak said. “It hasn’t been pretty at times . . . we’ll take the two points.”
The Blazers, meanwhile, are coming off two straight victories. They beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 in Kent, Wash., on Saturday night, then returned home and manhandled the Kelowna Rockets 5-1 on Sunday.
That improved their record to 19-19-2 and has them seventh, a point behind Vancouver and two in back of Kelowna.
“I expect (the Blazers) to be fast,” Hunchak said. “I expect them to be physical. I expect them to play with a lot of confidence after the little stretch they’re on here right now, especially at home.”
Both teams will be missing players, what with the World Junior Championship in Buffalo and the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in Winnipeg in the process of wrapping up.
The Warriors spent part of last evening watching teammate Quinton Howden and Team Canada defeated the United States 4-1 in a semifinal game in Buffalo. You can bet the Warriors try to get some motivation from the fact that Howden’s second goal of the tournament stood up as the winner.
Moose Jaw also is without forward Antonin Honesjek, who is in Buffalo with the Czech Republic and will play in a relegation-round game against Slovakia today. Forward Dalibor Bortnak of the Blazers is on the Slovakian roster.
The relegation games are to be played even though it already has been decided that Germany, including Blazers winger Bernhard Keil, and Norway will be relegated. Those two teams are to play each other today.
The Warriors also are missing forward Brayden Cuthbert and defenceman Morgan Rielly, both of whom are with Team Western in Winnipeg. Rielly, from Vancouver, was the second overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft.
Moose Jaw has added three players as it attempts to fill those spots. Forward Brandon Potomak of Kelowna and defenceman Spencer Morse of Calgary were second-round selections in the 2009 WHL draft, while defenceman Matthew Franczyk of Winnipeg, 17, has joined them from the MJHL’s Winnipeg South Blues after starting this season with the Swift Current Broncos.
Hunchak said that two of the three newcomers likely will play tonight.
Also missing from the Blazers’ lineup will be forward Logan McVeigh and defenceman Brady Gaudet. They also are with Team Western.
The Blazers also will be without defenceman Josh Caron (collarbone) and winger JC Lipon (ankle). The Blazers now say that Caron, who hasn’t played since Sept. 25, will be out for another two weeks. Lipon suffered an ankle injury on Sunday and is believed to be day-to-day.
With Lipon injured, the Blazers have brought back forward Aspen Sterzer, 16, from the Calgary-based midget AAA EDGE academy. He will play tonight, then join his regular team at a tournament in Kelowna. Sterzer, from Canoe Flats, is pointless in seven earlier games with the Blazers.
Bortnak, Keil, McVeigh and Gaudet are expected to rejoin the Blazers in time for weekend games. The Blazers are at home to the Chilliwack Bruins on Friday and then play in Kelowna on Saturday.
JUST NOTES: Game time at Interior Savings Centre is 7 p.m. . . . Thomas Heemskerk (20-12-2, 2.94, .907) starts in goal for Moose Jaw. . . . The Blazers will go with Jeff Bosch, who was acquired from the Warriors earlier in the season. Bosch (15-8-1, 3.23, .903) made 88 regular-season appearances with the Warriors. . . . The Cougars headed for Kamloops right after Sunday’s game in Prince George, arriving here Monday, around 12:30 a.m. . . . This will be the Blazers’ sixth game in nine days since the end of the Christmas break. . . . The Warriors will play Thursday in Kelowna and Friday against the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook before returning home. . . . Moose Jaw’s Joey Kornelsen, a 17-year-old forward from Abbotsford, has a goal in each of the four games on this trip, giving him six on the season. . . . F Dylan Hood, a 20-year-old from Osoyoos, has eight points, including six goals, over his last six games. Hood has 48 points, including 20 goals, in 38 games this season.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Playing some catchup -- as opposed to ketchup or catsup -- after coasting through then end of 2010 . . . ---
SOME NOTES FROM FRIDAY’S GAMES:
The Portland Winterhawks got three goals from newly acquired F Craig Cunningham but were beaten 4-3 by the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Seattle F Luke Lockhart broke a 3-3 tie at 16:27 of the third period. . . . Attendance in the Rose Garden was 10,511. . . . Cunningham was acquired Tuesday from the Vancouver Giants. . . . Portland was missing seven regulars -- F Sven Bartschi and Nino Niederreiter are withi Switzerland at the World Junior Championship; F Ryan Johansen is with Canada at the WJC; F Brendan Leipsic and D Derrick Pouliot are playing in the U1-7 World Hockey Challenge; and, F Riley Boychuk and F Adam Smith were serving WHL-issued suspensions. . . . The Winterhawks will have most, if not all, of those players back before they next play, which will be Jan. 8 when they again meet the visiting Thunderbirds. . . . You can bet the fans in Kennewick, Wash., went home in a non-celebratory move after the Tri-City Americans’ New Year’s Eve date with the Spokane Chiefs was called off early in the second period because of poor ice conditions in the Toyota Center. The teams were tied 1-1 at 2:35 of the second period when the game was halted. The WHL is expected to reschedule the game early next week. . . . Ch-ch-ching! The old year ended with a few bangs in Everett as the Vancouver Giants beat the Silvertips 6-1 in a game that featured 262 minutes in penalties. The visitors took 262 of those and now are the WHL’s most-penalized team. The Giants have taken 944 minutes in 39 games, with the Kamloops Blazers next at 910 in 38 games. . . . Want some positive news? Head coach Craig Hartsburg, who underwent open-heart surgery on Oct. 20 to repair an ascending aortic aneurysm, has last been behind the bench on Oct. 16. The Silvertips were 11-14-3 with associate coach Jay Varady and assistant Chris Hartsburg, who is Craig’s son, running things. . . . The Silvertips are at home to the Americans tonight (Jan. 1), so the WHL is likely to announce at least some disciplinary action before that game. The Giants are in Chilliwack to face the Bruins on Sunday. . . . Keep in mind that the Giants were fined $750 after the stuff hit the fan during a 9-1 loss in Kennewick on Dec. 17. . . . In Chilliwack, the Moose Jaw Warriors doubled the Bruins 4-2 with F Dylan Hood icing it with his 20^th goal of the season, into an empty net, late in the third period. The road Warriors are 3-0 on this trip, including a 2-0 start to a B.C. Division tour that continues Sunday in Prince George and Tuesday in Kamloops, before wrapping up Thursday in Kelowna. . . . In Edmonton, the Oil Kings got two goals from F Dylan Wruck and 26 saves from G Jon Groenheyde in beating the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-2. Edmonton has won three straight and eight of 10 to move into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. . . . In Cranbrook, the Kootenay Ice dropped the Swift Current Broncos 5-3 in front of 2,822 fans, the second crowd in a row about 2,800 in the RecPlex. F Max Reinhart had a goal and two assists for the Ice. The Broncos, who have lost five straight on the road, were outshot 48-14, including 17-1 in the third period. Swift Current is 3-6-1 since last playing at home on Dec. 3. The Broncos finish up the 11-game run of road games tonight in Lethbridge before turning home to face Saskatoon on Sunday.
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Three minors:
Moose Jaw F Cody Beach
Chilliwack F T.C. Cratsenberg
Kootenay D Joey Leach
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The NHL’s Ottawa Senators have recalled C Jim O’Brien (Seattle, 2007-09) from the AHL’s Binghamton Senators. O’Brien was the 29^th overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft. This is his first stint in the NHL. He had 25 points in 33 games in Binghamton this season. Last season, as a freshman pro, he had 17 points in 76 games. . . . F Tristan King (Portland, Medicine Hat, 2006-10) has moved from the AHL’s Texas Stars to the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads, who are coached by former Spokane head coach Hardy Sauter. King, 20, played in six games with Idaho early in the season. He had four points with Idaho and four in 11 games with Texas.
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F Derek Hulak (Regina, Saskatoon, 2005-10) returned to Saskatoon and joined the U of Saskatchewan Huskies on Dec. 29. Hulak is a former Saskatoon Blades captain who graduated from the WHL after last season. Hulak, now 21, had been with the Central league’s Tulsa Oilers with whom he had 14 points in 21 games. . . . He is eligible to play for the Huskies immediately. By returning from the pro ranks prior to Jan. 1, he protected his CIS eligibility.
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The Swift Current Broncos and Vancouver Giants swapped defencemen on Dec. 30. The Broncos got Dalton Reum, 18, while Joel Rogers, 19, went to the Giants. . . . The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Reum, from Camrose, Alta., had six assists in 37 games with the Giants. This is his first WHL season. . . . Rogers, from Abbotsford, B.C., was in his fourth season with the Broncos. This season, the 6-foot-1, 185-pounder had three assists in 28 games.
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Taking Note on Twitter

Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun talks with F Brandon Leipsic of the Portland Winterhawks prior to the opener at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. Leipsic and his Team Western teammates meet Team Pacific tonight and the game is sold out. Wiebe’s story is right here.
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F Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers is in Buffalo with the U.S. national junior team at the World Junior Championship. Early in the week, Etem slagged Buffalo in a tweet. Things were in damage control-mode on Tuesday. That story is right here.
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F Brian Matte (Prince George, 2008-09) has signed with the Central league’s Laredo Bucks. Matte, who is from Prince George, started the season in camp with the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons. He played 12 games with the U of Lethbridge Pronghorns last season.
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JUST NOTES: F Tyler Fiddler (ankle) has returned to the Calgary Hitmen lineup after an 11-game absence, but F Misha Fisenko is weather-bound in Russia so hasn’t yet made his way back from the Christmas break. . . . The Saskatoon Blades, with skaters away at the WJC and the WHC, have added F Tim McGauley, 15, from the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians and F Hudson Morrison, 16, from the Manitoba midget AAA league’s Southwest Cougars. McGauley was the 20th overall pick in the 2010 WHL draft, while Morrison was a ninth-round pick in 2009. . . . The NHL’s Minnesota Wild has re-assigned D Jared Spurgeon (Spokane, 2005-10) to the AHL’s Houston Aeros. He had two penalty minutes in 12 games with the Wild. He average 12:09 in playing time during those games.
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM TUESDAY’S GAMES:
F Dylan Hood scored three goals, giving him 17, as the Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Hitmen 6-1 in Calgary. . . . In Regina, F Lyndon Martell, who was acquired earlier this month from the Kamloops Blazers, had a goal and an assist in the last two minutes of the third period to force OT and the Pats went on to defeat the Swift Current Broncos 4-3 in a shootout. Martell was playing in his first game with Regina. The Pats have 11 victories this season, with five of those against the Broncos. . . . The Kootenay Ice got two goals from each of D Brayden McNabb and F Brendan Hurley and beat the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers, 6-3. F Tyler Pitlick scored twice for the Tigers. . . . D Aaron Borejko and F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two assists to help the Red Deer Rebels to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. . . .
F Jordan DePape returned from serving a five-game suspension to score twice as the hometown Kamloops Blazers beat the Vancouver Giants, 6-1. Kamloops F Brendon Ranford had three assists, increasing his point total to a WHL-leading 57, two more than F Linden Vey of Medicine Hat. . . . In Portland, the Messier brothers, Jordan and Marcus, each scored as the Tri-City Americans dropped the Winterhawks, 5-1. Marcus has two goals, while Jordan has 21. . . . In Prince George, G Lucas Gore stopped 29 shots to lead the Chilliwack Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Cougars. Gore has two shutouts this season and seven in his career. . . .
In Kelowna, F Evan Bloodoff scored twice and G Adam Brown stopped 26 shots as the Rockets blanked the Everett Silvertips, 4-0. Bloodoff has eight goals, while Brown has nine career shutouts, one this season. Everett has been blanked a WHL-high six times this season. . . . Kelowna was 4-10 on the PP, while Everett was 0-1. . . . In Kent, Wash., before 6,125 fans, G James Reid stopped 29 shots to lead the visiting Spokane Chiefs to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Reid, who now has 20 victories this season, has three shutouts this season and 12 in his career.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Five minors:
Kootenay D Luke Paulsen
Kootenay F Matt Fraser
Kootenay D Brayden McNabb
Tri-City F Connor Rankin
Seattle F Chance Lund

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Taking Note on Twitter

The drive to the WHL’s trade deadline has started.
It didn’t begin earlier in the week when the Tri-City Americans cut deals with the Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets, because those were driven by Tri-City’s need to trim a 20-year-old from its roster.
No, the drive to the Jan. 10 deadline began late Friday morning with a deal between the Americans and Regina Pats.
For the second straight season, RW Carter Ashton, a first-round selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2009 draft, is on the move.

CARTER ASHTON

Ashton was dealt Friday by the Pats to the Americans, along with a 2012 third-round bantam draft pick, for F Tanner Olstad, F Nils Moser, a 2011 first-round bantam draft pick and second- and fifth-round picks in the 2012 bantam draft.
It was a year and a day ago, on Dec. 9, 2009, that the Lethbridge Hurricanes dealt Ashton and F Craig Orfino to the Pats for F Graham Hood, F Tayler Balog, a 2010 second-round bantam draft pick and a 2011 first-round bantam pick.
Moser, a 17-year-old from Canmore, Alta., was a second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. He has one goal in 20 games this season, after earning three points in 38 games last season.
Olstad, an18-year-old from Calgary, had three points in 20 games with the Americans.
Ashton, a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, is the son of Brent Ashton (Saskatoon, 1975-79). Carter is in Toronto in the selection camp of the Canadian national junior team. In 29 games this season, he has 27 points and 44 penalty minutes.
In 206 regular-season WHL games, he has 137 points and 267 penalty minutes. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft.
The bottom line is this: The Americans get bigger up front; the Pats, who aren’t likely to make the playoffs and have begun the rebuilding process, get badly needed draft picks.
For more on the deal, check out Greg Harder’s coverage right here at the Regina Leader-Post’s website.
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D Jared Spurgeon, a product of the Spokane Chiefs, is making quite an impression with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. Check out this story by Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune right here.
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Some highlights from Friday’s WHL games . . .
In Moose Jaw, F Dylan Hood had a goal and three assists to lead the Warriors to a 6-4 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . F Quinton Howden scored twice and added an assist for Moose Jaw, while F Spencer Edwards had a goal and two helpers. . . . Howden has 21 goals now. . . . F Elgin Pearce counted three times for the Ice, giving him five this season. . . . Pearce, an 18-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C., had three goals in 45 last season as a freshman. . . . F Magnus Christian had three assists for the Ice, with F Joe Antilla scoring once, setting up two others and finishing plus-4. . . . Attendance was 2,650. . . . The Ice was without F Kevin King, its leading scorer, thanks to an infected elbow. . . .
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In Saskatoon, F Jake Trask scored his second goal of the game at 1:44 of OT as the Blades came from behind to beat the Everett Silvertips, 5-4. . . . Trask, who is from Saskatoon, was acquired earlier from the Kamloops Blazers. This was his sixth goal of the season. . . . Blades F Matej Stransky forced OT with a PP goal at 19:50 of the third period. . . . F Parker Stanfield had given Everett a 4-3 lead with his second goal of the game on the PP, at 16:31 of the third. . . . This was the Blades’ first home game after a 4-1-0 jaunt through the B.C. Division. . . . Everett led 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2 and 4-3. . . . Everett F Tyler Maxwell had a goal and three assists. . . . F Curtis Hamilton had two assists for Saskatoon in his last game before leaving for the Canadian junior team’s selection camp. . . . Ev erett G Kent Simpson stopped 40 shots. . . . Attendance was 6,112.
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In Calgary, F Kris Foucault scored 25 seconds into OT as the Hitmen beat the Regina Pats, 4-3. . . . Regina is 0-5 in OT this season. . . . Calgary trailed this one 3-0 at 9:36 of the second period as the Pats got shorthanded goals from F Thomas Frazee and Garrett Mitchell, and an score from Dyson Stevenson at 9:36. . . . F Jimmy Bubnick got a PP goal for Calgary before the second period ended, and F Justin Kirsch got another at 2:08 of the third. . . . D Matt MacKenzie tied it with his second of the season at 7:53. . . . MacKenzie also had two assists, as did Regina F Lane Scheidl. . . . The Eastern Conference’s two poorest teams combined for 29 shots, 16 by the Hitmen. . . . These teams will play an outdoors game at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium on Feb. 21. . . . Attendance was 7,680. . . . F Morgan Klimchuk, the fifth overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft, drew an assist for Regina. He isn’t eligible to play full time, but took F Carter Ashton’s spot on the Pats’ foster for this one. Klimchuk is from Calgary. . . . Neither of the forwards Regina acquired from the Tri-City Americans in the Ashton deal — Nils Moser or Tanner Olstad — was in Regina’s lineup. They likely will play tonight against the Rebels in Red Deer. . . .
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In Lethbridge, F Ryan Howse had two goals to help the Chilliwack Bruins to a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Howse has 22 goals. . . . He scored two PP goals as five of the game’s seven goals came with the man advantage. . . . Lethbridge F Mitch Maxwell got his 10th goal on a penalty shot at 19:48 of the third period. . . . Chilliwack F Roman Horak had three assists, while F Robin Soudek had a goal and two helpes. . . . Howse gave the Bruins a 2-0 first-period lead. The Hurricanes tied it with two PP goals — from F Cam Braes and F Austin Fyten. The Bruins then got third-period goals from Soudek, at 13:41, and F Jamie Crooks, at 15:41, to win it. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 35 shots. . . . Attendance was 2,826. . . .
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In Red Deer, F Evan Bloodoff and F Geordie Wudrick each scored twice to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 5-1 victory over the Rebels. . . . The Rockets were without head coach Ryan Huska, who is serving as an assistant coach with Canada’s national junior team. Assistant coach Ryan Cuthbert, a former Rockets captain, will serve as head coach, with help from assistant Dan Lambert, in Huska’s absence. . . . The Rockets scored the game’s first four goals and took a 4-0 lead into the third period. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 37 shots. That included a penalty shot by F Colten Mayor at 7:57 of the third period. . . . Bloodoff has six goals; Wudrick has 15. . . . Attendance was 4,057. . . .
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In Kamloops, F Brendan Ranford scored his WHL-leading 26th goal of the season as the Blazers edged the Swift Current Broncos, 3-2. . . . Ranford’s goal, which broke a scoreless tie 49 seconds into the second period, was the Teddy Bear goal. . . . Ranford also had an assist and now is tied with Medicine Hat Tigers F Linden Vey for the WHL points lead, with 49. . . . F Cody Eakin scored both Swift Current goals and now has 18 on the season. He leaves from Vancouver today for the Canadian junior team’s selection camp. . . . The game was delayed for about 15 minutes in the third period after Swift Current F Killian Hutt, 19, went into convulsions following a hit by F Jordan DePape. Hutt was conscious and have movement in his limbs as he left the ice on a stretcher and was taken to hospital. . . . DePape was given a charging major and game misconduct. . . . The Broncos were 0-for-7 on the PP; the Blazers were 0-for-1. . . . Attendance was 4,332. . . . 
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In Portland, the Winterhawks broke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals and went on to a 4-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Portland F Sven Bartschi, the WHL’s top scorer among freshmen, got his 20th goal at 3:30 of the second, on a PP, to get it started. . . . F Brad Ross added his 14th at 7:46 and F Spencer Bennett made it 3-0 with his 10th at 14:25. . . . It was Portland’s second victory in eight games. . . . F Spencer Asuchak, with his 10th, scored for Prince George at 18:44 of the second. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 22 shots. . . . Prince George G Ty Rimmer turned aside 26 shots, including Ross on a third-period penalty shot. . . . Attendance was 5,441. . . .
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In Kennewick, Wash., F Brendan Shinnimin scored once and added two assists as the host Tri-City Americans beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-1. . . . Shinnimin scored at 1:10 of the first period and it was Tri-City’s Teddy Bear goal. . . . F Mason Wilgosh and F Justin Feser each added two assists. . . . F Adam Hughesman helped out with his 16th goal and an assist. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped 22 shots, losing his shutout bid to F Charles Wells at 11:39 of the second. Wells has eight goals this season. . . . F Carter Ashton, acquired by Tri-City from the Regina Pats on Friday, wasn’t in the Americans’ lineup. He is in Toronto preparing for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. . . . The Americans were 2-for-10 on the PP; the Thunderbirds were 0-for-3. . . . Attendance was 4,776. . . . The teams meet  again tonight in Kent, Wash. The Thunderbirds will be without G Calvin Pickard (13-9-7), who is off to the Canadian junior team selection camp. . . .
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In Vancouver, F Blake Gal scored the lone goal of the shootout as the Spokane Chiefs got past the Giants, 3-2. . . . Gal was the only one of the six shooters to find the range. . . . The goal was allowed after video review; it seems that G Mark Segal kicked the puck into his own net in the process of trying to make the save. . . . The Giants held a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period on goals by F Michael Burns — it was the Teddy Bear goal — and F Brendan Gallagher, his 25th. . . . F Tyler Johnson got his 20th, at 19:52 of the first, on a PP, to get the Chiefs on the board. . . . D Jared Cowen, who leaves today for the selection camp of Canada’s national junior team, tied it at 18:59 of the second, on a PP. . . . The Chiefs were 2-for-5 on the PP; the Giants were 0-for-2. . . . Segal stopped 43 shots, 23 more than Spokane’s James Reid. . . . Attendance was 12,263. . . . Giants D Luke Fenske (shoulder) returned after a seven-game absence, but they were without D David Musil, who suffered a hairline fracture in his right leg last week.
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
Two minors:
Kootenay D Joey Leach
Kelowna F Max Adolph

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