Ferguson writing great story . . . Silvertips make moves . . . Patrick's return is nigh

F Björn Svensson (Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, 2003-06) has been released by Färjestad Karlstad (Sweden, SHL). He had three goals and three assists in 31 games.

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Dylan Ferguson hasn’t received a lot of attention during a WHL career that is in its second season.

But he has written one of the 2016-17 regular-season’s best stories over the past month.

Ferguson, an 18-year-old from Lantzville, B.C., is expected to make his 14th consecutive start for the

DYLAN FERGUSON

Kamloops Blazers tonight (Friday) when they entertain the Everett Silvertips. With starter Connor Ingram enjoying some downtime after playing for Canada at the World Junior Championship, Ferguson also is expected to start Saturday against the visiting Vancouver Giants.

Last season, Ferguson had 11 starts among his 16 appearances as he went 4-10-0, 4.13, .875.

This season, before Ingram left to join Team Canada, Ferguson had started only six games and hadn’t played at all between Nov. 18 and Dec. 10. Prior to this stretch, Ferguson had never started more than two games in a row.

Kamloops head coach Don Hay admits that the Blazers really didn’t know what they had in Ferguson before Ingram left. Ferguson began his run with six straight starts on a pre-Christmas swing through the Central Division.

“We were all wondering how he would respond with the opportunity, and I don’t think anybody thought the response would be what he’s done and where it’s at,” Hay said. “It’s really nice to see because he’s worked so hard behind Connor and competed so hard in practice. When (Ferguson) got his opportunity he’s gotten better and better.”

The Blazers went 4-1-1 on that road trip as Ferguson allowed only 14 goals. That was enough to bring out the NHL scouts when play resumed after Christmas, and the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Ferguson hasn’t disappointed.

Since Christmas, he is 4-2-1. Overall, he is 11-6-2, 2.74, .922.

He also has backstopped the Blazers into the heart of the B.C. Division race. The Blazers (25-15-3) are tied for second with the Kelowna Rockets (25-15-3), with both teams seven points behind the Prince George Cougars (29-12-2), but just three games back in the loss column.

Not bad for an eight-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft.

So . . . how will Hay handle the goaltending situation when Ingram returns next week?

“Connor is No. 1 and Dylan is No. 2,” Hay said. “But we’ll definitely get some more (time for Ferguson) . . . we’ll pick some games and they’re both going to play.”

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The Everett Silvertips made two roster moves on Thursday, returning D Gianni Fairbrother, 16, to the B.C. Major Midget League’s Vancouver Northwest Giants and G Dorrin Luding to that league’s Valley

West Hawks.

Fairbrother, a fourth-round pick in the 2015 WHL bantam draft, is pointless in three games with the Silvertips this season.

Luding made the last five saves in a 5-0 shutout over the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday night. He made his WHL debut with 7:24 left in the third period and ended up sharing the shutout with Mario Petit.

The two moves would seem to indicate that D Noah Juulsen and G Carter Hart are back with the Silvertips for the first time since playing for Canada at the World Junior Championship.

The Silvertips, who also were without D Aaron Irving and D Lucas Skrumeda on Wednesday, are scheduled to visit the Kamloops Blazers tonight (Friday). No, the game won’t feature Hart against his Team Canada goaltending partner, Connor Ingram. That’s because Ingram was given the week off and has been at home in Imperial, Sask.

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D Chaz Reddekopp had an 11-game point streak snapped on Wednesday when his Victoria Royals dropped a 4-3 decision to the visiting Kelowna Rockets. Still he set a franchise record for longest point steak by a defenceman, breaking the mark of eight games that had been shared by Travis Brown (Victoria, 2015-16) and Brandon Manning (Chilliwack Bruins, 2010-11). You will recall that the Royals once were the Bruins, right? . . . The Rockets and Royals meet again tonight in Victoria.

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After deadline moves, @WHLGiants now have 12 BC natives on their roster as well as 11 players aged 17 or under.

— Brendan Batchelor (@Batchelor1040) January 13, 2017

F Tyler Ho is set to make his WHL debut tonight as the Vancouver Giants play host to the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Langley, B.C., Events Centre. . . . Ho, 16, was acquired from the Prince George Cougars in a deadline deal that had F Radovan Bondra go north. . . . Ho, from North Vancouver, was a third-round pick by the Cougars in the 2015 bantam draft after putting up 87 points, including 30 goals, in 64 games with the North Shore Winter Club’s top bantam team. . . . This season, he has 35 points, 14 of them goals, in 26 games with the major midget Valley West Hawks.

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F Nolan Patrick, the consensus No. 1 pick for the NHL’s 2017 draft, is scheduled to return to the Brandon Wheat Kings’ lineup tonight for the first time since Oct. 11.

NOLAN PATRICK

Patrick has played only six games this season, and has nine points, including four goals. He has maintained that No. 1 position because of what he accomplished in his first two WHL seasons.

The son of former WHL/NHL F Steve Patrick, and the nephew of former NHL D James Patrick, Nolan had 56 points, including 30 goals, as a freshman in 2014-15. Last season, he put up 102 points, 41 of them goals, in 72 games. He then added 30 points, including 13 goals, in 21 games as the Wheat Kings won the Ed Chynoweth Cup. Patrick was named the WHL’s playoff MVP.

However, he was injured during the playoffs and, although he played through the final game, he underwent surgery in July for a sports hernia. He missed training camp but started the season, only to be shut down shortly thereafter.

The Wheat Kings have never explained why Patrick hasn’t played. Bob McKenzie of TSN reported this week that Patrick “had to shut it down when his other groin started to bother him.”

The Wheat Kings (20-17-4) go into this weekend in fourth place in the East Division, 11 points behind the third-place Swift Current Broncos. Brandon holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot, four points ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Brandon is at home to the Kootenay Ice tonight and Saturday.

The Wheat Kings likely will be without F Reid Duke, at least for the first game of the doubleheader. Duke was tossed from Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Tri-City Americans with a kneeing major and game misconduct.

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Somebody forgot about the Gretzkys. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/tnwdQoS2Un

— Tony Androckitis (@TonyAndrock) January 13, 2017

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THURSDAY’S GAMES:

No Games Scheduled.

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FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Kootenay at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.

Everett at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Prince George at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Swift Current at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.

Spokane at Portland, 7 p.m.

Red Deer at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Tri-City at Regina, 7 p.m.

Moose Jaw vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7:30 p.m.

Kelowna at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.

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Some Scattershooting . . . Chiefs' forward doesn't return . . . Silvertips add defenceman

Scattershooting on a Monday night, with the snow having been shovelled and the turkey devoured . . . 

The WHL was kind enough to shut down for eight days for the Christmas break. The teams will start paying the price for that tonight, though. Each of the 22 teams will play three games over the next four nights. Yes, there are 11 games scheduled for each of Tuesday, Wednedsay and Friday nights.

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There are eight teams who return from the break to play four games in five nights. The Brandon Wheat Kings, Kamloops Blazers, Moose Jaw Warriors, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans and Victoria Royals are scheduled to play tonight, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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Gee, do you think such scheduling has ever prompted anyone to think about starting a union or a players’ association on behalf of major junior players?

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The best part of Day 1 of the World Junior Championship? The work of Dennis Beyak and Craig Button who handled two games — Sweden’s 6-1 victory over Denmark and Czech Republic’s 2-1 triumph over defending-champion Finland — out of Montreal. They know the players and their stories; they stayed on point and out of each others way through both games.

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Canada opens with a 5-3 victory over Russia at the World Junior Championship and the all-seeing and all-knowing experts dump all over the winning goaltender. Has it been like this through all 40 years of this event?

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Just when you think you’ve seen some bad TV commercials, along comes Nike with a real mess. And, of course, they will beat us over the head with it. That one had to have snuck on the air without high-ranking approval. No?

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Geoffrey Brandow, who tweets at @GeoffreyBrandow, notes that the last five WHL championship teams “were within top three of goal-differential at Christmas.” The three previous champions were fifth. . . . The top five WHL teams in goal-differential are the Regina Pats, Medicine Hat Tigers, Everett Silvertips, Prince George Cougars and Kamloops Blazers.

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Brandow points out that the top five are a combined plus-238, while the remaining 17 teams are a combined minus-238.

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The WHL’s Christmas trade embargo has ended. The trade deadline arrives on Jan. 10.

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The Kamloops Blazers’ braintrust has an interesting situation on its hands. F Matt Revel, 20, could miss up to two months with an undisclosed injury suffered on the pre-Christmas Central Division tour. Do the Blazers go out and find another 20-year-old before Jan. 10, or do they wait, and hope, for Revel’s return?

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The Blazers (21-13-2) are third in the B.C. Division, two points behind the Kelowna Rockets (22-12-2). These two meet tonight in Kelowna and Wednesday in Kamloops. Might this be a first-round playoff preview? The Rockets are eight points behind the division-leading Prince George Cougars; the Blazers are six points head of the Victoria Royals

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D Kirill Vorobyov (Portland, 2012-13) was traded by Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to CSKA Moscow for monetary compensation and was then traded by CSKA Moscow to Sibir Novosibirsk (all Russia, KHL) for monetary compensation. In 35 games, he had three goals and four assists with Nizhny Novgorod. . . .
F Brendan Shinnimin (Tri-City, 2007-12) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan, KHL). Shinnimin was released by mutual agreement by Langnau (Switzerland, NL A) on Dec. 21. He had two goals and seven assists in 12 games there. . . .

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It appears that F Wyatt Sloboshan has decided not to return to the Spokane Chiefs following the WHL’s

WYATT SLOBOSHAN

eight-day Christmas break.

“He has chosen to not come to Spokane after Christmas and we are looking at options,” Scott Carter, the Chiefs’ general manager, told Taking Note on Monday night.

The Chiefs are expected to wait until there is no doubt that Sloboshan won’t be returning, meaning that he didn’t make his post-Christmas flight or catch a later one, before issuing a news release.

Sloboshan, a 19-year-old from Vanscoy, Sask., was acquired by the Chiefs from the Saskatoon Blades on Dec. 14. In that deal, the Chiefs landed Sloboshan, D Nolan Reid, 18, and a third-round pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft for F Markson Bechtold, 20, D Evan Fiala, 19, and a conditional sixth-round pick in an undisclosed draft.

Sloboshan, who had been the Blades’ captain, played one game with the Chiefs — he was pointless — before the Christmas break. In 30 games with the Blades, he had four goals and 12 assists.

In 146 career regular-season games, Sloboshan has 33 goals and 58 assists. He was a third-round selection of the Swift Current Broncos in the 2012 bantam draft.

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Mind Blown 😱 #WJC2017 pic.twitter.com/Bbfp4cgs7m

— Bar South N Celly™ (@BarSouthNCelly) December 26, 2016

Here’s a look at the 23 WHL players who are playing at the World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto:

Brandon (1): D Kale Clague (Canada).

Calgary (1): D Jake Bean (Canada).

Everett (2): G Carter Hart (Canada), D Noah Juulsen (Canada).

Kamloops (3): F Rudolfs Balcers (Latvia), F G Connor Ingram (Canada), D Ondrej Vala (Czech Republic).

Kelowna (3): F Dillon Dube (Canada), F Calvin Thurkauf (Switzerland), F Tomas Soustal (Czech Republic).

Medicine Hat (1): D Kristians Rubins (Latvia).

Portland (2): F Joachim Blichfeld (Denmark), D Caleb Jones (U.S.).

Prince Albert (1): F Simon Stransky (Czech Republic).

Red Deer (3): F Adam Musil (Czech Republic), G Lasse Petersen (Denmark), F Michael Spacek (Czech Republic).

Regina (2): F Filip Ahl (Sweden), D Sergey Zborovskiy (Russia).

Seattle (2): F Mathew Barzal (Canada), F Alexander True (Denmark).

Tri-City (1): D Juuso Valimaki (Finland).

Vancouver (1): F Radovan Bondra (Slovakia).

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The Saskatoon Blades should have D Libor Hajek back in their lineup as they return to action by going home-and-home with the Prince Albert Raiders. Hakej, a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2016 draft, was released by Czech Republic’s national junior team before the World Junior Championship got started. . . . Hajek has a goal and 11 assists in 31 games with Saskatoon this season. . . . The Blades and Raiders are in Prince Albert tonight and Saskatoon on Wednesday night.

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The Everett Silvertips have added D Gianni Fairbrother, 16, to their roster, bringing him in from the Vancouver Northwest Giants of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. Fairbrother, a fourth-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft, was pointless in one game earlier this season. He also played three playoff games last spring. He has seven assists in 18 games with the Giants. . . . The Silvertips are without D Noah Juulsen, who is with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. Adding Fairbrother leaves Everett with seven defencemen.

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Good morning and Merry Christmas to everyone except the NHL Board of Governors and Winnipeg

— Atlanta Thrashers (@NotThrashers) December 25, 2016

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Dec. 19 through Monday:

No Games Scheduled.

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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Kamloops at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.

Lethbridge vs. Kootenay, at Cranbrook, B.C., 7 p.m.

Calgary at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.

Saskatoon at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Edmonton at Red Deer, 7 p.m.

Brandon at Regina, 7 p.m.

Spokane vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Swift Current, 7 p.m.

Portland vs. Tri-City, at Kennewick, Wash., 7:05 p.m.

Everett vs. Vancouver, at Langley, B.C., 7 p.m.
Prince George at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.

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Red Deer drops goaltender . . . Blades, Giants create two homecomings. . . . Everett makes some moves

The Red Deer Rebels released G Trevor Martin, 20, on Wednesday. They had placed him on waivers and he was released after he cleared. . . . The Rebels acquired Martin from the Saskatoon Blades in

2014-15. He was 19-9-3 in 42 regular-season appearances with the Rebels. In three appearances this season, Martin was 0-1-1, 4.14, .888. . . . The move leaves the Rebels with two 20s — F Evan Polei and D Colton Bobyk. It also leaves them with two goaltenders — Lasse Pettersen, 19, who was acquired last week from the Everett Silvertips and has yet to make his Red Deer debut, and Riley Lamb, an 18-year-old freshman. . . . The Rebels also acquired G Tyson Verhelst, 19, from the Spokane Chiefs this month. But Verhelst, who suffered at least two concussions last season, is out long-term with an undisclosed upper-body injury. . . . With Pettersen expected to play for Denmark at the 2017 World Junior Championship, the Rebels are likely to bring in Byron Fancy to support Lamb when necessary. Fancy, who will turn 16 on Jan. 1, is from Claresholm, Alta., and is playing with the midget AAA Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was a second-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The Rebels had a pair of 20-year-old goaltenders on their roster earlier in the season. They dealt Rylan Toth to the Seattle Thunderbirds and now Martin is gone.

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If this blog had sound effects, you would be listening to Hagood Hardy playing The Homecoming right now, thanks to a Wednesday afternoon deal made between the Saskatoon Blades and Vancouver Giants. . . . In a swap of 18-year-old forwards, the Blades dealt Josh Bruce to the Giants for Gage Ramsay. Bruce is from Surrey, B.C., while Ramsay is from Saskatoon. . . . Bruce has one goal in four games with the Blades this season. . . . Ramsay has one assist in six games with the Giants. He was a third-round pick by the Giants in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . The Blades are to meet the Giants in Vancouver tonight (Wednesday), but neither is expected to play for his new team.

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According to Jesse Geleynse of the Everett Herald, F Brad Goethals has left the Everett Silvertips and

returned to his Manitoba home for “personal reasons.” The Silvertips acquired Goethals, 18, from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 11, in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft. Goethals led the Manitoba Midget Hockey League in scoring last season, with 74 points, including 41 goals, in 43 games for the Eastman Selects. . . . The Silvertips have recalled D Gianni Fairbrother, 16, to fill a hole created by an undisclosed injury to F Orrin Centazzo. He apparently was injured during Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the host Spokane Chiefs. . . . Last season, Fairbrother was named the top defenceman in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (Elite 15s) while with the Burnaby Winter Club. . . . Fairbrother started this season with the Silvertips but joined the Vancouver-North West Giants of the B.C. Midget Major Junior Hockey League after not getting into any WHL games. He was expected to join the Silvertips in time for tonight’s game in Kelowna against the Rockets.

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Hockey Canada announced the roster for its Deutschland Cup team on Wednesday. That roster, which includes a handful of ex-WHLers, is right here. . . . It is great to see Dave King back with Hockey Canada as the head coach of its entry. His staff will include former Spokane Chiefs assistant coach Mike Pelino (1997-99). He’s in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk. . . . The tournament runs Nov. 4-6 in Augsburg Germany.

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