Merry Christmas from the Broncos . . . Big victory for Pats . . . Bizarre night in Kelowna

There are so many third, fourth, fifth, etc., sweaters and uniforms being used in the hockey work now that the novelty has long been lost.
But every once in a while a team is able to come up with something that is kind of neat.
Which brings us to the Swift Current Broncos and the sweaters that will be used on Saturday night, one of which is pictured above.
When the Broncos take to the ice against the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings, Swift Current will be wearing what perhaps can best be described as Christmas green and red uniforms with a nifty logo -- a bronco with antlers.
Ryan Switzer, the team’s director of communications and digital media, advises that “they will be auctioned off via silent auction during the game with proceeds helping out the inaugural Innovation Credit Union Salvation Army kids Christmas party later this month. The team will be having a get-together with under-privileged families in the area.”
Switzer also points out that for fans unable to attend Saturday’s game, “There is a Dillon Heatherington jersey up for auction online right now on our website.” That website is right here.
And, as you might have guessed if you are familiar with this kind of stuff, the sweaters were designed by former Broncos F Taylor Vause, who has a gift for this sort of thing.
You are able to follow Vause on Twitter (@wizardofvause) or check out some of his NHL-related work right here.
---








F Pavel Brendl (Calgary, 1998-2001) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Skalica (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, with Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had four assists in six games, and in 14 games with Lausitzer Füchse Weisswasser(Germany, DEL2), he had three goals and 12 assists. . . .
D Justin Kirsch (Calgary, Moose Jaw, 2009-13) has signed a contract for the rest of the season with Löwen Frankfurt (Germany, DEL2). This season, with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL), he had one assist in four games; he also was pointless in one game with the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL). Kirsch has dual Canadian-German citizenship. . . .
F Kamil Vávra (Regina, 2003-04) has been released by Šumperk (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). In 29 games, he had five goals and two assist.
---



Red Fisher, who covered the Montreal Canadiens for more than 55 years for the Montreal Star and Montreal Gazette, put retirement aside for a while as he remembered the late Jean Beliveau. Fisher’s piece is right here.
---
D Tamas Laday of the Spokane Chiefs will play for Hungary in the IIHF U20 World Championship (Division I Group B) later this month. The tournamet is scheduled for Dunaujvaros, Hungary, Dec. 14-20. . . . This will be quite a thrill for Laday as it will take place 50 km from his hometown of Szekesfehervar. . . . Laday, a WHL freshman, has one assist in 21 games with the Chiefs. A year ago, he played for Hungary in the IIHF U20 Division II Group A tournament, scoring twice and adding five assists in five games. . . . Laday is scheduled to leave the Chiefs on Dec. 8 and return for a Dec. 27 game against the visiting Tri-City Americans.
---
The Medicine Hat Tigers open a road trip on Friday night against the Silvertips in Everett. Sean Rooney of the Medicine Hat News reports that the Tigers are hopeful that F Markus Eisenschmid will return to their lineup at some point during that trip. Eisenschmid, a 19-year-old German, suffered a broken kneecap when he blocked a shot on Oct. 25 against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. He finished that game and played again on Oct. 28 against the Red Deer Rebels. But he hasn’t played since then. . . . He wants to get back in the lineup, too, because he wants to get some games in before leaving Dec. 17 to join the German team that will play in the World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal.
---




The Portland Winterhawks have signed F Austin Gray, a 17-year-old from Prince George. Gray is playing for the Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. The Cougars' captain, he has a league-leading 37 points, including 20 goals, in 19 games with the first-place club. It is anticipated that he will finish the season with the Cougars. . . .
Following a 5-2 loss to the visiting Prince Albert Raiders last night, the Prince George Cougars announced two roster moves. . . . They have signed D Kirk Bear, 19, and added him to their 50-player protected list. . . . They also released Slovakian D Martin Bobos, 19. . . . Bear is pointless in four games; Bobos had one assist in 15 games, after earning seven assists in 67 games last season. . . . The Cougars are carrying 25 players, including 16 forwards and seven defencemen. . . . They are scheduled to meet the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday.
---

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES:

In Regina, F Pavel Padakin scored a Teddy Bear goal for the third straight season and the Pats went on to a 4-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Each of the previous two seasons, Padakin scored the Teddy Bear goal in a Calgary Hitmen uniform. He was acquired by the Pats on Sept. 23 and got the goal at 11:21 of the second period. It was his eighth goal this season. . . . F Sam Steel scored twice for the Pats, including an empty-netter. He’s got seven goals. . . . F Peter Quenneville scored both Brandon goals, giving him seven. . . . F Rykr Cole, the pride of Moosomin, Sask., scored his second goal, giving the Pats a 3-1 lead at 6:46 of the third. . . . Brandon G Jordan Papirny, in his eighth straight start, stopped 37 shots. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple turned aside 26 shots in posting his eighth straight victory. . . . Brandon F Tim McGauley had a five-game goal streak end. . . . The Wheat Kings were without F Rihards Bukarts for a third straight game, while D Kale Clague remains out with an injury incurred at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. . . . Brandon D Mark Matsuba left in the first period after taking a hit from Regina F Dryden Hunt. . . . The Pats (17-10-1) have won four in a row; they are 9-2-0 in their last 11. . . . The Wheat Kings (21-6-2) had been 4-0-1 in their previous five. . . . Brandon is 7-3-1 over its last 11. . . . In the East Division, Brandon leads second-place Regina by nine points. . . . The Pats and Wheat Kings meet again Friday, this time in Brandon. . . .

In Prince George, D Josh Morrissey scored a goal and added two assists to help the Prince Albert Raiders to a 5-2 victory over the Cougars. . . . It was the opening game of the Raiders’ B.C. Division tour that continues Friday in Kamloops. . . . Former Cougars F Jordan Tkatch broke a 1-1 tie with his sixth goal at 10:44 of the second period and F Gage Quinney, with his fifth, made it 3-1 at 19:06. . . . Raiders F Reid Gardiner added insurance with his 15th at 9:30, before Morrissey scored his seventh into an empty net at 18:50. . . . That was Morrissey’s 60th regular-season goal, tying the franchise record that was held by Emanuel Viveiros (1982-86). . . . F David Soltes had a goal, his ninth, and an assist for the Cougars. He has six PP goals. . . . Prince George had F Chase Witala (leg) and D Marc McNulty (undisclosed) back in the lineup. McNulty had missed nine games, while Witala watched for two. . . . The Raiders, who are 7-5-0 under head coach Marc Habscheid, improved to 14-14-0, while the Cougars slipped to 13-15-0. . . .

In Kelowna, F Rourke Chartier, the WHL’s leading sniper, scored twice as the Rockets dumped the Saskatoon Blades, 5-1. . . . The Rockets scored the game’s last five goals. . . . Chartier, who is from Saskatoon, has 31 goals. . . . F Nick Merkley had a goal, his ninth, and two assists for Kelowna, while D Madison Bowey drew three assists and D Riley Stadel had two. . . . Chartier also leads the WHL in points (50), one more than Merkley, who is No. 1 in assists (49). . . . In one of the more bizarre moments of this season, the starting goaltenders -- Nik Amundrud of the Blades and Jake Morrissey of the Rockets -- got into a third-period fight at centre ice. They received the only fighting majors during that stoppage in play. The fight happened despite the fact that Amundrud’s backup, Trevor Martin, is fighting a flu bug, while the Rockets had two goaltenders, Jackson Whistle (ill) and Michael Hollinger (injured), unable to play. . . . In fact, the Rockets had an AP on the bench whose name wasn’t on the on-line scoresheet. . . . It turns out it was Sam Bobyn, who, according to Rockets play-by-play man Regan Bartel, became the first Kelowna-born goaltender to play for the Rockets. . . . Morrissey, in his first start on home ice, stopped 20 shots. Bobyn came on at 8:40 of the third, but didn’t face a shot. The Blades were outshot 9-0 in the third period, if the scoresheet is to be believed. . . . The Rockets improved to 23-3-3. . . . The Blades (7-20-2) have lost five in a row (0-4-1), including the first two games on their B.C. Division tour. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix is on the road with the Blades and has a game story right here. . . .

In Everett, F Nikita Scherbak scored twice and added an assist to lead the Silvertips to a 4-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Scherbak broke a 1-1 tie at 13:16 of the second period and added insurance with a PP goal at 17:00 of the third. He’s got 14 goals. . . . Everett D Kevin Davis had two assists. . . . F Adam Helewka scored his 14th goal for the Chiefs. . . . Everett F Ivan Nikolishin scored his eighth goal and added an assist. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz stopped 31 shots, 10 more than Spokane’s Tyson Verhelst. . . . Everett took two of the game’s three minor penalties. . . . Everett improved to 17-5-4, while the Chiefs, who have lost two straight, are 14-9-3.
---

Beyond excited for my partnership with @DonnellyFord1 huge thanks for setting me up with this beauty! #customtrucks pic.twitter.com/WyFPRRy2CC
— Curtis Lazar (@CurtisLazar95) December 3, 2014

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Fredrik Pettersson (Calgary, 2005-07) exercised his KHL opt-out clause and has left Frölunda Gothenburg (Sweden, Elitserien) after completing just one year of a four-year contract. He now has signed a contract with Donbass Donetsk (Ukraine, KHL). No terms were announced. Pettersson had 16 goals and 24 assists in 54 games as an alternate captain for Frölunda this season. The head coach of Donbass is former Portland assistant coach Julius Supler.
———
Hearty congratulations to old friend Roy MacGregor, who was named Friday as this year’s winner of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. It is a Hockey Hall of Fame honour that is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.
MacGregor is a prolific writer, who now is with The Globe and Mail. A veteran of the newspaper game, he also has written a number of books, hockey-related and otherwise, as well as a highly successful series of childrens books — The Screech Owls.
The surprise with this award is that he hadn’t won the award a whole lot earlier than this.
———
Also on Friday, veteran hockey writer Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette announced his retirement. Fisher has written about the NHL for 57 years, beginning with the infamous Richard riots in 1955.
Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette writes about Fisher right here.
———
James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail writes right here about the Toronto Marlies trying to move forward after losing an AHL playoff game Thursday on a goal that should have been disallowed.
That piece is right here.
———
THE COACHING GAME:
Adam Deadmarsh (Portland, 1991-95) had to end his NHL playing career because of concussion-related problems. Now he has left his assistant-coaching job with the Colorado Avalanche for the same reason. Deadmarsh was 28 when he retired as a player; he’s now 37. . . . His wife, Christa, sent this message to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: “Adam was hurt (concussion issues) this season and decided that health/family and safety are his priority … Adam enjoyed coaching, but this was the right decision … We are back in Idaho and will love being close to our family again:) Hello Idaho friends … we are home:)” . . .
Mike Heilka of the Dallas Morning News reports here that the Dallas Stars “are speaking with Willie Desjardins about taking the head-coaching job with the Texas Stars.” Desjardins, the former GM and head coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers, has one year left on his contract with Dallas. He is the associate coach to head coach Glen Gulutzan. . . .
The OHL’s Kitchener Rangers have hired Mike McKenzie as an assistant coach. Yes, he is a son of Bob McKenzie, TSN’s crack hockey analyst. Mike, 26, played four seasons of NCAA hockey at St. Lawrence U — he twice was on the NCAA all-academic team — before turning pro and playing with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers and Albany River Rats and the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. He retired after playing last season with the AHL’s Houston Aeros. . . . In Kitchener, he will work alongside GM/head coach Steve Spott. . . .
Craig Hartsburg, a former head coach of the Everett Silvertips, has been dismissed as associate coach by the NHL’s Calgary Flames. He left the Silvertips prior to this season to work with the Flames and then-head coach Brent Sutter. . . . When the Flames dumped Sutter, they also got rid of assistant coach Dave Lowry, a former head coach of the Calgary Hitmen. . . .
Former NHL coach Paul Maurice has signed on as head coach of the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Maurice began this season as head coach of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, only to be fired 25 games into it. . . . Former NHL G Tom Barrasso has signed on as Maurice’s assistant coach. . . .
Two WHL assistant coaches — Dwayne Gylywoychuk of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Malcolm Cameron of the Regina Pats — have been named to the coaching staff of Team West that will represent Manitoba and Saskatchewan at the U17 World Hockey Challenge. That tournament is to beging in Drummondville and Victoriaville, Que., on Dec. 29. . . . Don MacGillivray, the head coach of the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues for four years, is Team West’s head coach for a second consecutive year. . . .
———
As you no doubt are aware, the Oklahoma City Thunder has advanced to the NBA final. (BTW, it’s final, not finals, and I don't care what David Stern thinks. It’s one series so it’s singular. OK?)
You also should be aware that the Thunder began life as the Seattle SuperSonics.
So . . . how are the sporting fans of Seattle feeling?
Let’s just say they aren’t enjoying this one bit.
Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times pretty much sums it up with his Friday column right here.


There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.