THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Tyler Beechey (Kootenay, Calgary, 1997-2002) and D Jason Holland (Kamloops, 1992-96) signed one-year contract extensions with DEG Metro Stars Dusseldorf (Germany, DEL). Beechey had 20 goals and 26 assists in 51 games and Holland had eight goals and 19 assists in 51 games this season for the Metro Stars.
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G Deven Dubyk of the Medicine Hat Tigers and G Mark Segal of the Vancouver Giants posted shutouts on Sunday, the final day of the WHL’s regular season.
That brought to 88 the number of blank jobs in the league this season, which equals last season’s total.
The WHL single-season record is 141 (2004-05), followed by 120 (2006-07). The last two seasons are the sixth-highest totals in WHL history.
Darcy Kuemper of the Red Deer Rebels led the WHL (and the CHL) with 13 shutouts, tying the WHL single-season record. He now shares it with Bryan Bridges (Seattle, 2004-05) and Kelly Guard (Kelowna (2003-04).
The Spokane Chiefs put up eight shutouts, second to Red Deer, with James Reid and Mac Engel each earning four.
The Swift Current Broncos, Prince George Cougars and Vancouver each put up six.
On the other side of the coin, the Everett Silvertips were blanked 10 times, while the Calgary Hitmen and Swift Current each was shut out nine times.
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JUST NOTES: F Garrett Mitchell of the Regina Pats will finish the season with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, as he did a year ago. Mitchell signed a contract with the parent Washington Capitals on Saturday. He was a sixth-round pick in the 2009 NHL draft. . . . Two OHL general managers lost their jobs Sunday, the final day of the season. The Sarnia Sting fired Dave MacQueen, while the Soo Greyhounds did the same with Dave Torrie. Neither team qualified for the playoffs.
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THE MATCHUPS:
Eastern Conference:
Saskatoon (1) vs. Prince Albert (8)
Red Deer (2) vs. Edmonton (7)
Medicine Hat (3) vs. Brandon (6)
Kootenay (4) vs. Moose Jaw (5)
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Western Conference:
Portland (1) vs. Everett (8)
Kelowna (2) vs. Prince George (7)
Spokane (3) vs. Chilliwack (6)
Tri-City (4) vs. Vancouver (5)
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In Calgary, G Deven Dubyk stopped 40 shots for his second straight shutout as the Medicine Hat Tigers dumped the Hitmen, 2-0. . . . Dubyk earned his first career shutout Saturday in a 1-0 victory over the visiting Hitmen. . . . The victory allowed the Tigers to finish with 100 points. . . . F Emerson Etem scored both goals in Sunday’s game, giving him 45. . . . F Linden Vey had one assist, giving him 116 points. That assist made all the difference because he won the WHL scoring title by one point over Spokane F Tyler Johnson. . . . The Tigers haven’t had a scoring champion since Tom Lysiak (154 points, 1972-73). . . . Johnson had a goal, his WHL-leading 53rd, and an assist in a 6-3 victory in Portland. . . .
In Vancouver, G Mark Segal stopped 28 shots as the Giants beat the Everett Silvertips, 5-0. . . . Segal put up six shutouts this season. . . . F Spencer Bennett scored twice, giving him 37 goals, and added an assist. . . . Everett was blanked 3-0 by G Lucas Gore and the host Chilliwack Bruins on Saturday night. . . . The Silvertips haven’t scored in more than 142 minutes. They have been shut out a WHL-high 10 times this season. . . . The victory allowed the Giants to move past the idle Chilliwack Bruins and into fifth place in the Western Conference. That puts Vancouver up against the Tri-City Americans in the first round. The Bruins will meet the Spokane Chiefs. . . .
In Kent, Wash., F Kruise Reddick scored his 20th goal of the season at 2:39 of OT to give the Tri-City Americans a 4-3 victory over the host Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The loser point lifted the Thunderbirds into a ninth-place tie with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . The Americans, who have won three in a row, went 9-0-0 against Seattle this season. . . .
In Portland, the Spokane Chiefs scored the game’s last five goals and beat the Winterhawks, 6-3. . . . The Chiefs rested D Jared Cowen, their captain, and had the C on the chest of F Darren Kramer. . . . F Connor Chartier, a second-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft, scored his first goal for the Chiefs. . . . F Ryan Johansen scored the game’s first two goals for Portland, giving him 40 on the season. . . . The Chiefs draw the Chilliwack Bruins in the first round. The Chiefs have home-ice advantage by virtue of being the No. 3 seed, but their building isn’t available so the series will open in Chilliwack on Friday.
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SUNDAY’S CFB COUNT:
One minor:
Everett D Rasmus Rissanen
Showing posts with label Spencer Bennett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spencer Bennett. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
F Killian Hutt of the Swift Current Broncos hasn’t played a game since Dec. 10. On that night, he suffered a severe concussion during a game against the Blazers in Kamloops.
He has spent most of his time since then recuperating at his family home in Edmonton.
But Hutt, 19, plans to spend this weekend in Swift Current — it’s parent weekend — and then return to Edmonton. But he is hoping to return to action this season.
“I’ve been doing better as of late,” he told me in a text Tuesday. “I’m looking at going back permanently (at the) end of February.”
Hutt was preparing to take a shot on goal when was injured on a hit by Kamloops F Jordan DePape, who was penalized and served a five-game WHL suspension.
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The QMJHL announced Tuesday that no franchises — there are 16 of them — filed notification of sale or relocation prior to Monday’s deadline.
"Although a number of reports have been published over the past few weeks, not a single Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team submitted a request to sell or relocate on Jan. 31," QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a statement. "Guidelines are outlined in our Constitution and our members are well-aware of the process regarding these types of requests."
There had been speculation, and lots of it, that the Lewiston Maineiacs, who are averaging about 1,900 fans per game, would be moving to Summerside, P.E.I.
There also have been rumblings about the P.E.I. Rocket, which is averaging fewer than 1,700 fans per game in Charlottetown.
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Brett Montsion, a WHL referee, has done a quick tour through the OHL and he tells Wally Donaldson of the Oshawa Express that he quite enjoyed it. That story is right here.
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Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, lost out Sunday at the Oregon Sports Awards. He was nominated as Sportsperson of the Year. If you follow U.S. college football, it will come as no surprise that the award went to Chip Kelly, the head coach of the Oregon Ducks. All they did was play for the national championship. . . . But just the fact that Johnston was nominated shows the inroads the Winterhawks have made there in less than three seasons under new ownership. . . . He doesn’t get a whole lot of attention but it says right here that Thom Beuning, who handles the play-by-play of Seattle Thunderbirds games on 710 ESPN, is as smooth as they come. . . . F Travis Dunstall (Kamloops, Medicine Hat, Everett, 2004-10) is the Southern Professional league’s player of the week. Dunstall, who joined the Augusta RiverHawks on Jan. 18, had seven points, four of them goals, as his club won three road games. Two of those four goals were game-winners. Overall, he has eight points in five games.
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Somehow I don’t think linesman Derek Nernberg, a 26-year-old from Regina, had planned on becoming a YouTube star by hitting a post. If you haven’t seen it, you are in the minority as this 28-second clip was heading towards 50,000 views late Tuesday night.
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Saskatoon, F Brayden Schenn scored his first two goals on home ice as the Blades won their sixth straight, getting past the Red Deer Rebels, 7-5. . . . The victory lifted the Eastern Conference-leading Blades five points clear of the Rebels who, as the Central Division leaders, are the No. 2 seed. . . . The Blades, who have won six in a row, now have scored 204 goals, the first Eastern Conference team to go over 200. There are three teams in the Western Conference — all from the U.S. Division — with at least 200 goals scored (Spokane, 216; Portland, 203; Tri-City, 200). . . . The Rebels had won their last 11 games. . . . Schenn, who also had an assist, was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 10. . . . F Josh Nicholls and F Jake Trask each had a goal and an assist for the Blades. . . . The Rebels took a 3-2 lead on F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 15th goal at 4:24 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon tied it on D Dalton Thrower’s sixth goal, at 9:44 of the second, then took control with two goals 16 seconds apart early in the third. Schenn scored 58 seconds into the period on a PP and Nichools got his 25th at 1:14. . . . Nugent-Hopkins, F Byron Froese and F Andrej Kudrna combined for two goals and three assists for Red Deer, but each was minus-3. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 18 shots, 12 fewer than Red Deer’s Darcy Kuemper. . . . With G Adam Morrison out with mononucleosis, Stanford was making his sixth straight start. . . . Attendance was 5,184. . . . Schenn actually left the game for a brief time after absorbing a teeth-rattling open-ice hit from Red Deer F Brett Ferguson. “That hit (from Ferguson), I don’t if I’ve ever been hit that hard in my life,” Schenn told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “It didn’t feel good at the time. I got winded there a bit, but I was able to come back.” . . . The Blades are at home to the Regina Pats tonight, while the Rebels meet the Raiders in Prince Albert. . . .
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In Medicine Hat, F Spencer Bennett continued to weave his magic for Vancouver as his goal at the third-period buzzer gave the Giants a 3-2 victory over the Tigers. . . . The goal, which came on a wrap-around, came with one-tenth of a second left and wasn’t awarded until after a 10-minute video review. . . . Bennett scored twice, giving him 26 goals this season. He has 27 points, including 14 goals, in 15 games since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Dec. 30. . . . The Tigers led this one 2-0 in the first period on goals by F Kale Kessy, his 10th, and F Emerson Etem, his 28th, shorthanded at 18:55. . . . F Dalton Sward, with his ninth, got Vancouver on the board at 15:55 of the second. . . . Bennett scored a PP goal 33 seconds into the third to tie it. . . . Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 31 shots, 10 more than Medicine Hat’s Tyler Bunz. . . . Segal won for the 20th time this season. . . . With the victory, the Giants moved one point ahead of the idle Kelowna Rockets atop the B.C. Division. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . The Giants continue their Central Division swing tonight in Lethbridge, with Marty and Gordie Howe scheduled to be on hand. . . .
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In Cranbrook, F Cody Eakin had two goals and three assists to lead the Kootenay Ice to an 8-0 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Eakin has 11 points, including five goals, in six games since being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos on Jan. 9. . . . On the season, he has 50 points in 36 games. . . . Kootenay goaltenders Nathan Lieuwen and Brett Teskey shared the shutout. Lieuwen made 27 saves before leaving at 8:17 of the third period after making a stop on F Cody Sylvester. Teskey came on to stop five shots. . . . D Brayden McNabb chipped in a goal and two assists, while F Kevin King and F Elgin Pearce each had two helpers. . . . The Ice was 4-for-7 on the PP; the Hitmen were 0-for-5. . . . Attendance was 2,159. . . . F Matt Fraser (concussion) returned to the Ice’s lineup for the first time since Jan. 18. Fraser, 20, scored the game’s last goal, his 22nd of the season, and you can bet it felt good. . . . The Ice meet the Hitmen tonight in Calgary. . . . The Ice has put up five shutouts this season, three of them against the Hitmen, who have been blanked a total of five times. . . .
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In Seattle, the Edmonton Oil Kings scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Thunderbirds, 4-2. . . . It was the first of a four-game U.S. Division swing for Edmonton. . . . Seattle has lost nine in a row and remains in the Western Conference basement. . . . The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead into the third period on F Travis Ewanyk’s ninth goal, shorthanded, at 10:53 of the second. . . . The Thunderbirds grabbed a 2-1 lead on third-period goals from F Mitch Elliot (1:57) and F Brendan Rouse (3:01). . . . However, F Kristians Pelss tied it for Edmonton at 10::11 and F Dylan Wruck won it with his 29th at 12:01. . . . F Jordan Hickmott got the empty-netter at 19:38. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit, in his third straight start, stopped 32 shots. He evened his record at 8-8-0. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard made 38 saves. . . . Attendance was 3,141. . . . Seattle play-by-play man Thom Beuning points out on his blog that the Thunderbirds are 1-10-0 since D Travis Bobbee was injured, and they are 0-6-0 since D Ryan Button went down. Those two have combined to play 541 regular-season games. . . . The Oil Kings are in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans tonight. . . .
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
One minor:
Calgary F Danny Gayle
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
He has spent most of his time since then recuperating at his family home in Edmonton.But Hutt, 19, plans to spend this weekend in Swift Current — it’s parent weekend — and then return to Edmonton. But he is hoping to return to action this season.
“I’ve been doing better as of late,” he told me in a text Tuesday. “I’m looking at going back permanently (at the) end of February.”
Hutt was preparing to take a shot on goal when was injured on a hit by Kamloops F Jordan DePape, who was penalized and served a five-game WHL suspension.
———
The QMJHL announced Tuesday that no franchises — there are 16 of them — filed notification of sale or relocation prior to Monday’s deadline.
"Although a number of reports have been published over the past few weeks, not a single Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team submitted a request to sell or relocate on Jan. 31," QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a statement. "Guidelines are outlined in our Constitution and our members are well-aware of the process regarding these types of requests."There had been speculation, and lots of it, that the Lewiston Maineiacs, who are averaging about 1,900 fans per game, would be moving to Summerside, P.E.I.
There also have been rumblings about the P.E.I. Rocket, which is averaging fewer than 1,700 fans per game in Charlottetown.
———
Brett Montsion, a WHL referee, has done a quick tour through the OHL and he tells Wally Donaldson of the Oshawa Express that he quite enjoyed it. That story is right here.
———
Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, lost out Sunday at the Oregon Sports Awards. He was nominated as Sportsperson of the Year. If you follow U.S. college football, it will come as no surprise that the award went to Chip Kelly, the head coach of the Oregon Ducks. All they did was play for the national championship. . . . But just the fact that Johnston was nominated shows the inroads the Winterhawks have made there in less than three seasons under new ownership. . . . He doesn’t get a whole lot of attention but it says right here that Thom Beuning, who handles the play-by-play of Seattle Thunderbirds games on 710 ESPN, is as smooth as they come. . . . F Travis Dunstall (Kamloops, Medicine Hat, Everett, 2004-10) is the Southern Professional league’s player of the week. Dunstall, who joined the Augusta RiverHawks on Jan. 18, had seven points, four of them goals, as his club won three road games. Two of those four goals were game-winners. Overall, he has eight points in five games.———
Somehow I don’t think linesman Derek Nernberg, a 26-year-old from Regina, had planned on becoming a YouTube star by hitting a post. If you haven’t seen it, you are in the minority as this 28-second clip was heading towards 50,000 views late Tuesday night.
———
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Saskatoon, F Brayden Schenn scored his first two goals on home ice as the Blades won their sixth straight, getting past the Red Deer Rebels, 7-5. . . . The victory lifted the Eastern Conference-leading Blades five points clear of the Rebels who, as the Central Division leaders, are the No. 2 seed. . . . The Blades, who have won six in a row, now have scored 204 goals, the first Eastern Conference team to go over 200. There are three teams in the Western Conference — all from the U.S. Division — with at least 200 goals scored (Spokane, 216; Portland, 203; Tri-City, 200). . . . The Rebels had won their last 11 games. . . . Schenn, who also had an assist, was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 10. . . . F Josh Nicholls and F Jake Trask each had a goal and an assist for the Blades. . . . The Rebels took a 3-2 lead on F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 15th goal at 4:24 of the second period. . . . Saskatoon tied it on D Dalton Thrower’s sixth goal, at 9:44 of the second, then took control with two goals 16 seconds apart early in the third. Schenn scored 58 seconds into the period on a PP and Nichools got his 25th at 1:14. . . . Nugent-Hopkins, F Byron Froese and F Andrej Kudrna combined for two goals and three assists for Red Deer, but each was minus-3. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 18 shots, 12 fewer than Red Deer’s Darcy Kuemper. . . . With G Adam Morrison out with mononucleosis, Stanford was making his sixth straight start. . . . Attendance was 5,184. . . . Schenn actually left the game for a brief time after absorbing a teeth-rattling open-ice hit from Red Deer F Brett Ferguson. “That hit (from Ferguson), I don’t if I’ve ever been hit that hard in my life,” Schenn told Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “It didn’t feel good at the time. I got winded there a bit, but I was able to come back.” . . . The Blades are at home to the Regina Pats tonight, while the Rebels meet the Raiders in Prince Albert. . . .———
In Medicine Hat, F Spencer Bennett continued to weave his magic for Vancouver as his goal at the third-period buzzer gave the Giants a 3-2 victory over the Tigers. . . . The goal, which came on a wrap-around, came with one-tenth of a second left and wasn’t awarded until after a 10-minute video review. . . . Bennett scored twice, giving him 26 goals this season. He has 27 points, including 14 goals, in 15 games since being acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Dec. 30. . . . The Tigers led this one 2-0 in the first period on goals by F Kale Kessy, his 10th, and F Emerson Etem, his 28th, shorthanded at 18:55. . . . F Dalton Sward, with his ninth, got Vancouver on the board at 15:55 of the second. . . . Bennett scored a PP goal 33 seconds into the third to tie it. . . . Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 31 shots, 10 more than Medicine Hat’s Tyler Bunz. . . . Segal won for the 20th time this season. . . . With the victory, the Giants moved one point ahead of the idle Kelowna Rockets atop the B.C. Division. . . . Attendance was 4,006. . . . The Giants continue their Central Division swing tonight in Lethbridge, with Marty and Gordie Howe scheduled to be on hand. . . .———
In Cranbrook, F Cody Eakin had two goals and three assists to lead the Kootenay Ice to an 8-0 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Eakin has 11 points, including five goals, in six games since being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos on Jan. 9. . . . On the season, he has 50 points in 36 games. . . . Kootenay goaltenders Nathan Lieuwen and Brett Teskey shared the shutout. Lieuwen made 27 saves before leaving at 8:17 of the third period after making a stop on F Cody Sylvester. Teskey came on to stop five shots. . . . D Brayden McNabb chipped in a goal and two assists, while F Kevin King and F Elgin Pearce each had two helpers. . . . The Ice was 4-for-7 on the PP; the Hitmen were 0-for-5. . . . Attendance was 2,159. . . . F Matt Fraser (concussion) returned to the Ice’s lineup for the first time since Jan. 18. Fraser, 20, scored the game’s last goal, his 22nd of the season, and you can bet it felt good. . . . The Ice meet the Hitmen tonight in Calgary. . . . The Ice has put up five shutouts this season, three of them against the Hitmen, who have been blanked a total of five times. . . .———
In Seattle, the Edmonton Oil Kings scored the game’s last three goals and beat the Thunderbirds, 4-2. . . . It was the first of a four-game U.S. Division swing for Edmonton. . . . Seattle has lost nine in a row and remains in the Western Conference basement. . . . The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead into the third period on F Travis Ewanyk’s ninth goal, shorthanded, at 10:53 of the second. . . . The Thunderbirds grabbed a 2-1 lead on third-period goals from F Mitch Elliot (1:57) and F Brendan Rouse (3:01). . . . However, F Kristians Pelss tied it for Edmonton at 10::11 and F Dylan Wruck won it with his 29th at 12:01. . . . F Jordan Hickmott got the empty-netter at 19:38. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit, in his third straight start, stopped 32 shots. He evened his record at 8-8-0. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard made 38 saves. . . . Attendance was 3,141. . . . Seattle play-by-play man Thom Beuning points out on his blog that the Thunderbirds are 1-10-0 since D Travis Bobbee was injured, and they are 0-6-0 since D Ryan Button went down. Those two have combined to play 541 regular-season games. . . . The Oil Kings are in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans tonight. . . .———
TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
One minor:
Calgary F Danny Gayle
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
Sunday, January 2, 2011
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Prince George, F Taylor Stefishen and F Charles Inglis each scored twice as the Cougars stopped the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-2. The Warriors had won their last three road games, including stops in Vancouver and Chilliwack. . . . Stefishen has nine goals; Inglis has 18. . . . Prince George D Martin Marincin, who played for Slovakia at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo, was in the building but didn’t play. . . .
In Edmonton, G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 23 shots to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 2-1 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . D Brayden McNabb and F Matt Fraser gave the Ice a 2-0 lead. . . . F Michael St. Croix, with his 21st, scored for Edmonton at 19:20 of the third period with G Jon Groenheyde on the bench for the extra attacker. . . .
In Regina, the Pats scored two third-period goals to force OT and then beat the Calgary Hitmen 4-3 in a shootout with goals from F Jordan Weal and F Colin Reddin. . . . D Tyler Bortsmayer got Regina to within 3-2 with his first goal of the season at 5:01 of the third and Weal tied it, with his 19th, at 14:44. . . . F Justin Kirsch scored his 18th of the season and added two assists for Calgary. . . . F Lyndon Martell scored his second goal in as many games for Regina. He joined the Pats after the Christmas break from the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . The victory moved the Pats into 10th place in the 12-team Eastern Conference and got them to within two points of a playoff spot. . . .
In Prince Albert, F Sebastian Svendsen had two goals and an assist and F Justin Maylan had three assists to help the Raiders to a 5-4 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Svendsen has 17 goals. . . . F Igor Revenko scored the Raiders’ fifth goal, into an empty net at 19:34 of the third period, to give his side a 5-3 lead. . . . The Raiders had lost three in a row. . . .
In Swift Current, the Broncos, who hadn’t played at home since Dec. 3, beat the Saskatoon Blades, 4-2. . . . F Trevor Cameron, who joined the Broncos from the SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds after the Christmas break, scored the home team’s first two goals. . . . The Blades cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 but F Adam Lowry iced it for the Broncos with an empty-netter. . . .
In Chilliwack, F Spencer Bennett broke a 2-2 at 17:47 of the second period and the Vancouver Giants went on to a 6-2 victory over the Bruins. . . . Bennett has 15 goals, and has scored three times in three games since joining the Giants in a deal with Portland last week. . . . The Giants got two goals from each of F Dalton Sward and F Nathan Burns. F Teal Burns, who came from Portland with Bennett, had three assists. . . . F Dylen McKinlay had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, the goal coming on a second-period penalty shot. . . .
In Kamloops, F Brendan Ranford scored his WHL-leading 30th goal as the Blazers dropped the Kelowna Rockets, 5-1. . . . Ranford, who leads the WHL with 62 points, also had two assists. Linemate Jordan DePape added three assists.
In Prince George, F Taylor Stefishen and F Charles Inglis each scored twice as the Cougars stopped the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-2. The Warriors had won their last three road games, including stops in Vancouver and Chilliwack. . . . Stefishen has nine goals; Inglis has 18. . . . Prince George D Martin Marincin, who played for Slovakia at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo, was in the building but didn’t play. . . .
In Edmonton, G Nathan Lieuwen stopped 23 shots to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 2-1 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . D Brayden McNabb and F Matt Fraser gave the Ice a 2-0 lead. . . . F Michael St. Croix, with his 21st, scored for Edmonton at 19:20 of the third period with G Jon Groenheyde on the bench for the extra attacker. . . .
In Regina, the Pats scored two third-period goals to force OT and then beat the Calgary Hitmen 4-3 in a shootout with goals from F Jordan Weal and F Colin Reddin. . . . D Tyler Bortsmayer got Regina to within 3-2 with his first goal of the season at 5:01 of the third and Weal tied it, with his 19th, at 14:44. . . . F Justin Kirsch scored his 18th of the season and added two assists for Calgary. . . . F Lyndon Martell scored his second goal in as many games for Regina. He joined the Pats after the Christmas break from the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . The victory moved the Pats into 10th place in the 12-team Eastern Conference and got them to within two points of a playoff spot. . . .
In Prince Albert, F Sebastian Svendsen had two goals and an assist and F Justin Maylan had three assists to help the Raiders to a 5-4 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Svendsen has 17 goals. . . . F Igor Revenko scored the Raiders’ fifth goal, into an empty net at 19:34 of the third period, to give his side a 5-3 lead. . . . The Raiders had lost three in a row. . . .
In Swift Current, the Broncos, who hadn’t played at home since Dec. 3, beat the Saskatoon Blades, 4-2. . . . F Trevor Cameron, who joined the Broncos from the SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds after the Christmas break, scored the home team’s first two goals. . . . The Blades cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 but F Adam Lowry iced it for the Broncos with an empty-netter. . . .
In Chilliwack, F Spencer Bennett broke a 2-2 at 17:47 of the second period and the Vancouver Giants went on to a 6-2 victory over the Bruins. . . . Bennett has 15 goals, and has scored three times in three games since joining the Giants in a deal with Portland last week. . . . The Giants got two goals from each of F Dalton Sward and F Nathan Burns. F Teal Burns, who came from Portland with Bennett, had three assists. . . . F Dylen McKinlay had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, the goal coming on a second-period penalty shot. . . .
In Kamloops, F Brendan Ranford scored his WHL-leading 30th goal as the Blazers dropped the Kelowna Rockets, 5-1. . . . Ranford, who leads the WHL with 62 points, also had two assists. Linemate Jordan DePape added three assists.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
By GREGG DRINNAN
Don Hay, the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, said it felt like trading a son when the WHL team traded centre Craig Cunningham to the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday.
“It was tough . . . very tough,” Hay said. “Craig’s been with us a long, long time. He means a lot to our organization. He was like a son to me.”
But, as the pre-Christmas trade talks progressed between Portland and Vancouver, Hay said he flashed back to his two seasons with the Tri-City Americans. During those two seasons (1998-2000), his son, Darrell, was a defenceman with the Americans.
“When I was in Tre-City,” Don said, “I had a chance to trade my son. I didn’t do it there and I thought it might have hurt the organization. Obviously, we feel this is going to help the organization, as hard as it was to trade (Cunningham).”
The Giants sent Cunningham, 20, and a 2011 sixth-round bantam draft pick to the Winterhawks for forwards Spencer Bennett, 20, and Teal Burns, 18, and two draft picks — a first-rounder in 2011 and a second-rounder in 2012.
Cunningham, a native of Trail, had 97 points in 72 games last season, good for sixth place in the WHL scoring race. He led all Western Conference scorers and was chosen the conference’s player of the year. He was selected by Boston in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2010 draft and went to camp with the Bruins, but wasn’t signed.
He returned to the Giants and started this season like a house on fire, putting up 36 points in 18 games and looking as though he would run away with the scoring title. However, the Giants captain had just nine points in his last 18 games, although he is tied for sixth in the points derby.
“The first 18 games he got points and the team was successful,” Hay said. “The last 18 games we’ve really struggled to score goals and his point production has gone down. It’s kind of a hand-in-hand thing.”
In trading away Cunningham, Hay admitted, the Giants are giving up if not the face of the franchise at least a good piece of it.
“I think that to me Craig is one of the most competitive players in the league,” Hay said. “He’s really our identity player. You really hate to lose him.”
A seventh-round pick in the 2005 bantam draft, Cunningham was a long-time member of the Vancouver organization.
“You watch him grow up,” Hay said. “You know his mom and his background. It’s really hard to see him go.”
Cunningham flew into Portland on Tuesday and was in the Winterhawks’ lineup when they dropped a 5-1 decision to the visiting Tri-City Americans last night.
Bennett, from White Rock, has 21 points in 37 games with Portland, after a 40-point freshman season. The Calgary Flames took him in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL draft.
Burns, in his first WHL season, is from Victoria and has seven points in 37 games. Portland grabbed him in the eighth round of the 2007 bantam draft. Burns becomes the third player with that surname on the Giants’ roster; however, he isn’t related to forwards Michael and Nathan Burns, who are brothers from Edmonton.
Hay said the Giants weren’t necessarily looking to move Cunningham but when the phone rang they answered it.
“It wasn’t something we were looking at doing but Portland identified a need for them,” Hay said. “They contacted us and gave us a real interesting offer to look at.
It gives us a player for the present in Bennett, a player for the future in Burns and it gives us two draft picks, one that we had to recoup on the Musil trade.”
Prior to last season, the WHL held a draft for the rights to Czech defenceman David Musil, then 16. The Kootenay Ice won his rights and traded them to the Giants for a 2011 first-round bantam draft pick. The Cunningham trade gets the Giants back into the draft’s first round.
“We’ve given up a lot over the years to remain competitive,” Hay said. “We think we will still be compettive once we get all our bodies back and find out what kind of team we are.”
On the other hand, the injuries just keep coming for the Giants, who may never have their roster together and healthy.
“We started talking (with Portland) before Christmas,” Hay said. “They wanted to do it sooner rather than later. We would have liked to have kept Cunningham at least for (Tuesday night’s) game but, at the same time, we didn’t want to take the chance either.”
After trading away Cunningham, Hay named forward James Henry, 19, as the team’s new captain. A short time later, it was learned that Henry had suffered a knee injury in Monday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting Kamloops Blazers. Henry is to be re-evaluated today but one team official said last night that the Winnipeg native may be gone for six weeks.
The Giants also confirmed Tuesday that F Randy McNaught, 20, won’t play again this season. He suffered an ankle injury during a 5-4 victory in Kamloops on Oct. 11 and later had what has turned into season-ending surgery.
Also missing with injuries are D David Musil (ankle), F Greg Lamoureux (shoulder), F Marek Tvrdon (shoulder) and F Connor Redmond (shoulder). The Giants went into last night having lost 186 man-games to injury. With Tvrdon and McNaught done for this season, that total likely will reach 300 by season’s end.
The Giants may get some help once the World Junior Championship is over as 6-foot-4 F Andrej Stastny is expected to join them. Statsny, from Slovakia, was selected by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2010 CHL import draft. The Blades dropped him after they didn’t sign him — he also was injured — and the Giants added him to their protected list.
———
Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun writes about the trade between the Giants and Portland Winterhawks right here.
———
Marc Weber of the Vancouver Province writes that Tuesday’s transaction may have been only the start of things to come for the Giants. That story is right here.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
Don Hay, the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, said it felt like trading a son when the WHL team traded centre Craig Cunningham to the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday.
“It was tough . . . very tough,” Hay said. “Craig’s been with us a long, long time. He means a lot to our organization. He was like a son to me.”
But, as the pre-Christmas trade talks progressed between Portland and Vancouver, Hay said he flashed back to his two seasons with the Tri-City Americans. During those two seasons (1998-2000), his son, Darrell, was a defenceman with the Americans. “When I was in Tre-City,” Don said, “I had a chance to trade my son. I didn’t do it there and I thought it might have hurt the organization. Obviously, we feel this is going to help the organization, as hard as it was to trade (Cunningham).”
The Giants sent Cunningham, 20, and a 2011 sixth-round bantam draft pick to the Winterhawks for forwards Spencer Bennett, 20, and Teal Burns, 18, and two draft picks — a first-rounder in 2011 and a second-rounder in 2012.
Cunningham, a native of Trail, had 97 points in 72 games last season, good for sixth place in the WHL scoring race. He led all Western Conference scorers and was chosen the conference’s player of the year. He was selected by Boston in the fourth round of the NHL’s 2010 draft and went to camp with the Bruins, but wasn’t signed.
He returned to the Giants and started this season like a house on fire, putting up 36 points in 18 games and looking as though he would run away with the scoring title. However, the Giants captain had just nine points in his last 18 games, although he is tied for sixth in the points derby.
“The first 18 games he got points and the team was successful,” Hay said. “The last 18 games we’ve really struggled to score goals and his point production has gone down. It’s kind of a hand-in-hand thing.”
In trading away Cunningham, Hay admitted, the Giants are giving up if not the face of the franchise at least a good piece of it.
“I think that to me Craig is one of the most competitive players in the league,” Hay said. “He’s really our identity player. You really hate to lose him.”
A seventh-round pick in the 2005 bantam draft, Cunningham was a long-time member of the Vancouver organization.
“You watch him grow up,” Hay said. “You know his mom and his background. It’s really hard to see him go.”
Cunningham flew into Portland on Tuesday and was in the Winterhawks’ lineup when they dropped a 5-1 decision to the visiting Tri-City Americans last night.
Bennett, from White Rock, has 21 points in 37 games with Portland, after a 40-point freshman season. The Calgary Flames took him in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL draft.
Burns, in his first WHL season, is from Victoria and has seven points in 37 games. Portland grabbed him in the eighth round of the 2007 bantam draft. Burns becomes the third player with that surname on the Giants’ roster; however, he isn’t related to forwards Michael and Nathan Burns, who are brothers from Edmonton.
Hay said the Giants weren’t necessarily looking to move Cunningham but when the phone rang they answered it.
“It wasn’t something we were looking at doing but Portland identified a need for them,” Hay said. “They contacted us and gave us a real interesting offer to look at.
It gives us a player for the present in Bennett, a player for the future in Burns and it gives us two draft picks, one that we had to recoup on the Musil trade.”
Prior to last season, the WHL held a draft for the rights to Czech defenceman David Musil, then 16. The Kootenay Ice won his rights and traded them to the Giants for a 2011 first-round bantam draft pick. The Cunningham trade gets the Giants back into the draft’s first round.
“We’ve given up a lot over the years to remain competitive,” Hay said. “We think we will still be compettive once we get all our bodies back and find out what kind of team we are.”
On the other hand, the injuries just keep coming for the Giants, who may never have their roster together and healthy.
“We started talking (with Portland) before Christmas,” Hay said. “They wanted to do it sooner rather than later. We would have liked to have kept Cunningham at least for (Tuesday night’s) game but, at the same time, we didn’t want to take the chance either.”
After trading away Cunningham, Hay named forward James Henry, 19, as the team’s new captain. A short time later, it was learned that Henry had suffered a knee injury in Monday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting Kamloops Blazers. Henry is to be re-evaluated today but one team official said last night that the Winnipeg native may be gone for six weeks.
The Giants also confirmed Tuesday that F Randy McNaught, 20, won’t play again this season. He suffered an ankle injury during a 5-4 victory in Kamloops on Oct. 11 and later had what has turned into season-ending surgery.
Also missing with injuries are D David Musil (ankle), F Greg Lamoureux (shoulder), F Marek Tvrdon (shoulder) and F Connor Redmond (shoulder). The Giants went into last night having lost 186 man-games to injury. With Tvrdon and McNaught done for this season, that total likely will reach 300 by season’s end.
The Giants may get some help once the World Junior Championship is over as 6-foot-4 F Andrej Stastny is expected to join them. Statsny, from Slovakia, was selected by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2010 CHL import draft. The Blades dropped him after they didn’t sign him — he also was injured — and the Giants added him to their protected list.
———
Elliott Pap of the Vancouver Sun writes about the trade between the Giants and Portland Winterhawks right here.
———
Marc Weber of the Vancouver Province writes that Tuesday’s transaction may have been only the start of things to come for the Giants. That story is right here.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter
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