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D Tomáš Slovák (Kelowna, 2001-03) has signed a one-year contract with Plzeň (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with Košice (Slovakia, Extraliga), he was pointless in five games. He also had two assists in 25 games with Třinec (Czech Republic, Extraliga).
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The Swift Current Broncos, one of the WHL’s four community-owned teams, showed a $140,000 profit for 2015-16 despite the fact that attendance was down by 7,000 over the previous season.
How does that work?
Well, the Broncos, who held their annual general meeting on Tuesday night, received what is known
During the curling event, according to a news release, the Broncos “took on the management of the box office, the concession and the suites, and shared in the management of the beer stands with the Swift Current Curling Club.”
As for the Memorial Cup, all of the WHL teams received a piece of the pie.
According to the Broncos, they would have lost $93,000 had it not been for the extraordinary income.
Do the math and you realize that the Broncos got about $230,000 from the curling and the Memorial Cup.
“Fortunately, through the great fan support and extraordinary efforts from our staff we were able to take a difficult on-ice season and turn it into a profitable year off the ice,” Liam Choo-Foo, the chairman of the Broncos’ board, said in a news release.
For 2014-15, the Broncos declared a profit of $133,465; it got a real boost from an adjustment of about $100,000 to the team’s education fund.
For 2013-14, the team announced a profit of $197,244.
Tuesday’s news release also noted that Broncos staff and players “contributed 795 hours to Swift Current and surrounding communities last (season), up 150 hours from the previous (season), and donated $5,700 worth of merchandise and tickets to various community fundraising events.”
The Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors and Prince Albert Raiders are the WHL’s other community-owned franchises.
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The Tri-City Americans will continue to carry three goaltenders for the next while as Evan Sarthou, their No. 1 guy last season, continues to recover from an undisclosed injury suffered while in camp with the U.S. national junior team in August. He is out week-to-week. Sarthou, from Black Diamond, Wash., played in 60 games with the Americans last season, going 26-28-2, 3.46, .888. . . . With Sarthou, 19, sidelined, the Americans are going with Beck Warm, 17, from Whistler, B.C., and Nicholas Sanders, 18, of Calgary. . . . Warm went into this season having played in one game, that in 2014-15. He has played both Tri-City games so far this season, going 1-1-0, 4.62, .857. . . . Playing behind Sarthou last season, Sanders got into 23 games, going 9-6-1, 2.99, .901. . . . The Americans also will be without F Jordan Topping for a few weeks after he was injured while in camp with the NHL’s Dallas Stars. Topping, 19, had 67 points, including 33 goals, in 72 games last season. . . . Tri-City lost sophomore D Kurtis Rutledge, 19, when he was injured on Sunday. He’ll be out for a month. . . . On top of those injuries, veteran F Austyn Playfair, 19, and freshman D Seth Bafaro, 16, have yet to play as they recover from off-season surgery. . . . The result of all this is that the Americans still are carrying 29 players.
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The WHL has yet to release information on how the Moose Jaw Warriors and host Brandon Wheat Kings will conclude the game that was suspended by fog on Saturday night. The Warriors had just scored to take a 2-1 second-period lead when a decision was made to suspend proceedings because of concerns about player safety. . . . Neil Thomson, the general manager of the Keystone Centre, which oversees Westman Place, has told Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun that the facility takes the blame for what happened. . . . "It was just really a combination of different factors coming into play that one time at the home opener to come together to do it," Thomson told Bergson. "It’s our responsibility. It’s the Keystone Centre’s responsibility and I know that. We certainly apologize to the city, to the fans, to the Wheat Kings organization, to the Moose Jaw Warriors. We’ll do what we can to have it hopefully never happen again but we can’t guarantee it." . . . Bergson’s complete story is right here.
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The latest players to return to the WHL from the NHL:
Calgary Hitmen — F Jakob Stukel, Vancouver Canucks; F Carsen Twarynski, Philadelphia Flyers.
Everett Silvertips — G Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers.
Lethbridge Hurricanes — D Brennan Menell, Philadelphia Flyers; F Tyler Wong, Toronto Maple Leafs.
Portland Winterhawks — D Caleb Jones, Edmonton Oilers.
Regina Pats — D Sergey Zborovskiy, New York Rangers.
Seattle Thunderbirds — D Ethan Bear, Edmonton Oilers.
Swift Current Broncos — F Glenn Gawdin, St. Louis Blues.
Vancouver Giants — F Ty Ronning, New York Rangers.
Victoria Royals — F Jack Walker, Toronto Maple Leafs.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Victoria Royals added 20-year-olds to their rosters on Tuesday. . . . The Hurricanes got F Tyler Wong back from the Toronto Maple Leafs, while F Jack Walker was returned to the Royals by the Maple Leafs. . . . Wong’s arrival leaves the Hurricanes with three 20-year-olds, as he joins F Ryley Lindgren and D Kord Pankewicz. Wong, the team captain, put up 89 points, including 43 goals, in 72 games last season. Wong also will sit out his first game back with Lethbridge, thanks to a one-game suspension left over from last season’s playoffs. . . . The Royals also have three 20-year-olds, with Walker joining F Carter Folk, who was acquired from Lethbridge earlier this month, and D Ryan Gagnon. Walker had 84 points, 36 of them goals, in 72 games last season.
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There may be more than meets the eye to the decision by the Brandon Wheat Kings to drop the Thompson brothers, Tyler and Baron, from their roster. The brothers, from Lakeville, Minn., had been acquired from the Victoria Royals on Sept. 1. . . . Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun reported that Grant Armstrong, Brandon’s general manager, “had no comment on the decision.” . . . Bergson also reported that “two sources told The Sun that it was a non-hockey related matter.” . . . Neither Thompson had dressed for Brandon’s first two regular-season games. . . . Armstrong, of course, spent the previous four seasons with Victoria before moving to the Wheat Kings last month.
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JUST NOTES:
The New York Rangers made a number of roster moves on Tuesday and one of them included F Reid Duke of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Duke, 20, was reassigned to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. Duke, who has yet to sign a pro contract, had 61 points, including 33 goals, in 68 games with the Wheat Kings last season, his fourth in the WHL. He added 24 points, 16 of them assists, in 21 playoff games. . . .
Andy Eide, who covers the Seattle Thunderbirds for 710 ESPN, reports that the teams says F Keegan Kolesar is week-to-week with an undisclosed injury suffered in training camp with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. If Kolesar, 19, is out for any length of time it will be a big loss for Seattle, especially if F Mathew Barzal earns a spot with the NHL’s New York Islanders. . . . Kolesar had 61 points, including 30 goals, in 64 regular-season games in 2015-16. In 16 playoff games, he added seven goals and eight assists. . . .
The Calgary Hitmen have dropped D Jackson van de Leest from their roster. He will play for the midget prep team at the Okanagan Hockey Academy this season. Van de Leest, 15, is from Kelowna. He was a first-round selection by Calgary in the 2016 bantam draft. He got into Calgary’s first two games this season, but was pointless.
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Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
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TUESDAY GAME (all times local):
At Langley, B.C., F Jared Bethune scored three goals, including the winner, as the Prince George Cougars ran their season-opening winning streak to three with a wild 7-6 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . The last time the Cougars opened a season with three straight victories was 2012-13. That also is the last time that they won their first three road games. That season, neither of those winning streaks reached four. . . . This edition of the Cougars goes for four in a row, all on the road, tonight against the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . Last night, the Cougars held leads of 3-0, 4-1, 5-4 and 6-4. . . . Goals by D Dylan Plouffe, F Brendan Semchuk and F Taden Rattie pulled the Giants (0-3-0) into a 4-4 tie in the second period. . . . However, Bethune scored his second goal, at 19:13 of the second, and F Colby McAuley added another at 5:02 of the third for a 6-4 lead. . . . The Giants came right back and tied it on goals from F Jack Flaman, at 11:05, and F Radovan Bondra, at 13:02. . . . Bethune finally won it with his third goal at 15:43. . . . Bethune went into last night with one two-goal game in 135 regular-season games. Last season, the Warroad, Minn., native finished with 16 goals and 21 assists in 72 games. In his freshman season, he recorded six goals and 14 assists in 61 games. . . . . McAuley and F Justin Almeida each had a goal and two assists for the Cougars, with D Tate Olson adding a goal and an assist. . . . Semchuk, Rattie and Bondra each added an assist to their goals, with F Dawson Holt and D Darian Skeoch each earning two assists for the Giants. . . . Vancouver D Alex Kannok-Leipert, a 16-year-old brought in from Regina to help during a back-end shortage, scored his first WHL goal. . . . Prince George G Nick McBride was beaten four times on 16 shots over 36:22. Ty Edmonds came on to finish up, stopping 10 of 12 shots. . . . G Ryan Kubic turned aside 25 shots for Vancouver. . . . The Cougars were 1-3 on the PP; the Giants were 1-6. . . . Announced attendance: 2,898.
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WEDNESDAY GAME (all times local):
Prince George at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
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In Regina, F Dryden Hunt set up three goals as the Pats beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 6-4. . . . Hunt extended his points streak to nine games. . . . The Pats led 3-0 at 6:21 of the second, but the Warriors tied it on F Brett Howden’s 11th goal at 19:34 of the second period. . . . Regina F Connor Gay put his guys back in front at 8:13 of the third and F Pavel Padakin added insurance with a shorthanded goal at 9:22. He’s got nine goals. . . . Moose Jaw F Tanner Eberle got his second of the game, and 21st of the season, at 10:52 to get his guys to within one. . . . Regina D Nathan Mortlock scored his first goal at 15:47 to put it away. . . . Gay also had two assists. . . . F Jesse Gabrielle, acquired earlier in the day from Brandon, was in Regina’s lineup. He was pointless in his Pats debut. . . . The Warriors, who have lost 11 straight games to Regina, were 0-for-8 on the PP; the Pats were 1-for-5. . . . Warriors D Tyler Brown returned after missing 14 games with a hand injury. . . . Moose Jaw F Noah Gregor, playing his second game after returning from a 27-game absence, left in the first period with an undisclosed injury. . . . Moose Jaw was without D Alexey Sleptsov, who was injured while blocking a shot in Wednesday’s 2-1 OT loss to the visiting Pats. . . . The Pats (24-12-2) have won four in a row. . . . The Warriors (15-20-4), who are at home to Prince Albert tonight, have lost seven straight (0-6-1). . . .
In Prince Albert, G Carter Hart stopped 26 shots to lead the Everett Silvertips to a 2-0 victory over the Raiders. . . . Hart, a 16-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta., posted his second WHL shutout and his second this season. . . . Everett D Ben Betker scored his second goal, on a PP, at 19:07 of the second period. . . . Everett F Carson Stadnyk added an empty-netter at 19:40 of the third. Stadnyk, who had a game-high six shots, has 13 goals this season. . . . Raiders G Rylan Parenteau stopped 41 shots. . . . The Silvertips scratched D Kevin Davis with an undisclosed injury, so had D Jantzen Leslie, a 15-year-old from Lloydminster, Alta., in their lineup. . . . As Cody Nickolet (@DubFromAbove) pointed out, Davis’s absence meant that Cole MacDonald had “a new partner for the first time in at least 34 games.” . . . The game was Everett’s first on a six-game East Division tour. . . . Prior to the game, the Raiders announced that Czech D Tomas Andrlik will miss up to four weeks with an undisclosed injury. They also sent D Curtis Roach to the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers. He was pointless in seven games with Prince Albert. . . . The Silvertips (22-11-4) had lost their previous two games. They are in Saskatoon tonight. . . The Raiders (16-22-1) have lost four in a row. They play visiting Moose Jaw tonight. . . . 
In Edmonton, G Patrick Dea stopped 27 shots to help the Oil Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Edmonton D Aaron Irving broke a 1-1 tie with his sixth goal at 9:47 of the third and F Brett Pollock made it 3-1 with his 16th at 15:18. . . . Lethbridge D Kord Pankewicz got his fourth at 19:26. . . . Hurricanes F Taylor Cooper scored his 11th goal. . . . Lethbridge D Andrew Nielsen picked up a headshot major and game misconduct at 6:03 of the second so undoubtedly will be hearing from the WHL office. . . . After the game, Edmonton head coach Steve Hamilton told Brian Swane of the Edmonton Sun that Koep was “not great. He’s going to be our for a while.“ . . . The Oil Kings (18-16-5) have won two straight. They are at home to Kootenay tonight. . . . The Hurricanes (9-23-5), who have lost three in a row, entertain Red Deer tonight. . . .
In Red Deer, the Kootenay Ice opened up a 5-1 third-period lead and went on to a 5-3 victory over the Rebels. . . . F Jon Martin had two goals, giving him six, and an assist for the Ice. . . . His first goal, at 11:32 of the second, gave the Ice a 3-0 lead. . . . Ice F Jaedon Descheneau scored his 21st goal. . . . Ice F Matt Alfaro had two assists. . . . Kootenay G Wyatt Hoflin stopped 38 shots. . . . F Brooks Maxwell scored twice for the Rebels, giving him 12. . . . Red Deer F Adam Musil returned after missing six games with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Ice (21-17-1), which plays in Edmonton tonight, is 6-0-1 in its last seven. . . . The Rebels (20-14-5) had been 2-0-1 in their last three. They play in Lethbridge tonight. . . .
In Kamloops, the Kelowna Rockets scored the game’s last four goals, all in the third period, and beat the Blazers, 6-4. . . . The Rockets, the first WHL team to 30 victories this season, weren’t good for 40 minutes, but special teams bailed them out in the third period. . . . Kamloops D Dawson Davidson scored his second WHL goal in three games at 17:42 of the second, on a PP, for a 3-2 lead and D Josh Connolly upped that to 4-2 with his fifth goal, on a PP, at 4:56 of the third. . . . Kelowna F Gage Quinney started the comeback with a shorthanded goal at 8:37 of the third. He’s got nine goals. . . . The Blazers lost F Luke Harrison to a charging major and game misconduct for a hit on D Devante Stephens at 10:20. . . . Rockets F Cole Linaker tied the game with his sixth goal, on the PP, at 13:26 and F Nick Merkley, with his 12th, gave the visitors the lead 1:10 later, still on the PP. . . . F Tyson Baillie iced it with his second of the game, an empty-netter, at 19:17. . . . Baillie and Merkley, who took at least three heavy checks in this one, each had two goals and an assist. . . . “They didn’t make it easy on (Merkley),” Rockets head coach Dan Lambert told the Kelowna Daily Courier. “They were going after him. But he’s a kid that doesn’t back down from anything. It sometimes wakes him up, and he certainly stepped up.” . . . The Rockets went 4-for-7 on the PP; the Blazers were 2-for-4. . . . Kelowna G Michael Herringer stopped 18 shots to improve his record to 5-0-0. . . . The Rockets have beaten Kamloops in 12 straight games, eight last season and the first four of this season. . . . The Blazers were without veteran D Brady Gaudet, who was injured in a 4-2 loss in Kelowna on Dec. 27. . . . The Blazers had Heather McVie-Gaunt, an opera singer with Kamloops ties who lives in Pittsburgh, sing O Canada prior to the game. Give her the game’s first star! But I do wonder if there are leather lungs yelling Go Steelers when she performs in Pittsburgh, or is it a junior hockey thing? . . . The Blazers (13-23-5) have lost five straight and entertain Vancouver tonight, while the Rockets (30-6-3) return home to face Prince George. . . . 
In Victoria, the Royals erased an early 1-0 deficit as they beat the Spokane Chiefs, 8-1. . . . D Travis Brown led the winners with his 14th goal and three assists, while F Greg Chase added his eighth goal and two assists, and F Tyler Soy drew three assists. . . . Victoria F Brandon Magee returned from an undisclosed injury and scored his 11th goal. . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka scored the game’s first goal, his 19th. . . . Victoria G Coleman Vollrath stopped 32 shots. . . . F Scott Walford made his debut with the Royals. From Coquitlam, he was the 18th overall selection in the 2014 bantam draft. He is playing at the Okanagan Hockey Academy. . . . Mike Boyle, the radio voice of the Chiefs, called his 1,000th WHL game. . . . The Royals (19-18-3) have won two straight. . . . The Chiefs (21-13-3) had a seven-game winning streak snapped. . . . The same teams meet in Victoria tonight. . . . 
In Vancouver, the Giants scored the game’s last four goals and beat the Prince George Cougars, 5-4. . . . Vancouver D Mason Geertsen, who had two goals and an assist, broke a 4-4 tie at 16:41 of the third period with his seventh goal of the season. . . . Giants F Tyler Benson had tied the game with his eighth goal, on a PP, at 2:00 of the third. . . . Cougars F Chase Witala scored twice, his second goal, and 20th of the season, opening up a 4-1 lead at 2:53 of the second. . . . Vancouver D Brennan Menell had two assists. . . . Cougars F Jansen Harkins also had two assists. . . . Vancouver G Cody Porter relieved starter Payton Lee at 2:19 of the second after the visitors took a 3-1 lead. Porter went on to stop 13 of 14 shots. . . . Cougars D Shane Collins scored his first goal. . . . The Giants were 2-for-8 on the PP; the Cougars were 2-for-6. . . . Vancouver (18-19-1) has won two in a row and now is one point behind the third-place Cougars in the B.C. Division. . . . The Cougars slipped to 19-20-0. . . . The Giants visit Kamloops tonight, while the Cougars are in Kelowna. . . . 
In Kent, Wash., the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the only two goals of the shootout and beat the Tri-City Americans, 3-2. . . . Seattle F Donovan Neuls scored his fourth goal, on a PP, at 19:31 of the second period for a 1-0 lead. . . . Tri-City F Lucas Nickles tied it at 3:59 of the third. . . . Seattle F Nolan Volcan gave his guys the lead with his fourth goal at 10:28. . . . Nickles scored his 12th of the season at 19:15 to force OT. . . . Seattle F Lane Pederson and Neuls scored in the shootout. . . . Seattle F Scott Eansor had two assists. . . . The Thunderbirds were without F Justin Hickman, who drew a two-game suspension for an incident he was involved in during a Wednesday game in Portland. . . . The Americans, meanwhile, were fined $750 for their part in a line brawl against the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday. That was the Americans’ second such incident this season. . . . The Thunderbirds (19-15-4) have won six straight. . . . The Americans (18-17-2) have dropped two in a row. They are in Portland tonight.
Cory Clouston is back in the game, this time as head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders. The WHL team announced Monday that it had signed Clouston to a two-year deal, with the team holding an option on a third season. . . . Clouston, a two-time WHL coach of the year while with the Kootenay Ice, is the 13th head coach in Raiders’ history. . . . He left the Ice after 2007-08 and spent a bit more than one season as head coach of the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, moving up as head coach of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators with 34 games left in 2008-09. Clouston spent two more seasons with Ottawa before being dropped, and then was head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings for one season, going 39-28-5 in 2011-12. He was fired shortly after the season ended. . . . With the Raiders, Clouston replaces Steve Young. The Raiders announced on April 29 that they wouldn’t pick up the option on Young’s contract. . . . Associate coach Dave Manson and assistant coach Tim Leonard will work alongside Clouston. . . . Perry Bergson of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has more 
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