27% of Canadians wouldn't mind an early exit from the world juniors if it means they never have to see the Nike commercials ever again— Stats Canada (@stats_canada) January 3, 2017
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WHL trades since Dec. 27:
Trades: 8.
Players: 14.
Bantam draft picks: 7.
Conditional bantam draft picks: 1.
(WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10).
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The reunion of long-time friends Rykr Cole and Dawson Davidson lasted about a week.
It ended Monday when the Regina Pats dealt Cole to the Spokane Chiefs.
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| RYKR COLE |
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| RILEY WOODS |
Cole and Davidson both are from Moosomin, Sask. They were reunited on Dec. 25 when Davidson found out that the Kamloops Blazers had traded him to the Pats.
“He’s my best friend, pretty much,” Davidson told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post after the trade. “We’re both from Moosomin. We played midget together in Moose Jaw and roomed together for a year. I saw him a lot over the break. When I got traded, I instantly called him.
“It’s going to be fun to reunite. He’s a great guy and an unbelievable leader. I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”
Cole told Harder: “He let me know he got traded to Regina and I was pretty excited. He came over and
we talked about it. I’ve been showing him around Regina a bit. It’s nice to have a guy coming in that you know, especially with Dawson being one of my really good buddies.”
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| WYATT SLOBOSHAN |
While Cole and Davidson were enjoying the reunion, F Wyatt Sloboshan was choosing not to return to the Spokane Chiefs after the Christmas break.
On Tuesday, the Chiefs dealt Sloboshan, 19, who had been acquired from the Saskatoon Blades, and a third-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft to the Pats for Cole, a 19-year-old forward, and F Riley Woods, 18.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Sloboshan, from Vanscoy, Sask., has played 30 games this season, 29 of them with Saskatoon. He had four goals and 12 assists with the Blades — he was the team’s captain — and was pointless in one game with Spokane. In 146 career games, he has 91 points, including 33 goals. He was a third-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2012 bantam draft.
Cole, from Moosomin, Sask., was a third-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft. The 6-foot-0, 185-pounder had six goals and seven assists in 34 games this season. He put up 27 goals and 30 assists in 166 career games.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Woods, a list player from Regina, had six goals and seven assists in 28 games with the Pats this season. In 59 career games, he has 15 goals and 12 assists.
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The Prince Albert Raiders have acquired F Curtis Miske, 19, from the Spokane Chiefs for a fourth-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft. . . . The Chiefs, having acquired F Rykr Cole and F Riley Woods earlier in the day from Regina, had to make a move to get their roster down to 25 players. . . . Miske, from Beaumont, Alta., had five goals and nine assists in 28 games this season. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder played in 154 regular-season games with the Chiefs, scoring 22 goals and adding 36 assists. The Chiefs had selected him in the second round of the 2012 bantam draft. . . . This was the 13th trade made by the Raiders this season.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers, having acquired G Michael Bullion, 19, from the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday, have dropped G Duncan McGovern, 16, from their roster. He will join the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings. . . . The Tigers picked up Bullion as veteran support behind starter Nick Schneider, who leads the WHL with 25 victories. . . . With the Tigers, McGovern, who is from Winnipeg, was 2-4-0, 4.06, .858. McGovern was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 bantam draft.
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F Taylor Sanheim, a former WHL player, now is with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. They acquired Sanheim, 20, from the MJHL’s Portage Terriers on Monday, with F Ty Barnstable, 18, going the other way. . . . Sanheim had 12 goals and 39 assists in 132 career regular-season games with the Calgary Hitmen. This season, he had two goals and five assists in 18 games with the Hitmen when he was released.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will be without D Dmitri Zaitsev when they meet the Raiders in Prince Albert tonight (Tuesday). He has been suspended for one game “for game misconduct” during a 2-1 OT loss to the visiting Wheat Kings on Saturday night.
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Apparently everyone's New Year's resolution was to pay more for gas this year. Should be an easy one to keep.— 22Minutes (@22_Minutes) January 3, 2017
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MONDAY’S GAME:
At Calgary, F James Malm scored in the fourth round of a shootout to give the Vancouver Giants a 5-4
victory over the Hitmen. . . . The Giants erased a 4-2 third-period deficit to force OT. . . . D Dylan Plouffe (4) got the visitors to within a goal at 4:44, with D Matt Barberis tying it with his seventh goal, at 18:49. . . . The Giants grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals from F Ty Ronning (14), at 5:17, and F Tyler Benson (11), at 6:06. . . . Calgary appeared to take control by scoring the game’s next four goals. . . . F Jakob Stukel (12) got the Hitmen started at 9:09 of the second period. . . . F Matteo Gennaro followed that with two goals, his 13th and 14th, at 16:48, on a PP, and 50 seconds into the third period. . . . F Beck Malenstyn’s 16th goal gave Calgary a 4-2 lead at 2:46 of the third. . . . Benson also had one assist. . . . Gennaro and Stukel each had two assists, while Malenstyn added one. . . . Vancouver got 34 stops from G David Tendeck. . . . Calgary G Kyle Dumba made 36 saves. . . . Calgary was 1-4 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-4. . . . The Giants (15-20-3) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Hitmen (14-17-5) have points in three straight (1-0-2). . . . F Evan Patrician, a 15-year-old from Calgary, made his WHL debut with the Giants, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2016 bantam draft. He plays for the midget AAA Calgary Flames. . . . Announced attendance: 7,026.
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| JAMES MALM |
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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):
Saskatoon at Brandon, 7 p.m.
Tri-City at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Regina at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Lethbridge at Swift Current, 7 p.m.
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In Prince Albert, the Medicine Hat Tigers scored three second-period goals and went on to beat the Raiders, 5-4. . . . Tigers F Dryden Hunt broke a 2-2 tie at 15:19 of the second period and F Chad Labelle got his sixth goal at 16:32. . . . Hunt’s 18th goal ran his point streak to 16 games. . . . Medicine Hat F Trevor Cox, who leads the WHL with 73 points, scored his 17th goal. . . . The Tigers had a 5-2 lead in the third period when the Raiders got goals from D Jesse Lees, his seventh, and F Matteo Gennaro, his sixth. . . . Tigers G Marek Langhamer stopped 35 shots, seven fewer than the Raiders’ Rylan Parenteau. . . . Tigers F Chad Butcher scored his 14th goal and added an assist, while F Cole Sanford scored No. 35 and also had an assist. Sanford now has 65 points, second only to Cox. . . . F Jayden Hart of the Raiders, who used to play for the Tigers, scored his 21st goal and added two assists. . . . Raiders F Kris Schmidli had two assists. . . . Medicine Hat has won 15 of the last 18 meetings between these teams. . . . The Tigers (30-12-2) have lost their previous two games. They lead the WHL with 18 road victories, one more than Brandon. . . . The Raiders (19-25-1) have lost two in a row. . . . 
In Swift Current, F Braylon Shmyr scored two goals as the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Broncos, 5-3. . . . Shmyr has 10 goals this season, and is the 10th Brandon skater with at least that many goals. . . . Brandon F Nolan Patrick broke a 1-1 tie with his 18th goal 30 seconds into the second period. . . . Brandon F Duncan Campbell added his eighth at 5:59 and the Wheaties were never headed. . . . F Morgan Klimchuk, who scored his 100th and 101st regular-season goals one night earlier, and F Tim McGauley each had two assists. . . . McGauley had been credited with two goals and three assists in Friday’s 8-5 victory over visiting Lethbridge. One of those assists was later taken away. He now has 56 points in 46 games, good for a tie for sixth place in the scoring race. . . . Brandon G Jordan Papirny stopped 40 shots. . . . The Wheat Kings (33-9-4) have won four in a row and are just one point behind the idle Kelowna Rockets (34-8-3) in the race for first place overall. . . . Brandon has three victories from four trips to Swift Current this season. . . . The Broncos are 21-20-5. . . . Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun has a game story 
In Moose Jaw, G Zach Sawchenko turned aside 28 shots to lead the Warriors to a 5-0 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Sawchenko has three shutouts this season. . . . F Jiri Smejkal scored two goals and added an assist. He’s got eight goals. . . . F Jack Rodewald scored his 21st goal. . . . D Ryan Gardiner, F Tanner Eberle and F Brayden Point each drew two assists. . . . Lethbridge G Jayden Sittler stopped 43 shots. . . . It was the second time this season that the Hurricanes have been blanked. . . . The Warriors improved to 19-24-4 and now are just three points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Hurricanes (10-27-6) have lost four in a row. . . . 
In Saskatoon, F Wyatt Sloboshan scored with 10.8 seconds left in the third period to give the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . Ice F Sam Reinhart had scored his 10th goal at 17:09 of the third to pull his guys into a 2-2 tie. . . . A scoring change well after Friday’s action gave Reinhart an assist and a share of the Ice’s franchise career points record with F Jarret Stoll (286). Last night’s goal gave Reinhart the franchise record (287). . . . D Nolan Reid had given the Blades a 2-1 lead with his second goal in as many games, this one at 5:27 of the third. . . . Reid went into Friday play with one career goal. He now has three and is on a two-game scoring streak. . . . Sloboshan also had an assist. . . . Saskatoon G Brock Hamm stopped 26 shots, three fewer than the Ice’s Wyatt Hoflin. . . . Hamm, who joined the Blades from the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos, has two victories, both over the Ice. . . . The Blades (12-29-3) have won three in a row for the second time this season. They also moved out of the Eastern Conference basement and are one point ahead of Lethbridge. . . . The Ice, which has lost three times to the Blades this season, slipped to 22-22-1. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has a game story 
In Calgary, G Austin Carroll, whose NHL rights belong to the Calgary Flames, scored twice to lead the Victoria Royals to a 4-1 victory over the Hitmen. . . . After the game, the Hitmen held a players-only meeting. . . . Carroll, who now has 28 goals, was a seventh-round selection by the Flames in the 2014 NHL draft. Carroll, 20, is from Calgary. . . . Carroll’s first goal, 30 seconds into the third period, on a PP, gave the Royals a 2-0 lead. . . . Victoria D Joe Hicketts scored the game’s first goal, his ninth, on a PP, at 14:42 of the first period. . . . Hicketts also had an assist. . . . Victoria F Brandon Magee had three assists, and now shares the Victoria/Chilliwack franchise career regular-season points record of 241 with former F Kevin Sundher. . . . Victoria D Travis Brown had three assists. . . . The Royals were 2-for-2 on the PP; the Hitmen were 0-for-1. . . . The Royals (24-19-3), who play in Edmonton this afternoon, have won four straight. . . . Calgary continues to be without F Jake Virtanen and D Travis Sanheim, both out with undisclosed injuries. . . . The Hitmen (23-17-5), who entertain Regina this afternoon, have lost three in a row (0-2-1). Calgary will make F Ryan Getzlaf the inaugural member of their Forever A Hitmen club during this afternoon’s game. . . . Scott Fisher of the Calgary Sun has a game story 
In Red Deer, F Adam Musil scored in the ninth round of a shootout to give the Rebels a 4-3 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Musil was the only one of the 18 shooters to score. . . . The Pats erased a 3-1 deficit to force OT. . . . F Adam Brooks scored shorthanded at 10:01 of the second period. . . . He’s got 19 goals. . . . F Taylor Cooper tied it with his 18th goal at 8:44 of the third. . . . Cooper had scored the game’s first goal at 2:02 of the first. . . . The Rebels answered that goal with three of their own, from F Adam Musil, his 11th, D Colton Bobyk, his second, and F Presten Kopeck, his 14th. . . . The Rebels were 0-for-10 on the PP; the Pats were 0-for-3. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple stopped 32 shots, six more than Taz Burman of the Rebels. . . . Red Deer (26-14-6) is 6-0-1 in its last seven and trails Central Division-leading Medicine Hat by four points. . . . The Pats (26-15-4) have lost two straight. . . . The Pats play in Calgary this afternoon. . . . 
In Kamloops, G Connor Ingram stopped 36 shots as the Blazers blanked the Vancouver Giants, 1-0. . . . Ingram, a 17-year-old freshman from Imperial, Sask., has two shutouts in his freshman season. . . . Ingram has taken hold of the starter’s role in Kamloops and has started six of the team’s eight games since the Christmas break. . . . Kamloops F Logan McVeigh sealed the victory with a big block on Vancouver D Mason Geertsen with two seconds on the clock. . . . F Matt Needham scored the game’s only goal, finishing off a 2-on-1 with F Cole Ully for his 15th goal of the season at 16:33 of the second period. . . . Ully has 58 points, 38 of them assists, in 43 games. . . . Vancouver G Payton Lee turned aside 26 shots. . . . F Thomas Foster was among Vancouver’s scratches. He drew a ‘tbd’ suspension for a kneeing major he took on Friday night in a 3-0 loss to the visiting Tri-City Americans. . . . The Blazers (16-24-6) have won two in a row. They are fifth in the B.C. Division, but now are two points behind the fourth-place Giants, who begin a six-game Central Division swing in Cranbrook on Tuesday, and four points in arrears of third-place Prince George. . . . Vancouver (19-23-2), which was blanked 3-0 by visiting Tri-City on Friday, has lost three in a row. . . . 
In Prince George, F Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals and added two assists as the Portland Winterhawks dropped the Cougars, 8-2. . . . Bjorkstrand has 27 goals in 34 games. . . . Portland built a 6-0 lead before F Brad Morrison got his 17th goal of the season for the Cougars. . . . F Miles Koules scored his 20th goal and had two assists for Portland, while F Nic Petan drew three assists and F Chase De Leo had two. . . . Portland D Keoni Texeira picked up his fourth goal and had an assist. . . . Winterhawks G Adin Hill stopped 38 shots. . . . Portland F Dominic Turgeon didn’t return after a second-period fight with F Colby McAuley. . . . The Winterhawks were without F Mitch Walter for a second straight game after he took a hard punch to the face during a fight in a game in Kamloops on Wednesday. . . . The Winterhawks won 4-3 in a shootout on Friday night. . . . Portland will play the remainder of its regular-season games entirely within the U.S. Division. . . . The Winterhawks (25-19-3) have won two straight and are second in the U.S. Division. . . . The Cougars (20-24-2) are 0-3-2 in their last five. . . . 
In Everett, G Austin Lotz stopped 31 shots to help the Silvertips to a 6-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds before 8,317 fans. . . . Lotz has four shutouts this season and 10 in his career. . . . After a scoreless first period, Everett scored twice in the second period and added four more in the third. . . . F Jake Mykitiuk, who scored his first goal of the season in Friday’s 5-3 victory over visiting Spokane, got the winner, scoring at 4:38 of the second. . . . F Carson Stadnyk scored his 16th goal and added two assists, while F Nikita Scherbak got his 20th goal and also had an assist and F Kohl Bauml scored No. 19 and had an assist. . . . F Dawson Leedahl scored his seventh goal and had an assist, and F Remi Laurencelle drew two assists. . . . Everett was 2-for-5 on the PP; Seattle was 0-for-1. . . . TBird Tidbits (@TBirdTidbits) points out via Twitter that Seattle is 1-8-3 on Saturday nights when it also played the previous night. The Thunderbirds were coming off a 5-2 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . The Silvertips (28-12-4) have won four straight. . . . Seattle (22-17-5) is 3-1-1 in its last five outings. . . . 
In Kennewick, Wash., G Evan Sarthou blocked 25 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 7-0 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Sarthou has four shutouts in his freshman season, with the last two coming on back-to-back nights. He beat the Giants 3-0 in Vancouver on Friday. . . . Sarthou was making his 16th straight start. G Eric Comrie is out with an undisclosed injury. . . . This was the first time this season that Spokane has been shut out. . . . On Dec. 31, the Chiefs beat the host Americans, 10-2. . . . F Lucas Nickles scored twice, giving him 16 goals, and added two assists, while D Brandon Carlo scored his third goal and had two assists. . . . Tri-City D Carter Cochrane, who was acquired last week from Everett, had two assists. . . . F Tyler Sandhu, an acquisition from Red Deer, got his 10th goal and also had an assist. . . . Besides Comrie, the Americans also scratched F Richard Nejezchleb (ill) and F Parker Bowles (undisclosed injury). . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka had his franchise record-tying nine-game goal-scoring streak snapped. . . . The Americans (22-21-2) have won two in a row. . . . The Chiefs (23-17-4) have lost three in a row (0-2-1).
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