The Portland Winterhawks have a friend in Mitch Lammert, a local hockey player who is battling cancer. Mitch visited the Winterhawks on Thursday and spent some time with the players on the ice and in the dressing room.
That story, from KATU.com, is right here.
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Meanwhile, Jim Beseda of the Oregonian takes a look at the Portland Winterhawks organization and how they’re working just as hard off the ice to as they are on the ice to ensure success. (Did you know the Winterhawks have 40 full-time employees?)
Beseda’s piece is right here.
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The Medicine Hat Tigers, who next play on Wednesday when they visit the Saskatoon Blades, have four players out with concussions. According to Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News, F Sam Dezman, F Tyler Pitlick, D Scott Ramsay and D Matthew Konan all are sidelined with concussions. . . . The Tri-City Americans, having lost G Drew Owsley to a knee injury on Saturday, have brought in G Cam Gorchynski, who had been with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. . . . The Tri-City Herald’s annual Best of the West poll was in the Sunday paper. If you haven’t seen it, it’s right here. . . .Michael Buble, who owns a chunk of the Vancouver Giants, was a winner at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. His album Crazy Love was saluted as Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. . . .
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SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Chilliwack, F Adam Hughesman scored two goals to help the Tri-City Americans to a 6-1 victory over the Bruins. . . . Hughesman has 38 goals. . . . F Carter Ashton and F Brendan Shinniman each had a goal and two assists for the visitors, while D Tyler Schmidt drew three assists. . . . G Chris Driedger, starting for Tri-City in place of the injured Drew Owsley (knee), stopped 20 shots in his fourth career start. He was beaten only by F Ryan Howse, who got his 40th goal of the season at 17:35 of the first period. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore set a franchise record by playing in his 49th game of the season. He stopped 34 shots but left trailing 6-1. . . . Braden Gamble relieved him and stopped all five shots he faced. . . . The Bruins, who had won three in a row, were without D Brandon Manning (suspended), D Zach Habscheid (injured), D Jeff Einhorn (injured) and F Tim Traber (broken leg). . . . Attendance was 3,804. . . . The Americans are back within one point of second-place Spokane in the U.S. Division. . . . The Bruins hold down eighth spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Kamloops. Chilliwack now holds three games in hand on Kamloops. . . .
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In Red Deer, F Brett Connolly scored the game’s last two goals as the Prince George Cougars scored a 4-3 OT victory over the Rebels. . . . Connolly tied the game 3-3 at 18:02 of the third period, then won it with his 35th goal this season, on the PP, at 2:33 of extra time. . . . D Sena Acolatse had two assists for the Cougars, who got 39 saves from G Ty Rimmer. . . . Red Deer F Brett Ferguson ran his point streak to 14 games with one assist. . . . Attendance was 4,527. . . . With the loser point, the Rebels, who lead the Central Division, moved seven points clear of the Kootenay Ice and now are within a point of  Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon. . . . The Cougars are sixth in the Western Conference, four points behind Kelowna and four ahead of Everett. . . .
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In Swift Current, D Adrian Van de Mosselaer broke a 2-2 tie at 11:53 of the the third period to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 3-2 victory over the Broncos. . . . Van de Mosselaer has four goals this season. . . . F Jordan Hickmott and F Colton Stephenson had two assists each for Edmonton. . . . And on a weekend when the WHL played its first game in Whitehorse, Edmonton F David Stephens scored his first WHL goal. Stephens is a 17-year-old Whitehorse native. The goal came in his 28th game. . . . F Justin Dowling had a goal, his 19th, and an assist for the Broncos. . . . Edmonton G Jon Groenheyde stopped 25 shots, seven fewer than Swift Current’s Mark Friesen. . . . Attendance was 1,878. . . . Edmonton, which was 0-for-0 on the PP, took three of the game’s four minor penalties. . . . The Broncos were 0-for-2 on the PP. . . . The Oil Kings are sixth in the Eastern Conference, five points ahead of Brandon. . . . The Broncos remain tied for eighth with Prince Albert, just two points ahead of Regina and Lethbridge. . . .
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In Everett, D Zak Stebner scored twice, including the OT winner, as the Kelowna Rockets beat the Silvertips, 3-2. . . . Stebner scored the game’s first goal, at 9:28 of the first period on a PP, and the last, at 2:22 of extra time. He’s got seven goals this season. . . . Kelowna F Max Adolph scored his third goal of the season. He now has goals in two straight games. . . . Everett F Josh Winquist and F Josh Birkholz forged a 2-2 tie with goals 1:21 apart late in the second period. . . . Kelowna F Shane McColgan had two assists. . . . Kelowna G Jordon Cooke stopped 33 shots, four more than Everett’s Kent Simpson. . . . Attendance was 5,574. . . . Kelowna closed to within two points of B.C. Division-leading Vancouver and the Rockets hold one game in hand. The team that wins the B.C. Division will be the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, meaning home-ice advantage in the first round of playoffs. the division’s second-place team looks certain to finish fifth in the conference, which is looking like it will mean a first-round date with Spokane or Tri-City, with the U.S. team holding home-ice advantage. . . . Everett is seventh in the conference, four points behind Prince George and three ahead of Chilliwack. . . .
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In Kent, Wash., G Calvin Pickard kicked out 57 shots and the host Seattle Thunderbirds scored the game’s last three goals to beat the Spokane Chiefs, 3-1. . . . Pickard won his 20th game of the season. He is 20-26-8. . . . F Anthony Bardaro gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 10:27 of the first period. . . . Seattle F Travis Toomey tied it at 15:09 of the second and F Colin Jacobs gave his side the lead at 1:57 of the third. . . . F Burke Gallimore got the empty-netter at 19:04. . . . D Ryan Button had three assists for Seattle, while F Brendan Rouse had two. . . . Spokane G Mac Engel stopped 34 shots. . . . Attendance was 2,538. . . . The Thunderbirds are last in the Western Conference, but now are just three points behind Chilliwack, which is eight. . . . Spokane is second in the U.S. Division, five points behind Portland and one ahead of Tri-City. The Chiefs now have one game in hand on Portland.
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SUNDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None to report.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

If there were any WHL teams out there hoping to acquire D Zak Stebner, 20, on waivers, well, they waited too long.
Following the return of F Neal Prokop to their lineup on Nov. 24, the Tri-City Americans had two weeks to get down to the maximum of three 20-year-old players.
The choice general manager Bob Tory was faced with was to move one of Stebner, Prokop, D Tyler Schmidt or F Kruise Reddick.
Which one?

ZAK STEBNER

 In the end, it came down to Prokop, who is coming back from a badly broken leg suffered in the first round of last season’s playoffs, or Stebner, who was acquired Oct. 14 from the Calgary Hitmen for a third-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. (At the time, a source has told me, the Kelowna Rockets had offered Calgary a fourth-round pick for Stebner.)
Late Tuesday afternoon, Kelowna got Stebner and a seventh-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft in exchange for two draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2011 and an eight-rounder in 2012.
The Rockets, in effect, replaced the 2011 seventh-round they gave the Prince Albert Raiders last summer for D Brendon Wall, another 20-year-old.
Stebner’s arrival in Kelowna left the Rockets with four 20-year-olds, so they have released Wall. Stebner joins F Evan Bloodoff and F Geordie Wudrick as Kelowna’s 1990-born players.
Stebner is joining his sixth WHL team. He started with the Red Deer Rebels, who selected him with the 32nd pick of the 2005 bantam draft, before moving on to the Prince Albert Raiders, Kamloops Blazers, Calgary, Tri-City and now Kelowna.
“This makes Kelowna a lot better,” one GM told me last night.
Stebner, 6-foot-3 and 206 pounds, had seven assists in 15 games with the Americans. In 233 regular season games, he has 87 points and 298 penalty minutes.
“I was surprised,” Stebner told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “Obviously, we had four 20s, but it was still a shock. To get to a place, move in, then have to go to another place, it’s tough. But it’s good that I’m going to nice, sunny Kelowna.”
Stebner plans on driving to Kelowna from Kennewick, Wash., and hopes to play tonight against the visiting Swift Current Broncos.
“Kelowna is a first-class organization,” said Stebner, who played at Prospera Place a few times with Kamloops. “They have good fan support and it’ll be fun playing there. It’s a loud place to play in, a fun place to play in. I would imagine playing for the home teamwill be better.”
Tory said this was one of the toughest decisions he has had to make, and that he definitely was swayed by the grit Prokop has shown in coming back from a devastating injury.
“He showed that he can come back from it. It’s quite a story,” Tory said. “I felt loyalty to the guys who had been here.”

PAUL SOHOR

Before acquiring Stebner, Tory swung a one-for-one swap with the Everett Silvertips, giving up F Zach McPhee, 17, for D Paul Sohor, 19.
Sohor spent two seasons with the Silvertips but had seen his playing time dwindle and had asked for a trade. He was no longer with the Silvertips, who are on an East Division swing. He had six points in 109 games with Everett.
Sohor is from East St. Paul, Man., which is near Winnipeg, so Tory expects him to be a good fit on a roster that includes eight other Winnipeggers. Sohor was a fifth-round selection by Everett in the 2006 bantam draft.
McPhee, who is from Vernon, B.C., was a sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. He had one goal in eight games with Tri-City before being assigned to the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Adrian Foster (Saskatoon, Brandon, 1999-2002) signed a one-month tryout contract with Örebro (Sweden Allsvenskan). He had two goals and two assists in 10 games with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL) and one assist in nine games with the Frankfurt Lions (Germany DEL) last season. Foster was in training camp with the Florida Panthers (NHL) earlier this season.
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USA Hockey announced the preliminary roster for its national junior team on Tuesday and it included two WHL players — F Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers and F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan of the Kelowna Rockets. All told, 29 players were invited to the camp that opens Dec. 16 in Troy, N.Y.
Callahan found out he would be on the list when he received a phone call from GM Jim Johansson on Sunday.
“I was pretty ecstatic,” Callahan told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau. “The world junior is somethign special. Every kid dreams of playing in the world junior for their country. Even just to get a shot at making the team is pretty special to me.”
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The Edmonton Oil Kings have recalled F Curtis Lazar, 15, for two games. Lazar, who was the second overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft, is expected to play tonight against the Hitmen in Calgary and on Saturday against the visiting Kelowna Rockets. Lazar, who is from Vernon, B.C., has 33 points in 24 games with the Penticton-based Okanagan Hockey Academy’s prep team. . . . F Kyle Calder (Regina, Kamloops, 1995-99) has signed with the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors. Calder, 31, helped the Condors get to the second round of the playoffs last season. He had six points in five regular-season games and added 10 in 10 playoff games. . . . The WHL's Christmas trade moratorium runs Dec. 15-27.
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Some highlights from Tuesday’s WHL games:
In Chilliwack, F Cody Eakin scored three times to lead the Swift Current Broncos to a 5-4 victory over the Bruins. . . . The game had a 10:30 a.m. start time as the Bruins ran a promotion involving school children. Attendance was 4,450. . . . Eakin has 15 goals. . . . The Broncos led this one 3-0 midway through the first period and the Bruins never got back on equal ground. . . . F Ryan Howse got his 20th goal of the season for Chilliwack. . . . Eakin also had an assist. . . . Swift Current D Reece Scarlett had two assists. . . . The Broncos meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight. . . . Eakin has three regular-season hat tricks, one in each of the last three seasons. . . .
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In Regina, the Everett Silvertips opened up a 3-0 lead with three second-period goals and went on to beat the Pats, 3-2. . . . F Kellan Tochkin’s 15th goal ended up as the winner. He scored at 16:36 of the second on the PP. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray, playing in front of family and hometown friends, drew an assist on Tochkin’s goal. . . . F Jordan Weal got his 13th goal for the Pats. . . . Among the Pats’ scratches was F Thomas Frazee (knee). The Pats say he will be out indefinitely. . . . Attendance was 3,891. . . . Regina is at 8-17-5 with four of those victories over the Swift Current Broncos. . . .
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In Lethbridge, F Cam Braes scored four times to help the Hurricanes to a 7-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Braes, who scored 25 goals last season, has 11 this season. He had one three-goal game last season. . . . Lethbridge F Brody Sutter had three assists. . . . Lethbridge got two goals from F Jacob Berglund and two assists from each of D Cason Machacek, F Mitch Maxwell and F Austin Fyten. . . . D Collin Bowman scored twice for Moose Jaw, while F Quinton Howden got No. 18. . . . Lethbridge took a 4-0 lead at 10:48 of the second period with a third straight PP goal. . . . Attendance was 2,374. . . .
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At Vancouver, G Mark Segal stopped 31 shots as the Giants dumped the Kamloops Blazers, 3-0. . . . Segal has two shutouts this season and six in his career. . . . F Matt Bellerive, who turned 16 on Tuesday, scored the game’s first goal at 17:19 of the first period. It was his third goal of the season. . . . The Giants have recorded two shutouts this season; this was the first time the Blazers have been blanked. . . . Attendance was 5,481. . . . The Giants, who have had far more than their share of injuries already this season, lost D David Musil early in the second period after he stopped a Chase Schaber shot with his right foot. Musil was to undergo X-rays last night. “”We'll see where he's at (today) but he's pretty sore,” Vancouver head coach Don Hay told Elliott Pap of hte Vancouver Sun.
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At Prince George, G Steven Stanford stopped 29 shots as the Saskatoon Blades blanked the Cougars 3-0. . . . That was Stanford’s first shutout this season and the third of his career. . . . F Brent Benson had a goal and an assist, including the game’s first goal, at 5:47 of the second period. . . . This was the first time Prince George has been shut out this season, while the Blades have put up two blank jobs. . . . Saskatoon went 4-1-0 on its B.C. Division swing, losing only to the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . Attendance was 1,663, a figure the Prince George Citizen reports is a franchise-record low. . . . The start of the game was delayed slightly by a shattered pane of glass. The CN Centre also had a pane shattered during the morning skate.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter

Americans shuffle their deck

The Tri-City Americans have been busy.
For starters, they acquired D Zak Stebner, 20, from the Calgary Hitmen for a third-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft.
That left them with five 20-year-olds, two over the maximum, so they then placed F Mike Brown and G Alex Pechurskiy on waivers.
Later, they released D Nikita Kardashev, an 18-year-old Russian who was selected in the 2010 import draft but never played a game in the WHL, and re-assigned D Riley Guenther, 16, to the midget AAA Calgary Northstars.
By day’s end, the Americans were down to 24 players, including two goaltenders and 15 forwards. Their 20-year-olds are Stebner, F Kruise Reddick and D Tyler Schmidt.
Stebner, 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, was a healthy scratch Wednesday as the Hitmen beat the Winterhawks 5-1 in Portland. Calgary chose to go with F Tyler Fiddler, F Kris Foucault and F Misha Fisenko as its 20-year-olds.
Stebner is joining his fifth WHL team. He was selected by the Red Deer Rebels in the second round of the 2005 bantam draft and also has played for the Prince Albert Raiders and Kamloops Blazers. He is expected to play Tuesday when the Hitmen visit the Americans. Those teams met in the WHL’s championship final last spring.
Brown, who was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in January, has 56 points and 252 penalty minutes in 171 games. This season, he had six points in eight games.
Pechurskiy, who was picked up in the 2009 CHL import draft, was 13-10-0-1, 2.61, .912 last season. A draft pick of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, he got into one NHL game last season when he came on in relief one Saturday night in Vancouver against the Canucks.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter

Friday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: F Richard Mueller (Brandon, Saskatoon, Calgary, 1998-2003) has signed a two-year contract with the Kassel Huskies (Germany DEL). He had two goals and six assists in 23 games for the Hamburg Freezers (Germany DEL) this season. . . .
F Glen Goodall (Seattle, 1984-90) won’t be re-signed by Ingolstadt (Germany DEL) after 11 seasons with the club. Goodall, the team captain this season, had five assists in 35 games for Ingolstadt. He has played in Germany since 1993. Goodall holds the WHL career games played (399) and goals (262) records, and is fifth in assists (311) and second in points (573).
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Former NHLer Trevor Letowski has signed on as an assistant coach with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. Letowski, whose NHL career featured 616 games, spent the last two seasons with Astana Barys of the Continental league. Letowski, 33, is a former Sting player. He replaces Greg Walters, who left his position as associate coach following the season. Walters had been with the Sting for eight years. Letowski, who doesn’t have any coaching experience, will work under GM/head coach Dave McQueen.
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Mike Vandekamp, who took a turn as head coach of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, has moved on to coach in the Allan Cup tournament that opens Monday in Fort St. John, B.C., which just happens to be his hometown. Vandekamp, now the GM and head coach of the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm, is helping the host team, the Fort St. John Flyers. The Bentley Generals, under head coach Brian Sutter, are back to defend their Canadian senior hockey title.
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Freelance writer Scott Sepich, who often writes on the Portland Winterhawks for The Oregonian, takes a good look back and a glance into the future right here.
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WHL PLAYOFFS
THIRD ROUND
CONFERENCE FINALS
(Best-of-7)
(x — if necessary)
(All times local)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Calgary (1) vs. Brandon (2)
(Brandon leads series 1-0)
Friday: Brandon 4 at Calgary 2 (8,669)
Saturday: Brandon at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Calgary at Brandon, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Calgary at Brandon, 6 p.m.
x-April 23: Brandon at Calgary, 6 p.m.
x-April 25: Calgary at Brandon, 5 p.m.
x-April 27: Brandon at Calgary, 6 p.m.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Tri-City (1) vs. Vancouver (5)
(Vancouver leads series 1-0)
Friday: Vancouver 4 at Tri-City 2 (3,899)
Saturday: Vancouver at Tri-City, 7:35 p.m.
Tuesday: Tri-City at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
Thursday: Tri-City at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
x-April 23: Vancouver at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
x-April 25: Tri-City at Vancouver, TBD
x-April 27: Vancouver at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
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FRIDAY:
In Calgary, the Brandon Wheat Kings fell behind 1-0 and then scored the next three goals as they beat the Hitmen, 4-2, in the Eastern Conference final opener. . . . Game 2 is scheduled for Calgary on Saturday. . . . Brandon has won six straight road games in these playoffs. . . . D Zak Stebner gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 10:37 of the first period, on the PP. . . . Brandon F Toni Rajala tied it five minutes later, on the PP. . . . D Travis Hamonic gave Brandon its first lead at 2:37 of the second period and F Brayden Schenn got the eventual winner at 9:03 of the third. . . . Calgary F Joel Broda pulled his guys to within one at 17:41 of the third, but Brandon F Matt Calvert iced it with an empty-netter at 19:59. . . . Broda has nine goals in these playoffs, while Schenn has eight. . . . Brandon was 1-for-3 on the PP; Calgary has 1-for-2. . . . Brandon G Jacob DeSerres, who is from Calgary, stopped 33 shots. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones turned aside 26 shots. . . . Attendance was 8,669. . . . Referees Matt Kirk and Chris Savage handed out five minor penalties, three to Calgary. . . . Brandon was without D Darren Bestland (undisclosed) and D Ryley Miller (jaw), while Calgary was minus D Kyle Aschim (upper body).
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In Kennewick, Wash., Vancouver G Mark Segal stopped 42 shots to lead the Giants to a 4-2 victory over the host Tri-City Americans. . . . This was the opener of the Western Conference final, with Game 2 set for the Toyota Center on Saturday night. . . . Segal, much-maligned as the Vancouver weak link when these playoffs began, now is 9-2 in this postseason. . . . Vancouver is 6-0 on the road in the playoffs. . . . The Americans took a 2-1 lead into the second period after D Tyler Schmidt scored two PP goals, the first just 35 seconds into the game and the second at 19:29. . . . F James Henry got the Giants on the board at 16:42. . . . F Brendan Gallagher tied the game, with his 10th playoff goal, at 1:45 of the second and F Greg Lamoureux, who had one goal in 42 regular-season games, got his first WHL postseason score in his fourth game at 4:18 to put the visitors in front. . . . Vancouver F Tomas Vincour added a PP goal, his sixth, at 10:28 of the third. . . . Giants D Nolan Toigo set up three goals and was plus-3. . . . Tri-City F Adam Hughesman had two assists. . . . Tri-City G Drew Owsley stopped 19 shots. . . . The Americans were 2-for-9 on the PP; the Giants were 1-for-7. . . . Tri-City enjoyed a 5-on-3 PP late in the third period for 1:28 but only managed one shot on goal as the Giants tightened up defensively. . . . Attendance was 3,899.