Former WHL goaltender killed in car crash

Mike Maniago, a goaltender who split four WHL seasons between the Kamloops Blazers and Lethbridge Hurricanes, was killed in a car accident in Calgary early Saturday morning. Maniago was 20.
Maniago, from Calgary, joined the Blazers – he was the 73rd selection in the 2003 bantam draft – as a 16-year-old and backed up Devan Dubnyk. He was traded to the Hurricanes on Oct. 24, 2006, along with a 2008 seventh-round bantam pick, for a 2008 third-round pick.
Maniago split the goaltending with Juha Metsola during the 2007-08 regular season but the freshman Finn took over as the starter as the Hurricanes made a playoff run that took them into the WHL final where they lost to the Spokane Chiefs. Rather than return as a 20-year-old, Maniago, a second cousin to former NHL goaltender Cesare Maniago, chose to go home to Calgary where he said he was going to go back to school.
Few details of the accident are known.
According to the Lethbridge Herald:
“A friend of Maniago’s said he was going to pick up pizza with his younger brother Matthew and two friends when the crash occurred.
”Police said the SUV began to turn left at the intersection and struck the Jetta on the driver side about 2:26 a.m.”
Here is a report from CTV in Calgary:
“Police say alcohol was a factor in an early morning crash that killed one man and sent four others to hospital.
“The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the southeast when an SUV and a car collided at Sun Valley Boulevard and Highway 22X.
“The driver of the car, a 20-year-old Calgary man, died at the scene. Three of his passengers, all between 18 and 20 years of age, were rushed to hospital with non life-threatening leg, head and neck injuries. One male passenger from the SUV was taken to hospital with minor injuries but has since been released.
“Police say their initial investigation reveals alcohol was a factor in this collision, but police are providing no other details.
“The victim's name hasn't been released.”
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Former WHL goaltender Kurt Jory, who is from Brandon, was taken to hospital in Windsor on Saturday after his neck was cut by a skate in a goalmouth scramble during the third period of a Canadian university game. He was listed in stable condition last night. The 21-year-old Jory, who played in the WHL with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Moose Jaw Warriors (2005-07), is a freshman with the Brock Badgers, who play out of St. Catharines, Ont. According to Canwest News Service, a vein in Jory neck was severed “when Danny Anger of the Windsor Lancers crashed into the net during the Ontario University Athletics game, which ended with 15 minutes remaining in the third period and Windsor leading 6-1.” Lancers head coach Kevin Hamlin told CNS: “(Anger) was hit and tried to leap over the goaltender, but in the process, cut him with his skate.” . . . Later Saturday night, Brock head coach Murray Nystrom told the Brandon Sun that Jory had had successful surgery and was “in good spirits.”
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JUST NOTES: Linesman Ryan Dawson, who was injured in a skirmish as the game in Kamloops ended Friday night, isn’t seriously hurt. Word from the WHL office is that Dawson twisted his left knee, that a doctor checked him out after the game and that he is “sore but all is good.” Dawson was injured when players ended up on top of him as two fights broke out at the conclusion of a game between the Blazers and Regina Pats. . . . The Portland Winter Hawks have assigned D David Watt, 17, to the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. He was the 93rd pick in the 2005 bantam draft. . . . D Steve Marr, a Kamloops native who was a defensive stalwart and captain with Medicine Hat, is skating with the Tigers as he waits for a chance to play in Europe. Marr, 24, has been with the Tigers since Oct. 13. “He has really helped us," Willie Desjardins, the Tigers’ GM and head coach, told the Medicine Hat News. "He comes to the rink, and he has lots of fun at the rink. I think he has been really great for the guys in the room. We were going through a little bit of a tough time (during a three game skid in late October and early November). It wasn't a lot of fun, and I think Marrsie made a difference in helping us kind of get out of a slump."
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In a game featuring the two latest members of the 400-victory club, Don Nachbaur’s host Tri-City Americans beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-3. It was the second regulation-time loss this season for the Giants, who had won seven in a row. . . . According to research done by Dan Mulhausen of the Americans and Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald, this was the first time two coaches each with 400 victories had gone head-to-head since Nov. 19, 1988, when Ken Hodge and the Portland Winter Hawks scored a 3-0 victory over Doug Sauter and the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. Attendance that night was 6,792. . . . Nachbaur has 401 victories, while Hay has 409. . . . Attendance in Kennewick, Wash., was 4,252. The Americans have won five in a row now. They also are 12-1-0-0 at home. . . . F Adam Hughesman drew an assist on each of the Americans’ first three goals as they build a 3-0 lead early in the second period. . . . Vancouver C Evander Kane was plus-2 but had his 22-game point streak come to an end. He went into the night with at least one point in every game he had played this season. . . . F Mitch Fadden had a goal and an assist for the Americans. He has five goals and nine helpers in 10 games since being acquired from Lethbridge.
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D Keith Aulie’s first goal of the season and the seventh of his career gave the Brandon Wheat Kings a 3-2 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. Aulie broke a 2-2 tie at 19:47 of the third period, just 3:41 after F Sean Ringrose had pulled the Tigers into the tie. The Tigers hadn’t lost in regulation time in their previous nine games. . . . F Steve Oursov and F Connor Redmond erased a 1-0 deficit with their first goals of the season and F Landon Ferraro won it as the Red Deer Rebels edged the visiting Swift Current Broncos, 4-3. Ferraro gave Red Deer a 4-2 lead at 15:51 of the third period. . . . G Justin Leclerc stopped 42 shots to lead the Kamloops Broncos to a 4-2 victory over the Chiefs in Spokane. The Chiefs, at home for the first time after playing seven on the road, are 10-3-0-0 at home. C C.J. Stretch drew assists on the Blazers' second and third goals. . . . F Dustin Sylvester scored three times, the last two into an empty net, as the visiting Kootenay Ice doubled the Everett Silvertips 6-3. The Ice scored the game’s last three goals.
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G Torrie Jung stopped 15 shots to help the host Edmonton Oil Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. It was the second shutout of the season for Jung and the third of his career. . . . In Kelowna, G Kris Lazaruk, the 20-year-old who replaced Jung with the Rockets, stopped 11 shots in a 3-0 victory over the Chilliwack Bruins. It was the second shutout of the season for Lazaruk, who has five in his career. . . . In Prince George, G Damien Ketlo, beaten six times one night earlier, stopped 27 shots and sparked the Regina Pats to a 7-1 victory over the Cougars. F Brett Leffler had two goals for Regina, which lost 8-5 in Kamloops on Friday.