Friday's stuff . . .

The Regina Pats completed their five-game B.C. Division tour on Friday night. But before they got around to the game, Regina general manager Brent Parker took a little trip. Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier reports that Parker journeyed to Penticton, where he scouted out the 5,100-seat South Okanagan Events Centre, a $78.5-million facility that opened in late September. Parker said he spent “a couple of hours” looking around the arena. “The Okanagan’s always been synonymous with wine and sunshine,” Parker told Potenteau, “but I think it’s now becoming more synonymous with wine and good facilities, when you look here (in Kelowna) and in Vernon, and now Penticton and the Westside. There’s some tremendous facilities.” . . . And why is Parker so interested in other facilities? Likely because the Pats and their landlords, who control the Brandt Centre in Regina, are at loggerheads and have been for quite some time. . . . Parker said the Penticton facility “could easily sustain a Western Hockey League franchise. Whether or not the market could, I don’t know. But certainly the facility wouldn’t have any problem at all.” . . . Of course, the Kelowna Rockets own the territorial rights to Penticton and Bruce Hamilton, the franchise’s president and GM, has said they aren’t the least bit interesting in waiving those rights.
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A memorial mass for former WHL goaltender Michael Maniago will be held in Calgary on Saturday (Dec. 6) at 10 a.m. It is scheduled for St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 10 Prestwick Drive S.E. . . . Condolences may be forwarded to the family at www.mcinnisandholloway.com. The Maniago family and friends have established a trust fund and donations may be made at any Royal Bank across Canada (Payable to: Michael Maniago in Trust for Michael Maniago Trust Fund). Moneys in the fund will be used to financially assist future, young aspiring hockey players so that they may have the same opportunity that Maniago had. . . . Maniago, who played with the Kamloops Blazers and Lethbridge Hurricanes, was killed in a car crash early Saturday morning in Calgary. He was 20.
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Jeff Bromley of the Kootenay News-Advertiser is reporting that G Thomas Heemskerk, 18, left the Kootenay Ice on Friday and returned to his home in Chilliwack.
“Thomas came and spoke to me (Thursday) following the first part of our U.S. trip and said to me that his heart hasn’t been in the game of hockey dating back to last year,” Ice general manager Jeff Chynoweth told Bromley. “And he just felt it was time to go home. Needless to say I was in total shock and disbelief. There was no inkling whatsoever that this was coming about. None of the veteran players that I talked had any idea this was coming.
“Unfortunately we’re in a huge hole right now. It’s not an easy position fill at the best of times and we’re in the middle of December.”
Heemskerk, 18, is 7-6-2-2 in 18 games. He has a 2.88 GAA and a .887 save percentage. Nathan Lieuwen, 17, the Ice’s other goaltender, is 9-6-0-1 in 19 appearances. Lieuwen has a 2.83 GAA and a .883 save percentage.
leaving the club and returning home.
The Ice dealt G Kris Lazaruk, 20, to the Kelowna Rockets just as the season began, deciding to go with two younger goaltenders rather than one of the two youngsters and a 20-year-old.
The Ice are in Spokane on Saturday night and Heemskerk was to have started.
Kootenay will bring in Dylan Tait from the junior B Kimberley Dynamiters to get them to the Christmas break. He was a third-round selection by the Kelowna Rockets in the 2006 bantam draft. But he won’t join them until early next week as the Dynamiters are on a road trip.
Bromley asked Chynoweth about the possibility of Heemskerk returning, should he change his mind.
“He quit and when you quit you’re putting yourself ahead of the team,” Chynoweth said. “It was a selfish thing to do but from his end he’s got his reasons and I respect that. I don’t agree with it but I guess you never say never.”
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JUST NOTES: He likely won’t get to play but F Colin Mospanchuk, 15, is getting a taste of WHL life with the Medicine Hat Tigers. They selected him in the fifth round of the 2008 bantam draft. Mospanchuk, from the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers, will spend this weekend with the Tigers. . . . Medicine Hat is without D Cody Carlson (concussion), F Wacey Hamilton (shoulder) and F Josh Koper (groin). Another injury and Mospanchuk just might get into the lineup. . . . The Tigers meet the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Friday and the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Saturday. . . .
G Juha Metsola stopped 17 shots as the host Lethbridge Hurricanes blanked the Red Deer Rebels 5-0. It was Metsola’s fourth shutout of the season and seventh of his career. It also was the second straight game in which the Hurricanes have blanked the Rebels. Red Deer has been shut out three times this season. . . . G James Priestner turned aside 29 shots as the Brandon Wheat Kings beat the Broncos 5-1 in Swift Current. Brandon RW Scott Glennie stretched his point streak to 10 games with an assist. . . .
C Jason Reese scored three goals — he has 21 on the season — to lead the host Tri-City Americans to a 6-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. F Mitch Fadden had four assists as the Americans won their seventh straight game. That sets the stage for Saturday’s game against the high-flying Calgary Hitmen at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash. . . . Fadden has 19 points in 12 games since Tri-City acquired him from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Seattle was without F Prab Rai, its leading scorer. Rai, who has 30 points, including 16 goals, suffered an undisclosed injury in Friday’s morning skate. . . . Team captain Dana Tyrell set up three goals as the host Prince George Cougars came from behind to beat the Everett Silvertips 6-5 in OT. D Jeff Regier, who was acquired from Everett for RW Dale Hunt earlier this season, scored the winner at 2:20 of OT. . . . The Cougars, who halted a five-game slide, trailed 5-3 going into the third period. . . . The game was the first for Wade Klippenstein as the Cougars’ head coach, replacing the fired Drew Schoneck. GM Dallas Thompson joined Klippenstein behind the bench. . . . RW Jordan Eberle scored twice, giving him 22, but it wasn’t enough as his Regina Pats fell 3-2 to the Rockets in Kelowna. Regina G Linden Rowat stole the show in this one, making 32 saves.
F Charles Inglis scored with 7:02 left in the third period to give the Saskatoon Blades a 4-3 victory over the Bruins in Chilliwack. It was Saskatoon’s 12th straight road victory, equalling the second-longest such streak in WHL history. The record (18) is held by the 1999-2000 Calgary Hitmen. . . . Saskatoon trailed the Bruins 3-1 early in the second period before scoring the game’s last three goals. The Bruins now have lost six in a row. . . . The Blades play the Giants at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on Saturday night. . . . According to Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Blades G Braden Holtby found out Friday morning that he no longer is allowed to use Sherwood sticks. According to Wolfe: “Sherwood filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and is no longer a league-approved sponsor.” Saskatoon trainer Steve Hildebrand called the Vancouver Canucks and Holtby ended up using one of Roberto Luongo’s Reebok sticks.