F Ryan Stone (Brandon, 2001-05) signed a contract for the rest of this season with the Hamburg Freezers (Germany, DEL) after his release by mutual agreement by TPS Turku (Finland, SM-Liiga) earlier in the day. He had six goals and four assists in 25 games for TPS this season.
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Former WHL player Tyson Sievert died in a single-vehicle accident near Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., on Tuesday at around 2:45 a.m. RCMP found Sievert dead at the scene when they responded. Sievert, 25, was from Earl Grey, Sask. A forward, he played for the Moose Jaw Warriors, Saskatoon Blades and Regina Pats (2004-06), totalling 11 goals and 16 assists in 114 regular-season games. He also incurred 166 penalty minutes. . . . He played for the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs as a 20-year-old and then went on to play one season with the U of Regina Cougars.
Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald has more right here.
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With a number of WHL players taking part in Christmas tournaments, teams are adding all kinds of younger players to their rosters.
For starters, F Jake Virtanen, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft, will make his debut with the Calgary Hitmen tonight against the Cougars in Prince George.
Virtanen, who is from Abbotsford, B.C., has 33 points in 24 games with the major midget Fraser Valley Bruins this season. . . .
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With G Eric Comrie at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge, the Tri-City Americans have brought in G Brett Teskey, 18, from the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings to back kup Ty Rimmer. . . .
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The Regina Pats have recalled F Nils Moser, 18, from the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles . . . Regina is without F Morgan Klimchuk and D Kyle Burroughs, both of whom are with Team Pacific at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. . . . Regina also is without D Brandon Underwood (ankle) and F Chandler Stephenson (knee). . . . D Tyler Borstmayer, who had been with the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings, also remains with the Pats. . . .
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The Kootenay Ice has brought in D Tanner Faith, 16, from the midget AAA Notre Dame Hounds, and F Luke Philp, 16, from the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles. Both are expected to stay for the next five games. . . . Faith has eight points in 21 games with the Hounds. . . . Philp has 33 points in 30 games with Canmore. . . .
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will take a third goaltender on the road with them as they head into the U.S. Division. Justin Paulic, a 16-year-old from the midget AAA Norman Northstars, will join fellow goaltenders Luke Siemens and Spencer Tremblay as he gets a taste of life in the WHL. . . . The Warriors also have added F Brandon Potomak, 16, and F Wheaton King, 19, just to give them 12 forwards for their road swing. . . . F Quinton Howden is with Canada at the World Junior Championship, while F Carter Hansen (Team West) and F Torrin White (Team Pacific) are at the WHC. . . . Potomak has 28 points in 22 games with the junior B Aldergrove Kodiaks. . . . King, who played 38 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings last season, has 30 points in 35 games with the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers. King was in camp with the Medicine Hat Tigers prior to this season. . . .
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As something of a Christmas present, the WHL is providing free webcasts of its games through Thursday night. . . . With all of the absent players, perhaps the WHL teams should be slashing ticket prices or add an extra week to the Christmas break. . . .
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The WHL trade freeze that began before Christmas went away at midnight Tuesday. So it’s open season between now and Jan. 10. . . .
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G Curtis Honey, who left the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs and has joined the Brandon Wheat Kings, and F Connor Honey, who left the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers for the Seattle Thunderbirds, are twin brothers. . . . The 17-year-olds are from Edmonton. . . .
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F Curtis Lazar of the Edmonton Oil Kings has been named captain of Team Pacific at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge that is being held in the Windsor area. . . . The alternates are D Macoy Erkamps of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and F Tyson Baillie of the Kelowna Rockets.
Team Pacific arrived in Windsor on Monday, about 9:30 p.m. ET following a four-hour bus ride from Toronto. They had a 6:15 a.m. wakeup call — that’s 3:15 PT. They were on the ice at 9 a.m. ET, or 6 a.m. PT. . . . Team Pacific will play an exhibition game against Sweden this afternoon. . . .
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The Moose Jaw Warriors claimed F Charles Wells, 20, on waivers from the Portland Winterhawks before Christmas. However, the Warriors said Tuesday that Wells has decided not to return to the WHL. “He’s a great kid,” Alan Millar, the Warriors’ director of hockey operations, told Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. “The conversation was very good. He’s just looking at other options at the CIS level and utilizing his WHL scholarship. I think under other circumstances he would have loved to have been a Moose Jaw Warriors, but his heart wasn’t in playing in the league right now.” . . . With that, the Warriors remain with two 20-year-olds on their roster, so have room to add one.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:
In Saskatoon, the Edmonton Oil Kings became the first Eastern Conference team to reach the 50-point plateau as they whipped the Blades, 7-2. . . . Edmonton forwards Klarc Wilson, Michael St. Croix and Tyler Maxwell each had a goal and two assists. . . . St. Croix’s PP goal at 1:30 of the second period gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. . . . Maxwell has 22 points in 12 games with the Oil Kings. . . . Edmonton G Laurent Brossoit stopped 43 shots in winning for the 21st time this season, a franchise single-season record. The previous record had been held by Torrie Jung (2008-09). . . . Saskatoon G Alex Moodie made his WHL debut as he came on in relief of Adam Todd, who gave up six goals on 26 shots over two periods. Moodie was beaten once on nine shots. . . . The Blades had F Brent Benson back from injury — he hadn’t played since Nov. 30 — but F Matej Stransky sat this one out. . . . Injured Blades F Josh Nicholls (knee) joined the coaches behind the bench. . . . G Brendan Jensen, 18, whose rights belong to the Vancouver Giants was on the Oil Kings’ bench. Jensen is backing up Laurent Brossoit with Tristan Jarry away at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. Jensen has been playing for the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. . . . The Oil Kings also had D Ryan Aasman and F Braeden Johnson, 19, in the lineup to help fill some vacancies. . . . Aasman 19, was a first-round selection by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2007 bantam draft. He also has played for Seattle, Swift Current and Medicine Hat. Aasman now is with the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. . . . Johnson has 47 points in 37 games with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars. . . .
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In Swift Current, F Jonas Knutsen, fresh off a stint with Norway’s national junior team, scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give the Prince Albert Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Broncos. . . . The Raiders nursed a 2-0 lead into the third period only to have the Broncos tie it on goals by F Graham Black, at 1:51, and F Brad Hoban, at 18:12. . . . Prince Albert G Cole Holowenko stopped 40 shots, 20 more than Swift Current G Jon Groenheyde. . . . The Raiders have won four in a row. . . . The Broncos had F Jordan Wittman, 15, from the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires, and F Zac Mackay, 16, also from the Legionnaires, in the lineup. . . . Swift Current F Adam Lowry had surgery on Tuesday to repair a fractured wrist. Shawn Mullin, the radio voice of the Broncos, reports that Lowry will be in a cast for two months and may miss the remainder of this season. . . . Lowry, one of the WHL’s top power forwards, had 37 points and 90 penalty minutes in 36 games. He also was plus-4 on a team that came out of the break having surrendered 31 more goals than it had scored. . . .
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In Red Deer, G Tyler Bunz stopped 36 shots to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 2-0 victory over the Rebels. . .. Bunz has three shutouts this season and eight in his career. . . . He also won his 20th game (20-8-2). He has won at least 20 in each of his last three seasons and has 96 regular-season victories in his career. . . . The Tigers were 2-for-6 on the PP, with D Matthew Konan and D Patrik Parkkonen getting the goals. . . .
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In Cranbrook, the Kootenay Ice got 17 saves from Mackenzie Skapski and beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-2. . . . F Brock Montgomery broke a 1-1 tie at 2:16 of the second period and the Ice went on to build a 4-1 lead. . . . The Hurricanes were able to dress only 16 skaters, two under the maximum, and that included F Harper Harrison, 17, who was brought in from the junior B Airdrie Thunder. . . . Harrison was a ninth-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft. . . . The teams combined for 90 penalty minutes, 48 to the Ice. But Lethbridge was only 1-for-9 on the PP. . . .
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In Vancouver, Russian F Alex Kuvaev paid dividends in his first game with the Giants, scoring in regulation and getting the shootout winner in a 4-3 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Kuvaev, 18, played last season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes; he had 24 points in 58 games. He chose to start this season in Russia. . . . The Giants, who have won three in a row and four of six with Glen Hanlon running the bench, held 2-0 and 3-2 leads before F Dylan Willick tied it at 17:41 of the third. . . . Vancouver G Adam Morrison stopped 35 shots, three more than Kamloops’ Cole Cheveldave. . . . Kamloops has lost its last two games 4-3 in shootouts. It closed out the pre-Christmas schedule with a loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw. . . . Vancouver F Nathan Burns scored the game’s first goal. He had missed 15 games with an ankle injury. . . . The Giants were missing seven players between injuries and Christmas tournaments. They have added F Brodyn Nielsen, 17, from the junior B North Vancouver Wolf Pack, and F Logan Harland, 16, from the AJHL’s Bonnyville Pontiacs, to their roster. . . . The Blazers added D Jordan Thomson, the fourth overall pick in the 2011 draft, to their roster. Thomson made his WHL debut by playing on a forward line. . . . The teams meet again tonight in Kamloops. . . .
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In Kelowna, the Spokane Chiefs scored two PP goals and went on to dump the Rockets, 4-1. . . . F Mitch Holmberg and F Marek Kalus scored PP goals to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead by 14:18 of the second. . . . Holmberg finished with two goals, giving him 12, and an assist. . . . D Myles Bell was back in Kelowna’s lineup after not playing since Nov. 12. . . .
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In Kent, Wash., F Colin Jacobs scored in the shootout to give the host Seattle Thunderbirds a 2-1 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Jacobs, Seattle’s first shooter, was the only one of six shooters to score in the shootout. . . . Everett is 1-6 in shootouts this season. . . . The seven shootouts is a WHL high. . . . They play again tonight in Everett.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Dalton Thrower, Saskatoon.
D Neil Manning, Vancouver.
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If you haven’t seen Don Cherry’s Piano Desk, you are in for a real treat . . . not to mention a real chuckle. Check it out right here.
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If you click right here, you will find an interesting letter to the editor that appeared on the Vancouver Sun’s website on Tuesday. It is from a mother who took her eight-year-old daughter to the Vancouver Giants’ Teddy Bear toss game.
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