D Mark Ardelan (Brandon, Vancouver, Prince Albert, 1999-2004) signed a one-year extension with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany, DEL). He has six goals and 19 assists in 43 games for the Roosters this season.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:
In Brandon, F Alessio Bertaggia scored twice as the Wheat Kings beat the Swift Current Broncos, 6-3. . . . Brandon now has won three in a row as it snapped a six-game home-ice losing skid. . . . The Broncos, with 16 games remaining, now are 13 points behind Brandon, which holds down the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. Swift Current has lost four in a row. . . . Bertaggia has 211 goals. . . . Brandon F Darian Dziurzynski added a goal and two assists. . . . F Troy Vause scored his 30th goal of the season for the Broncos. . . . Swift Current G Austin Smith stopped 35 shots, including a toe save on Brandon F Kevin Sundher at 9:02 of the second period on a penalty shot. . . . Brandon D Eric Roy had one assist and was plus-4. . . . Brandon F Michael Ferland was given an interference major (the online game sheet shows that it was a minor, but it wasn’t — it was a major) and game misconduct at 14:48 of the third period for a hit on Swift Current F Christian Magnus. . . . The WHL office will look into Ferland’s penalty and a suspension is possible. . . . The Broncos have won just one of seven games with Brandon this season. . . .
In Calgary, F Kenton Miller had a goal and two assists to lead the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 4-2 victory over the Hitmen. . . . Miller had scored the game-winner in each of his club’s last five victories. In this one, F James Henry got the winner, his 11th, on a PP at 14:20 of the second. . . . Miller got his 22nd at 19:36 of the third, into an empty net. . . . F Cam Braes, with his 31st, and Henry scored PP goals 43 seconds apart in the second. . . . The Hitmen led this one 2-0 just 16 seconds into the second period. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-for-7 on the PP; Calgary, which has lost four of five, was 0-for-2. . . . F Jimmy Bubnick had a goal, his 26th, and an assist for Calgary. . . . Moose Jaw D Dylan McIlrath played his first game after serving an eight-game suspension. . . . The Warriors lead the East Division by five points over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Hitmen, who are fifth in the Eastern Conference, fell two points back of the fourth-place Blades. . . .
In Cranbrook, G Deven Dubyk stopped 24 shots to lead the Red Deer Rebels to a 2-0 victory over the host Kootenay Ice. . . . Dubyk has two shutouts this season and four in his career. . . . Red Deer D Alex Petrovic got the winner, his eighth, on a PP at 4:15 of the first. . . . F Brooks Maxwell had the other goal, in the second period. . . . Ice G Mackenzie Skapski stopped 19 shots. . . . The Rebels stayed within four points of the eighth-place Brandon Wheat Kings in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Ice is one point behind the fifth-place Calgary Hitmen. . . .
In Lethbridge, F Matej Stransky scored twice and set up another as the Saskatoon Blades doubled the Hurricanes, 6-3. . . . Saskatoon got three assists from each of D Dalton Thrower and F Josh Nicholls. . . . The Blades were 4-for-6 on the PP. . . . Stransky now has 31 goals this season. . . . The Hurricanes scored the game’s first two goals, leading 2-0 when D Tyler Kizuik, a former Saskatoon player scored his third goal at 10:16 of the first. . . . But the Blades got the next five goals. . . . There were campers outside the Enmax Centre but they weren’t there for the hockey game. Rather, they were there because tickets to an Elton John concert were to go on sale this morning. . . .
In Medicine Hat, F Emerson Etem ran his point streak to 17 games as the Tigers downed the Prince Albert Raiders, 3-1. . . . Etem didn’t score — he now has 49 goals in 49 games — but did draw an assist on D Alex Theriau’s second goal of the season early in the second period. . . . F Cole Grbavac and F Rhyse Dieno gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead with first-period PP goals. . . . Prince Albert F Mark McNeill got his 26th at 11:22 of the second, on a PP, to get the Raiders to within two, at 3-1. . . . Medicine Hat G Tyler Bunz, who turns 20 today, stopped 29 shots, nine fewer than the Raiders’ Cole Holowenko. . . .
In Kamloops, F Chase Schaber’s goal at 4:32 of OT gave the Blazers a 5-4 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Schaber banged home a long rebound of a shot by D Austin Madaisky. . . . F Brett Bulmer scored two first-period goals as the Rockets took a 4-1 lead. . . . Kamloops F Brendan Ranford tied it at 8:04 of the third on a PP. . . . Kamloops has won eight in a row at home. . . . The Blazers now lead the overall standings by three points over the Edmonton Oil Kings and are six points up on the Tri-City Americans atop the Western Conference. . . . Kamloops G Cam Lanigan came on in relief of Cole Cheveldave to start the second period and stopped all 12 shots he faced to run his record to 12-4-0. . . . The Rockets are destined for a fifth-place finish in the Western Conference as they are 12 points out of fifth and 15 points from seventh. . . . The Blazers will play in Kelowna tonight. . . .
In Prince George, F Campbell Elynuik’s fifth goal of the season, at 2:14 of OT, gave the Cougars a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . F Daulton Siwak of the Cougars forced extra time with his second goal of the game 12th of the season at 10:12 of the third period. . . . Prince George G Drew Owlsey stopped 48 shots. Earlier in the day, Owsley had tweeted that it would be nice to win one for his sister, who underwent surgery earlier in the week. . . . D Cody Carlson and F Troy Bourke each had two assists for the Cougars. . . . F Michael St. Crox had two goals and an assist for Edmonton and now is one point off the lead in the WHL scoring race. . . . F Alex Forsberg returned from injury to scored his 12th goal and set up another for the Cougars. They also got Owsley, F Caleb Belter and D Reid Jackson back, but still were without D Dan Gibb, F John Odgers, F Brock Hirsche and D Shane Pilling. . . . The Cougars are 10th in the Western Conference but now are just four points out of the last playoff spot. . . . The Eastern Conference-leading Oil Kings are in Prince George again tonight. . . .
In Spokane, D Davis Vandane drew three assists as his Chiefs edged the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-4. . . . The Chiefs scored the game’s last two goals. F Marek Kalus got his 15th goal at 5:47 of the third period and D Cole Wedman won it with his second of the season at 6:22. . . . F Branden Troock had given Seattle a 4-3 lead with his 10th goal at 4:40 of the third. . . . The Chiefs had D Tanner Mort back from injury. . . . The victory kept the Chiefs two points ahead of the fifth-place Vancouver Giants in the Western Conference. . . . The Thunderbirds are tied for the last playoff spot with the idle Victoria Royals. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., the Portland Winterhawks scored the game’s first three goals as they skated to a 4-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . F Ty Rattie, back in the lineup after missing a couple of games with an undisclosed injury, scored his 43rd goal at 8:28 of the third, via the PP, to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. . . . F Justin Feser, with his 27th, and F Brendan Shinnimin, with No. 32, got the Americans to within one. Shinnimin’s goal came with G Eric Comrie on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . F Brad Ross, with his 32nd, put it away for Portland with an empty-netter. . . . Portland G Mac Carruth stopped 30 shots for his 33rd victory, just two shy of Brent Belecki’s franchise single-season record. . . . Rattie and Brandon Wheat Kings F Mark Stone now are tied for the WHL scoring lead, with 88 points. . . . The Winterhawks lost D Joe Morrow with a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct at 17:30 of the second period. . . . Comrie stopped 33 shots. . . . The Winterhawks now are within one point of the U.S. Division-leading Americans. . . . After losing five in a row to Tri-City, the Winterhawks now have beaten the Americans in each of the last two meetings. . . .
In Vancouver, F Brendan Gallagher tied a franchise record as his Vancouver Giants edged the Everett Silvertips, 3-2. . . . Gallagher scored his 126th regular-season goal, tying the record held by Adam Courchaince. . . . D Neil Manning gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 16:37 of the first on a PP and F Cain Franson upped that to 3-1 with his 22nd at 6:08. . . . Everett F Reid Petryk scored his 11th at 19:29 of the third to make it 3-2. . . . The Giants are in Everett tonight. . . . The Silvertips are one point ahead of the Prince George Cougars and three out of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
D Connor Cox, Saskatoon.
D Brady Gaudet, Kamloops.
F Carson Perreaux, Prince Albert.
D Dylan Busenius, Medicine Hat.
F Blake Gal, Spokane.
D Joe Morros, Portland (major).
F Taylor Makin, Vancouver.
D Tyler Vanscourt, Vancouver (double minor).
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FRIDAY’S CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
F Colby Cave, Swift Current.
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You are free to wonder when people are going to learn that hazing simply is not an acceptable of sports. Yes, there has been another hazing incident with a hockey team, this one at a high school in Quebec.
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Ivan Pravilov was found dead in his cell at the Federal Detention Centre in Philadelphia on Friday morning. Pravilov, 49, apparently committed suicide while in custody on child-molestation charges.
Go back a few years and Pravilov was the head coach of Druzbha-78, a U-18 team based in Kharkiv, Ukraine, that toured Alberta and B.C. in December 1993. Pravilov developed the reputation as a coach who was incredibly hard on his players. That trip, and a whole lot more, is documented in a book titled Reign of Fear. If you can find a copy or hunt it up on the Internet, do it. . . . The Druzbha-78 roster included at least two future WHLers — D Andrei Lupandin and D Hennadiy (Gennady) Razin.
There is more on Pravilov and his death right here.
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Dr. Ross Outerbridge of Kamloops has been formally reprimanded by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, bringing to a close a story that included the filing of a lawsuit by former Blazers D Josh Morrow. He was awarded $1.5 million in that lawsuit after Outerbridge was found to have botched shoulder surgery on Morrow.
Michele Young of the Kamloops Daily News has more right here.
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Mike Vellucci, the GM and head coach of the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers, has had some memorable run-ins with the on-ice officials. If you go right here you will find video from three of them. Feel free to vote for the one that you feel is the ‘greatest ejection.’
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