Brandon, Prince Albert down to two goaltenders

The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed G Stuart Skinner, their first-round selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. Skinner, 6-foot-3 1/2 and 193 pounds, is from Edmonton. Last season, he was 18-1-2, 1.75, .929 with the Alberta Major Bantam League’s South Side Athletic Club entry. . . . Lethbridge also signed D Kade Jensen, a fifth-round pick in the 2012 draft, and D Brandon Kennedy, who was a sixth-round selection in 2012. . . . Kennedy, from Delta, B.C., and had 10 points in 36 games with the Delta Hockey Academy Wild, a AAA minor midget team, last season. . . . Jensen had 62 points in 79 games split between two teams at the Edge Prep School in Calgary.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have released F Michael Sofillas, 20. From Morden, Man., Sofillas had nine points in 52 games last season, after missing all of 2011-12 with post-concussion syndrome. In 119 games with the Hurricanes, he had 26 points.
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F Chad Robinson, 20, had a goal and four assists Sunday as Team Black beat Team White 12-4 in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ annual intrasquad game. . . . The Wheat Kings trimmed their roster to 35 players after the game, with four of those leaving this week for NHL camps. D Ryan Pulock (New York Islanders), D Nick Walters (St. Louis Blues), D Eric Roy (Calgary Flames and F Richard Nejezchleb (Pittsburgh Penguins) all are expected to return to Brandon. . . . The Wheat Kings are down to two goaltenders — veteran Curtis Honey and freshman Jordan Papirny. From Edmonton, the 17-year-old Papirny was the 22nd overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft.  
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The Kamloops Blazers got their roster down to 25 players, including two goaltenders and eight defencemen, following a 4-3 OT victory over the visiting Vancouver Giants on Sunday night. . . . The Blazers re-assigned F Quinn Benjafield and F Jake Kryski, both first-round selections in the 2013 bantam draft, and D Travis Verveda, 16, following the game. . . . Kryski (Okanagan Rockets) and Benjafield (Vancouver-Northwest Giants) are expected to play in the B.C. Major Midget League. Verveda will join the midget AAA Red Deer Optimist Chiefs. . . . Kryski and Verveda played on Sunday; Benjafield didn’t. . . . The Blazers’ 25-man roster includes F Tim Bozon, who leaves Wednesday for the Montreal Canadiens’ camp, and F Cole Ully, who will go to rookie camp with the Dallas Stars.
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The Prince Albert Raiders are down to two goaltenders, with Nick McBride, 16, having earned the backup position to veteran Cole Cheveldave, 20. . . . McBride beat out a pair of 1996-born goaltenders — Tanner Balk and Rylan Parenteau, the latter having now joined the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers. McBride, from Maple Ridge, B.C., played last season with the Vancouver-Northeast Chiefs of the B.C. Major Midget League. He was a second-round selection by the Raiders in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . The Raiders also signed D Tomas Andrlik, F Darcy Zahirchuk, D Cody Paivarinta and F Luke Coleman. . . . Andrlik, from Czech Republic, was selected in the CHL’s 2013 import draft. Last season, he played for HC Plzen’s U-18 and U-20 teams. . . . Zaharichuk, 17, from Sherwood Park, Alta., had 30 points in 31 games with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the Alberta Midget Hockey League. . . . The 6-foot-5 Paivarinta, who is from Abbotsford, B.C., was a third-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He played for a bantam AAA team in Abbotsford last season. . . . Coleman was taken in the fifth round of the 2013 bantam draft. He had 41 points in 32 games with the bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels Black last season.
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From Portland Winterhawks F Chase De Leo (@Dels9): “Literally not exaggerating.. Just killed a spider the size of a wheat thin in my room. Chances of me sleeping tonight now are slim to none!”


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