F Brett Sonne (Calgary, 2004-09) has signed for the rest of this season with Frisk Asker (Norway, GET-Ligaen). This season, with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan), he had four goals and three assists in 35 games. He was released by Mora on Saturday by mutual agreement.
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An interesting take from Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express:
“Craig MacTavish can’t run one hockey team, so why is the incompetent general manager of the Edmonton Oilers trying to manage a whole league? His edict that the Prince Albert Raiders trade Leon Draisaitl to the Kelowna Rockets was way out of line. Raiders fans are denied the opportunity to watch a future NHL star, while MacTavish is picking favourites when it comes to the likelihood of winning the Western Hockey League championship. The Raiders should have told MacTavish to shove it.“
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On Friday night, the Vancouver Giants dealt F Johnny Wesley, 17, to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for F Zane Jones, 20. At the time, Wesley was with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. . . . Late Saturday morning, Brian Wiebe, who keeps both eyes on all things BCHL, tweeted that Wesley will be joining the Hurricanes.
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After Saturday’s trade deadline, the Hurricanes dropped F Brett Kitt, 18, from their roster. The Brandon native is expected to join the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers. Kitt was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings as part of the deal that had D Reid Duke and D Macoy Erkamps head east. . . . Kitt had two assists in 28 games with the Hurricanes.
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The Portland Winterhawks revealed Saturday that F Tyson Predinchuk, 19, and F Ethan Price, who turns 18 on Jan. 17, “have left the team to pursue hockey opportunities closer to their hometowns.” … Predinchuk, from Regina, had two goals and an assist in 20 games last season. This season, he had two goals and six assists in 33 games. He was a sixth-round selection by the Spokane Chiefs in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . Price, from Lincoln, Neb., is expected to join the USHL’s Lincoln Stars. He will be the first Lincoln native to play for the Stars. . . . He had four goals and four assists in 67 games last season. This season, he had four goals and five assists in 38 games. Portland selected him in the sixth round of the 2012 bantam draft.
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D Jesse Mills, 17, has left the Edmonton Oil Kings for personal reasons. The Oil Kings made the announced Saturday afternoon. . . . “Mills has chosen not to finish the 2014-15 season and has returned home to West Kelowna, B.C.,” the Oil Kings said in a news release. . . . Mills, a fourth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft, had five assists in 35 games last season. This season, he had four assists in 29 games.
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It has been a year since the Kamloops Daily News died. The last edition was published on Jan. 11, 2014. . . . So what is life like in a city that includes more than 80,000 citizens but doesn’t have a daily newspaper. . . . Mel Rothenburger, a two-term mayor of Kamloops and longtime editor of The Daily News, sums it up right here.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Regina, F Kris Schmidli had two goals and an assist to lead the Prince Albert Raiders to a 6-5 victory over the Pats. . . . Schmidli has six points, three of them goals, in his last two games. . . . Schmidli was plus-4, as was D Dalton Yorke, who, like Schmidli, was acquired from Kelowna. Yorke had one assist. . . . The Raiders took a 4-3 lead into the second period and stretched that to 6-3 on second-period goals from F Jayden Hart, his 20th, and F Craig Leverton, his 15th. . . . The Pats got close when F Adam Brooks got his 17th at 16:44 of the third period and F Taylor Cooper completed his hat trick at 19:07. Cooper, who came over from the Lethbridge Hurricanes during the week, has 15 goals. . . . Cooper also had an assist, while Brooks and F Pavel Padakin had two each. . . . Raiders G Rylan Parenteau came on for Nick McBride after the first period and stopped 28 of 30 shots. . . . The Raiders (19-23-1) have won three in a row. . . . Regina(25-14-3) has lost two straight. . . . 
In Swift Current, the Everett Silvertips struck for three second-period power-play goals — on three consecutive PPs — and beat the Broncos, 3-1. . . . F Ivan Nikolishin, with his ninth, scored 33 seconds into the period, with D Noah Juulsen getting his fifth at 10:05 and F Patrick Bajkov getting No. 14 at 12:24. . . . Nikolishin also had two assists. . . . Broncos F Colby Cave scored his 20th goal at 15:23 of the second. . . . Everett was 3-for-6 on the PP; Swift Current was 0-for-4. . . . Everett G Carter Hart stopped 28 shots, seven more than Swift Current’s Travis Child. . . . F Carson Stadnyk had two assists for Everett. . . . Everett had D Kevin Davis back in the lineup after his missed the first five games of the trip with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Silvertips (26-12-4) went 5-1-0 on their East Division swing. . . . The Broncos, who entertain Edmonton today, slipped to 20-18-5. . . . 
In Moose Jaw, F Axel Blomqvist broke a 3-3 tie at 3:27 of the third period as the Warriors got past the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-3. . . . The goal was Blomqvist’s 15th of the season and first with Moose Jaw since being acquired from the Victoria Royals. . . . Blomqvist also had an assist, while F Brayden Point drew two helpers. . . . The Oil Kings had successfully killed off 44 straight opposition power plays before F Brett Howden scored his 13th goal, at 16;47 of the second, to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead. . . . Edmonton F Brett Pollock tied it with his 18th goal at 2:40 of the third. . . . Edmonton D Ashton Sautner had two assists. . . . Warriors F Tanner Eberle got his 25th goal, shorthanded, at 10:17 of the second, giving his side a 2-1 lead. . . . “I’m hugely concerned with the number of penalties we take,” Edmonton head coach Steve Hamilton said on the team’s website. “We consistently have to kill off six or seven a night and I have a hard time arguing with the calls against, and we’ve been pretty lights out on our penalty kill for a good stretch here. . . . What hurt the most was the shorthanded goal against.” . . . Moose Jaw G Brody Willms made his second career start, and his first at home. He stopped 28 shots to earn his first WHL victory. . . . Edmonton F Davis Koch scored his fourth goal of the season; he’s got goals in three straight games. . . . The Warriors (17-23-4) had lost their previous three games. . . . The Oil Kings (20-17-5), who are in Swift Current for a late afternoon date, had a four-game winning streak end. . . . 
In Cranbrook, F Wyatt Sloboshan scored two second-period goals to help the Saskatoon Blades to a 6-4 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . Sloboshan, who has six goals, broke a 2-2 tie at 12:47. . . . Ice F Tim Bozon scored his 14th goal at 15:23 for a 3-3 tie. . . . Sloboshan then gave his side a 4-3 lead at 18:57. . . . Goals by F Cameron Hebig, his 10th, at 3:39 of the third, and F Sam McKechnie, his 15th, at 13:43, gave the visitors a 6-3 lead. . . . The teams combined for six second-period goals. . . . F Levi Cable scored twice for the Ice, giving him 19. . . . F Kolton Dixon had three assists for the Blades, while D Brycen Martin had a goal and an assist. . . . F Luke Philp had his 18th goal and two assists for the Ice. . . . Saskatoon G Brock Hamm, in his WHL debut, stopped 28 shots. . . . Ice G Keelan Williams, making his first start since Oct. 22 in Saskatoon, stopped 35 shots. G Wyatt Hoflin had appeared in a franchise-record 29 straight games. . . . Ice D Rinat Valiev (ill) missed his second straight game. . . . The Blades (10-29-3) had lost four straight. . . . The Ice (21-20-1) has lost three in a row. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has a game story right here. . . .
In Lethbridge, F Adam Tambellini scored twice and added an assist to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Lethbridge F Brayden Burke gave his side a 2-0 lead with his first two goals, at 11:34 and 19:57 of the first period. The latter came via the PP. . . . The Hitmen then erupted for five second-period goals, with Tambellini in on three of them. He’s got 26 goals. . . . Calgary D Jake Bean, 16, scored his first goal in his 31st game. He also has 19 assists. Do they call him Mister Bean? . . . Burke, who turned 18 on Jan. 1, is from Edmonton. He also had an assist, giving him three points. In nine games with the Hurricanes, he had two goals and three assists. . . . G Giorgio Estephan scored his seventh goal and added two assists for the Hurricanes, who were outshot 42-16. . . . G Brendan Burke stopped 13 shots in his first start with Calgary since being acquired from Portland. . . . The Hitmen (23-15-4), who went 3-1-1 on a five-game trip, are 3-0-1 in their last four games. . . . The Hurricanes are 10-24-6. . . . The Hitmen are at home to Brandon this afternoon in a game that will be on Sportsnet. . . . 
In Red Deer, G Rylan Toth stopped 36 shots to spark the Rebels to a 6-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Toth turned aside 14 shots in the first period and 13 more in the second. . . . F Riley Sheen, F Preston Kopeck and F Connor Gay each scored twice for Red Deer, which scored three times in the first and three times in the third. . . . Sheen scored the game’s first two goals, giving him 12. Kopeck has 13; Gay has 22. . . . Kopeck has scored in three straight games after king 10 without a goal. . . . Gay and Kopeck added an assist apiece, while F Conner Bleackley drew two assists. . . . D Colton Waltz scored for Brandon, getting his fifth goal at 9:45 of the second period. . . . Wheat Kings G Alex Moodie stopped 20 shots. . . . Brandon had D Ivan Provorov after he missed six games while with Russia at the WJC. . . . Brandon F Rihards Bukarts returned after a one-game absence. . . . The Rebels (23-14-5) have won three in a row. . . . Brandon (29-9-4), which is in Calgary this afternoon, has lost two straight. . . . 
In Portland, F Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice and added an assist to help the Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Bjorkstrand, who has seven points over his last two games, has 25 goals. . . . F Alex Schoenborn broke a 2-2 tie for Portland with his 12th goal, on a PP, at 9:48 of the second period. . . . Bjorkstrand added insurance at 12:16, with a shorthanded score. . . . Vancouver F Zane Jones, acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday night, was in the Giants’ lineup and got his 19th goal at 15:47 of the second to get his guys to within one. . . . Bjorkstrand put it away at 15:23 of the third. . . . F Tyler Benson scored Vancouver’s first two goals, giving him 10. . . . Portland F Chase De Leo drew an assist to run his point streak to a career-high 17 games. . . . Portland F Evan Weinger had two assists. . . . Winterhawks G Adin Hill stopped 44 shots, 11 more than Vancouver’s Payton Lee. . . . Portland is still without F Nic Petan (ill). . . . The Winterhawks (23-18-3) have won two straight. . . . The Giants are 19-21-2. . . . 
In Kelowna, the Medicine Hat Tigers erased a 2-1 deficit with shorthanded goals 1:01 apart and went on to a 5-3 victory over the Rockets. . . . D Madison Bowey gave the Rockets a 2-1 lead with his ninth goal at 4:42 of the second period. . . . Tigers F Cole Sanford scored his 33rd goal, shorthanded, at 10:25, and F Markus Eisenschmid got his ninth, also shorthanded, at 11:26. . . . F Leon Draisaitl scored his third goal in as many games for Kelowna, this one tying the game at 3 on a 5-on-3 PP at 6:23 of the third. . . . Eisenschmid broke the tie with his 10th goal at 11:48, on a PP. . . . Sanford added insurance with an empty-netter at 19:34. . . . Eisenschmid, who played for Germany at the WJC, also had an assist, while F Trevor Cox and D Kyle Burroughs each had two. . . . Bowey also had two assists. . . . Medicine Hat G Marek Langhamer stopped 23 shots, four fewer than Kelowna’s Jackson Whistle. . . . Bowey and D Josh Morrissey were in the Rockets’ lineup together for the first time. Both played for Canada at the WJC. Morrissey made his Kelowna debut after being acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders on Dec. 10. They were presented with new golf clubs in a pregame ceremony. . . . Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish made the trip to Kelowna to watch Draisaitl. . . . The Tigers improved to 29-10-2. . . . The Rockets (33-7-3) had a four-game winning streak halted. . . . 
In Victoria, F Alex Forsberg scored three times to help the Royals to a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. . . . Forsberg was acquired from the Saskatoon Blades prior to the trade deadline. The Blades got him from the Cougars during the off-season. The Cougars selected Forsberg first overall in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . Forsberg has 16 goals this season. . . . The Royals had a 5-0 lead in the third period. . . . D Joe Hicketts and F Austin Carroll each had two assists for the Royals. . . . F Brad Morrison, with his 16th, and D Josh Connolly, with his sixth, scored for the Cougars. Connolly was playing his first game since being acquired from Kamloops. . . . Victoria was 3-for-6 on the PP; the Cougars were 1-for-7. . . . Royals G Justin Paulic stopped 27 shots, three fewer than Prince George’s Patrick Gora. . . . The Royals (22-19-3) have won two in a row. . . . The Cougars (20-23-1) have lost three straight (0-2-1). . . . 
In Spokane, the Chiefs scored the game’s first four goals and went on to a 5-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Spokane took a 3-0 lead into the first period with two of its early goals coming via the PP. . . . F Markson Bechtold got his fourth goal at 9:13 and F Liam Stewart got No. 15 at 18:50. . . . In between, F Devon McAndrews scored his third goal of the season. After scoring three times in his first 62 WHL games, 54 of them with the Tri-City Americans, he has three in his last two games. . . . The Blazers scored twice in the second period — F Jesse Zaharichuk, with his second, at 7:27, and F Cole Ully, with his 19th, at 9:18 — but couldn’t get closer. . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka scored his 24th goal to run his scoring streak to seven games. . . . The Blazers held a 31-21 edge in shots. . . . Kamloops F Logan McVeigh played in his 300th regular-season game. He has played 126 games with Kamloops, 28 with the Regina Pats, 76 with the Medicine Hat Tigers and 70 with the Prince Albert Raiders. He has 137 points, including 51 goals. . . . The Chiefs are 23-15-3. . . . The Blazers slid to 14-24-6.---
A message from my 8-yr-old: Dear @blazerhockey, Thank you for not trading @ColeUlly and @rehill24. From, Eddie pic.twitter.com/NAGoUGZbaI
— Spencer E Hodes (@SpeMcKBros) January 10, 2015
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“He’s a great big centre who’s going add some tremendous depth to our
team,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets president and general manager, told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. Hamilton, a member of Hockey Canada’s management group, had just returned from the WJC. “Rourke Chartier is one of the premier players in the league right now, and this guy certainly
brings the same qualities he does. And he’s an experienced player; he has
30-some games of NHL experience under his belt now, so I think he’ll fit
in real well.
“I’ve had to listen to Josh Morrissey for two weeks telling me what to do
to get him. He fits in real well with him, too. He’s a real solid person;
he’ll be a great player to have here. And they’ll fit into our community
real well.”
with the Broncos. They took him with the second overall pick of the 2011 bantam draft.
announced a three-player swap with the Victoria Royals.
The Prince George Cougars have added D Kirk Bear, 19, to their roster. He had been with the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires, where he put up two goals and eight assists in 23 games. . . . Bear, from Whitewood, Sask., was pointless in 35 games with the Red Deer Rebels last season. . . . The Cougars also released D Kobe Eagletail, 17, from their roster. He will join the Banff Bears of the Heritage junior league. Eagletail was pointless in two games with the Cougars. (Hey, gotta think there are worse places to play hockey than Banff!)
Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that G Nik Amundrud, 17, who has been out with a concussion since Oct. 31, has been cleared to return to action. With that, the Blades are expected to move one of their other two goaltenders -- Alex Moodie, 19, or Trevor Martin, 18 -- in the immediate future, perhaps even before they play host to the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday. . . . According to Nugent-Bowman, Blades F Alex Forsberg, who missed a 4-1 loss to the Hitmen in Calgary on Sunday with an undisclosed injury, is probable for Saturday, as is D Ryan Coghlan (shoulder), while F Wyatt Sloboshan (broken jaw) won’t play until mid-December at the earliest. . . . D Jordan Thomson (concussion) is away from the team but is expected back sometime next week.
In Seattle, F Lane Pederson scored his first two WHL goals to help the Thunderbirds to a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Pederson, a 17-year-old from Saskatoon, was playing in his 14th game of the season. He was pointless in two regular-season and three playoff games last season. . . . Seattle scored the game's first four goals and took a 5-1 lead into the third period. . . . Seattle G Taran Kozun stopped 22 shots, three more than Edmonton's Patrick Dea. . . . F Mathew Barzal and F Ryan Gropp each scored his seventh goal of the season for Seattle. . . . “I thought they just outworked us,” Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton said on the team’s website. “We need to play with more pace to our game. We have to be harder to play against. We got our show run by a team that was aggressive and in our face.”
in the payouts to players from each team. In (City A), I personally got $60 every two weeks, or $120 a month as a 16-year-old. So it outrages me when I hear people complain when they got more than me.
Rangers in the 2014 NHL draft, he had been with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. . . . Nejezchleb suffered an undisclosed injury while with the Rangers team at the Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich., and hasn’t played since. However, he now is healthy. . . . Once he rejoins the Wheat Kings, they will have 14 days to get down to the maximum of two import players. Their roster also includes Latvian F Rihards Bukarts, who turns 19 on Dec. 31, and freshman D Ivan Provorov, a 17-year-old Russian. . . . Brandon will be faced with a tough choice as Bukarts went into Wednesday night with 17 points, five of them goals, in 11 games. Last season, he put up 54 points, including 28 goals, in 65 games. Provorov is an early candidate as the Eastern Conference’s rookie of the year, with 12 points, five of them goals, in 11 games. . . . In 101 regular-season games with Brandon, Nejezchleb has 81 points, including 43 goals. Last season, in 66 games, he put up 57 points, 32 of them goals. . . . Should Brandon keep Nejezchleb, he would become its third 20-year-old, joining F Peter Quenneville, who was named captain earlier in the week, and D Eric Roy, who turns 20 on Friday. . . . As well, Nejezchleb has a two-game suspension hanging over his head, something left over from last season’s playoffs. . . . If you are wondering who might have room for a 20-year-old import: Only the Prince Albert Raiders have fewer than three 20s, and that’s after they suspended F Dakota Conroy who left them earlier this week. Each of the other 21 teams has two imports on its roster.
In Swift Current, F Colby Cave scored with 12.6 seconds left in the third period to give the Broncos a 5-4 victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Cave has two goals this season. . . . F Paul Bittner scored twice for Portland, pulling it to within a goal, at 4-3, at 17:50 of the third and getting them even at 19:17. He's got five goals this season. . . . D Max Lajoie had two goals and an assist for the Broncos. . . . F Chase De Leo scored his eighth goal of the season for Portland, now 2-2 on an East Division swing. . . . The Winterhawks, with goaltenders Brendan Burke and Adin Hill injured, started Bolton Pouliot and had Chantz Vinck of the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires on the bench as the backup. Michael Bullion, who has been with the NAHL's Wenatchee, Wash., Wild, is expected to join the Winterhawks today. . . . Vinck, 17, is from Weyburn, Sask., the hometown of former Portland D Derrick Pouliot. . . . 
In Kamloops, the Blazers had 16 players get at least one point as they whipped the Vancouver Giants, 7-2. . . . The Blazers (8-5-1) moved into second place in the Western Conference. . . . The game turned early in the second period when the Blazers took a 3-0 lead by scoring twice in 12 seconds, F Jake Kryski getting his fifth at 3:09 and F Matt Needham his seventh at 3:21. . . . F Cole Ully had a goal, his ninth, and an assist for Kamloops. He's atop the WHL scoring race with 22 points, two more than Kelowna F Nick Merkley and Medicine Hat F Cole Sanford. . . . The Blazers put it away with four third-period goals. . . . Vancouver's PP was 0-for-7. . . . Kamloops G Cole Kehler stopped 28 shots in a solid outing. . . . The Giants were 8-0-0 against Kamloops last season and had won the only meeting this season, beating the visitors 3-0 on Friday. . . . These teams won't meet again until Dec. 30 in Vancouver. . . . Prior to the game, a moment of silence was held in memory and in honour of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. . . .
In Prince George, the Brandon Wheat Kings opened a seven-game road swing with a 7-4 victory over the Cougars. . . . Freshman F Nolan Patrick and sophomore F Rihards Bukarts each had two goals and an assist for the Wheat Kings. . . . Bukarts has at least one assist in eight straight games. . . . Bukarts has seven goals; Patrick has four. . . . Brandon D Ivan Provorov scored his sixth goal. . . . The Cougars got to within 5-4 at 12:07 of the third, when F Chase Witala scored his seventh goal, but the Wheat Kings, who were 4-for-8 on the PP, put it away with two late ones, from Patrick on a PP and Bukarts into an empty net. . . . The Wheat Kings are in Kamloops on Friday. . . . Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun has a game story 
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