Milestone tonight for Blades' radio voice

D Colten Teubert (Regina, 2005-10) has signed two-year extension with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany, DEL). This season, he has six points, including one goal, in 33 games. . . .
D Joel Kwiatkoiwski (Tacoma/Kelowna, Prince George, 1994-98) has signed a two-year extension with Fribourg-Gottéron (Switzerland, NL A). In 46 games this season, he has 22 points, five of them goals. At plus-22, Kwiatkowski is second in the league in  plus/minus, behind only Marc-André Bergeron of the Zurich Lions, who is plus-27.
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Congratulations to old pal Les Lazaruk, the radio voice of the Saskatoon Blades, who will call his 1,500th WHL game tonight when the Blades met the Rebels in Red Deer. That’s a lot of miles on the vocal cords. . . . It was heart-warming to see so many congratulatory messages on Twitter over the last couple of days. . . . Considering his record in Strat-O-Matic Baseball, back in the day, the old redhead made the right career choice!
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Bruce Vance, the Prince Albert Raiders’ business manager and director of marketing, is battling cancer. When he isn’t working his day job, he manages the A&W Bears, and the players are showing their support for him. Jeff D’Andrea of paNOW.com has more right here.
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The Vancouver Giants will salute Brendan Gallagher tonight by inducting him into their Ring of Honour. Gallagher, the Giants’ all-time leading goal scorer (136) and point man (280), now plays for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. . . . If you never saw him play with the Giants, but have seen him in action with the Habs, you should know that he hasn’t changed his game. Which is why tonight’s ceremony should take place right on the lip of a goal crease and not at centre ice.
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The QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs have signed head coach Ross Yates to a two-year extension that runs through 2015-16. Yates, 54, signed on as an assistant coach prior to 2012-13. He stepped up as co-general manager, with Christian Vermette, and head coach on Oct. 30. . . . Earlier in the week, the Sea Dogs announced that Darrell Young had signed a three-year deal as general manager, a post he will assume on March 1. Young, 55, has spent six seasons as an amateur scout with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. He also is a former director of hockey operations with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. . . . With Young’s signing, Vermette has moved over to become head scout.
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The Borowitz Report from The New Yorker addresses right here the friendly US$45-billion acquisition involving Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Now this is hitting the nail squarely on the head.
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SATURDAY’S WHL GAMES (all times local):
Victoria at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Swift Current at Regina, 7 p.m.
Kootenay at Brandon, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.
Saskatoon at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Medicine Hat, 7:30 p.m.
Prince George at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Portland at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Tri-City at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:
In Prince Albert, F Boston Leier scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Regina Pats a 5-4 victory over the Raiders. . . . Regina led this one 3-1 in the second period, only to have the Raiders roar back with three straight goals. . . . Regina F Dryden Hunt forced OT with his 17th goal at 11:35 of the third period. . . . Leier scored his 31st goal and added an assist. . . . The Raiders, who were 4-for-6 on the PP, got two goals and an assist from F Leon Draisaitl, but he came up short on a penalty shot in OT. . . . He’s got 25 goals. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple made his sixth straight start. He’s 5-1-0 in those starts. . . . Regina F Chandler Stephenson counted his WHL-leading seventh shorthanded goal. WHL Facts (@WHLFacts) tweeted that Stephenson “has the most single season SHG's for a @WHLpats player since Brett Lysak's 7 in 2000-01.” . . . Stephenson has 27 goals this season. . . . Raiders D Sawyer Lange had three assists. . . . Prince Albert F Jayden Hart will be hearing from the WHL office after taking an interference major and game misconduct at 8:13 of the first period. . . . The Pats (30-22-5) have won three in a row and now lead the East Division by a point over the Swift Current Broncos and Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Raiders (26-27-4) are four points out of the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot. . . .

In Swift Current, Medicine Hat F Curtis Valk ran his point streak to 17 games as the Tigers dropped the Broncos, 7-3. . . . Valk scored two goals, giving him 33, and added an assist. He is one game shy of the longest point streak in the WHL this season. . . . The Tigers trailed 2-1 just 23 seconds into the second period but scored the next five goals. . . . Tigers F Miles Koules, whose father Oren also played for Medicine Hat back in the day, notched his 20th goal of the season. . . . F Cole Sanford added a goal, his 27th, and two helpers for the Tigers. . . . The Tigers (35-20-3) have won three straight. They are a comfortable fourth in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Broncos (28-22-8) are tied for sixth with Brandon. . . .

In Brandon, F Matt Alfaro scored to end a five-round shootout and give the Kootenay Ice a 3-2 victory over the Wheat Kings. . . . Alfaro, a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary, has two regulation-time goals in 51 games. . . . Ice F Tim Bozon forced OT with his 27th goal at 11:14 of the third period. He also had an assist. . . . Kootenay F Sam Reinhart got his 30th goal and added an assist as he ran his point streak to 16 games. . . . Brandon F Brett Kitt, who went into the game with two goals and had been a healthy scratch in five of the last seven outings, scored both his side’s goals. . . . The same teams will do it again tonight in the Wheat City. . . . The Ice (32-22-4) is 8-2-0 in its last 10 and is fifth in the Eastern Conference, five points behind Medicine Hat and four in front of Swift Current and Brandon. . . .

In Calgary, D Alex Roach scored 11 seconds into OT to give the Hitmen a 6-5 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . Roach, who has six goals this season, also scored in the third period to pull his side into a 4-4 tie. . . . Calgary F Greg Chase scored his 30th goal at 15:21 of the third. He also had two assists. . . . Saskatoon F Nikita Scherbak scored twice, the second one forcing OT at 17:30 of the third. He has six goals in three games against Calgary this season. . . . Scherbak was back for the first time since Jan. 29. . . . The Hitmen have won five in a row. . . . With G Chris Driedger having been suspended by the team, Mack Shields went the distance, making 19 saves. Evan Johnson, a 17-year-old from Winnipeg, was backing up. . . . Saskatoon G Troy Trombley stopped 43 shots. . . . The Hitmen (37-15-6) are two points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings, who lead the Eastern Conference and the Central Division. Edmonton (40-14-2) holds two games in hand. . . . The Blades (15-39-5) have lost three in a row. . . .

In Edmonton, F Scott Feser scored three times, the last one in OT, as the Red Deer Rebels beat the Oil Kings, 3-2. . . . Feser, who has 10 goals, forced OT with a goal at 5:35 of the third period. . . . Red Deer G Patrik Bartosak stopped 450 shots, 30 more than Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry. . . . The Rebels snapped a seven-game losing streak. . . . The Oil Kings went in having won 16 of their previous 17 games. . . . F Mats Eller had two assists for the Oil Kings. . . . Edmonton F Mitch Moroz was tossed with a charging major just 42 seconds into the second period. . . . Red Deer (28-26-4) is eighth in the Eastern Conference, four points ahead of Prince Albert and four behind Swift Current and Brandon. . . . The Oil Kings (40-14-2) are 8-1-1 in their last 10. . . .

In Lethbridge, F Ben Duperreault broke a 2-2 tie at 5:56 of the second period and the Moose Jaw Warriors went on to a 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . Moose Jaw G Zach Sawchenko, making his fourth appearance in 2014, stopped 27 shots. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports that Sawchenko suffered a skate cut “near his rib cage” with two minutes left in the second period. While Justin Paulic came on in relief, Sawchenko went to the dressing room for stitches, then came back to play the third period. . . . Gourlie also reports that Moose Jaw F Sam Fioretti “didn’t play in the third period as he began to feel the effects of a high hit” from earlier. . . . Moose Jaw F Jack Rodewold scored his 19th goal and added an assist on his 20th birthday. . . . F Torrin White also had a goal, his 16th, and an assist for Moose Jaw. . . . The Warriors were without F Scott Cooke, who drew a two-game WHL suspension under supplemental discipline for a hit on Kootenay Ice F Tim Bozon on Feb. 11. Bozon sat out one game with an injury incurred in that hit, but returned last night. . . . Neither Moose Jaw (15-33-8) nor Lethbridge (12-42-5) will make the playoffs. . . .

In Kamloops, the Portland Winterhawks scored four first-period goal and went on to post their 15th straight victory by beating the Blazers, 7-4. . . . The Winterhawks tied a franchise record for consecutive victories (1979-80, 1997-98); they can break the record tonight when they meet the Giants in Vancouver. . . . The Blazers have lost 11 in a row. . . . F Taylor Leier scored his 30th goal in the second period, giving Portland five 30-goal men on its roster. The 1986-87 Blazers hold the single-season record, with nine 30-goal scorers on their roster. . . . Leier finished with two goals and two assists. . . . Portland F Nic Petan had a goal, his 31st, and two assists. He leads the WHL in assists (67) and points (98). He leads the points derby by five points over Spokane Chiefs F Mitch Holmberg. . . . Portland F Dominic Turgeon had two goals, giving him nine, and an assist, while F Brendan Leipsic had a goal, his 32nd, and two helpers. . . . Turgeon, who enjoyed his first career three-point outing, has eight points over his last five games. . . . Kamloops got two goals from F Cole Ully, who has 26 this season. The second one was a shorthanded penalty shot in the second period. . . . Portland was 4-for-6 on the PP. . . . With G Brendan Burke ill, G Corbin Boes started for Portland, which had Adin Hill from the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks backing up. Hill, 17, is a list player who signed with the Winterhawks on Aug. 30, 2012. . . . Portland (41-12-5) is second in the overall standings, nine points behind the Kelowna Rockets. . . . The Blazers (11-42-5) have the WHL’s poorest record. . . .

In Kelowna, F Rourke Chartier scored twice, the second one breaking a 2-2 tie at 19:35 of the third period, as the Rockets doubled the Prince George Cougars, 4-2. . . . The Cougars, who had won four straight road games, took a 2-1 lead into the third period, only to have F Carter Rigby tie it at 5:34. . . . Chartier, who has 19 goals, got an empty-netter at 19:50. . . . Cougars F Troy Bourke had two assists, making him the Prince George franchise’s all-time leader, with 141. F Blake Robson held the previous mark. . . . The Rockets are 5-0-0 against the Cougars this season. . . . Prince George D Mark McNulty scored his 16th goal, running his point streak to nine games. . . . The Rockets (46-8-4), who have won three in a row, lead the overall standings. . . . The Cougars (24-29-7) are five points out of the Western Conference’s last playoff spot. . . .

In Everett, D Kevin Davis scored his first career goal in OT to give the Silvertips a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Davis, a freshman from Kamloops, was the 11th overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft. He has played in 56 regular-season games. . . . Everett F Dawson Leedahl scored his fifth goal at 7:14 of the second. He hadn’t scored in his previous 32 games; he last scored on Nov. 19. . . . Vancouver F Joel Hamilton tied it, with his sixth goal, at 3:48 of the third. . . . Everett G Carter Hart, 15, was backing up Austin Lotz, who stopped 26 shots. . . . The Silvertips welcomed back F Manraj Hayer, who hadn’t played since Jan. 25. They still are without F Zane Jones and F Tyler Sandhu. . . . Everett also played without G Daniel Cotton and F Darcy DeRoose, who have been suspended by the team. . . . Vancouver G Jared Rathjen stopped 29 shots. . . . The Giants were without D Dalton Thrower (ankle) for a ninth straight game. . . . Everett (28-21-8) has won two straight and now is tied for sixth with Vancouver (27-22-10) in the Western Conference. . . . The Giats have lost four in a row. . . .

In Kent, Wash., F Russell Maxwell scored with 25.6 seconds left in the third period to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 4-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . Maxwell has 12 goals this season, two in 15 games with Seattle since coming over from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Seattle led this one 3-0 with less than 11 minutes to play in the third period. . . . The Americans got goals from F Lucas Nickles (shorthanded at 9:25), F Parker Bowles (PP at 13:43) and F Beau McCue (17:15) to tie it. . . . McCue’s goal came with G Eric Comrie on the bench for the extra attacker as Tri-City head coach Jim Hiller rolled the dice early. . . . Seattle F Keegan Kolesar scored his second goal of the season in the second period for a 2-0 lead. . . . Seattle D Shea Theodore had two assists. . . . Seattle G Taran Kozun stopped 37 shots, 16 more than Eric Comrie. . . . Tri-City D Justin Hamonic left in the second period, having left some blood on the ice, after taking a slapshot from Seattle D Shea Theodore up high. Hamonic returned in the third period wearing a face shield. . . . There was a multi-fight situation at 8:33 of the third period, meaning fines may be in order. . . . Seattle finished the game with 90 penalty minutes to Tri-City’s 61. . . . Seattle (36-17-5) is fourth in the Western Conference, four points behind the Victoria Royals, who open an East Division swing tonight, and eight ahead of the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Americans (27-25-6) hold down the conference's last playoff spot, five points ahead of Prince George.
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From Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29): “Just heard the excellent hockey book ‘Sudden Death’ by Culp, Drinnan & Wilkie being made into a movie. Must read about SC Broncos bus tragedy.”


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Each of the WHL’s 22 teams has its general manager and its head coach in Calgary for a seminar that is to be held today.
This is part of a seven-point plan the WHL has come up with that is aimed at reducing blows to the heads of its players, which should reduce the number of concussions.
According to the WHL plan that was announced after the annual meeting in June, all general managers and head coaches are to take part in this seminar which will review the plan and go over rule changes.
The seven-point plan, according to a WHL news release:
1. The adoption of new playing rules;
2. More severe suspensions for repeat offenders;
3. Production of an educational video on risks of concussions to educate the players to be more responsible for themselves on the ice;
4. A seminar for all WHL head coaches and general managers;
5. New soft cap elbow and shoulder pads;
6. Expanded research data; and,
7. A  review of all WHL facility safety standards.
The news release continues:
“The WHL rule changes include the adoption of a checking to the head penalty for lateral and blind-side hits to an unsuspecting opponent in open ice where the head is targeted or is the principle point of contact.
“The WHL also tightened the standard on late hits as well as charging and interference penalties to address players building up significant speed and hitting the opponent along the boards with excessive force.
“The WHL also adopted a new embellishment rule and introduced automatic suspensions for players who receive multiple penalties for checking to the head, checking from behind, embellishment and kneeing.”
Understand that all of this is a giant step, or seven steps, in the right direction and the WHL is to be applauded.
But here’s hoping the general managers and head coaches, under the direction of commissioner Ron Robison and Richard Doerksen, the vice-president of hockey operations, at least touch on the subject of fighting.
Because, whether you like it or not (and some of you obviously don’t), fighting is going the way of the dodo bird. It may not happen in the next year or two, but it will disappear within five years.
It has to.
Because how can you go to all this effort and expense to come up with a seven-point plan aimed entirely at reducing blows to the head and yet you still allow two players to stand there and punch each other silly.
You have to understand that this isn’t about taking fighting out of hockey; it’s about getting shots to the head out of the game. It’s about trying to prevent irreparable brain damage to teenage hockey players. Ultimately, fighting will be a casualty of that.
And it is going to happen. It’s a question of when and not if.
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Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun has taken note of what has been happening at NHL rookie-team tournaments and offers up some thoughts right here.
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How silly has fighting become in these rookie tournaments?
F Shane McColgan of the Kelowna Rockets, who is playing for the New York Rangers at the Traverse City, Mich., tournament, got into a scrap on Sunday. McColgan, whom the Rockets list at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, has had three fights over the last two WHL seasons.
D Colten Teubert, who was a tough cookie with the Regina Pats, is with the Edmonton Oilers at the tournament in Penticton. But his tournament ended during the first game when he had his nose broken during a fight. Teubert doesn’t need to prove his toughness to the Oilers; he needs to prove he can play that game at the NHL level.
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Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun writes about fisticuffs and the NHL today, and knows there is no easy answer to this situation. That column is right here.
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And because you want more, right here is Neate Sager of Yahoo! Sports with a piece headlined: September fisticuffs whet the appetite for the regular season — just not in the way you might think.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Wednesday . . .

A note arrived Wednesday from the Portland Winterhawks' Booster Club, stating that season-ending awards will be handed out prior to a March 5 game. The Booster Club presents one award, as it turns out. That would be the Donald Ickes Most Popular Player of the Year. . . . The award is voted on by members of the Booster Club. . . . It is believed that Kurtis Mucha is not eligible.
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If you are a hockey player who has experienced the agony of a concussion, or concussions, or if you are the parent of such a player, you may want to check out The Messier Project, if you haven’t already. You can do that right here.
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The Everett Silvertips have signed G Andy Desautels, a fifth-round pick (95th overall) in the 2009 bantam draft. Desautels, from White City, Sask., is 7-8-2 with a 3.59 GAA and a .884 save percentage with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians.
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According to this story, former Kelowna Rockets D Tyler Myers just missed being selected to play for Canada in the Olympic Winter Games.
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THE PLAYOFF CHASE
Teams in the running for playoff spots, showing games remaining (d — denotes division leaders, who are seeded one-two):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(top eight advance)
d-Saskatoon (17) 37-12-3-3-80
d-Calgary (16) 38-16-1-1-78
Brandon (14) 38-16-1-3-80
Kootenay (15) 35-17-3-2-75
Medicine Hat (13) 33-18-3-5-74
Red Deer (16) 31-21-0-4-66
Prince Albert (15) 28-24-3-2-61
Moose Jaw (17) 26-21-4-4-60
Swift Current (14) 28-26-0-4-60
Regina (14) 24-27-3-4-55
Wednesday: Prince Albert 0 at Medicine Hat 6; Calgary 6 at Regina 2; Swift Current 1 at Saskatoon 2 (SO); Moose Jaw 3 at Spokane 6.
Thursday: No games scheduled.
Friday: Swift Current at Brandon; Prince Albert at Calgary; Kootenay at Edmonton; Saskatoon at Medicine Hat; Regina at Red Deer; Moose Jaw at Seattle.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
(top eight advance)
dx-Tri-City (17) 39-14-0-2-80
d-Vancouver (15) 33-20-1-3-70
Everett (16) 35-18-2-1-73
Portland (14) 35-20-2-1-73
Spokane (16) 32-20-3-1-68
Kelowna (14) 28-26-2-2-60
Kamloops (14) 26-26-2-4-58
Chilliwack (16) 24-26-1-5-54
x — clinched playoff spot.
Wednesday: Kelowna 0 at Everett 4; Tri-City 3 at Portland 5; Kamloops 2 at Prince George 4; Moose Jaw 3 at Spokane 6.
Thursday: No games scheduled.
Friday: Spokane at Everett; Kelowna at Kamloops; Portland at Prince George; Chilliwack at Tri-City.
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WEDNESDAY:
In Regina, F Brandon Kozun scored three times to spark the Calgary Hitmen to a 6-2 victory over the Pats. . . . After a scoreless first period, Kozun scored twice, at 2:27 and 6:07 of the second. . . . Kozun completed his hat trick at 16:50 of the second, giving the Hitmen a 4-1 lead. . . . Kozun has 27 goals. . . . Calgary F Misha Fisenko had a goal, his ninth, and two assists as he was in on the game’s first three goals. . . . Calgary F Ian Schultz had three assists. . . . F Carter Ashton had a goal, his 23rd, and an assist for Regina. . . . The Hitmen were 1-for-5 on the PP; the Pats were 0-for-2. . . . Attendance was 5,527. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 33 shots. . . . Regina G Damien Ketlo turned aside 32 shots. . . . The Pats have lost six of seven but have points in 11 of their last 14 games. . . . Calgary has won six in a row and swept the four-game season series from Regina. . . . The Pats held a players-only meeting after the game. D Colten Teubert emerged to tell Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post: “We have to get our heads out of our asses or else we’ll be going home pretty soon. Individually we called ourselves out. We have to be accountable to ourselves first and not really point fingers because we have to be a tight-knit group and continue to work. Our season is not over yet.” . . . The Pats lost D Cody Carlson after he took a shot to the head in the second period. . . . Regina was without F Garrett Mitchell, who has concussion-like symptoms after taking a hit in a game in Brandon on Tuesday.
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In Medicine Hat, G Tyler Bunz, who turns 18 Thursday, stopped 25 shots to help the Tigers to a 6-0 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The shutout was the first of Bunz’s career. It also was the first of the season for the Tigers; it was the second time this season the Raiders have been blanked. . . . F Wacey Hamilton had a goal, his 20th, and two assists for the Tigers, who had lost three straight. . . . F Emerson Etem got the game’s first goal, his 33rd. . . . Medicine Hat was 0-for-7 on the PP; Prince Albert was 0-for-3. . . . Raiders G Garrett Zemlak stopped 39 shots. . . . Attendance was 4,006.
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In Edmonton, F Cam Braes broke a 3-3 tie at 18:19 of the third period to give the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . The Hurricanes, who were playing their sixth road game in nine nights, snapped a nine-game losing streak. . . . The goal was t he second of the game for Braes, who has 17 this season. . . . Lethbridge took a 3-2 lead into the second period. . . . Edmonton F Garry Nunn tied it on the PP at 10:46. He has 14 goals. . . . Lethbridge G Brandon Anderson stopped 37 shots, 10 fewer than Edmonton’s Torrie Jung. . . . Edmonton F Michael St. Croix scored the game’s first goal, his 13th. He has nine points, including five goals, over his last five games. . . . The Oil Kings (12-34-4-8) were 1-for-1 on the PP; the Hurricanes (17-35-3-2) were 1-for-5. . . . Attendance was 3,375
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In Everett, G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 36 shots to help the Silvertips to a 4-0 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . Heemskerk has three shutouts this season and six in his career. . . . F Shane Harper and F Kellan Tochkin each had two assists for the Silvertips, who were 1-for-5 on the PP. . . . The Rockets were 0-for-5. . . . Kelowna G Adam Brown stopped 30 shots. . . . The Rockets had won nine straight games, but only one of those was against a team with a record above .500. . . . Attendance was 4,119. . . . The Silvertips continue to be without Dan Iwanski (knee), who was injured on Dec. 29. He is skating on his own and hasn’t yet been cleared to practice.
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In Portland, G Mac Carruth stopped 38 shots to lead the Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . With the victory, the Winterhawks clinched their first playoff spot since the spring of 2006. . . . Carruth, 17, was making his seventh straight start as Ian Curtis continues to recover from a shoulder injury. . . . Carruth, who is 5-1-1-0 in those seven starts, stopped F Patrick Holland on a second-period penalty shot with Portland leading 3-0. . . . Portland freshman F Nino Niederreiter opened the game’s scoring with his 32nd goal. . . . Portland was 1-for-7 on the PP, that goal, from D Joe Morrow, coming on a 5-on-3 with 15 seconds left in the first period. . . . According to the WHL’s online scoresheet, Tri-City G Drew Owsley scored the game’s last goal, at 11:58 of the third period. . . . Owsley started in goal for the Americans, stopping 12 of 15 shots before being lifted at 3:20 of the second period after Portland’s third goal. Reliever Alexander Pechurskiy turned aside nine of 11 shots. . . . Attendance was 1,844.
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In Prince George, F Alex Rodgers had a goal and three assists to lead the Cougars to a 4-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Rodgers, who is from Salmon Arm, B.C., played the first 157 games of his WHL career with Kamloops. It was the first four-point game of his WHL career, coming in his 241st regular-season game. . . . The Cougars won for the 11th time in 55 games. Three of those victories have been against the Blazers. . . . Cougars G Hudson Stremmel stopped 34 shots. . . . Kamloops G Jon Groenheyde stopped 17 of 20 shots and left after Prince George’s third goal. Kurtis Mucha came on to stop 11 of 12 shots. . . . Kamloops C C.J. Stretch was hit with a slashing major and game misconduct at the end of the third period. . . . Attendance was 1,884.
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In Saskatoon, the Blades tied the game late and then scored twice in the shootout for a 2-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . F Jeremy Boyer and F Marek Viedensky had the circus goals for the Blades, while Swift Current F Cody Eakin and F Justin Dowling were blanked. . . . F Matt Tassone scored a PP goal at 18:48 of the second period for the Broncos. . . . F Josh Nicholls tied it at 15:21 of the third. . . . Both players have 12 goals this season. . . . The Broncos were 1-for-2 on the PP; the Blades were 0-for-3. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford stopped 22 shots, 10 fewer than the Broncos’ Morgan Clark. . . . Attendance was 3,685. . . . The Blades have won four of five.
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In Spokane, F Mitch Wahl had a goal and three assists to lead the Chiefs to a 6-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . The Chiefs were 4-for-7 on the PP. . . . The Warriors held a 2-0 lead when F Jason Bast scored his 27th goal on the PP at 11:17 of the first period. . . . The Chiefs tied it before the end of the period, on goals by F Tyler Johnson, his 25th, and F Levko Koper, his 22nd. . . . After a scoreless second period, the Chiefs opened the third by scoring four times. That included F Kyle Beach’s 37th and Wahl’s 25th. . . . Spokane G James Reid stopped 24 shots, while Moose Jaw’s Jeff Bosch turned aside 30. . . . Moose Jaw, which has lost four in a row, was 1-for-2 on the PP. . . . Attendance was 3,545.