If there were any WHL teams out there hoping to acquire D Zak Stebner, 20, on waivers, well, they waited too long.
Following the return of F Neal Prokop to their lineup on Nov. 24, the Tri-City Americans had two weeks to get down to the maximum of three 20-year-old players.
The choice general manager Bob Tory was faced with was to move one of Stebner, Prokop, D Tyler Schmidt or F Kruise Reddick.
Which one?

ZAK STEBNER

 In the end, it came down to Prokop, who is coming back from a badly broken leg suffered in the first round of last season’s playoffs, or Stebner, who was acquired Oct. 14 from the Calgary Hitmen for a third-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. (At the time, a source has told me, the Kelowna Rockets had offered Calgary a fourth-round pick for Stebner.)
Late Tuesday afternoon, Kelowna got Stebner and a seventh-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft in exchange for two draft picks — a fourth-rounder in 2011 and an eight-rounder in 2012.
The Rockets, in effect, replaced the 2011 seventh-round they gave the Prince Albert Raiders last summer for D Brendon Wall, another 20-year-old.
Stebner’s arrival in Kelowna left the Rockets with four 20-year-olds, so they have released Wall. Stebner joins F Evan Bloodoff and F Geordie Wudrick as Kelowna’s 1990-born players.
Stebner is joining his sixth WHL team. He started with the Red Deer Rebels, who selected him with the 32nd pick of the 2005 bantam draft, before moving on to the Prince Albert Raiders, Kamloops Blazers, Calgary, Tri-City and now Kelowna.
“This makes Kelowna a lot better,” one GM told me last night.
Stebner, 6-foot-3 and 206 pounds, had seven assists in 15 games with the Americans. In 233 regular season games, he has 87 points and 298 penalty minutes.
“I was surprised,” Stebner told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “Obviously, we had four 20s, but it was still a shock. To get to a place, move in, then have to go to another place, it’s tough. But it’s good that I’m going to nice, sunny Kelowna.”
Stebner plans on driving to Kelowna from Kennewick, Wash., and hopes to play tonight against the visiting Swift Current Broncos.
“Kelowna is a first-class organization,” said Stebner, who played at Prospera Place a few times with Kamloops. “They have good fan support and it’ll be fun playing there. It’s a loud place to play in, a fun place to play in. I would imagine playing for the home teamwill be better.”
Tory said this was one of the toughest decisions he has had to make, and that he definitely was swayed by the grit Prokop has shown in coming back from a devastating injury.
“He showed that he can come back from it. It’s quite a story,” Tory said. “I felt loyalty to the guys who had been here.”

PAUL SOHOR

Before acquiring Stebner, Tory swung a one-for-one swap with the Everett Silvertips, giving up F Zach McPhee, 17, for D Paul Sohor, 19.
Sohor spent two seasons with the Silvertips but had seen his playing time dwindle and had asked for a trade. He was no longer with the Silvertips, who are on an East Division swing. He had six points in 109 games with Everett.
Sohor is from East St. Paul, Man., which is near Winnipeg, so Tory expects him to be a good fit on a roster that includes eight other Winnipeggers. Sohor was a fifth-round selection by Everett in the 2006 bantam draft.
McPhee, who is from Vernon, B.C., was a sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. He had one goal in eight games with Tri-City before being assigned to the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers.
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THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Adrian Foster (Saskatoon, Brandon, 1999-2002) signed a one-month tryout contract with Örebro (Sweden Allsvenskan). He had two goals and two assists in 10 games with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL) and one assist in nine games with the Frankfurt Lions (Germany DEL) last season. Foster was in training camp with the Florida Panthers (NHL) earlier this season.
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USA Hockey announced the preliminary roster for its national junior team on Tuesday and it included two WHL players — F Emerson Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers and F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan of the Kelowna Rockets. All told, 29 players were invited to the camp that opens Dec. 16 in Troy, N.Y.
Callahan found out he would be on the list when he received a phone call from GM Jim Johansson on Sunday.
“I was pretty ecstatic,” Callahan told the Kelowna Daily Courier’s Doyle Potenteau. “The world junior is somethign special. Every kid dreams of playing in the world junior for their country. Even just to get a shot at making the team is pretty special to me.”
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The Edmonton Oil Kings have recalled F Curtis Lazar, 15, for two games. Lazar, who was the second overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft, is expected to play tonight against the Hitmen in Calgary and on Saturday against the visiting Kelowna Rockets. Lazar, who is from Vernon, B.C., has 33 points in 24 games with the Penticton-based Okanagan Hockey Academy’s prep team. . . . F Kyle Calder (Regina, Kamloops, 1995-99) has signed with the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors. Calder, 31, helped the Condors get to the second round of the playoffs last season. He had six points in five regular-season games and added 10 in 10 playoff games. . . . The WHL's Christmas trade moratorium runs Dec. 15-27.
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Some highlights from Tuesday’s WHL games:
In Chilliwack, F Cody Eakin scored three times to lead the Swift Current Broncos to a 5-4 victory over the Bruins. . . . The game had a 10:30 a.m. start time as the Bruins ran a promotion involving school children. Attendance was 4,450. . . . Eakin has 15 goals. . . . The Broncos led this one 3-0 midway through the first period and the Bruins never got back on equal ground. . . . F Ryan Howse got his 20th goal of the season for Chilliwack. . . . Eakin also had an assist. . . . Swift Current D Reece Scarlett had two assists. . . . The Broncos meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight. . . . Eakin has three regular-season hat tricks, one in each of the last three seasons. . . .
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In Regina, the Everett Silvertips opened up a 3-0 lead with three second-period goals and went on to beat the Pats, 3-2. . . . F Kellan Tochkin’s 15th goal ended up as the winner. He scored at 16:36 of the second on the PP. . . . Everett D Ryan Murray, playing in front of family and hometown friends, drew an assist on Tochkin’s goal. . . . F Jordan Weal got his 13th goal for the Pats. . . . Among the Pats’ scratches was F Thomas Frazee (knee). The Pats say he will be out indefinitely. . . . Attendance was 3,891. . . . Regina is at 8-17-5 with four of those victories over the Swift Current Broncos. . . .
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In Lethbridge, F Cam Braes scored four times to help the Hurricanes to a 7-4 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Braes, who scored 25 goals last season, has 11 this season. He had one three-goal game last season. . . . Lethbridge F Brody Sutter had three assists. . . . Lethbridge got two goals from F Jacob Berglund and two assists from each of D Cason Machacek, F Mitch Maxwell and F Austin Fyten. . . . D Collin Bowman scored twice for Moose Jaw, while F Quinton Howden got No. 18. . . . Lethbridge took a 4-0 lead at 10:48 of the second period with a third straight PP goal. . . . Attendance was 2,374. . . .
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At Vancouver, G Mark Segal stopped 31 shots as the Giants dumped the Kamloops Blazers, 3-0. . . . Segal has two shutouts this season and six in his career. . . . F Matt Bellerive, who turned 16 on Tuesday, scored the game’s first goal at 17:19 of the first period. It was his third goal of the season. . . . The Giants have recorded two shutouts this season; this was the first time the Blazers have been blanked. . . . Attendance was 5,481. . . . The Giants, who have had far more than their share of injuries already this season, lost D David Musil early in the second period after he stopped a Chase Schaber shot with his right foot. Musil was to undergo X-rays last night. “”We'll see where he's at (today) but he's pretty sore,” Vancouver head coach Don Hay told Elliott Pap of hte Vancouver Sun.
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At Prince George, G Steven Stanford stopped 29 shots as the Saskatoon Blades blanked the Cougars 3-0. . . . That was Stanford’s first shutout this season and the third of his career. . . . F Brent Benson had a goal and an assist, including the game’s first goal, at 5:47 of the second period. . . . This was the first time Prince George has been shut out this season, while the Blades have put up two blank jobs. . . . Saskatoon went 4-1-0 on its B.C. Division swing, losing only to the Rockets in Kelowna. . . . Attendance was 1,663, a figure the Prince George Citizen reports is a franchise-record low. . . . The start of the game was delayed slightly by a shattered pane of glass. The CN Centre also had a pane shattered during the morning skate.
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TUESDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.

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

CH-CH-CHING!!!

Moments after I had tweeted news of the WHL having disciplined the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks for Saturday’s melee, my BlackBerry vibrated.
A follower had sent a tweet my way, and here is what it read:
Ch-ch-ching!
Yes, it was a ch-ch-ching kind of night.
And to think a case could be made for all of this starting because Portland F Nino Niederreiter fired a helmet belong to Kamloops F Dylan Willick along the ice towards the exit the visitors would use to get to their dressing room!
Methinks that helmet should be in a hall of fame somewhere.
The WHL dinged the Blazers and Winterhawks $3,000 apiece — I’m thinking that must be Cdn$3,000 for the Blazers and US$3,000 for the Winterhawks — and also handed out 15 games in suspensions.
The Blazers will be without F JC Lipon (four games), F Chase Schaber (three games) and F Brendan Ranford (one game) tonight when they play the visiting Regina Pats. (Shaw TV also will be without those players as this is to be one of the televised games.)
The Winterhawks lost F Seth Swenson (four games) and D Joe Morrow (three games). Both sat out Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the visiting Spokane Chiefs.
Ranford will be eligible to return Wednesday when the Blazers play in Spokane.
Schaber will miss that one and a Friday rematch with the Chiefs in Kamloops. He will be eligible to return Saturday when the Prince George Cougars are in Kamloops.
Lipon will miss that stretch of four games in five nights and will be eligible to return Dec. 3 against the visiting Saskatoon Blades.
Morrow will miss games Wednesday, against the visiting Everett Silvertips, and Friday, in Chilliwack against the Bruins. Swenson will sit out those two, as well as a Saturday trip to Kennewick, Wash., to play the Tri-City Americans. He will be eligible to return Sunday against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
As mentioned, Kamloops and Portland each were touched up for $3,000. Ch-ch-ching! And just in time for Christmas, too.
Each team was fined $2,500 for being involved in the altercation, $250 because the goaltenders fought, and $250 because the WHL, in the end, ruled that, yes, this was a multi-fight situation.
In the short term, what this means is that the Blazers (11-11-1), who slid into the basement of the 10-team Western Conference on the weekend, albeit just three points out of third, will be missing their top two scorers tonight when they play host to the Regina Pats.
With Ranford, who leads the WHL in goals (21) and is fourth in points (37) , and Schaber, who has 31 points, out of the lineup, centre Dalibor Bortnak, with 19 points, becomes the Blazers’ leading scorer.
Ranford (21) and Schaber (10) have combined to score 31 of the Blazers’ 76 goals.
To help fill out their roster, the Blazers have brought in three young players — F Matthew Needham, 15, F Aspen Sterzer, 16, and G Troy Trombley, 16.
Needham was the Blazers’ first-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. He has 23 pints in 22 games with the Okanagan Hockey Academy prep team in Penticton.
Sterzer, who was listed in October 2009, has 21 points in 19 games with the EDGE Academy prep team in Calgary.
Trombley plays for the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers. He is expected to back up Cam Lanigan tonight against Regina as G Jeff Bosch sits out with an undisclosed injury. Bosch was left with a shiner from his bout with Portland G Mac Carruth, but also has had knee and ankle problems this season. The 6-foot-6 Trombley was a third-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft and was with the Blazers through the exhibition season.
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But, wait, there was more ch-ch-ching!
Rich Preston, the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ GM and head coach, was hit up for $500. That’s the price of the game misconduct he incurred during a 5-3 loss to the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Saturday.
Not sure what Preston said or did to get the old heave-ho. But I’m thinking there was a hint in the Lethbridge Herald.
“I don’t want to say anything to get fined,” Lethbridge assistant coach Chris Chisamore told Dylan Purcell of the Herald after that game. “There are a lot of really good things about the Western Hockey League, but there are some things that need to get better.
“I’ll let you read between the lines there.”
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The Tri-City Americans are expected to have F Neal Prokop, 20, in their lineup for the first time this season when they meet the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Wednesday. Prokop suffered a badly broken leg in Game 3 of a first-round playoff series with the Chilliwack Bruins last spring. He underwent surgery in Chilliwack, before being able to return home and going through an extensive rehabilitation there. He rejoined the Americans a couple of weeks ago. . . . Once Prokop returns to the lineup, the Americans will have 14 days to settle their 20-year-old situation. Their other 20s are F Kruise Reddick, D Tyler Schmidt and D Zak Stebner. . . . A tip of the Taking Note cap to Rene Ferran at examiner.com for the Prokop news. . . . The Americans go into Wednesday having lost six of their last seven games. . . . The Red Deer Rebels have been without D Colin Archer, their captain, for a couple of games. He has a hairline fracture to a wrist but has been fitted with a playing cast and should return tonight against the visiting Kootenay Ice. That game also promises to be the game of the night, what with the Ice (16-5-2) leading the Eastern Conference with 34 points and the Rebels (15-7-2) just two points behind. . . . The Ice will play nine of its next 10 on the road, including a four-game trip into the U.S. Division. The Ice will visit the Portland Winterhawks on Dec. 1. . . .
Don Hay, the Vancouver Giants’ head coach, goes for victory No. 500 on Friday in Edmonton against the Oil Kings. The only WHL coaches to reached that milestone are Ken Hodge (742), Ernie McLean (548) and the late Pat Ginnell (518). . . . Brandon Wheat Kings F Mike Ferland, who has missed five games with an ankle injury, is expected back sometime this week. The Wheat Kings open a three-game road trip tonight in Medicine Hat against the Tigers. . . . F Kellan Tochkin of the Everett Silvertips is the WHL’s player of the week. He had seven points, including four goals, in helping his squad to three victories in as many nights. . . . Laurent Brossoit of the Edmonton Oil Kings is the WHL’s nominee as the CHL’s goaltender of the week. He made 32 saves to earn his first WHL shutout on Saturday as Edmonton blanked Red Deer, 3-0. Brossoit, 17, was a second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft. . . .   The Portland Winterhawks (20-4-1) have the WHL’s best record, and perhaps it’s because they are terrific finishers. Portland is 17-0-1 when leading or tied after two periods and has outscored its opposition 36-16 in third periods. . . . By the way, the Winterhawks next play Wednesday against the visiting Everett Silverips. Portland will unveil its third jerseys for that game. . . .
It turns out that the Spokane Chiefs tied a franchise record Sunday when they scored twice within seven seconds to start what became a 3-1 victory in Portland. F Blake Gal started it at 4:41 of the first period and F Anthony Bardaro completed it at 4:48. That tied the franchise record set Nov. 4, 1987, when F Travis Green and F Darcy Loewen did it. Interestingly, Green now is Portland’s assistant GM/assistant coach. . . . The WHL record for fastest two goals is two seconds. Yes, two seconds. F Pavel Brendl and F Brad Moran did that for the Calgary Hitmen against the Rebels in Red Deer on Oct. 3, 1998. . . . Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reports that Blades D Stefan Elliott has a chance to become the franchise’s highest-scoring defenceman. With 180 career points, Elliott trails Kevin Tendler (186), Dean Holoien (188), Lawrence Sacharuk (195), Collin Bauer (196) and Pat Price (239). . . . The Blades are at home to the Swift Current Broncos tonight. 

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

Friday . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers solved their 20-year-old problem on Friday by named F Joey Frazer as an assistant coach. He joins head coach Shaun Clouston and assistant Darren Kruger. Frazer, a 20-year-old from Brainerd, Minn., played two seasons with the Tigers, but got caught up in the numbers game this week. He cleared waivers Friday and is a free agent, but chose to join the Tigers’ coaching staff.
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An emailer responds to the mention here earlier that perhaps the WHL should go to five 20-year-old players, an increase of two from the present maximum.
“For years teams were comprised of a core group from 16 to19, with five others (two Euros and three 20-year-olds). . . . Might not be a bad idea to let clubs make up their five extra players however they want. . . . e.g., two Euros and three 20s, one Euro and four 20s, or no Euros and five 20s.
“Euros are kind of a crap shoot these days anyway and it would be giving some of these older players like Joey Frazer an extra lease on life at little or no cost to the CHL clubs.
“Just a thought.”
And a good one at that. . . .
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F Darcy Tucker (Kamloops, 1991-95) has chosen to end his playing career. He made the announcement Friday. Tucker, 35, played 14 seasons in the NHL and now will partner with veteran player agent Carlos Sosa in Turning Point Sports Management. Tucker’s aim is to become a certified agent. " I have always been a guy who needed something to move on to and I'm both thrilled and excited about this opportunity," Tucker told Darren Dreger of TSN.ca . . . Added Sosa: "He's the guy you want next to you in the foxhole. We've been together a long time and neither of us wanted that to end. Darcy will be our primary indentifier of talent all over." . . . Tucker won three Memorial Cup championships while playing with Kamloops.
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The Saskatoon Blades have given up the CHL rights to F Andrej Stastny, a 19-year-old Slovakian whom they selected in the CHL’s 2010 import draft. The Blades had been unable to get his release from the Slovakian Ice Hockey Federation. And, with the return of F Marek Viedensky from the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, they found themselves with two import players, which is the maximum. The other import in Saskatoon is Czech F Matej Stransky, another 2010 CHL import selection.
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James Poole is the new head coach of the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers. He has resigned as head coach of the midget AAA Calgary Buffaloes in order to take over as the Oilers’ general manager and head coach. Poolre replaces Garry VanHereweghe, who resigned a couple of weeks ago.
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C Neal Prokop, 20, would like nothing better than to finish is WHL career standing up. Prokop had his 2009-10 season come to a crashing halt when he lost and edge and suffered a badly broken left leg while playing for the Tri-City Americans against the Bruins in Chilliwack. It was Game 3 of a first-round playoff series. He needed surgery and spent some time in Chilliwack General Hospital. He later returned home to Winnipeg and that is where he is now, working on rehabbing the leg. Asked how it’s going, Prokop said: “Not too bad. It’s starting to come.” . . . As for the future, he added: “We’ll see how much better I can get in the next couple months.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
Taking Note on Twitter