Showing posts with label Payton Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Payton Lee. Show all posts

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Rockets, Hitmen swap forwards . . . Warriors, Giants cut deal . . . Death of a landmark

WHL trades since Dec. 27:
Trades: 20.
Players: 33.
Bantam draft picks: 24.
Conditional bantam draft picks: 6.
(WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10).
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The Kelowna have dealt F Jake Kryski, 18, to the Calgary Hitmen for F Carsen Twarynski, 19, and a conditional third-round WHL bantam draft pick.
The Rockets had acquired Kryski from the Kamloops Blazers over the summer, sending brothers Dan and Joe Gatenby, both defencemen, and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft the other way.
JAKE KRYSKI
CARSEN TWARYNSKI
The Prince Albert Raiders selected Kryski in the first round of the 2013 bantam draft. He went to the Blazers on July 10, 2013, in a deal that had G Cole Cheveldave go the other way.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Kryski, from Vancouver, had 29 points, including 13 goals, in 37 games with the Rockets this season, but never really seemed to fit in there. The Hitmen are hoping that he can add some spark to their offence over the next couple of seasons.
In 173 career games, Kryski has 36 goals and 58 assists.
Kryski is expected to be in Calgary’s lineup on Tuesday when they meet the Blades in Saskatoon.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Twarynski, from Calgary, had 10 goals and 11 assists in 36 games with the Hitmen this season. In 161 career games, all with the Hitmen, he has 36 goals and 52 assists.
Twarynski adds some size to the Rockets’ forward ranks, something that will be needed in what is shaping up as a four-team battle for playoff positioning in the B.C. Division.
The Philadelphia Flyers selected Twarynski in the third round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. If he doesn’t return to the Rockets for his 20-year-old season Kelowna will get a third-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft.
Twarynski is expected to make his Kelowna debut on Wednesday against the host Victoria Royals.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have acquired F Thomas Foster, 20, and two bantam draft picks — an
BRAYDEN WATTS
eight-
THOMAS FOSTER
rounder in 2017 and a fifth-rounder in 2018 — from the Vancouver Giants for F Brayden Watts, 17, a fifth-round pick in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2018.
Having added Foster to their roster, the Warriors were one over the 20-year-old limit, so they placed F Dakota Odgers on waivers.
Foster joins D Matt Sozanski and D Josh Thrower as Moose Jaw’s 20-year-olds.
The 6-foot-0, 185-pound Foster was a first-round pick by Vancouver in the 2011 bantam draft. In his fifth season with the Giants, he has 42 goals and 84 assists in 259 games. This season, the native of Slave Lake, Alta., has 10 goals and 18 assists in 38 games.
Foster was a late scratch on Sunday afternoon, prior to the Giants’ game in Cranbrook, B.C., against the Kootenay Ice. The trade was announced shortly after the game’s completion.
Watts is from Bakersfield, Calif., and was in his second season with the Warriors. The 6-foot-0, 165-pounder had four goals in 40 games with the Warriors this season, after putting up three goals and two assists in 57 games as a freshman last season. He was a third-round pick by the Warriors in the 2014 bantam draft.
Vancouver now has two 20-year-olds on its roster — D Dmitry Osipov and D Jeff Rayman.
Odgers, the son of former NHL/WHL F Jeff Odgers, is from Spy Hill, Sask. He was a second-round pick by the Swift Current Broncos in the 2011 bantam draft. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Odgers has 16 goals and 20 assists in 237 games split between the Broncos, Giants and Warriors. This season, he had two goals and six assists in 42 games with Moose Jaw.
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Kim MacDougall, who played for the Regina Pats when they won the 1974 Memorial Cup, is 62 years of age now. “The one thing I’ve learned as you get older is that nothing lasts forever — you, me, the buildings, everything,” MacDougall told Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post. “They have their time and their place. At some point, they outlive their time and their place and you move on.” . . . MacDougall and Vanstone were touring Regina’s venerable Exhibition Stadium, once the entertainment centrepiece of Saskatchewan’s capital city but a building that now is slated for demolition. . . . The Pats last played there on March 23, 1990, when they beat the Swift Current Broncos, 4-3 in OT, on a goal by Troy Mick. . . . Vanstone has more on the building’s history right here.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:

At Edmonton, F Zach Fischer scored twice to help the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Oil
ZACH FISCHER
Kings. . . . The Tigers took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by F John Dahlstrom (19), at 5:58, and Fischer, at 14:47. . . . Edmonton F Trey Fix-Wolansky cut into the lead with his 11th goal, on a PP, at 15:42. . . . Second-period goals from F Matt Bradley (18), shorthanded, at 5:30, and Fischer, at 8:05, put the Tigers back in control. . . . Fischer has 22 goals. . . . F Adam Berg’s fourth goal got Edmonton to within two goals, at 1:44 of the third period, but F James Hamblin iced it for Medicine Hat with his 10th goal, at 6:22. . . . The Tigers got three assists from D Brad Forrest and two from F Mason Shaw. . . . G Nick Schneider stopped 28 shots to earn his WHL-leading 26th victory. . . . Edmonton got 40 saves from G Patrick Dea. . . . Edmonton was 1-5 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 0-4. . . . The Tigers (29-12-1) have won two in a row. They are second in the overall standings, two points behind the Regina Pats, who have four games in hand. . . . The Oil Kings (18-20-4) have lost three straight. They are in possession of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Announced attendance: 7,885.
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At Cranbrook, B.C., the Kootenay Ice erased a 1-0 deficit as they skated to a 3-2 victory over the
PAYTON LEE
Vancouver Giants. . . . F Tyler Popowich gave the visitors a 1-0 lead, on a PP, at 7:11 of the first period. . . . Ice D Cale Fleury tied it with his seventh goal, at 8:36. . . . F Barrett Sheen (7) gave the home team a 2-1 lead at 19:03 of the second period and F Austin Wellsby (4) stretched that to 3-1 at 3:17 of the third. . . . Popowich’s second goal of the game, and fifth of the season, got the Giants to within a PP goal at 9:52. . . . D Matt Barberis had two assists for the Giants. . . . Sheen added an assist to his goal. . . . G Payton Lee, who played three-plus seasons with the Giants, stopped 32 shots. A Cranbrook native, Lee went from the Giants to the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Ice. . . . Vancouver got 26 stops from G David Tendeck. . . . The Giants were 2-4 on the PP; the Ice was 0-3. . . . Vancouver F Tyler Benson missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Giants scratched F Thomas Foster, 20, just prior to game time and after the game announced that he had been traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . With the trade deadline arriving on Tuesday, the Ice scratched F Zak Zborosky and F Matt Alfaro, two of their top forwards. . . . The Ice (10-24-8) has won two in a row, but is 12 points out of a playoff spot. . . . The Giants (16-23-3) have lost three in a row and are eight points shy of the playoffs. . . . Announced attendance: 1,645.
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At Spokane, F Ryan Gropp scored at 15:39 of the third period to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 2-1
RYAN GROPP
victory over the Chiefs. . . . Gropp, who has 10 goals, redirected a point shot by D Ethan Bear, who assisted on both Seattle goals. . . . F Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored his 11th goal, on a PP, at 15:42 of the second period, to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. . . . The Thunderbirds tied it at 6:21 of the third period when F Keegan Kolesar scored his sixth goal. . . . G Rylan Toth stopped 27 shots for the Thunderbirds, while the Chiefs got 36 stops from G Dawson Weatherill. . . . Interestingly, Toth and Weatherill are both former Red Deer Rebels goaltenders. . . . Spokane was 1-3 on the PP; Seattle was 0-3. . . . F Scott Eansor was back in Seattle’s lineup after a one-game absence, but F Mathew Barzal has yet to play since skating for Canada at the World Junior Championship. . . . Barzal is expected to play in Seattle’s next game against the host Everett Silvertips on Saturday. . . . Seattle F Sami Moilanen left in the second period with an undisclosed injury. . . . The Thunderbirds (21-14-4) have won three in a row. They are third in the U.S. Division, three points ahead of the idle Portland Winterhawks who had two weekend games postponed by weather conditions. . . . The Chiefs (17-17-7) had points in each of their previous three games (2-0-1). They are two points out of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. . . . Announced attendance: 4,125.
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MONDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Tri-City at Moose Jaw 7 p.m.
Prince George at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Calgary at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

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Sunday, December 4, 2016

Guhle sharp in Buffalo . . . Ice, Americans deal . . . Big night for Zborovskiy as Pats win


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Rick Westhead of TSN has reported that there are 351 active and former CHL players involved in the lawsuit that has been filed against the CHL looking for status as a class action. In an affidavit filed in Ontario Superior Court on Nov. 25, lawyer Brendan O’Grady wrote that “we continue to receive registrations on a daily basis.” . . . Westhead writes that “119 players from the Western Hockey League have signed up for the litigation, ‘including a number of registrants who are currently playing for WHL clubs.’ Of those 119 current and former players, 13 come from the Moose Jaw Warriors and another 13 from the Saskatoon Blades. Twelve current and former Red Deer Rebels players have signed up.” . . . Westhead’s latest lawsuit-related story is right here.
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Defencemen Cody Franson (6) and Brendan Guhle of the
Buffalo Sabres were paired together on Saturday.
(Photo: nhl.com)
D Brendan Guhle did A-OK in his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. The Sabres dropped a 2-1 decision to the Boston Bruins, with Guhle having a team-high seven shot attempts and playing 16 minutes 20 seconds. Guhle, who plays for the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, found out Friday that the Sabres were bringing him up under emergency recall rules. He arrived in Buffalo on Saturday at 1 a.m.; game time was 1 p.m. . . . Guhle was paired with former WHL D Cody Franson, who told Jourdon LaBarber of Sabres.com: "On puck retrievals, in the offensive zone, he was moving around like he was playing in juniors. Coming into D-zone situations he was comfortable, he was talking, and you couldn't ask for more out of that from a kid coming from juniors.” . . . For more, including a couple of video clips, LaBarber’s piece is right here. . . . The Sabres play again Monday night as they visit the Washington Capitals.
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The Kootenay Ice acquired D Kurtis Rutledge, 19, from the Tri-City Americans in a deal announced following the end of Saturday night’s games. The Ice gave up a seventh round 2019 bantam draft pick in the exchange. . . . From Calgary, Rutledge was an eighth-round pick by the Americans in the 2012 bantam draft. A 6-foot-0, 200-pounder, he has two goals and two assists in 20 games this season. Last season, he had a goal and six assists in 56 games with Tri-City.
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If you’ve got a comment, some information you would like to pass along, or if you just want to say hello, feel free to contact me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
If you would like to donate to the cause, please visit the bottom of this post and go right ahead.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:

At Kamloops, the Blazers scored the game’s last three goals as they beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-2. . . .
RUDOLFS BALCERS
D Ondrej Vala’s sixth goal of the season was the Teddy Bear Goal, giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead at 10:38 of the first period. . . . Vancouver F James Malm tied it at 13:10. He’s got seven goals. . . . F Rudolfs Balcers (17) scored a PP goal at 2:46 of the second period to give the Blazers a 2-1 lead. . . . Vancouver F Thomas Foster (15) got that one back at 4:14. . . . Kamloops F Deven Sideroff broke the 2-2 tie with his 15th goal, on a PP, at 14:08, and F Spencer Bast (5) added insurance at 16:05. . . . F Quinn Benjafield (7) put it away with an empty-netter at 18:29 of the third. . . . The score was 2-2 in the second period when the Giants failed to score on a 5-on-3 PP that lasted 1:04. Shortly thereafter, the Blazers scored twice — Sideroff and Bast getting the goals — to take control. . . . Balcers and Sideroff each had an assist. . . . Kamloops G Connor Ingram stopped 15 shots, while Vancouver’s Ryan Kubic turned aside 28. . . . Kamloops was 2-4 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-4. . . . The Blazers (16-12-1) have won two in a row. . . . The Giants (11-17-2) were 1-0-2 in their previous three games. . . . The Giants were without F Radovan Bondra, who was injured during Friday’s 2-1 OT victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. Bondra suffered a hip/thigh injury when Brandon D James Shearer rode him out of the play and one of the gates at a players’ bench opened. The Giants are hopeful that he will be back in action in three or four days. . . . Announced attendance: 4,370, the largest crowd of the season.
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At Kelowna, F Nick Merkley scored twice to help the Rockets to a 3-1 victory over the Brandon Wheat
NICK MERKLEY
Kings. . . . Merkley opened the scoring with the Teddy Bear Goal at 6:54 of the second period. . . . He made it 2-0 with his eighth goal of the season, on a PP, at 14:34. . . . F Jake Kryski (6) upped the lead to 3-0 with another PP goal, this one at 1:42 of the third period. . . . Brandon’s goal came from F Ty Lewis (16), at 13:03 of the third. Lewis also came up short on a third-period penalty shot. . . . Kelowna got two assists from D Cal Foote. . . . G Brodan Salmond made 17 saves for the Rockets, while Brandon’s Jordan Papirny stopped 33 shots. . . . Kelowna was 2-8 on the PP; Brandon was 0-4. . . . The Rockets (16-11-1) are 3-0-1 in their past four games. . . . The Wheat Kings (13-10-4) are 1-1-1 on a B.C. Division swing that continues today in Kamloops. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Baron Thompson to a headshot major and game misconduct as the second period ended. . . . Besides being without F Nolan Patrick, the Wheat Kings also scratched F Reid Duke, who played in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the host Vancouver Giants but may have been injured in a third-period fight with F Thomas Foster. . . . Announced attendance: 5,546.
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At Moose Jaw, F Noah Gregor had two goals and three assists to lead the Warriors to a wild 7-5 victory
NOAH GREGOR
over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Warriors actually held a 5-3 lead late in the third period, only to have Calgary tie it on goals fry F Matteo Gennaro,  his eighth, on a PP, at 16:01, and D Jake Bean, his first, at 17:14. . . . Gregor, who has 12 goals, snapped the 5-5 tie at 17:40 and F Luka Burzan added insurance with his ninth goal at 18:38. That was Burzan’s second goal of the game. . . . The Warriors got a goal and two assists from D Josh Brook, who has two goals, F Jayden Halbgewachs (21) and F Brett Howden (12) each had a goal and an assist, while F Brayden Burke drew four assists. . . . Halbgewachs moved into a tie for the WHL goal-scoring lead, along with F Zak Zborosky of the Kootenay Ice and Tyler Steenbergen of the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Calgary F Jordy Stallard had two assists, while Bean added one to his goal. F Carsen Twarynski (8) also had a goal and an assist. . . . G Zach Sawchenko stopped 35 shots for the Warriors, one fewer than Calgary’s Kyle Dumba. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-3 on the PP; Calgary was 1-3. . . . The Warriors are 16-6-4. . . . The Hitmen (8-14-2) have lost five in a row. . . . Warriors D Matt Sozanski left in the second period of Friday’s 5-3 loss to the host Prince Albert Raiders. A doctor was called to the Moose Jaw dressing room during the intermission. Later, Warriors head coach Tim Hunter suggested that “somebody’s got a hangnail and I don’t know why they’d send a doctor over for it.” Well, that hangnail kept Sozanski out of Saturday’s game. . . . Actually, the 20-year-old defenceman is believed to have a shoulder injury. . . . Announced attendance: 3,239.
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At Portland, the Kootenay Ice, with G Payton Lee blocking 55 shots, built up a 3-0 lead and hung on for a
PAYTON LEE
3-2 victory over the Winterhawks. . . .The Ice (6-17-7) had been 0-4-1 in its previous five games. It now is 3-9-3 on the road. . . . The Winterhawks (15-13-1) had been 7-0-1 in their previous eight games. . . . F Vince Loschiavo gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 8:05 of the first period, and D Dallas Hines (2) made it 2-0, on a PP, at 13:32. . . . F Zak Zborosky moved into a tie for the WHL goal-scoring lead with his 21st goal, for a 3-0 lead, at 8:08 of the second period. . . . The home side got on the scoreboard when F Keegan Iverson (11) scored on a PP, at 16:09 of the second. . . . Portland D Henri Jokiharju (4) cut the deficit to one at 16:05, on another PP. . . . Kootenay got three assists from F Matt Alfaro. . . . D Caleb Jones had two assists for the Winterhawks. . . . Portland got 21 saves from G Cole Kehler. . . . The Winterhawks were 2-8 on the PP; the Ice was 1-3. . . . Announced attendance: 4,535.
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At Prince George, the Victoria Royals took a 2-0 second-period lead and hung on for a 2-1 victory over
RYAN PECKFORD
the Cougars. . . . One night earlier, the Cougars had posted a 4-2 victory. . . . D Mitchell Prowse gave the Royals a 1-0 lead with his second goal, at 1:31 of the second period. . . . F Ryan Peckford (8) upped it to 2-0, on a PP, at 8:47. . . . F Jack Walker drew an assist on both goals. . . . The Cougars halved the deficit when F Kody McDonald (7) scored at 5:49 of the third period. . . . The Royals got 31 stops from G Griffen Outhouse. . . . Ty Edmonds stopped 26 shots for the Cougars. . . . Victoria was 1-5 on the PP; Prince George was 0-7. . . . The Royals (15-13-2) snapped out of a four-game losing skid. . . . The Cougars (20-7-2) had won their last two games. . . . For the second game in a row, the Cougars were without D Brendan Guhle. He was recalled by the Buffalo Sabres on Friday and made his NHL debut against the visiting Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon. . . . The Royals lost D Ryan Gagnon to a charging major and game misconduct at 4:50 of the first period. . . . Announced attendance: 3,807.
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At Red Deer, F Brandon Hagel scored at 1:50 of OT to give the Rebels a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge
BRANDON HAGEL
Hurricanes. . . . Hagel has 14 goals in 28 games. Last season, as a freshman, he finished with 13 goals in 72 games. . . . F Adam Musil, Red Deer’s captain, scored the Teddy Bear Goal, giving his guys a 1-0 lead at 14:27 of the first period. . . . Musil made it 2-0 with his 11th goal, at 11:42 of the second period. He has five goals in his last three games. . . . The Hurricanes tied it on third-period goals from F Tanner Nagel (3), just 21 seconds in, and F Giorgio Estaphan (15), at 17:29. . . . Red Deer F Michael Spacek drew two assists, as did D Colton Bobyk, who now is on a 13-game assist streak. . . . F Tyler Wong had two assists for Lethbridge. . . . G Lasse Petersen blocked 22 shots for Red Deer, five fewer than Lethbridge’s Stuart Skinner. . . . Lethbridge was 1-4 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-3. . . . The Rebels now are 14-12-4. . . . The Hurricanes (13-11-4) had won their previous six games. . . . Announced attendance: 5,075.
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The Pats handed out about 1,000 Dale
Derkatch bobbleheads last night.
At Regina, D Sergey Zborovskiy scored two goals and assisted on five others as the Pats dropped the
SERGEY ZBOROVSKIY
Prince Albert Raiders, 12-2. . . . Zborovskiy, who was plus-8, leads the WHL at plus-37, in only 21 games. He has five goals and 18 assists, after finishing last season with eight goals and 17 assists in 64 games. He is in his third season with Regina. . . . The Pats scored four goals in each period. . . . F Adam Brooks, the WHL’s reigning scoring champion, finished with two goals and three assists. He now has a WHL-leading 43 points, including 11 goals. Last night, he passed teammate Sam Steel, who has 41 points but has missed his club’s last three games. He suffered a shoulder injury against the Prince George Cougars with two games left on a B.C. Division tour. . . . Brooks also is riding a WHL-high 18-game point streak, having picked up at least one in every game he played this season. . . . "We haven’t been home in a while and probably didn’t play up to standard on that road trip," Brooks told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. "We wanted to prove to everyone that we’re still a good team and we’re still one of the teams to beat, if not THE team to beat. This game kind of showed that we’re an elite level hockey team.” . . . This was Regina’s first game since returning from a six-game (3-2-1) trek that included five games in the B.C. Division. They scored only seven goals over the last three games of that trip. . . . D Jonathan Smart, acquired by Regina from the Kelowna Rockets earlier in the week, had two assists and was plus-5 in his Pats debut. . . . The Pats also got three assists from F Filip Ahl, two goals and an assist from F Austin Wagner (13), two goals from F Rykr Cole (4), a goal and an assist from F Nick Henry (12), two assists from F Jake Leschyshyn, and a goal and an assist from F Riley Woods (3). . . . F Austin Glover scored his eighth goal and added an assist for the Raiders. . . . Regina G Tyler Brown stopped 14 shots. . . . Prince Albert starter Nick Sanders allowed five goals on 20 shots in 31:14. Ian Scott finished up by allowing seven goals on 27 shots. . . . Regina was 1-3 on the PP; Prince Albert was 1-4. . . . Regina (18-2-4) has points in three straight (2-0-1). . . . Prince Albert now is 6-21-1. . . . The Pats lost two plays to undisclosed injuries with F Lane Zablocki leaving in the first period and D Chase Harrison in the second. . . . Announced attendance: 5,749.

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At Kent, Wash., F Ryan Gropp and F Donovan Neuls each scored twice to help the Seattle Thunderbirds
RYAN GROPP
to a 7-1 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Seattle (15-9-3) is 4-0-1 in its last five games. . . . The Tigers (21-7-1) have followed a 10-game winning streak with back-to-back losses. . . . Seattle took control of this one with three first-period goals, the first two by Gropp, who has eight. . . . D Ethan Bear made it 3-0 with his 10th goal at 17:57. . . . Bear and Gropp both are on five-game goal-scoring streaks. . . . Seattle F Mathew Barzal had three assists for the fourth time in five games. . . . Seattle F Scott Eansor had a goal and an assist. He has 14 goals in 27 games, equalling his career high from 2014-15 when he scored 14 times in 72 games. . . . The Thunderbirds got three assists from F Matthew Wedman, while Bear added an assist to his goal, and F Nolan Volcan picked up his 11th goal and added an assist. . . . Seattle D Turner Ottenbreit had one assist and was plus-5. . . . The Thunderbirds got 25 saves from G Rylan Toth, who lost his shutout bid when F Max Gerlach got No. 19 at 14:25 of the third period. . . . Medicine Hat starter Duncan McGovern surrendered six goals on 27 shots through two periods. Nick Schneider gave up one goal on eight shots in third period. . . . Seattle was 0-3 on the PP; Medicine Hat was 0-4. . . . Neuls, who has seven goals, was in the lineup after leaving Friday’s 4-3 OT victory over the visiting Kootenay Ice with an apparent leg injury. . . . The Tigers were without F Zach Fischer, who drew a TBD suspension for being involved in a one-man fight against the host Everett Silvertips on Friday night. The last suspension for such an incident occurred Nov. 4 when D Sam Ruopp of the Prince George Cougars was hit with eight games. . . . With Fischer out, the Tigers brought in F Josh Williams, 15, from Langley, B.C. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Williams, the fifth overall selection in the 2016 bantam draft, plays at the Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford. . . . Announced attendance: 5,009.
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At Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans erased a 1-0 deficit with three straight goals and were never
JORDAN TOPPING
caught as they beat the Spokane Chiefs, 6-5. . . . F Ethan McIndoe’s fifth goal, at 8:07 of the first period, gave the Chiefs a 1-0 edge. . . . The Americans got the next three goals, from F Tyler Sandhu (6), on a PP, at 12:37; F Jordan Topping (1), on a PP, at 3:03 of the second period; and D Juuso Valimaki (11), at 6:52. . . . The teams alternated goals from then to game’s end, with the Chiefs never able to equalize. . . . McIndoe got his second goal, at 9:59 of the second, but the Americans got that one back when F Kyle Olson (8) scored at 10:32. . . . F Keanu Yamamoto (11), on a PP, got Spokane to within one again, at 13:21, but the Americans came right back on a goal by F Nolan Yaremko (3), at 15:14. . . . Spokane F Pavel Kousal (7) made it 5-4 at 17:20. . . . Tri-City F Morgan Geekie’s 12th goal, at 16:19 of the third period, proved to be the winner. . . . Spokane again got to within one, as D Evan Fiala (2) scored at 17:16. . . . Topping, in his first game of the season, also had two assists. He had been out since suffering an undisclosed injury while in camp with the NHL’s Dallas Stars. . . . Tri-City D Dylan Coghlan had three assists, while Geekie had two. . . . The Chiefs got three assists from F Hudson Elynuik, with McIndoe and Fiala getting one each. . . . G Rylan Parenteau made 24 saves for Tri-City. . . . Spokane’s Jayden Sittler stopped 26 shots. . . . The Chiefs were 2-5 on the PP; the Americans were 1-2. . . . Tri-City (17-11-2) had lost its previous two games. . . . The Chiefs now are 11-11-5. . . . Announced attendance: 3,838.
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TEDDY BEAR, TOQUE AND MITTEN TOSS GAMES:

Nov. 26: D Micheal Zipp, 19:47 1st period, Lethbridge 4 at Calgary 2.
Dec. 2: D Artyom Minulin, 13:24 1st period, Calgary 1 at Swift Current 5.
Dec. 2: F Jordy Bellerive, 14:00 1st period, Red Deer 3 at Lethbridge 5.
Dec. 3: F Adam Musil, 14:27 1st period, Lethbridge 2 at Red Deer 3 (OT).
Dec. 3: D Ondrej Vala, 10:38 1st period, Vancouver 2 at Kamloops 5.
Dec. 3: F Nick Merkley, 6:54 2nd period, Brandon 1 at Kelowna 3.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Brandon at Kamloops, 5 p.m.
Medicine Hat at Portland, 5 p.m.
Regina at Swift Current, 4 p.m.

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

Kozun blanks Silvertips. . . . Big night for Cougars' Witala . . . Hitmen catch Tigers








D Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (Brandon, 2002-04) has signed a two-year-plus-option extension with Färjestad Karlstad (Sweden, SHL). Tollefsen, the team captain, has two goals and three assists in 42 games with Färjestad this season.
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The Regina Pats have announced a new ticket-pricing schedule along with new prices. As Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post writes, it all “is proving to be a tough sell” with fans. . . . Harder’s story is right here.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES

B.C. DIVISION: Kelowna (12 games remaining) lost in Victoria (12); those two will finish 1-2 in the division. . . . Kelowna leads the overall standings by two points over Brandon. . . . Vancouver (12) beat visiting Kamloops (11), while Prince George (11) was winning at home. Vancouver holds third place by three points over Prince George and five over Kamloops. Prince George is five points out of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
U.S. DIVISION: Everett (13) lost on the road, while Portland (13) won at home. Everett leads the division by three points over Portland. . . . Seattle (13), which beat Everett at home, is five points behind Portland. . . . Spokane (14) lost at home and holds down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. It is 11 points behind Seattle and one up on Tri-City (12), which also lost at home.
EAST DIVISION: Brandon (12) won on the road and now trails Kelowna by two points in the overall standings. . . . Regina (14) won at home and is 23 points behind Brandon, but leads Swift Current (13) by 13 points. Swift Current won at home last night. . . . Moose Jaw (12) ended a seven-game road trek with a loss. It is five points out of a playoff spot. . . . Prince Albert (12) lost in Swift Current and is seven points out of a playoff spot.
CENTRAL DIVISION: Calgary (13) won on the road to move into a tie with idle Medicine Hat (13) atop the division. . . . Red Deer (13) is third, eight points off the pace and seven points ahead of Kootenay (12), which won on the road. . . . The Ice holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot four points ahead of idle Edmonton (13).
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WHL team logoIn Swift Current, the Broncos erased a 2-0 first-period deficit with five goals as they beat the Prince Albert Raiders, 5-2. . . . Goals by F Tim Vanstone, his 10th, and F Austin Glover, his 12th, gave the visitors a 2-0 lead by the 12-minute mark of the first. . . . F Colby Cave, with his 27th, and F Jake DeBrusk, with his 35th, on a PP at 11:40, tied it in the second period. . . . D Brett Lernout broke the tie with his 13th on another PP at 18:23. . . . The Broncos were 3-for-5 on the PP; the Raiders were 0-for-5. . . . Broncos F Coda Gordon scored his 19th goal and added two assists. . . . The Broncos (29-25-5) have won two in a row. . . . The Raiders (24-33-3) are 1-1-1 in their last three. . . .

In Regina, the Pats scored the games first four goals, three of them via the PP, as they beat the Red Deer Rebels, 4-1. . . . F Jesse Gabrielle got the game’s first goal, at 15:49 of the first period. He’s got 19. . . . Regina then scored three second-period PP goals. F Braden Christoffer got his 19th goal at 6:52. F Adam Brooks added No. 22 at 11:34. D Colby Williams scored his seventh at 13:41. . . . Regina G Tyler Brown, who stopped 23 shots, lost his shutout when D Haydn Fleury scored his fourth goal at 2:02 of the third. . . . Regina was 3-for-9 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-for-4. . . . The Pats (32-19-7) have won two in a row. . . . The Rebels (30-20-9) have lost two straight. . . .

In Saskatoon, F Jayce Hawryluk and F Rihards Bukarts each had two goals and two assists to help the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 7-3 victory over the Blades. . . . F Ryan Graham gave the Blades a 1-0 lead with his 15th goal 23 seconds into the game. . . . Brandon scored four goals before the period ended to take control. . . . Hawryluk, who has 24 goals, has seven points in two games since returning from a 13-game absence. . . . Brandon F Tim McGauley scored twice, giving him 37, and added an assist. He is riding a 16-game point streak. One of his goals came on a second-period penalty shot. . . . Brandon’s Quenneville brothers, John and Peter, each had two assists. . . . D Nikita Soshnin and F Wyatt Sloboshan had two assists each for the Blades. . . . Saskatoon F Brett Stovin played in game No. 250, all with the Blades, while D Brycen Martin, who was acquired from Swift Current in January, played in his 200th regular-season game. . . . Already without D Ivan Provorov, F Nolan Patrick, D Kale Clague and F Reid Duke, Brandon scratched F Braylon Shmyr (ill) after the pre-game warmup. That left it with 16 skaters. . . . Without G Alex Moodie (concussion) and G Logan Thompson (pink eye), Brandon had Justin Holder backing up Jordan Papirny. Holder, a 19-year-old from Brandon, plays for the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines. . . . Brandon improved to 44-10-6. . . . The Blades (17-39-3) have lost three straight. . . . Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun has a game story right here. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has a game story right here. . . .

In Kent, Wash., G Taran Kozun stopped 15 shots for the shutout as the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Everett Silvertips, 7-0. . . . Kozun has four shutouts this season, all in his last 10 appearances, and 10 shutouts in his career. . . . This was the first time this season that Everett was blanked. . . . F Keegan Kolesar’s 18th goal, at 8:23 of the first period, stood up as the winner. . . . F Roberts Lipsbergs scored twice, giving him nine, and added two assists, while F Scott Eansor scored his 11th goal and had two assists, and F Mathew Barzal had three assists. Barzal has seven assists in his last two games. . . . Each team was 0-for-3 on the PP. Seattle had scored at least one PP goal in 12 straight games. . . . The Thunderbirds (31-21-7) have won two in a row. . . . Everett (35-17-7) had been 2-0-3 in its last five but now is on its first three-game losing skid of the season. . . .

In Portland, F Paul Bittner and F Oliver Bjorkstrand each scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Winterhawks to a 5-2 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . Bittner has 26 goals. . . . Bjorkstrand has 43 goals. He’s got at least one goal in eight straight games. He has 12 goals in that stretch. . . . The Winterhawks scored the game’s first two goals and were never headed. . . . F Nic Petan drew three assists for Portland. . . . F Giorgio Estephan had Lethbridge’s goal. He’s got 17. . . . Portland G Aden Hill stopped 21 shots, 10 fewer than Lethbridge’s Jayden Sittler. . . . The Hurricanes were without F Mike Winther, who drew a one-game suspension for a spearing major and game misconduct that he took the previous night. . . . The Winterhawks (35-20-4) are 4-0-1 in their last five. . . . The Hurricanes (18-34-7) have lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . .

In Prince George, F Chase Witala scored two goals and added two assists to lead the Cougars to a 4-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Witala tied the game 1-1 at 4:09 of the first period and later closed out the scoring with his 30th goal, at 15:35 of the third. . . . After Witala’s first goal, Cougars D Josh Connolly scored twice, at 19:10 of the first and 1:20 of the second. He’s got 11 goals. . . . The Cougars got three assists from F Jansen Harkins and two from F Zach Pochiro. . . . F Brayden Point scored his 27th goal of the season for Moose Jaw. . . . Moose Jaw G Brody Willms stopped F Jari Erricson on a penalty shot with 49 seconds left in the second period. . . . Willms finished with 25 saves, seven fewer than Prince George’s Ty Edmonds. . . . The Warriors were 0-for-5 on the PP; the Cougars were 0-for-1. . . . The Cougars improved to 24-33-4. . . . The Warriors (24-31-5) went 3-3-1 on a seven-game road swing while the Canadian women’s curling championship was being decided in their home arena. . . .

In Vancouver, G Payton Lee stopped 33 shots as the Giants got past the Kamloops Blazers, 1-0. . . . F Dakota Odgers scored the game’s only goal, his fourth, at 4:44 of the second period. . . . Kamloops G Connor Ingram stopped 21 shots. . . . Vancouver was 0-for-1 on the PP; Kamloops never had an opportunity. . . . Lee has three shutouts this season and five for his career. . . . The Giants improved to 26-31-3. . . . The Blazers (22-33-6) have lost four in a row. . . . After the game, Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province tweeted that Giants F “Dalton Sward left in the 2nd with a hand injury and was getting X-rays afterwards, according to coach Claude Noel.” . . .

In Spokane, G Wyatt Hoflin turned aside 29 shots as the Kootenay Ice dumped the Chiefs, 5-0. . . . Hoflin has three shutouts this season. . . . F Jon Martin’s seventh goal, at 8:41 of the first period, stood up as the winner. . . . The Ice got two goals from each of F Luke Philp, who has 26, and F Jaedon Descheneau, who has 27. . . . Philp also had an assist. . . . F Austin Vetterl and F Sam Reinhart each had two assists. . . . The Ice roster now includes four 25-goal men. . . . The Ice (31-27-2), which won four of five from Spokane, is 3-0-1 in its last four. . . . The Chiefs (27-27-4), who have been blanked six times since Jan. 17, have lost three in a row. . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., the Calgary Hitmen unleashed a season-high 55-shot attack as they beat the Tri-City Americans, 7-2. . . . The Americans scratched G Eric Comrie, who apparently was injured on Friday night, and G Evan Sarthou, so gave emergency backup Casey Kaiser, a 19-year-old from Richland, Wash., his first WHL start; in fact, it was his first WHL appearance. . . . Calgary had a 19-3 edge in first-period shots but didn’t score until F Jake Virtanen solved Kaiser with 7.2 seconds left. . . . The Hitmen opened the second period with three goals in 5:14. . . . Virtanen, who has 16 goals, also had two assists. . . . D Jake Bean scored his fourth goal and added two assists for Calgary, while D Travis Sanheim had three assists. . . . Calgary F Adam Tambellini scored his 41st goal and had an assist, while F Connor Rankin, who played the first 244 games of his WHL career with Tri-City, got his 28th goal and added an assist. . . . F Elliott Peterson also had a goal, his 10th, and an assist for the Hitmen. . . . The Hitmen (36-18-5) have won four in a row. They are 2-0-0 on an 11-game road trip. . . . The Americans are 27-30-3. . . .

In Victoria, F Taylor Crunk scored twice and F Logan Fisher had four assists to help the Royals to a 5-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . One night earlier, the Rockets had beaten the host Royals 3-2, with F Leon Draisaitl breaking a 2-2 tie in the last minute of the third period. . . . Last night, the teams were 1-1 going into the third period. . . . F Brandon Magee broke the tie with his 17th goal at 6:39 and F Jack Walker got his 16th goal at 8:04. . . . Crunk provided more insurance with his second of the game and eighth of the season at 14:07. . . . Draisaitl scored his 11th goal, on a PP, at 17:00 to get the Rockets to within two, but Royals D Travis Brown got an empty-netter at 17:37. He’s got 17 goals. . . . Victoria G Justin Paulic stopped 31 shots, three fewer than Kelowna’s Michael Herringer. . . . The Royals (33-23-4) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Rockets (46-10-4) had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . These teams will meet again Wednesday, this time in Kelowna.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES

(all times local)
Medicine Hat at Edmonton, 1 p.m.
Lethbridge at Everett, 4:05 p.m.

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Monday, January 26, 2015

Seattle goaltender retires . . . Giants goaltender hurt . . . Busy day for WHL Dept. of Discipline








F Cody Sylvester (Calgary, 2008-13) has signed for the rest of the season with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany, DEL). This season, with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL), he had seven goals and 10 assists in 25 games. He was an alternate captain with the Stingrays. . . .
D Lukáš Bohunický (Kootenay, 2005-07) has been released by the Edinburgh Capitals (Scotland, UK Elite) at his request. According to a club press release, Bohunický requested his release in order to return to Slovakia to attend to personal matters. He had a goal and 13 assists in 36 games.
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When the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks revealed Sunday that they had lost G Logan Flodell to Seattle, it was evident that something was going on with the Thunderbirds’ goaltending. What exactly that was became apparent Monday when the Thunderbirds announced that G Danny Mumaugh, 18, had chosen to retire. . . . Mumaugh, from Centennial, Colo., was in his third season in Seattle. He got into 18 games as a freshman and 35 games last season. This season, he had made only eight appearances as he backed up Taran Kozun, 20, who has been in 40 games. In 61 regular-season games, Mumaugh was 18-21-8, 3.76, .887, with one shutout. . . . “Danny came to us recently and told us he did not have the drive to keep playing,” Seattle general manager Russ Farwell said in a news release. “To have a player quit this soon after the (trade) deadline could have left us in a real bind. We are fortunate that Logan is able to join us. We appreciate the Nipawin Hawks working with us to allow Logan to join the team for the remainder of the season.” . . . Flodell, 17, was with the Thunderbirds through Nov. 1, playing in one game — a 3-1 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Oct. 17. In Nipawin, Flodell, who is from Regina, was 8-4-0, 2.44, .901 in 13 games. . . . Flodell was a third-round selection by Seattle in the 2012 bantam draft. . . . The Thunderbirds next play on Wednesday when they are in Kamloops. Kozun, who was acquired from the Kamloops just more than a year ago, is 21-13-6, 2.36, .914 this season. . . . Thom Beuning, the radio voice of the Thunderbirds, has a good piece right here explaining the Mumaugh situation.
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The Vancouver Giants are expecting to be without G Payton Lee, 18, for up to 10 days, according to Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. Lee was injured three goals into an 8-0 loss to the Hitmen in Calgary on Sunday, when he took a shot to the underside of his blocker. . . . That leaves the Giants with freshman Cody Porter, 17, as their starter for now. . . . Scott Bonner, the Giants’ general manager, also told Ewen that D Clayton Kirichenko should be back Friday when they play in Everett. Kirichenko hasn’t played since Nov. 26 thanks to an undisclosed injury. . . . The Giants go into Everett having lost seven of eight games.
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Head coach Tim Hunter of the Moose Jaw Warriors and three of his players went for the ride of a lifetime on Monday. "The G-forces that you go through when you are coming out of the loops is something that you can't really explain,” Hunter told the Moose Jaw Times-Herald after spending some time in the air with the Snowbirds. “I know that my stomach didn't handle it so well when we came out of it for the second time.” . . . The Times-Herald story is right here.
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F Oliver Bjorkstrand has 21 points in nine games since he returned from the 2015 WJC, where he played for his native Denmark. Bjorkstrand has 61 points in 37 games and is up to fifth place in the WHL scoring race.
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Is it cheating, or is it gamesmanship? In the wake of Deflategate, Arash Madani of Sportsnet, who has worked for CFL teams, explores the subject in an excellent piece that is right here.
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Department of Discipline

F Carter Arnson of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and F Colby McAuley of the Prince George Cougars both were suspended for five games on Monday after they became in a game-ending bout on Saturday in Lethbridge. McAuley already has missed one game. . . . The Cougars and Hurricanes each were fined $1,000 because of the incident. . . .
D Kyle Burroughs of the Medicine Hat Tigers was suspended for four games for a headshot major and game misconduct on Friday against visiting Prince George. He already has missed one game. That hit was on Cougars F Jari Erricson, who missed most of last season with a concussion. Erricson didn’t play Saturday in Lethbridge or Sunday in Cranbrook. . . . Medicine Hat D Ty Stanton has been suspended for one game for a headshot major and game misconduct that he incurred in Edmonton on Sunday. . . . Burroughs and Stanton won’t play tonight when the Tigers entertain the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Tigers also will be without veteran D Tommy Vannelli, 19, who suffered a broken finger in Edmonton on Sunday. . . . In Edmonton, the Tigers were able to dress only 16 skaters, two under the maximum. Still, they beat the Oil Kings 5-2.
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