Wednesday Highlights

with Gregg Drinnan

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Wednesday's highlights . . .

The Kamloops Blazers have had a change of plans and won't bring in C Brendan Ranford for two weekend games against the Cougars in Prince George. The Blazers, with Slovakian LW Ivan Rohac and Finnish RW Juuso Puustinen in Europe at national junior team camps, had said they planned on using Ranford, the 15th pick in the 2007 bantam draft, in Prince George. Ranford, who plays for the midget AAA Edmonton CAC club, is leading the Alberta midget league in scoring, with 50 points in 21 games. The Blazers, however, said Wednesday that they have enough forwards so won't be bringing in Ranford for the weekend. . . .

WEDNESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
In Saskatoon, D Teigan Zahn’s goal 22 seconds in overtime gave the Blades a 3-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . The goal was Zahn’s first of the season; in fact, it was his first in 69 games. . . . The Blades (12-19-1-0) have won seven of their last nine at home. . . . The Pats (21-13-1-1) had won two of their last three games. . . . Regina held a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old, on goals by F Brett Leffler (shorthanded) and F Rudolf Cerveny. . . . But the Blades countered with scores from F Mike Reich and F Walker Wintoneak, the latter tying the score 2-2 at 9:05 of the second period. . . . With head coach Curtis Hunt working with the national junior team, the Pats’ bench was run by assistant coach Terry Perkins. . . . The Blades were without F Chris Durand (shoulder), Colton Gillies (national junior team selection camp), Justin McCrae (groin) and Kevin Philp (jaw). . . . Saskatoon had LW Darian Dziurzynski, 16, of the midget AAA Lloydminster Bobcats in their lineup. . . .

In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes stretched their lead atop the Eastern Conference with a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Hurricanes (23-10-1-1) have won six of seven. . . . F Mitch Fadden, who hadn’t scored in six of his last seven games, got the eventual winner at 19:12 of the second period as he broke a 1-1 tie. He has 18 goals this season. . . . D Mitch Versteeg’s goal at 1:02 of the third period stretched the lead to 3-1. . . . The Hitmen (21-11-1-2) have lost three straight. . . .

In Brandon, C Colin Long put up a career-best five points to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 5-4 victory over the Wheat Kings in front of a regular-season record 5,902 fans. . . . The Rockets (18-11-2-4) halted a three-game losing streak. . . . Brandon (21-10-0-1) had a seven-game winning streak stopped. Also halted was an eight-game home winning streak. . . . Long had two goals and three helpers, while linemate Jamie Benn had two of each. Benn now has 16 goals this season, tops among WHL freshmen. . . . Kelowna G Kris Westblom stopped 32 shots. Brandon G Joe Caligiuri stopped 10 shots. . . . Brandon F Scott Glennie had two assists and now has eight points over his last four games. . . . Kelowna is 1-1-0-2 on its six-game Prairie tour. . . . Brandon’s rink, Westman Place, has a capacityof 5,902 — 5,102 seats and 800 standing room. . . .

In Everett, F Erik Felde broke a 1-1 tie in the third period and the Swift Current Broncos went on to beat the Silvertips, 3-1. . . . The Broncos (18-12-0-5) picked up their first victory in three games on their U.S. swing. . . . The Silvertips (16-15-0-2) were coming off two victories over the Tri-City Americans. . . . With G Leland Irving in camp with Canada’s national junior team, Shayne Barrie made 27 saves for Everett. . . .

In Prince George, the Medicine Hat Tigers dumped the Cougars 3-1, the second time in as many nights they won by that score. . . . One night earlier, the Tigers (19-12-3-1) beat the Blazers 3-1 in Kamloops. . . . The Cougars (11-22-1-0) have lost five in a row. . . . Medicine Hat is five games into an eight-game road swing and has won three straight. . . . Prince George G Tommy Tartaglione made 38 saves, including 21 in the third period. . . . The Cougars, with LW Dana Tyrell and D Ty Wishart in the national junior team’s camp in Calgary, had two prospects — F Brett Connolly and F Nick Buonassisi — in their lineup. . .

In Spokane, the Chiefs jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the first period and went on to a 7-1 victory over the Portland Winter Hawks. . . . The Chiefs (25-5-1-2), who have won three in a row, beat host Portland 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday. . . . The Winter Hawks (5-26-0-1) have lost eight in a row. . . . Spokane outshot Portland 41-33. . . . Forwards Mitch Wahl and Ondrej Roman both scored twice for Spokane which remains atop the overall standings.