Victoria Royals’ practice missed a key piece of the puzzle today. A few members of the media arrived and right away the question was asked: Where’s Hayden Rintoul? Fortunately, it’s not injury related. Rintoul is under the weather today and Royals’ play-by-play man Marlon Martens made a good point; the amount that Rintoul has played this season, a day off might not be a good thing.

Taylor Crunk, who last played on October 14 thanks to an upper body injury, was in an orange line uniform with Luke Harrison and Brendan Persley today. Crunk’s return to the line-up could be as early as tomorrow against the Vancouver Giants when the Royals head to the Pacific Coliseum. Defenceman Jesse Pauls, who has not played since October 10, is also day-to-day with an upper body injury and could be back in either tomorrow against the Giants or Saturday against the Kootenay Ice.

Obviously, Kevin Sundher is in Regina for the CHL SUBWAY® Super Series game tonight against Team Russia. Team WHL lost both games last year, which allowed Team Russia to win its first series since it began in 2003. Sundher will return to Victoria tomorrow and be set to go this weekend.

Vancouver Giants’ forward Brendan Gallagher was named Captain for Team WHL tonight and Moose Jaw Warriors’ forward Quinton Howden is Captain for tomorrow in Moose Jaw.
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Posted a feature story on the Royals’ website on forward Brandon Magee and the fact that he’s on a tear right now as he and the Royals’ head into two games. Magee is on a four game point streak, with three goals and seven points over that span. Magee finished 19th in WHL rookie scoring last season with 12 goals and 29 points and as mentioned yesterday, he scored the bronze medal winning goal in the 2011 World Under-17 Challenge in Manitoba. Magee is a fourth round pick of the Chilliwack Bruins in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft and is arguably the best fourth round pick from that group in 2009. Magee is one of seven players drafted in the fourth round in 2009 that is on a WHL roster and the only player that you could argue has more of an impact is 17-year-old goalie Chris Driedger of the Calgary Hitmen. Driedger was originally drafted by the Tri-City Americans and has played in 14 of the Hitmen’s 20 games this season. Driedger has posted a record of 6-4-1-1, with a goals against average of 2.74 and a .901 save percentage. Of the six skaters in the WHL, Magee has had clearly the biggest impact on his team.
The other players out of that group are Tyrel Seaman (Brandon Wheat Kings), Jeff Hubec (Kootenay), Jaimen Yakubowski (Lethbridge), Travis Brown (Moose Jaw) and Sawyer Lainge (Prince Albert).
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The BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 list came out today, with three WHL teams on the list. The Tri-City Americans rank highest among WHL teams at number-3, behind the top ranked London Knights and St. John Sea Dogs, who are second. The Americans, who are 15-5-0-0 on the season and have won five straight, were ranked third last week. The Saskatoon Blades, who are on a five game win streak and have a 15-6-0-1 record, jumped into the rankings for the third week at sixth overall. The Red Deer Rebels, who have won six of the eight straight games that they have collected points in, are 7th and like Saskatoon, have climbed back in the rankings for a third week. The Medicine Hat Tigers and Brandon Wheat Kings got honorable mentions. They have an identical 14-6-1-1 record and collide Friday in Brandon.

The Kootenay Ice and Kamloops Blazers have higher win percentages than both the Tigers and Wheat Kings, but did not get a mention.