– The Brandon Wheat Kings look for their eighth win in nine games tonight as they pay a visit to the Swift Current Broncos. It’s a battle of the top two teams in the WHL’s East Division, with the Wheat Kings currently sitting seven points ahead of the second-place Broncos. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on Jesse Gabrielle strong start to the 2014-15 season on his blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– Daniel Audette had a goal and an assist to lead the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League all-stars past Russia 3-1 on Tuesday night in Game 5 of the Super Series. Zach Fucale made 40 saves in the QMJHL net. Russia still leads the series eight points to seven, with the final game Thursday night in Rimouski.
– The Virden Oil Capitals are back to .500 on the season. Sean Kuehn made 29 saves as Virden edged Swan Valley 2-1 Tuesday night to improve to 10-10-4 on the season. Soren Frederiksen extended his goal-scoring streak to four games while Ben Williams also scored for the Oil Caps. Tuesday’s other MJHL game saw Selkirk down Dauphin 4-1.
– Hartney’s Melissa Hunt has mapped out her hockey future. The Westman Wildcats’ defenceman has signed her letter of intent to attend Bemidji State next season. Hunt is currently co-captain of the Wildcats and will attend next month’s Hockey Canada Under-18 Selection Camp.
– Goals by Mathieu Perreault and Mark Scheifele less than two minutes apart early in the second period lifted Winnipeg to a 3-1 win over visiting New Jersey Tuesdsayi night. Michal Frolik also scored for the Jets while Michael Hutchinson made 21 saves in the Winnipeg net. Other games last night included former Wheat King Eric Fehr netting the overtime winner as Washington downed the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 while Montreal’s six-game winning streak ended with a 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh. All the NHL scores are posted on the 880 CKLQ Sports Scoreboard.
– The Minnesota Wild sent goaltender Josh Harding to Iowa of the AHL Tuesday after clearing waivers. The 30-year-old former Brandon Wheat King came off injured reserve Monday and was put on waivers by the Wild. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets activated forward Matt Calvert from injured reserve yesterday. Calvert missed four games with an uppper body injury.
– The NHL will no longer dry scrape the ice before overtime. The general managers made the decision yesterday at a meeting in Toronto. The dry scrape was instituted this season in an effort to reduce the number of shootouts. But the GM’s felt the process was causing too much of a delay.
– The Brandon Bobcat volleyball teams are both #5 in this week’s CIS rankings. The men’s team moved up one spot after a split with Manitoba on the weekend left them at 8-and-2 and tied for second in the Canada West standings. The women’s team fell three spots after their split with Manitoba left them with a 7-and-3 record and tied for third in the conference.
– Brandon product Nevin Gamblin and the Manitoba Bisons are gearing up for the Uteck Bowl. The Bisons will visit Montreal Saturday in the CIS Football semifinal after back-to-back upset wins in the Canada West playoffs including a 27-15 win over Calgary in the Hardy Cup Canada West final. Gamblin, who was a Canada West all-star at offensive guard, and the Bisons hadn’t won a road game until upset wins over Saskatchewan and Calgary in the playoffs. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more here.
– The Neepawa Tigers are the top seed for the Junior Varsity Girls A/AA Provincial High School Volleyball Championship. The Tigers will open play Thursday at the championship, and coach Curt Allen will guest on Wednesday’s Westman Sports Talk on CKLQ to talk about their chances of claiming a title. That airs at 12:10 and 4:05 this afternoon.
