– Brandon’s Cassie Hawrysh slid to a silver medal finish at the Intercontinental Cup women’s skeleton race in Whistler Monday. Hawrysh had a time of one minute, 48.7 seconds and finished 28/100ths of a second behind the winner. Hawrysh had finished sixth in Sunday’s race and is now 20th in the World Cup rankings, one spot behind fellow Canadian Robyn Thompson. Meanwhile, Russell’s Jon Montgomery finished in fifth-place in the men’s skeleton Monday after posting a second-place finish in Sunday’s race. The Intercontinental Cup tour now heads to Park City, Utah for the final two races of the season this weekend.
– The Brandon Wheat Kings are in the midst of the playoff hunt in the Western Hockey League Eastern Conference but are also looking at the big picture. Brandon (21-16-4-0) are in fifth-place in the Eastern Conference heading into Tuesday’s home game against Red Deer, one point ahead of Regina and Kootenay, two ahead of Prince Albert and four ahead of the ninth-place Rebels. However, the Wheat Kings are also three points behind fourth-place Medicine Hat and just four points behind the East Division-leading Swift Current Broncos with two games in hand. Brandon captain Ryan Pulock says it’s something they’re keeping an eye on…
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Rookies Braylon Shmyr and Jesse Gabrielle have both returned to the Wheat Kings after playing at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge last week. They’ll be available to join the Brandon lineup for Tuesday’s contest. For more on the Wheat Kings, visit Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– Former Brandon Wheat King Milan Bartovic was named to the Slovakian roster and ex Wheat King Ole-Kristian Tollefsen to the Norwegian roster for the Sochi Olympic Games on Tuesday. Bartovic played two seasons with the Wheat Kings from 1999 to 2001 while Tollefsen played with Brandon from 2002 to 2004. The Canadian Olympic team is being named by Hockey Canada on Tuesday.
– It’s three days until the Western Hockey League trade deadline. The Brandon Wheat Kings have already made two major moves this year, acquiring Peter Quenneville’s rights from Prince George and getting defenceman Ryan Pilon from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Because of that, Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon says they don’t have a lot of urgency this week though they’ll still do their due diligence to see if there’s something that makes sense for the hockey club…
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The WHL trade deadline is Friday at 2:00 p.m. (CST).
– The Moose Jaw Warriors and Victoria Royals got a jump on the WHL trade deadline on Monday. Moose Jaw dealt defenceman Travis Brown, 19, to the Royals for prospect Noah Gregor, 15, third round picks in the 2014 and 2016 Bantam Drafts and a conditional pick in either 2016 or 2017. The WHL trade deadline is Friday at 2:00 p.m. (CST).
– The Western Hockey League has named Myles Bell of the Kelowna Rockets its Player of the Week. Bell had five goals and ten points in four games last week.
– Former Brandon Wheat King Josh Harding has been placed on injured reserve by the Minnesota Wild. Harding has missed the last two games due to an unspecified illness that may be related to his treatments for multiple sclerosis. The NHL’s leader in goals-against average has missed six of eight games since having his treatment adjusted. Meanwhile, Brandon product Ryan White is expected to be out of Montreal’s lineup for at least the next two weeks after sustaining an upper body injury last Thursday and Nesbitt product Aaron Rome is out of the Dallas Stars’ lineup with an upper body injury. He’s expected to miss at least a week.
– Ryan McQueen is headed closer to home. The MJHL’s Neepawa Natives have dealt the Thunder Bay product to the SIJHL’s Fort Frances Lakers for future considerations. McQueen spent juast over two months with Neepawa, scoring three goals and three points in 13 games.
– The Manitoba Junior Hockey League Player of the Week is goaltender Zach Rakochy of the Steinbach Pistons. Rakochy recorded back-to-back shutouts last week, making a total of 44 saves in a pair of wins over the Portage Terriers. Rakochy is second in the league with a 1.98 goals against average and leads the MJHL with a .940 save percentage this season.
– Neelin Spartans’ left-side Kristine Ward is headed West down the #1 highway. The 5-foot-10 Ward has committed to join the University of Regina Cougars volleyball program next season. Ward helped Neelin to a runner-up finish at the AAAA Provincials in November. She’s the second member of the Spartans to commit. Libero Jamie Campbell committed to join the Brandon University Bobcats in December.
– Lindsey Vonn is going to skip the Sochi Olympics because of a right knee injury. Her personal publicist said in a statement today that Vonn “will have surgery shortly.” The 29-year-old American won two medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but tore two ligaments in her right knee during a high-speed crash at the world championships last February, sidelining her for about 10 months. She re-tore her surgically repaired ACL in a training crash in November, then sprained her MCL during a race in France last month.
– Jameis Winston threw two fourth quarter touchdowns, including one with 13 seconds left, to lift the undefeated Florida State Seminoles past Auburn 34-31 for the BCS national championship. Winston was 20 for 35 for 237 yards. Auburn’s Tre Mason ran in a touchdown with 1:19 left to give the Tigers a lead that FSU quickly wiped out.
