– James Shearer had a natural hat-trick in the third period to pace the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 6-3 victory over the Yellowhead Chiefs Wednesday night. Duncan Campbell added a goal and two assists as Brandon completed a sweep of their Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League quarter-final series. The Wheat Kings will now face either Eastman or Kenora in the second round. Derek Cross, Morgan Geekie and Logan Young scored Yellowhead’s goals in Wednesday’s game.
– The Southwest Cougars saw their season come to an end Wednesday night with a 4-2 loss to the Eastman Selects. Carter Cowlthorp and Nial Mills scored the goals for Southwest while Josh Diaz stopped 31 shots in the Cougars’ net. Eastman sweeps the Best-of-Five Quarter-Final series 3-0.
– The Victoria Royals jumped out to a 4-1 first period lead and went on to a 5-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings Wednesday night. Steven Hodges had a goal and two assists for Victoria, who outshot Brandon 21-6 in the opening 20 minutes. Ryan Pulock, Tyler Coulter and Rihards Bukarts did the goal-scoring for Brandon while Curtis Honey stopped 44 shots in the Wheat Kings’ net. The loss leaves Brandon (28-25-6-2) winless in their last seven games, and leaves the Wheat Kings seventh in the Eastern Conference, just four points ahead of both Red Deer and Prince Albert. For more on the Wheat Kings, visit Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– Del Cowan scored twice and added an assist as the Hartney Blues upset the Souris Elks 7-6 Wednesday night in the opening game of the Tiger Hills Hockey League’s Western Division semifinal. Cowan’s second goal with 3:41 left in the third period snapped a 6-6 tie. Also Wednesday, Carberry edged Neepawa 4-3 in Game #1 of their Best-of-Five Eastern Division semifinal.
– The Winnipeg Jets, minus their four Olympians, returned to the ice for their first practice after the Olympic break Wednesday. Coach Paul Maurice says he wants to work on things like defensive systems and forechecking without the puck as they prepare for their first game February 27th. The Jets are two points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
– The Brandon University women’s volleyball team has scored a Canada West hat-trick with the conference’s award winners and all-stars being unveiled on Wednesday. The coach of the year is Lee Carter, who led the Lady ‘Cats to a second-place finish during the regular season at 17-5, which is the team’s best record in the program’s nine-year history. Two members of the BU women’s team were also recognized. German standout Donata Huebert was named the top libero and a first-team all-star while New Zelander Vaovai Aiono was selected to the all-rookie team. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more here.
– It’s nearly time to take on the world for Carberry product Braden Calvert. The Canadian Junior Men’s curling champion and his Winnipeg-based team are headed to Switzerland Saturday, with the World Junior Championship beginning next Wednesday. Calvert will be one of the guests on Thursday night’s ‘In the Hack with Resby Coutts’ program on 880 CKLQ (7 p.m.).
– Brandon’s Lois Fowler and Bob Sigurdson of West Kildonan are looking to defend their titles as the Provincial Senior Curling Championship opens Thursday at the Brandon Curling Club. There are four draws Thursday — 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. — with a mix of men’s and women’s games on each.
– The Provincial High School Curling Championship opens Thursday in Rivers and Minnedosa. 16 men’s and women’s teams are competing for the title over the next three days.
– Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones has been unconquered in Sochi and goes for gold Thursday in women’s curling against Sweden. The Canadians swept through the round-robin without a loss. Britain’s Eve Muirhead made a perfect draw to the button with her final shot and beat Switzerland 6-5 to win the bronze medal.
– To no one’s surprise, keen rivals Canada and the United States do battle Thursday for the gold medal in women’s hockey. The Canadians beat the Americans in their round-robin game but the U.S. is slightly favoured. Sweden and Switzerland are just about to get underway in the bronze medal game.
– Matt Duchene will return to the line-up for Team Canada’s semifinal game Friday against the United States in men’s hockey. He replaces John Tavares, who suffered a lower body injury in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Latvia and will miss the rest of the Olympics. In fact, word Thursday is Tavares will miss the rest of the NHL season with that knee injury.
