– Canada West first-team all-star Cassie Cookie has left the Brandon University women’s basketball team. Cooke led the nation in scoring with 23.6 points per game and helped the Lady ‘Cats to a 6-and-16 record, the program’s highest win total in 30 years. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more on this story here.
– The Brandon Wheat Kings couldn’t capitalize on their scoring chances and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Eastman Selects in Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League playoff action Wednesday night. Brandon outshot Eastman 44-23 including a 13-3 margin in the third period. Jordy Stallard and Ty Lewis scored the goals for the Wheat Kings. The Selects lead the Best-of-Five semifinal 2-1 with Game #4 Friday night in Beausejour. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on Wednesday’s game here.
– The Brandon Wheat Kings could have home playoff games at Westman Communications Group Place for the first time in four years. The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair begins March 31, leaving the week of the first round open for at least two playoff games in Brandon. The venue for a possible third home game in the first round is up in the air. Brandon’s usual ‘home away from home’ for the WHL playoffs, the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, is available the last week of March due to the Juno’s. For more on the Wheat Kings, visit Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– A Western Hockey League player is in critical condition in a Saskatoon hospital after contracting meningitis. Kootenay Ice forward Tim Bozon played in a game against the Saskatoon Blades on Friday and was admitted to hospital the next day. The WHL says public health officials are trying to ensure that anyone Bozon had contact with receives appropriate treatment.
– Craig Truman scored the overtime winner as the Grandview Comets downed the Russell Rams 4-3 Wednesday night to win their North Central Hockey League semifinal series 3-0. The Comets will face the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks in the NCHL Final in a rematch of last year’s championship series.
– Justin Perreaux’s goal with 6:26 left in the third period lifted the Deloraine Royals to a 4-3 win over the Souris Elks Wednesday night in the opening game of their Tiger Hills Hockey League Western Division final. The Carberry Plainsmen and Gladstone Lakers are meeting in the Eastern Division final, with that series starting Friday night.
– The NHL trade deadline lived up to the hype this year. Twenty trades were made involving 38 players and 23 draft picks Wednesday. The two major moves saw Montreal acquire sniper Thomas Vanek from the New York Islanders and a disgruntled Martin St. Louis was traded to the Rangers by Tampa Bay. The Winnipeg Jets were quiet at the NHL trade deadline.
– Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele will be out of the lineup for at least a few weeks due to a knee injury. The 20-year-old centre suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in Tuesday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. Scheifele has 13 goals and 34 points in 63 games this season. The Jets also announced Wednesday that they’ve signed pending unrestricted free-agent defenceman Mark Stuart to a four-year, 10.5-million dollar contract extension.
– Steven Stamkos is back. The Tampa Bay Lightning star returns to the ice Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres. Stamkos broke his right leg four months ago. The injury forced him to miss the Sochi Olympics and the Lightning’s last 45 games. He has 14 goals and nine assists in 17 games.
– Canadian women’s hockey goalie Shannon Szabados has gone from winning gold in Sochi to helping out the Edmonton Oilers. The Team Canada goalie filled in at practice for the National Hockey League team Wednesday while the Oilers waited for Viktor Fasth to arrive after a trade with Anaheim.
– Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton is back on track at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops. Stoughton improved to 7-and-2 Wednesday with a 9-6 victory over Northern Ontario’s Jeff Currie and a 7-4 win over Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock. Stoughton got off to a quick start against Laycock in the afternoon draw, scoring a deuce in the opening end. Alberta’s Kevin Koe, with Brandon product Nolan Thiessen at lead, and B.C’s John Morris continue to lead the standings with 8-and-1 records.
– Westman athletes swept the medal podium in boys gymnastics in four events to wrap up the first half week of action at the Manitoba Winter Games Wednesday in Morden and Winkler. Kristjan Frederickson, Ricky Frederickson and Rhett Cruickshanks of Brandon won gold, silver and bronze in the all-around competition, as well as the floor event and on rings in the 10-to-12-year old boys’ regional stream division. At the mid-point of the Games, Westman sits third in the medal standings with 38 medals — 14 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.
