– The Brandon University men’s volleyball team is on the West Coast this weekend for the Canada West Final Four. The defending conference champions take on the second-ranked and host Trinity Western Spartans in one of the semifinals Friday night. Unlike past years, only the top two teams at the Canada West Final Four qualify for CIS Nationals so Friday’s winner will earn one spot, and the winner in the other semifinal between Alberta and Thompson Rivers will earn the other. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more here.
– Brandon Wheat Kings’ captain Ryan Pulock is closing in on a pair of milestones. Pulock played his 250th career game Wednesday, and enters Friday night’s contest against Calgary four points shy of 200 for his career. The Grandview product is trying to become just the fifth defenceman in Wheat Kings’ history to record 200 or more points and is also three goals shy of passing Brad McCrimmon franchise record for most goals by a defenceman. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on this story at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– The lineup shuffle could continue for the Wheat Kings Friday night when they host Calgary (7:30 p.m., Westman Communications Group Place). John Quenneville and Jayce Hawryluk both practiced without restrictions Thursday and are expected to return to the lineup tonight. Quenneville has missed the last four games and Hawryluk the past three. However, Peter Quenneville remains out and Richard Nejezchleb missed practice Thursday after leaving Wednesday’s game early.
– Wheat Kings’ defenceman Colton Waltz will remain out of the Brandon lineup this weekend. Waltz was suspended by the WHL earlier this week under supplemental discipline for an unpenalized hit on Regina’s Dryden Hunt on Monday. On Thursday, the league finalized Waltz’s suspension at three games. That means Waltz will serve the final two games this weekend, and be eligible to return to the Brandon lineup on Wednesday.
– Jordan Greig had two goals and two assists to pace the Virden Oil Capitals to a 6-3 win over the Neepawa Natives Thursday night. Curtis Oliver and Kurt Johnas added a goal and an assist each as Virden moved to within seven points of first-place Dauphin in the MJHL’s Sher-Wood Division. Both teams have six games left in the regular season.
– A trio of Westman teams are off to 2-and-0 starts at the Provincial Senior Women’s Curling Championship at the Brandon Curling Club. Brandon’s Lois Fowler, Killarney’s Deb Collyer and Fort Garry’s Cathy Cook are undefeated in the Black Group while Hamiota’s Sandra Cowling and Stonewall’s Laurie Deprez are both 2-and-0 in the Red Group. The Senior Men’s standings have four teams undefeated after day one. Brandon’s Kelly McMechan and Neepawa’s Kelly Robertson are 2-and-0 and tied atop the Red Group, while Mike Mahon and Carl German are 2-and-0 in the Black Group.
– The Provincial High School Curling Championship will continue Friday in Rivers and Minnedosa. The A-Side semifinals will take place on the 11:30 a.m. draw, with Dori Vince of Carberry and Virden’s Samantha Rinke involved on the girl’s side. No Westman teams made the boys’ A-Side semifinals.
– The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have finally settled on their defensive coaching staff for this season, led by CFL veteran Gary Etcheverry as defensive co-ordinator. Nelson Martin is the club’s defensive backs coach and Mike Scheper will be the defensive line coach. All three have recent experience with the Saskatchewan Roughriders including Etcheverry, who led their defence during their back-to-back Grey Cup appearances in 2009 and 2010.
– Matt Kenseth took home the checkered flag in the first Budweiser Duel Thursday at Daytona. Kenseth led two times for 31 of the 60 laps. Denny Hamlin took home the checkered flag in the second Budweiser Duel at Daytona. The second race ended in chaos as defending Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap to trigger a crash that caused Clint Bowyer’s car to flip.
– Canada women have stolen the spotlight again Friday with two medals in women’s skicross. Marielle Thompson of Whistler, B-C captured gold, the country’s eighth gold of the Winter Games, finishing ahead of Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, B-C. Canada now has 22 medals at the Games. The United States leads the medal parade with 25. If you judge the leaderboard by the number of gold medals won, Canada is in a tie for second with the U-S and Germany, all with eight.
– Team Canada’s men’s hockey team will attempt to follow in the footsteps of the women Friday in their semifinal game against the United States (11 a.m. CST). Canada will be missing John Tavares, who suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the week.
– Canada’s Brad Jacobs will try to complete an Olympic first for Canada — a gold medal sweep in curling in the same games. Jennifer Jones’ women’s team completed a perfect tournament Thursday with a gold and Jacobs goes up against Britain (7:30 a.m. CST) in an attempt to do the same.
