Daily Dose

Daily Dose of the Dub: Giants acquire Shepard from Hurricanes, and much more

Written by Ben Dooley on

Giants acquire Shepard from Hurricanes for 2021 3rd round pick 

The Vancouver Giants acquired Jackson Shepard from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft. Shepard is a native of North Vancouver, BC and was originally selected by the Kamloops Blazers in the 2015 bantam draft.

He played 115 games for Kamloops and scored 12 goals and added 22 assists in a Blazers uniform before being shipped to Lethbridge in a trade that saw them acquire Zane Franklin and a fourth-round pick in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft from the Hurricanes. Shepard played 66 games for the Hurricanes last season and had five goals and 17 assists.

Shepard is also the older brother of Vancouver Giants prospect Cole Shepard, who the Giants selected in the second round of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. The younger Shepard played for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL last season and scored seven goals and added 17 assists in 53 games. He is currently committed to Harvard University for the 2021/22 season but one has to wonder if this move could lure him to the Giants.

Thunderbirds sign Korchinski 

Two days after signing first-round pick Jordan Gustafson, the Seattle Thunderbirds announced the signing of their second first-round pick Kevin Korchinski. Korchinski was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, a pick that Seattle acquired from the Kelowna Rockets in a blockbuster trade that saw defenseman Jake Lee, forward Dillon Hamaliuk and goaltender Cole Schwebius head to Kelowna.

Korchinski is a defenseman from Saskatoon and played last season for the Saskatoon Generals Bantam AA team. He played 31 games for the Generals scoring 10 goals and adding 37 assists.

Tigers sign first-round pick Wiesblatt

The Medicine Hat Tigers announced the signing of 2019 first pick Oasiz Wiesblatt to a standard WHL player agreement. Wiesblatt is the younger brother Ozzy Wiesblatt who plays for the Prince Albert Raiders and Orca Wiesblatt who saw time with the Calgary Hitmen this year.

The youngest Wiesblatt played for the Calgary Bisons of the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League this season and played 28 games scoring 19 goals and 36 assists.

Chiefs sign eighth-round pick Lane

The Spokane Chiefs announced the signing of 2018 eighth-round pick Grady Lane on Friday. Lane is the fourth member of the Chiefs 2018 draft class to sign with the Chiefs, joining defenseman Graham Sward, forward Owen MacNeil and forward Blake Swetlikoff.

Lane played 32 games and scored five goals and assisted on seven more while putting up 67 penalty minutes with the Southwest Cougars Manitoba Midget Hockey League team last season. Lane will be attending his first WHL training camp in the fall as he missed last year’s due to injury.

CHL awards to be handed out on Saturday 

The CHL will hand out their annual awards on Saturday in Halifax as part of the Memorial Cup festivities. Highlights include:

Portland Winterhawks forward Joachim Blichfield is nominated for the top scorer and player of the year awards.

Chiefs defenseman Ty Smith will contend for the defenseman of the year award.

Giants defenseman Bowen Byram is up for the top prospect award.

Raiders goaltender Ian Scott is nominated for the top goaltender award.

For a full list of nominees click here.

Blazers play-by-play guy Jon Keen ties the knot

Congratulations go out to Blazers’ play-by-play commentator Jon Keen who announced on Twitter that he got married in Cabos recently. On behalf of all of us here at DubNetwork, we’d like to wish Jon all the best in this new adventure!