Chris Mast
Eastern Division, U.S. Division

Daily Dose of the Dub: Silvertips and Broncos make a deal

Written by Brandon Rivers on

2018 WHL Championship Series foes make a swap

The Everett Silvertips and Swift Current Broncos made a trade on Monday. Tthe reigning WHL champions moved 1998-born defenseman Sahvan Khaira to the Everett Silvertips in exchange for 1999-born center Ethan O’Rourke and a third round Bantam Draft pick in 2019.

Khaira’s older brother Jujhar played for Everett in the 2013-14 season.

The younger Khaira was a big part of the blue line on a team that defeated Everett in six games in last May’s WHL Championship Series. The overage d-man is a right-handed shot and comes in at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.

He should be in a top-four role this year with the Silvertips, who lost Kevin Davis and Ondrej Vala off of their blue line from last year. He should find himself in a mix with Wyatte Wylie, Gianni Fairbrother, Ian Walker and Jake Christiansen among others.

Swift Current meanwhile seems to have made the move to pick up Ryan Pouliot off of waivers with the trading of Khaira in mind.

Ethan O’Rourke (Photo by Christopher Mast/Everett Silvertips)

In return they get a veteran center in O’Rourke. The six-foot-five, 209 pound native of Penticton, B.C. was acquired by Everett from the Prince George Cougars in exchange for former first-round pick Ethan Browne. O’Rourke never really cracked the top-six in Everett and was often slotted in as a bottom line forward. O’Rourke played in 29 regular season games and 18 playoff games for Everett, totaling two goals and three assists for five points.

Prior to being traded last year, O’Rourke had 14 points in 39 games with the Cougars. He was originally a third round pick by P.G. in 2014.

The trade alleviates one of the overage spots for the Broncos, leaving them with six possible 1998-born players – when you exclude those signed to professional contracts. They are d-men Pouliot, and import Artyome Minulin and forwards Kaden Elder, Kole Gable, Tanner Nagel and Andrew Fyten.

Broncos sign Pynnonen

The Swift Current Broncos added another player on Monday in 2001-born defenseman Roope Pynnonen from Finland. The five-foot-ten, 183 pound blue liner put up two points in 16 game with HK U18 last year.

The left-handed Finnish d-man is their second import signing this summer as their first-round pick Joona Kiviniemi signed earlier.

The Broncos had 1998-born d-man Artyom Minulin and 1999-born forward Aleksi Hepoiniemi as their imports last year. Mnulin would take two spots as an overage player and an import and thus will not likely return. Heponiemi signed with Karpat in the Finnish league, Liiga.

Hockey Canada U18 camp

Hockey Canada brought their 44 invitees to Calgary last Saturday and today marked the first game played between the two teams the players had been split into – Team Red and Team White.

In the first of three games between the two teams, Team Red jumped out to a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play and then hung on for a 5-4 win.

Saskatoon Blades goalie Nolan Maier stopped 34 of 38 to get the win in net for Team Red.

Medicine Hat Tigers forward Josh Williams led the WHL representatives on Team Red with two assists and Dylan Cozens (Lethbridge) and Bowen Byram (Vancouver) each added an assist.

For Team White, Kirby Dach (Saskatoon), Braden Schneider (Brandon) and Connor Zary (Kamloops) each had a goal and Kelowna Rockets d-man Kaedon Korczok added an assist.

Taylor Gauthier (Prince George) figures to get the start tomorrow for Team White.

At the end of camp on Wednesday, we should find out Hockey Canada’s team for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta.

BC Provincial Camp

Another camp got its games going on Monday with three separate U16 teams competing at BC Hockey’s U16 Provincial Camp. The 2003-born players invited are trying to represent British Columbia at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer February 16-22.

On the first day, Team BC Yellow played twice, winning one and losing one. They beat Team BC Blue 3-2 and lost to Team BC White 3-1. Tomorrow Team BC Blue is the squad that plays twice.

Here are your WHL-drafted scoring leaders after one day of games at U16 Provincial Camp at Shawinigan Lake.

Zack Funk – Forward- Team BC Yellow -Calgary Hitmen – 3 points.

Nolan Bentham – Defense – Team BC Yellow – Victoria Royals -1 point.

Braden Smith – Defense – Team BC White – Victoria Royals – 1 point.

Matthew Seminoff – Forward – Team BC Blue – Kamloops Blazers – 1 point – signed by Kamloops.

Graham Sward – Defense – Team BC White – Spokane Chiefs – 1 point – signed.

Dylan Fader – Forward – Team BC Blue- Red Deer Rebels – 1 point.

Logan Stankoven – Forward – Team BC White – Kamloops Blazers – 1 point – signed.

Michael Abgrall – Forward – Team BC White – Edmonton Oil Kings – 1 point.

Finlay Williams – Forward – Team BC Blue – Swift Current Broncos – 1 point.

Cage Newans – Forward – Team BC Blue- Victoria Royals – 1 point.

Carson Latimer – Forward – Team BC Blue – Edmonton Oil Kings – 1 point.

Trevor Wong – Forward – Team BC White – Kelowna Rockets – 1 point.

Raiders sign Aliaksei Protas

The Prince Albert Raders announced that they had signed CHL Import Draft pick Aliaksei Protas, a 2001-born Belarusian. Protas was taken with the 26th overall pick in June.

The six-foot-three, 179 pound center put up 20 points in 49 games for Team Belarus U17 last year before going on to play at the U18 World Junior Championships where he had a goal and three assists for four points in five games.

The Raiders could make the selection in Protas because defenseman Vojtech Budik was an overage player. It was announced less than a week after the import draft that Budik had signed with HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech league. Budik was a fifth round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016 but became a free agent when he was not signed by June of this year.

That leaves the Raiders with two Belarusian players in Protas and 1999-born defenseman Sergei Sapego as their imports.

Links and notes:

-Former Red Deer Rebels captain Grayson Pawlenchuk committed to the University of Alberta.

-Former Spokane Chiefs star Ray Whitney won a celebrity golf tournament. 

-Red Deer import pick Oleg Zaitsev, Medicine Hat pick Vasiliy Podkolzin and Regina selections Sergei Alkhimov and Nikita Sedov are on that list. Zaitsev, Alkhimov and Sedov have been signed by their WHL teams.