– Another kudo for Wheat Kings’ centre John Quenneville. Quenneville was ranked 39th among all prospects in TSN’s mid-season NHL Draft rankings that were released Thursday night. That means a possible early second round selection by an NHL team in June. Scouts may not be able to see the Wheat Kings’ leading scorer for a while after he left Wednesday’s game in Swift Current with an upper body injury.
– It’s a busy weekend for the Virden Oil Capitals. The Oil Caps will play three in three nights, hosting Neepawa Friday night and Swan Valley on Sunday while also visiting the Waywayseecappo Wolverines on Saturday. Virden enters the weekend two points behind first-place Dauphin in the MJHL’s Sherwood Division with a game in hand. Oil Caps’ defenceman Kevin Pochuk guested on Thursday’s Oil Caps’ Report on CKLQ.
– The Winnipeg Jets saw their four-game winning streak come to an end Thursday night with a 1-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Joe Pavelski scored the game’s only goal 6:48 into the third period while Alex Stalock made 20 saves in the Sharks’ net. Ondrej Pavelec made 31 saves in the Winnipeg net. The Jets remain ten points out of a playoff spot and return home to host Toronto Saturday night.
– The co-captains of the Brandon Wheat Kings’ 2009-2010 team scored in the same game for the first time in their NHL careers Thursday night. Matt Calvert had a one goal and assist to help the Columbus Blue Jackets win their eighth straight game, defeating Philadelphia 5-2. Brayden Schenn scored his 14th goal of the season in a losing cause for the Flyers.
– It might have been the final nail in the playoff coffin for the Brandon University men’s basketball team. The Bobcats dropped a 77-69 decision to Winnipeg Thursday night to fall ten points behind the Wesmen and Lethbridge for fourth-place and the final playoff spot in the Prairie Division. Ilarion Bonhomme had 16 points in a losing cause for BU, who slipped to 5-and-10 on the season.
– The BU women’s basketball team was held without a point in the second quarter of a 58-54 loss to the Winnipeg Wesmen Thursday night. Kaela Cranston had a game-high 23 points for the Lady ‘Cats, who made a game of it by closing with a 24-10 run in the fourth quarter. The loss snapped Brandon’s three-game winning streak and left BU with a 5-and-10 record.
– Carberry’s Braden Calvert will have a couple of days of rest before trying to capture Manitoba’s second straight title at the Canadian Junior Men’s Curling Championship. Calvert concluded his round-robin by splitting his two games Thursday, finishing with a 9-and-1 record. He and his Deer Lodge team had already clinched first-place and a spot in Sunday’s final. Meanwhile, Manitoba’s Meaghan Brezden lost her final two games Thursday and finished at 5-and-5 and out of the playoffs.
– The seedings for the 2014 Safeway Championship will be announced Friday by Curl Manitoba. Defending champion Jeff Stoughton, Mike McEwen and Rob Fowler are expected to be the 1-2-3 seeds. The Provincial Men’s Curling Championship begins next Wednesday at the MTS IcePlex in Winnipeg.
– Kelly Scott’s team announced Thursday night that they will not be continuing on with the same personnel next season. Three of the team’s members have been together, for the most part, over the entirety of a glorious run of eight Scotties appearances, including two Canadian championships in 2006 and 2007 and a world championship in 2007. Second Sasha Carter was with Scott for every one of those moments and third Jeanna Schraeder was there for those wins, too, but did take a year off from curling before rejoining the team in 2012.
– Hayley Wickenheiser will lead the parade for Canada. The women’s hockey star was named Canada’s flag bearer for the Sochi Winter Games. This will be Wickenheiser’s sixth Olympics — five with the hockey team, and one in softball.
– The men’s final at the Australian Open is set. Rafael Nadal continued his dominant streak over Roger Federer to reach the final for the third time, beating the 17-time major winner in straight sets to set up a championship decider against #8-seeded Stan Wawrinka. Nadal now has won 23 of his 33 matches against Federer, including nine of 11 in the majors.
– Super Sunday is a little more than a week away. But what about Super Saturday, or Friday or even Super Monday? The NFL is making contingency plans should a mega winter storm hit the New York area on Super Bowl Sunday. League executive VP Eric Grubman says one possible option may be to move the start time of the game or even the game day. This week’s winter storm gave crews a chance for a dress rehearsal of sorts on snow removal at MetLife stadium in northern New Jersey, where the game will be played.
– If you want to watch the Super Bowl, you won’t have to be planted in front of a big screen to do it. Thanks to online streaming, you can catch the game on a smartphone of tablet. Fox says it will offer free access to all users on computers and tablets through its app for the NFL title game. That continues a tradition that started with the last two Super Bowls _ which were streamed on NBC, then on CBS. Those streams were available through Web browsers. This will be the first time the big game will be streamed through an app.
– They’re just about ready to drop the puck at Dodger Stadium. The NHL’s ice crew has built a fully functioning rink in the middle of the iconic baseball field, and only a few tweaks remain before Saturday’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim. Even with daytime temperatures over 25 Celsius and abnormal humidity recently in Southern California, NHL ice guru Dan Craig is confident the outdoor game won’t turn into a swim meet.
