Edition number four of Inside the CHL, the Canadian Hockey League’s audio show, will be available late Friday afternoon at the official website of the CHL, www.chl.ca.
Inside the CHL is an audio program featuring interviews and news from around the CHL, hosted by the league’s Director of Information, Roger Lajoie. On the new show, members of Team Canada’s national junior team talk about getting ready for the World Junior Hockey Championships, which take place starting Christmas Day in the Czech Republic.
Pascal Leclaire, goaltender with the Montreal Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Stephen Weiss, forward with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League and goalie Shane Bendera of the defending Memorial Cup champion Red Deer Rebels, all talk about their experiences at the camp, playing for Canada and their current CHL teams.
Also on the show is a feature interview with Eugene Melnyk, who took over as owner of the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors of the Ontario Hockey League before the 2001-2002 OHL season began. Melnyk, a St. Michael’s College School alumnus and successful businessman, talks about his reasons for buying the historic franchise and his plans to construct a new arena for the team within the next two years.
Inside the CHL is available during the season every two weeks, usually on Fridays, at www.chl.ca. The program is also heard on junior hockey radio broadcasts across the country as an intermission feature, with CHL media members encouraged to use the show as they see fit to work into their broadcasts.
After edition four, the next edition of Inside the CHL will be on-line on Friday, Jan. 11, after Team Canada returns from the World Junior Hockey Championships, and every second Friday after that until the end of the hockey season.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are seven games in the WHL Friday night. Saskatoon is at Portland, Spokane visits Seattle, Lethbridge is at Brandon, Swift Current travels to Kamloops (3), Prince Albert is in Moose Jaw, Kootenay visits Red Deer (9) and Vancouver is at Tri-City.
There were no games in the WHL Thursday night.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are eight games on the busy as usual Friday night OHL schedule. Kitchener is in Guelph (7), Belleville travels to Kingston, North Bay battles London, Erie plays in Mississauga, Peterborough travels to Ottawa, Windsor is at Plymouth (2), Brampton visits Sault Ste. Marie (10) and Barrie (6) is in Sudbury.
There were three games in the OHL on Thursday night. Ottawa got past Peterborough 3-1, Brampton edged Sarnia 3-2 in overtime and Windsor beat Guelph (7) 5-2.
At Peterborough, Zenon Konopka’s goal in the second period turned out to be the winner as the 67’s edged the Petes. J.F. Perras made 26 saves in the Ottawa net while Greg Chambers had the lone goal for Peterborough.
At Sarnia, Chris Rowan’s second goal of the game 29 seconds into overtime gave Brampton its win. Brad Topping was brilliant for the Battalion, making 37 saves as Sarnia out-shot the visitors 39-20. Adam Henrich tied the game for Brampton with one minute left in regulation time while Dusty Jamieson had a pair of goals for the Sting.
At Windsor, Craig Kennedy scored twice in the third period to lead the Spitfires to their win. Ryan Aschaber stopped 44 shots while Leonid Zvachkin had two assists for the Storm.
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
There are five games on tap in the QMJHL Friday night. Victoriaville is at Moncton, Quebec plays at Cape Breton, Montreal visits Chicoutimi, Acadie-Bathurst (1) is in Rimouski and Val-d’Or is at Rouyn-Noranda.
There were three games in the QMJHL on Thursday night. Halifax (8) stopped Victoriaville 6-2, Baie-Comeau blanked Montreal 3-0 and Rimouski slid past Hull 2-1.
At Halifax, Brandon Benedict had two goals and one assist while Robbie Sutherland added one goal and two assists to lead the Mooseheads. Pierre-Luc Sleigher had one goal and one assist for the losers, while Dany Dallaire made 22 saves in goal for Halifax before 6,271 fans.
At Baie-Comeau, Louis-Philippe Martin had two goals and one assist to lead the Drakkar past the Rocket. Yanick Lehoux had the other Baie-Comeau goal while Ghyslain Rousseau made 29 saves for the winners to earn the shutout. Jonathan Cayer made 27 saves in the Montreal goal.
At Rimouski, Nicolas Poirier scored a pair of goals to lead Rimouski past Hull. Eric Salvail had to make just 15 saves in goal for the winners while Martin Vagner scored the lone Hull goal.
For complete QMJHL statistics and standings, visit the QMJHL site.
