First, Brandon made their first move in stocking up for the Memorial Cup, acquiring 19 year old forward Shayne Wiebe from Kamloops. Wiebe is one of the guys I figured Kamloops would NOT want to trade, since he was one of their two best players AND he'll be back next year as an overager. But apparently he had quietly asked for a trade out of the circus in Kamloops and I guess it doesn't get any better for him than going to his hometown and to a team that is going to play in the Memorial Cup.
High price paid by the Wheat Kings though, 17 year old Jordan DePape. DePape was the rookie of the year in the Manitoba Jr A league last year after posting 85 points as a 16 year old. He'll be a good player and the Blazers are going to get two and a half or three and a half years out of him yet.
Second note, if you haven't heard already, the Fraser Valley Bruins of the B.C. AAA midget league were involved in a bus accident on Friday outside Williams Lake, B.C. en route to a tournament. The bus hit black ice and spun off the road and down an embankment, landing on its side. Thankfully there were no fatalities and actually only one or two significant injuries. The only name that has been mentioned as being amongst the injured is that of 15 year old goaltender Mackenzie Skapski, who apparently underwent surgery for "internal injuries". Skapski was a 3rd round pick of the Kootenay Ice back in May and had a lengthy stay with them at training camp despite not being old enough to play in the WHL this year. Hopefully he will make a full recovery.
Several other good WHL prospects are on that team and were presumably on that bus too, including four of last year's first round bantam picks - Steven Hodges (Chilliwack), Chase Clayton (Calgary), Jason Siebert (Kelowna), and Dalton Sward (Vancouver).
And the first scrimmage is in the books at the Canadian WJC tryout camp in Regina. Some WHL boys got mentioned and some didn't.....two more days to impress the coaching staff, the team gets announced on Wednesday.
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