The Morden Thunder scored four third period goals en route to a 7-5 victory over the Miller Aces in the lone Zone 4 High School Hockey League game. Acoyen Fehr had a four-point night with two goals and two assists. Adam Derksen, Brooks Merasty, Darby Olson, Josh Ryckman Guilford and Owen Vanrobaeys also scored for the hometown Thunder. Reece Fehr, Coen Gagne, Ziko Pankratz, Oakley Peters and Tyson Tarnick replied for the Aces.
Hudson Malinoski of the Brooks Bandits scored twice as Canada West defeated Canada East 6-3 Monday night at the 2022 World Junior A Hockey Challenge in Cornwall, Ontario. Erick Roest of the Sherwood Park Crusaders made 18 saves for the win. Canada West has a 2-0 preliminary round record while Canada East is 1-1. Both teams play again Wednesday. Canada West will face Latvia and Canada East will meet the United States. Winkler Flyers bench boss Justin Falk is the head coach for Team Canada West and Morden's Trent Crane is on Team Canada East's roster.
Goaltender Carson Bjarnason and forward Nate Danielson of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Ice foward Zach Benson will play in the 2023 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game scheduled for Wednesday, January 25th in Langley, British Columbia. The game will feature the top 40 CHL players eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft this summer in Nashville. Bjarnason was only one of two goaltenders who received an "A" rating by NHL Central Scouting earlier this year. The 17-year-old Carberry native is third in the WHL with total saves and owns a 2.98 goals against average with a 0.911 save percentage and one shutout this season. Danielson also received an "A" rating by NHL Central Scouting. The 17-year-old from Red Deer leads the Wheat Kings in scoring with 15 goals and 22 assists and just had his 13 game point streak snapped in the loss to the Calgary Hitmen Sunday afternoon. Danielson currently has 22 points in his last 14 games. Benson, 17, from Chilliwack is currently in his third WHL season and leads the Ice in goals with 18 and points with 44 in 28 games.
Connor Bedard and Shane Wright are headliners on Canada's 22-player roster for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship in Halifax and Moncton. They were virtual locks to make the final cut on a list that includes 20 skaters and two goalies. Canada will begin defence of its gold medal against Czechia on Boxing Day in Halifax. Winnipeg Ice defenseman Carson Lambos was one of 10 players who were cut at the end of the selection camp.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed veteran Canadian defensive tackle Jake Thomas to a one-year extension. Thomas was scheduled to become a free agent in February. The 32-year-old Douglas, New Brunswick native returns in 2023 for what will be his 11th Canadian Football League season, all of them with the Blue Bombers. Those 11 seasons and 169 regular season games played make Thomas the longest-serving player currently on the team. In 2022, Thomas registered four quarterback sacks, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He has not missed a single game in the last five seasons and has missed just seven games in his entire career. Originally selected by the Blue Bombers in fourth round, 29th overall, in the 2012 CFL Draft, Thomas has registered 144 tackles and 26 sacks for the football club.
Canada's sports minister Pascal St-Onge is committing $2.4 million in crisis funding for athletes' mental health. The money will support crisis care, education and training for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches. Many athletes have recently pointed to abusive and toxic environments in Canadian high-performance sport.