ICE CHIPS: The KOOTENAY ICE enter tonight's action with a 25-22-0-1 record (15-8-0-0 at home, 10-14-0-1 on the road, 5-0 in overtime, 1-1 in shootouts)...Following tonight's contest KOOTENAY, winners of their past three games, will visit LETHBRIDGE January 28 before opening a seven-game home stand versus REGINA January 30.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: KOOTENAY is currently carrying 24 players (two goaltenders, nine defensemen and 13 forwards)...The ICE roster is made up of three 1994-born players, 11 1995-born players, three 1996-born players, five 1997-born players, and two 1998-born players...KOOTENAY has seven first-year players on its roster.
DID YOU KNOW: Forward LUKE PHILP leads the ICE in home scoring with 28 points (10-18-28)…Forward JAEDON DESCHENEAU is ranked second (13-13-26)...KOOTENAY holds a 22-13-2-0 lifetime record versus PRINCE GEORGE (13-4-1-0 at home, 9-9-1-0 on the road, 2-0-2 in overtime)...Forward SAM REINHART surpassed JARRET STOLL for the KOOTENAY ICE franchise lead in career regular season points January 17 at SASKATOON…STOLL had held the franchise points record since 2002…REINHART now has 291 career points (111-180-291) in 226 games, 19 fewer than STOLL...Two KOOTENAY skaters were named this week on the NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING MIDTERM RANKINGS for the 2015 NHL DRAFT…Forward ZAK ZBOROSKY was ranked 97th while PHILP was rated 191st among North American skaters…DESCHENEAU scored his 100th career WHL goal January 24 versus SWIFT CURRENT...Forward LEVI CABLE collected his 100th career WHL regular season point (assist) January 24 against the BRONCOS...Forward TIM BOZON tallied his 100th point with the ICE (assist) January 24 versus SWIFT CURRENT...BOZON recorded his fourth career hat-trick (and second with KOOTENAY) January 22 at EDMONTON...BOZON is three assists away from 150 in his WHL career…Forward AUSTIN VETTERL played in his 250th career WHL regular season game January 24 versus the BRONCOS...PHILP appeared in his 200th career WHL regular season game January 22 against the OIL KINGS…Forward RYAN CHYNOWETH is three games away from 200 career WHL regular season appearances...The ICE franchise is two regular season victories short of 700 since its inaugural season (1996-97).
INJURY: Defenseman TANNER FAITH will be out of the KOOTENAY lineup four to six months with an upper body injury.
STREAKS: SAM REINHART has collected points in each of his past seven games (2-8-10)…LUKE PHILP (4-3-7) and JAEDON DESCHENEAU (2-4-6) are both riding five-game point streaks...TYLER KING has points in his last three game (2-2-4).
ONE YEAR AGO: After 48 games of the 2013-14 season the ICE were 24-20-2-2, after 49 games 25-20-2-2 and after 50 games 25-21-2-2.
DRAFTED PLAYERS: SAM REINHART - Buffalo Sabres (1st Round, 2014 NHL Draft), TIM BOZON - Montreal Canadiens (3rd Round, 2012 NHL Draft), RINAT VALIEV - Toronto Maple Leafs (3rd Round, 2014 NHL Draft), JAEDON DESCHENEAU - St. Louis Blues (5th Round, 2014 NHL Draft), TANNER FAITH – Minnesota Wild (5th Round, 2014 NHL Draft).
TONIGHT’S OFFICIALS: The Referees for tonight’s game are REID ANDERSON and MIKE CAMPBELL...The Linesmen are MICHAEL BOISVERT and JIM MANIAGO.