Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Nashville Predators-drafted centre Cam Reid has left St. Cloud State to join the Portland Winterhawks, who reportedly "promis[ed] him a chance to start at center" between stars Sven Bärtschi and Ty Rattie.  (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, St. Cloud Times)

Saskatoon Blades star goalie Andrey Makarov is expected to miss at least a week due to a concussion. (Calgary Herald)

The Kelowna Rockets are entertaining offers for star winger Brett Bulmer on deadline day. (Dub Nation)

A first and a second round pick for an overage player? Too rich for many general managers' blood. (Small Thoughts at Large)

The Tri-City Americans got a draft pick back by sending young defender Riley Guenther to (Tri-City Herald)

OHL

Summarizing the last few hours before the trade deadline. (Loose Pucks)

The newest London Knight, U.S. world junior forward Austin Watson, is no stranger to a playoff atmosphere at John Labatt

Kevin SundherTypically, a top scorer such Kevin Sundher does not land on a team holding down the final spot in its conference.

However, the WHL's Eastern Conference is fairly wide open this season, so Brandon Wheat Kings GM and owner Kelly McCrimmon, still flush with younger players and bantam draft selections from the Brayden Schenn trade last season, went out and added Sundher from the Victoria Royals late Monday night. It's a unique move not only due to the Wheat Kings' spot in the standings but for the fact the team is already third in the WHL in goal scoring, while having allowed more goals (153) than all but one other team that holds a playoff spot. Why add the seventh-leading scorer in the league instead of more defence?

As McCrimmon explained it:

"We've talked about the fact that we haven't been at the level that we've needed to be at for the last six weeks ... as we move into the stretch drive and into the playoffs, we think adding Kevin Sundher to our team is really going to make a difference.

" ... When you're looking to improve your team, adding good players at any position to your team is going to make a difference. One of the things we talked about all year is the importance of the centre-ice position. What this does is gives us someone who complents our talented group and will strengthen all four lines." (Luber's Lounge)

Sundher, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, has 22 goals and 64 points in 40 games this season, which shows what a potent scorer and playmaker he's matured into during his final junior season.

Jamie OleksiakNo team has ever suited up five members of Team Canada at once, so that should provide some idea of what's on the line for the Niagara IceDogs. Coach-GM Marty Williamson, whose team has not run away with the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference as much as everyone giddily anticipated in the preseason, made an 8-for-1 deal Monday for hulking 6-foot-7 defenceman Jamie Oleksiak.

The IceDogs won't lose anything tangible if adding Oleksiak to a core that includes world junior players Mark Visentin, Dougie Hamilton, Freddie Hamilton and Ryan Strome doesn't pay off with winning the OHL championship. Still, this is a team that has It's played good, not great hockey with a 23-13-0-3 record, good for third in the conference, behind their pace from last season when their nucleus was younger. If they can't dominate when one-quarter of the lineup has worn the Maple Leaf, well ... anyway, here are the details on the trade:

The IceDogs sent Frank Schumacher, along with the rights to [goalie] Alex Sakellaropoulos and [University of Michigan commit] Cristoval Nieves, and Oshawa and Niagara's third-round draft picks in 2012, Barrie's second-round pick, Windsor's eighth-round pick in 2013 and Sarnia's second pick in 2015 for Oleksiak.

In addition Saginaw receives a sixth-round pick in 2014 if Oleksiak plays his overage season. (St. Catharines Standard)

Cam BraesWith less than 24 hours remaining until the Western Hockey League's trade deadline, fans and GMs around the league have been waiting for the first big domino to fall.

A deal has just gone down between Moose Jaw and Lethbridge, sending the Hurricanes' overage top scorer, Cam Braes, to the Warriors for a first-round pick in 2012 and a second-round pick next year.

With 24 goals and 45 points this season, Braes bring some offensive heft to a team that lacks a big-time scorer beyond Quinton Howden. But two high draft picks to get a 20-year-old for 30 games plus a playoff run is a lot to shell out.

Moose Jaw also figured in another deal today, sending defenceman Tyler Vanscourt to Vancouver for a fifth-round pick. Speculation around the league is that this move may be a precursor to the Warriors bringing in Martin Marincin from Prince George.

Other than Braes leaving last-place Lethbridge for second-place Moose Jaw, nothing else major has happened as of yet, despite rumours flying that stars like Jordan Weal, Calvin Pickard, Ryan Murray, Kevin Sundher, Brett Bulmer and even Emerson Etem might be available.

Last season, Portland dealt for Craig Cunningham nearly two weeks before the deadline, paving the way for trades that sent Cody Eakin to Kootenay and Brayden Schenn to Saskatoon.

The big moves paid off last year for Kootenay and Portland, which met in the WHL final.

Sean NorrisWith no games Monday night, WHL fans constantly checking Twitter for trade deadline updates might have to distracted themselves by watching a WHL ambassador on the evening's episode of "Jeopardy!"

Portland Winterhawks public address announcer Sean Norris (nicknamed "Pipes") appeared on Monday's episode, which was taped in early November. He was able to sneak away from Portland for a few days for the taping in California without missing a home Winterhawks game.

UPDATE: Norris finished third after going into Final Jeopardy with $800. He was the only one of the contestants to get the question correct (it was about the movie Thor) and he wagered $44. He received $1,000 and other parting gifts for his appearance.

Norris says that his job was definitely a factor in landing a spot on the show.

"The producers were very interested in the fact that I work for a hockey team," he said after Portland's home game last Friday. "They don't get many sports-related people on the show."

Norris, whose enthusiastic personality should make for a great TV presence, took an online "Jeopardy!" test about a year ago. Out of several hundred thousand online tests, a couple thousand people are selected for regional auditions around the U.S. Norris went to Seattle in August and participated in a mock game and an interview.

Six weeks later, Norris got a call inviting him to be a contestant, which shocked him.

Austin WatsonPicture London Knights haters evoking Princess Leia: Help us, Mike Vellucci, you're our only hope.

Evidently, why settle for adding one 19-year-old forward when you can add to? One day ahead of the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline, league-leading London has, final conditions pending, reeled in a force up fron by trading with the Peterborough Petes for world junior forward Austin Watson. So the Knights will end up with no worse than two of the best three or four forwards available in the league, with the Nashville Predators first-round choice coming to a team that already added a premier finisher by adding Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Greg McKegg, a 49-goal scorer last season with the Erie Otters.

How big is this? Well, Austin Watson is trending on Twitter at this writing and it seems to have immobilized the OHL website. So it's a pretty big deal. While forecasts on Watson's NHL upside are mixed, at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds he takes care of the Knights' biggest flaw up front (GM-coach Mark Hunter: "He's a bigger body who can score and we needed to get bigger up front"). He was producing for the Petes, with 14 goals and 33 points in 32 games.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

No doubt league-leading goal scorer Ty Rattie just loves seeing his name in the same sentence with Charlie Sheen's. (Portland Tribune)

Oh, you'll have to pay if you want to pry Jordan Weal away from the Regina Pats. Don't think you won't pay! (Regina Leader-Post)

Meantime, next year's MasterCard Memorial Cup host, the Saskatoon Blades, might just let the chips fall where they may. Having star goalie Andrey Makarov go down with a concussion hurts for them. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Brandon Wheat Kings forwards Alessio Bertaggia and Mark Stone talk about their world junior trip. (Luber's Lounge)

Brady Brassart has been a sparkplug of late for the Calgary Hitmen. (Calgary Herald)

Rookie Brian Williams has been the ultimate utility player for the Tri-City Americans. (Red Light District)

Getting a fourth-round pick from Tri-City for tough guy Jesse Mychan was a coup for the Everett Silvertips,

abSaskatoon Blades defenceman Dalton Thrower couldn't have done any better of a job of increasing his draft stock over this past month.

The 6-foot, 185-pounder was named CHL player of the week at the end of December. This honour is mainly due to his eye-popping performance against the Prince Albert Raiders in the Blades last game of 2011. Thrower, 18, netted two goals and four assists in a 9-4 shellacking of the struggling Raiders. Thrower followed that superb showing by kicking off the New Year with a bang. He scored one goal and three assists against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 1.

"The puck has just been bouncing my way and hard work is paying off," says the 18-year-old. "These hot streaks are nice. I'm just going to continue to work hard and try and keep this play going."

The North Vancouver, B.C., native has benefited from playing alongside Colorado Avalanche first-round choice Duncan Siemens. Thrower has been able to watch firsthand how much hard work and dedication it takes to