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Reinhart vs. Reinhart squared, surging Kingston heads west: the coast-to-coast

Neate Sager

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

WHL

It will be (Sam) Reinhart vs. (Griffin) Reinhart in two Kootenay-Edmonton games this weekend. The Oil Kings' back end has been thinned out by injuries. (Edmonton Journal)

The Brandon Wheat Kings' attendance is down for the fourth consecutive season since the club's Memorial Cup host year in 2009-10, writes James Shewaga. (Brandon Sun, paywall)

Forward Cain Franson, among others, is off the injured list for the Vancouver Giants, who are in their second season in a row as the B.C. Division's resident struggler. (Vancouver Province)

The franchise coming off hosting the Memorial Cup is supposed to struggle, yet the Saskatoon Blades are on a seven-game point streak. May we get #StubbornBlades trending if this continues? (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

A scoring outage is raising questions about whether Tri-City can extend that streak of seven 40-win seasons. (Tri-City Herald)

OHL

Venerable Gare Joyce took in Guelph's 9-3 win at Kingston on Thanksgiving Sunday and is dubious that the 7-1-0-1 Frontenacs are legit: "just on the play of the backend alone, I’d presume the rest of the conference will close on Kingston when the snow falls." Kingston has its first western swing vs. Kitchener and Owen Sound this weekend. (Sportsnet, Waterloo Record)

The Pittsburgh Penguins are using experienced defencemen at forward in practice, which might extend Olli Maatta's absence from the London Knights. (City of Champions Sports)

Kerby Rychel's synopsis of Windsor's home loss to Guelph: "I think we’re finding ways to lose games rather than finding ways to win." (Windsor Star)

Sure, he was/is small, but how did the London Knights manage to draft Mitchell Marner with the No. 19 overall pick last April? (HockeyProspect.com)

If anyone is shopping a surplus defenceman, call Ottawa coach-GM Chris Byrne. Veteran Mike Vlajkov is out for an extended period.

Brett who? The Sarnia Sting pulled out a come-from-behind win over Sarnia hours after 17-year-old wing Brett Hargrave asked for a trade. (Sarnia Observer)

Back-to-back shutouts? Pittsburgh Penguins-drafted goalie Matt Murray has earned a Saturday night off from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds net, don't you think? (Sault Star, Soo Today)

Sophomore goalie Justin Nichols was the reason Guelph was able to nab two road points at Windsor. (Guelph Mercury)

Tampa Bay Lightning second-rounder Dylan Blujus made his season debut for North Bay and the Battalion outshot Plymouth by a 2:1 margin. Long-term, that matters more than who won in overtime, right? (North Bay Nugget)

Peterborough Petes coach Jody Hull wasn't happy his club let Mississauga back in with two late goals on Thursday night. (Peterborough Examiner)

The Erie Otters are giving up fewer than 30 shots per night. Is there more to that than having Connor McDavid, et al., create a lot of offensive zone time? (Erie Times-News)

Fifty goals allowed in nine games, Sudbury? This is 2013, not 1983. (Sudbury Star)

Breaking up their top line paid off immediately for Niagara, since it scored seven goals on Thursday, including three from 18-year-old wing Anthony DiFruscia. (St. Catharines Standard)

QMJHL

What else can go wrong for winless Shawinigan? Nineteen-year-old goalie Marvin Cupper is doubtful for Friday's game vs. Rimouski. Meantime, the Cataractes still feel they got hornswoggled by a replay review last week. (Le Nouvelliste)

Here is the Tampa Bay Lightning's perspective on why it returned Jonathan Drouin to the Halifax Mooseheads.

Quebec Remparts veteran Brent Turnbull will face some old friends in Acadie-Bathurst this weekend. (Le Soleil)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.