Fast Break

Junior hockey

Cowen, Koper invited to top prospects game

The Canadian Hockey League announced Thursday that Spokane Chiefs Jared Cowen (above) and Levko Koper will participate in the 2009 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game hosted by the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League.

The event will showcase 40 of the top CHL players eligible for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft beginning with a skills competition on Jan. 13. The game is scheduled for Jan. 14 at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ontario.

The rosters are selected by the 30 NHL general managers and NHL Central Scouting. Cowen and Koper are the 11th and 12th Chiefs in history to participate in the Top Prospects game and they will make it four years in a row that Spokane has been represented in the game.

Cowen is the top prospect in the WHL as named by NHL Central Scouting in its preliminary draft rankings released in November.

The 2008 event held in Edmonton, Alberta, featured 20 players that were selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Junior Hockey

Ulmer’s hat trick lifts Austria

Stefan Ulmer scored three goals for Austria in a 7-0 win over Norway at the Division I, Group B World Junior Hockey Championships. Austria is 3-0 in the tournament and the Chiefs defenseman leads his country with four goals and eight points in three games.

Austria will play two more games, today against Italy (1-2) and Sunday against the undefeated host country Denmark in the final game of the tournament.

Ulmer, Spokane’s lone selection in the 2007 CHL Import Draft, is in his second season in a Spokane jersey and leads all Chiefs defensemen with three goals and 20 points in 30 games. He will be back with the Chiefs on Dec. 27 when they play host to the Tri-City Americans.

Soccer

Bird brained, player blamed

An attempted shot on goal killed a pigeon during an Argentine league title match in Buenos Aires.

A soccer player in Buenos Aires made a powerful kick that went toward a group of pigeons looking for seeds in the grass. An explosion of feathers followed and the pigeons flew away – except one.

Several players on the San Lorenzo team surrounded the wounded bird as it tried to fly away but then collapsed. The referee scooped up the dead pigeon and placed it off the field.

Saying “poor pigeon,” San Lorenzo defender Gaston Aguirre called the kick “unfortunate.”

He said he’s worried he’ll be remembered as the soccer player who killed a pigeon.