Medicine Hat's Valk, Shinkaruk have five-point nights

Saturday, 10.27.2012 / 12:12 AM

By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor / 2013 NHL Draft blog

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2013 NHL Draft blog
Medicine Hat's Valk, Shinkaruk have five-point nights

Quebec Remparts forward Adam Erne wasn't the only top 2013 NHL Draft prospect to have an offensively explosive night Friday.

Medicine Hat teammates Hunter Shinkaruk and Curtis Valk each had five-point games in the Tigers' 10-1 rout of the host Calgary Hitmen.

Valk scored four goals and added an assist, while Shinkaruk had a goal and four assists -- all primary assists on Valk's goals.

A 5-foot-9, 160-pound center, Valk scored twice in a 2:40 span early in the second to blow open what had been a 2-0 Tigers lead, and made it a hat trick at 13:55 of the second. He added a fourth goal 1:08 into the third period.

Valk entered Friday's game with nine goals; he's now tied for second in the WHL with 13, and the five points gave him 24 for the season, fourth in the league. He had one previous hat trick in his four-season WHL career, coming last season when he had 24 goals in 67 games.

Shinkaruk, a 5-10, 166-pound center, earned an A rating in NHL Central Scouting's preliminary rankings of players to watch for this year's draft. He had 14 points in 13 games this season prior to the five-point game; with 19 points he's now tied for 10th in the league in scoring. Last season, he had 49 goals and 91 points in 66 games, including one six-point game, when he had three goals and three assists in a game against the Everett Silvertips on Nov. 1, 2011. He never had more than three assists in a WHL game.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

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