Friday's highlights

Interesting report out of Jackson, Mich., where a middle-school football coach named Anthony Porter recently was canned. Why? According to WILX-TV of Lansing, he stopped the team bus on the way home from a game and had the players doing calisthenics beside the road. . . . Sheesh, there was a time when Kamloops head coach Ken Hitchcock stopped the Blazers bus and made his players walk across the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver. . . . Or what about last season when then-Everett head coach Kevin Constantine made his players ride home in their equipment from Kennewick, Wash., after a preseason game. . . . Should have fired them both, I guess. . . . Or perhaps Porter should be a junior hockey coach. . . .

RW Ken Petkau won’t be in the Vancouver Giants’ lineup Sunday when they meet the Bruins in Chillwack. That’s the word from Eric J. Welsh of the Chilliwack Progress. You’ll recall that Petkau left the Bruins on Oct. 3, telling them that he was retiring in order to get on with his life. . . . Then, on Thursday, the Giants claimed Petkau from the Bruins in the WHL’s 20-year-old draft. . . . Except that Petkau was found to be headed for Oklahoma City and a tryout with the Central league’s Blazers. . . . Welsh reports that as far as the WHL is concerned, the Giants made a legitimate claim on Petkau and that because he hasn’t been waived through the WHL he won’t be able to play in the Central league. . . . Petkau skated with Oklahoma City in practice on Friday. . . . Welsh also reports that the Bruins “have filed a complaint with the WHL seeking to prevent” Petkau from playing for the Giants. “We want to know where this falls in under the rules that exist right now,” Bruins GM Darrell May told Welsh. “The league has to be careful not to set a dangerous precedent with this, or they’re going to find players pulling this same stunt every year when they want to change their situation.” . . . As things sit right now, there are folks in the WHL office who want to speak with Petkau to find out what his thoughts are, but that likely won‘t happen before Monday. After which the final chapter in this saga just may get written. . . .

FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
In Brandon, the Prince George Cougars, who had one victory in six games, began a six-game East Division swing by scoring two late third-period goals to beat the Wheat Kings, 3-2. The Cougars went into the game with one victory in seven games, while Brandon was 5-1-0-0. . . . Goals by RW Parker Stanfield, his first, at 17:18 of the third period and C Greg Gardner, his third, at 19:12, gave the Cougars the victory. . . . Prince George, which was outshot 36-16, also got a big game out of G Tommy Tartaglione. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes, who reported to camp with a broken finger, has yet to get into a game this season and now is out with a concussion. With the WHL’s approval, the Wheat Kings had G Kurt Jory, a 20-year-old who was cut by the Moose Jaw Warriors, on the bench backing up Joe Caligiuri. . . . Brandon has sold a franchise-record 2,701 season tickets, just short of the goal of 3,000. The Wheat Kings boast the cheapest season tickets ($250 for an adult) in the WHL. . . . The Cougars lost C Dale Hunt to a right leg injury in the first period. He didn’t return. . . .

In Lethbridge, the Medicine Hat Tigers got three second-period goals in a span of 2:40, two from C Daine Todd, as they beat the Hurricanes, 3-2, to improve to 6-2-1-0. . . . C Yashar Farmanara, cut by Lethbridge on Thursday at the 20-year-old deadline to make room for LW Mike Wuchterl, was in Medicine Hat’s lineup. He didn’t score but was plus-2. Farmanara, who had 46 points last season, will fit in nicely with the Tigers. He was headed to the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies before the Tigers called. . . . Wuchterl had Lethbridge’s first goal. . . . Lethbridge (4-5-0-0) outshot the visitors 29-15 but the Tigers got a big game from G Tomas Vosvrda. . . . The Hurricanes are in Medicine Hat on Sunday to begin a stretch of seven straight road games. . . . Medicine Hat RW Jerrid Sauer, 20, left with a wrist injury in the second period and is doubtful for a home game tonight against Edmonton. . . .

In Regina, C Jordan Eberle, the best young sniper in the WHL today, scored twice, including the winner in overtime, as the Pats beat the Kootenay Ice, 2-1. . . . The 17-year-old Eberle, who missed two early games with tonsillitis, got his eighth of the season at 4:07 of the second period to give Regina a 1-0 lead. Later, he got the winner on a power play at 1:18 of OT. He has nine goals in seven games. . . . The Pats now are 6-3-0-0, while the Ice slipped to 3-7-1-0. . . . The game included another scrap -- this one four seconds into the game -- between Regina D Nick Ross and Kootenay D John Negrin as the two continued a feud that goes back to last season. . . .

In Saskatoon, the Blades were 3-for-10 with the man advantage as they beat the Red Deer Rebels, 5-2. C Chris Durand, who must have felt some pressure as the 20-year-old deadline approached, what with Saskatoon carrying five 20s early in the week, had a goal and two assists for Saskatoon (3-4-1-0) . . . . The Rebels, beginning a stretch of five games in eight nights, lost their fourth straight game and are 3-6-0-0. . . .

In Prince Albert, C Joel Broda scored his second goal of the game, and sixth of the season, at 2:03 of overtime as the Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Raiders, 4-3. . . . Broda got the winner on a power play after D Travis Hamonic forced extra time with his first goal at 18:47 of the third period. . . . Moose Jaw outshot its hosts, 45-20, but Dustin Butler was stellar in the Raiders’ goal. . . . C Matt Robertson had two goals and a helper for P.A. . . .

In Swift Current, the Broncos finally played their home-opener and they entertained their fans with a 10-1 whipping of the Edmonton Oil Kings. RW Keegan Dansereau led the onslaught with three goals, while Levi Nelson and Matt Tassone had two each. . . . The Broncos had gone 5-2-0-1 on a season-opening road swing that was necessary as their home arena was undergoing renovations. The Broncos finished that trip with a 3-2 shootout loss in Edmonton. . . . The Broncos were 3-for-11 on the PP, while Edmonton (4-3-0-1) was 0-for-4. . . .

In Spokane, the Chiefs scored the game’s last three goals to beat the Portland Winter Hawks, 5-2. . . . LW Drayson Bowman broke a 2-2 tie at 3:22 of the third period and C Mitch Wahl provided some insurance just 17 seconds later. . . . The Chiefs (4-2-1-1) got a goal and an assist from each of C Chris Bruton and Bowman. . . . Portland, which had freshman Mark Guggenberger in goal for his WHL debut, slid to 1-6-0-0. . . . Guggenberger, 18, who is from Richfield, Minn., made 40 saves. . . .

In Everett, the Silvertips did what they do best -- score on the power play -- in scoring a 3-2 overtime victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . C Zach Hamill won it 48 seconds into extra time. . . . Everett (3-5-0-0) got all three of its goals with the man advantage. Everett has scored 24 goals and 17 of them have come via the PP. . . . Kamloops C Brock Nixon forced OT with a shorthanded goal with 1.2 seconds left in the third period. That goal came just moments after Everett LW Brennan Sonne missed an empty Kamloops net. . . . RW Kyle Beach, who had a goal and two assists, scored his sixth goal for Everett and all six have come on the PP. . . . The Blazers, who opened a four-game swing through the U.S. Division, are 3-3-1-0. . . . RW Matt Ius returned to the Silvertips lineup despite being shown on the WHL injury report of Oct. 10 as being out “7-10 days” with a concussion. . . . Now you don’t think WHL teams play games with the injury list, do you? Nah. Never happen. . . .

In Seattle, the Thunderbirds (3-0-1-1) remained the only team not to have suffered a regulation-time loss as they beat the Tri-City Americans, 6-2. . . . Tri-City led 2-1 late in the second period when D Thomas Hickey tied it. Seattle then scored four third-period goals, three of them from C Jeremy Boyer, 17, who scored one goal all of last season. Those were Boyer’s first goals this season. The first two, which broke a 2-2 tie, came nine seconds apart. . . . Seattle G iku Helenius stopped 29 shots in running his record to 3-0-1-0. Tri-City’s Chet Pickard lost for the first time in seven decisions. . . .

In Vancouver, C Evander Kane was the only one of eight shooters to score in the shootout as the Giants beat the Calgary Hitmen, 4-3. . . . Kane, who had one goal in eight games as a 15-year-old last season, also scored in regulation time. He has six points, four of them goals, in seven games. . . . The Giants led this one 3-0 late in the second period, only to have the Hitmen score three times. RW Carson McMillan tied it with two third-period goals, one at 5:47 and the other at 17:55. . . .

And so ends a night in which the WHL’s three ranked teams -- Calgary (1), Tri-City (3) and Brandon (7) -- all lost.