Saturday's highlights

The Seattle Thunderbirds, with D Scott Jackson (ankle) and D Jeremy Schappert (shoulder) out of the lineup, have acquired D Todd Panchyson, 19, from the Portland Winter Hawks for a conditional bantam draft pick. Panchyson didn’t play Saturday as the Thunderbirds dumped the visiting Winter Hawks, 3-1. . . . Panchyson didn’t play against Portland but was on the bus when Seattle left for Cranbrook where it opens a six-game road swing Sunday afternoon. . . . Panchyson, from Nipawin, Sask., had three assists in 17 games with Portland. . . .

The most interesting part of any line brawl -- ahh, remember the good ol’ days when they only had bench-clearing donnybrooks? -- is the aftermath. You know, the he-said, he-said part. . . . The Edmonton Oil Kings and the Wheat Kings staged a line brawl Friday night in Brandon. It all began while the Wheat Kings were killing a penalty . . . “One of their guys jumped our guy and it just blew up from there,” Edmonton head coach Steve Pleau told the Edmonton Sun. “I thought it was rather strange that our guy gets jumped and we ended up having to kill off over three minutes of penalties as a result.” . . . Kelly McCrimmon, Brandon’s GM/head coach, told the Brandon Sun that F Cale Jefferies simply responded to an unpenalized hit from behind by Edmonton D Matt Swaby on F Matt Calvert. "A good effort by our guys, obviously in a situation where we're shorthanded when it takes place," McCrimmon said. "Two great chances to score (before the fights), first by Calvert, then by Jefferies. Then a hit from behind on Matt Calvert that went uncalled and Cale did the right thing, going to the aid of his teammate, and I thought our guys handled themselves real well in that situation." . . . All told, eight players were tossed. . . . The last word, as usual, will go to Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president hockey who doubles as the hanging judge. . . .

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
In Saskatoon, the Blades scored two goals in the last five minutes of the third period, including one on a penalty shot, then went on to beat the Swift Current Broncos 4-3 in a shootout. . . . The Broncos held a 3-1 lead in the third period when Saskatoon D Stefan Elliott scored at 15:11. Shortly thereafter, Saskatoon RW Chris Durand was hooked on a breakaway. He scored on the penalty shot to force what was a scoreless overtime period. . . . Durand, Saskatoon’s first shooter in the circus, scored and that stood up as the winner. . . . RW Dale Weise had two goals for the Broncos. . . . The Blades (7-12-1-0) have won six of their eight home games and are tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference with the Red Deer Rebels. . . . The Broncos (12-5-0-4) stayed within two points of the Eastern Conference-leading Regina Pats. . . .

In Regina, the Pats tied the game with 17 seconds left in the third period and beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 in a shootout. . . . Goals by C Thomas Vincour, at 12:54 of the third period, and RW Robin Figren, at 19:21 on a power play, had given the Oil Kings a 2-1 lead. . . . LW Michael MacAngus, with his seventh, pulled Regina even at 19:43. . . . Regina C Jordan Eberle had the only goal of the circus to give Regina the victory. . . . Edmonton (9-9-1-3) was 1-for-7 on the PP; Regina was 0-for-2. . . . Edmonton G Dalyn Flette stopped 38 shots, while Regina’s Jeff Bosch turned aside 19. . . . The Pats (15-7-0-0) are atop their conference. . . . The Oil Kings are tied for seventh with the idle Moose Jaw Warriors (9-6-3-1) and Kootenay Ice (10-10-2-0). . . .

In Seattle, the Thunderbirds unloaded a 56-shot barrage at G Kurtis Mucha as they beat the Portland Winter Hawks, 3-1. . . . The rare Saturday afternoon game drew 4,582 fans to Key Arena. . . . Why a Saturday afternoon game? Because the Thunderbirds are scheduled to open a six-game road swing against the Kootenay Ice on Sunday afternoon in Cranbrook. . . . F Bud Holloway scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season for Seattle (8-5-2-1). . . . The Winter Hawks (3-16-0-0) had eight new players on their roster and actually led 1-0 on a Chris Francis goal early in the second period. . . . The lead lasted only 13 seconds, though, as Holloway tied it. He later gave Seattle the lead with a PP score. . . . Seattle outshot the visitors 56-15, including 27-6 in the second period. . . . The 56 shots were the most by Seattle since Feb. 22, 2003, when it fired 55 shots against the visiting Winter Hawks. . . . The Thunderbirds are seventh in the Western Conference; the Winter Hawks are 10th. . . .

In Medicine Hat, C Yashar Farmanara’s 10th goal of the season, at 1:16 of overtime, gave the Tigers a 2-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . The Tigers had lost their previous three home games. . . . The Raiders (7-12-3-0) took a 1-0 lead at 14:06 of the first period when German C Max Brandl scored his sixth goal on a power play. . . . C Daine Todd forced overtime with his second goal of the season at 4:20 on a PP. . . . Todd drew an assist on the winner, too. . . . The Tigers (13-7-2-0) lead the Central Division so at present are the second seed in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Regina and tied with Swift Current. . . .

In Kamloops, the Blazers won for the second time in as many nights as they dumped the visiting Chilliwack Bruins, 4-2. . . . Kamloops (8-9-1-1) is 2-0 since firing GM/head coach Dean Clark and trading D Keaton Ellerby to the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . RW Brady Calla, who came the other way in the Ellerby swap, made his Blazers debut and had one assist. . . . Blazers LW Ivan Rohac had a goal and an assist. He has five points in his last two games. . . . Kamloops RW Tyler Shattock, who scored six goals in seven exhibition games, scored his first goal of the season in Friday’s 4-3 victory over the Chiefs in Spokane and added another against the Bruins. . . . G Justin Leclerc stopped 22 shots for the Blazers. . . . The Bruins (12-7-2-0), who are tied for third with the idle Tri-City Americans (13-5-0-0) in the Western Conference, got their goals from C Mark Santorelli and D Nick Holden, both on the PP. . . . Kamloops is tied for ninth with the Prince George Cougars in the conference. . . . Attendance was 5,093, the Blazers’ largest crowd this season. . . . D Victor Bartley, who had missed three games with a knee injury, returned to the Kamloops lineup and scored a goal. . . . Kamloops D Ryan Bender, who left Friday’s game after a hit late in the second period, was in the Blazers’ lineup. . . .

In Prince George, the Kelowna Rockets got two second-period power-play goals from LW Lucas Bloodoff en route to a 6-1 victory over the Cougars. . . . The Rockets (11-7-1-1), who beat the Cougars 5-1 on Friday, now have won six straight. . . . Kelowna, which got three assists from freshman D Tyson Barrie, was 4-for-9 on the PP against the WHL’s worst penalty-killing team. . . . Kelowna broke out of a 1-1 tie by scoring four straight power-play goals. . . . The Cougars (9-13-0-0) have lost four straight after getting to 9-9-0-0. . . . G Real Cyr stopped 24 shots for Prince George in his second straight start. Tommy Tartaglione had made four straight starts going into the weekend. . . . The Rockets are fifth in the Western Conference, while the Cougars slid into an eighth-place tie with Kamloops. . . . The Rockets got a big night from C Brady Leavold, who did more than score one goal. “Individually, we don’t have many players like Brady,” Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told the Kelowna Daily Courier. “He thrives when he talks, and (Saturday), he was rewarded. He was very vocal tonight and he can do a good job of getting under the skin of opponents. When he skates, works and talks, he’s very good.” . . .

In Spokane, the Chiefs got first-period goals from LW Drayson Bowman and C Mitch Wahl en route to a 3-2 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Everett (11-10-0-0), which lost its third straight game, completed an eight-game road trip at 4-4-0-0. . . . Bowman scored 45 seconds into the game. . . . LW Kyle Beach had an assist and now has at least one point in 18 of Everett’s 21 games. . . . C Zach Hamill, with a goal, has a point in 14 of Everett’s last 15 games. . . . Spokane LW Levko Koper got the eventual game-winner at 8:57 of the second period. . . . The Chiefs, 4-3 losers to visiting Kamloops on Friday, are 14-3-1-2. . . . Spokane G Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves, 14 of them in the third period. . . . The Chiefs lead the U.S. Division and are two points behind the conference-leading Vancouver Giants. . . . Everett is sixth. . . .

In Vancouver, the Giants outshot Red Deer 42-9 en route to a 5-1 victory over the Rebels. . . . Red Deer got 37 saves from G Morgan Clark. . . . Vancouver got two goals each from RW Spencer Machacek and LW Craig Cunningham. . . . The shots by period were 16-2, 13-5 and 13-2. . . . The Rebels completed a five-game B.C. Division swing with a 1-2-1-1 record. So, despite having lost 13 of their last 14 games, they have points in three of their last five. You figure it out. . . . Vancouver, which is at home Sunday to Kamloops, is 15-4-1-2, and that is the WHL’s best record. . . . The Rebels (5-15-4-1) are 12th in the Eastern Conference.