Wednesday is over . . .

The Regina Pats, celebrating their 90th anniversary season, are preparing to honour three men who gave a lot of themselves to hockey. Lorne Davis, Graham Tuer and Bob Turner, three of my all-time favourite people from the 17 years I spent in Regina, will be saluted as the Pats play host to the Chilliwack Bruins on Friday night. A banner containing their names will go into the Brandt Centre rafters, where the names of Clark Gillies, Bill Hicke, Brad Hornung, Ed Staniowski, Dennis Sobchuk and Doug Wickenheiser already hang. Davis, who died on Dec. 20, and Turner, who died on Dec. 5, 2005, and Tuer will be the first inductees as builders. Davis and Turner both coached the Pats, while Tuer was the club’s director of player personnel and assistant GM in the early 1990s, and has long been involved with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. He is the father of former Pats defenceman Al Tuer, who now scouts for the NHL’s Calgary Flames. . . .

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The CHL Mosaik MasterCard Top 10 for Week 22 of the 2007-08 season, as selected by a panel of NHL scouts (rank, team, record, last week, weeks in ranking):
1. Kitchener Rangers (47-9-1-2) 1 20
2. Tri-City Americans (44-14-2-2) 2 22
3. Spokane Chiefs (43-14-1-5) 3 17
4. Belleville Bulls (41-12-4-2) 5 9
5. Vancouver Giants (43-13-2-6) 6 19
6. Calgary Hitmen (43-17-1-3) 4 18
7. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (42-18-2-1) 7 17
8. Baie Comeau Drakkar (40-16-2-4) 8 15
9. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (39-15-2-4) 9 21
10. Gatineau Olympiques (38-18-4-2) 10 8

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JUST NOTES: Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that Giants F Garry Nunn (upper body injury) won’t play in a Friday-Saturday doubleheader against the Cougars in Prince George. Nunn didn’t practice Wednesday. He was injured in a 3-1 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on Saturday. . . . Nunn’s injury may clear the way for F Adam Basford, who recently joined the Giants from the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles, to make his WHL debut. . . . Vancouver C James Wright, who has missed 11 games with mononucleosis, skated Wednesday. . . . If you’re wondering what happened to former WHLers like Ray Schultz and Darryl LaPlante, check out this story from Wednesday’s Red Deer Advocate. Sounds like the folks in Red Deer are in for a treat. . . .

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The Manitoba Junior Hockey League all-star teams, as selected by coaches:
First Team
Goaltender - Gavin McHale (Portage Terriers)
Defenceman - Jason Gray (Winnipeg South Blues)
Defenceman - Brock Turner (Waywayseecappo Wolverines)
Forward - Bryan Kauk (Dauphin Kings)
Forward - Matthew Gingera (Winnipeg Saints)
Forward - Jeremy Dawes (Portage Terriers)
Second Team
Goaltender - Alan Armour (Selkirk Steelers)
Defenceman - A.J. Spiller (Portage Terriers)
Defenceman - Drew Ellement (Winnipeg South Blues)
Forward - Russ Payne (Selkirk Steelers)
Forward - Sean Collins (Waywayseecappo Wolverines)
Forward - Adam Pleskach (Selkirk Steelers)
Rookie Team
Goaltender - Mathew Shenher (Selkirk Steelers)
Defenceman - Scott Macaulay (Winnipeg Saints)
Defenceman - Steven Shamanski (Dauphin Kings)
Forward - Stephan Vigier (Swan Valley Stampeders)
Forward - Eli Halcrow (Beausejour Blades)
Forward - Nick Lazorko (Winkler Flyers)

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WEDNESDAY IN THE WHL:
In Regina, the Pats scored two late power-play goals and beat the Kamloops Blazers, 3-2. . . . The Pats (38-21-4-2) had lost two straight and four of their last five. They also had lost three of four at home. . . . The victory lifted the Pats four points clear of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Swift Current Broncos atop the East Division. . . . The Blazers (26-34-2-2) have lost seven straight, which is believed to be the franchise’s longest losing streak since 1981-82. That season, as the Junior Oilers, the team twice went through 12-game losing streaks. . . . Kamloops is eighth in the Western Conference and needs one point to clinch a playoff spot. . . . D Victor Bartley, who was dealt to the Pats by Kamloops on Jan. 4, scored the winner on the PP at 18:16 of the third period. . . . Regina F Rudolf Cerveny tied it on the PP with 2:47 left in the third period. . . . Regina finished 2-for-13 on the power play. . . . In the four games on its East Division swing, Kamloops has given up nine PP goals on 43 opportunities. . . . At the same time, the Blazers are 4-for-17 on the PP. . . . Also in those four games, Kamloops has been outshot, 169-100. . . . Leading 2-1, Kamloops had a chance to go up 3-1 in the third period but Regina G Linden Rowat stymied F Kenton Dulle on a penalty shot. . . . Regina had a 41-19 edge in shots. Kamloops G James Priestner, making his first start since Feb. 1, was superb. He had been bothered by a sore hamstring. . . . Regina LW Josh Elder suffered a knee injury in the first period. He will be re-examined Thursday but could miss a couple of weeks. . . .

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The Pats were without D Logan Pyett, who served a one-game WHL suspension after being convicted of flipping the bird towards an official following a 4-2 loss to the Blades in Saskatoon on Saturday. Pyett and the Pats deny the gesture; both referees say they saw it. . . . Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post covered it like this on his blog: The Pats have maintained Pyett's innocence and were hoping to send video to the league that supported their claim, but to no avail. "I gave Regina as much time as I could on it to see if they had any video evidence that could prove whether the gesture occurred or not," said WHL vice-president Richard Doerksen. "I spoke with Logan. He denied making the gesture. We had two referees on that game and they both saw the gesture. Logan denied the gesture. I don't want to call either side (for) not providing the truth on it so normally if we have video footage that will solve it for us. Unfortunately we had no video footage. Regina did try to come up with some, but could not find (evidence) that showed it one way or the other. Consequently we had to use the referees' report to make the decision."

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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings erased a 3-0 deficit and went on to dump the Chilliwack Bruins, 6-3. . . . The Wheat Kings (37-22-2-2) moved into a tie with the Swift Current Broncos for sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Bruins (26-30-4-4) have lost the first four games of an East Division swing. . . . Chilliwack scored three times in the first period, with two of those coming from C Oscar Moller. He has seven goals in his last five games and 36 on the season. . . . Brandon got goals 25 seconds apart from Jay Fehr and Matt Calvert to get the comeback started. . . . F Scott Glennie had a goal and three helpers for Brandon. . . . In all, Brandon scored six goals in under 21 minutes for the victory. . . . D Theran Yeo (ankle) was back in Brandon’s lineup. He missed 12 games before playing in his 200th regular-season WHL game. . . .

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In Edmonton, G Chet Pickard stopped 30 shots to win his 39th game as the Tri-City Americans beat the Oil Kings, 5-1. . .. . The Americans (45-14-2-4) are in a three-way tie for first place overall, along with the Spokane Chiefs and idle Vancouver Giants. . . . The Oil Kings (20-32-4-7) have two wins in their last 10 games. . . . Pickard leads the WHL in victories. He has one more than Vancouver G Tyson Sexsmith. . . . Tri-City LW Colton Yellow scored his WHL-leading 46th goal and added an assist as he ran his point streak to 12 games. . . .

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In Kelowna, F Judd Blackwater had two goals and a helper to help the Spokane Chiefs to a 5-2 victory over the Rockets. . . . The Chiefs (44-14-1-5) have won five of their last six games. They lead the WHL in road victories (22-7-1-2) and are 4-0 against Kelowna this season. . . . The Rockets (34-22-2-6) are fifth in the Western Conference. . . . Kelowna C Colin Long extended his point streak to eight games with a goal. He leads the WHl with 93 points, three more than Chilliwack LW Mark Santorelli. . . . The Rockets hope to get LW Jamie Benn (ankle) and his 29 goals back on the weekend. He last played Jan. 26. Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Rockets, points out that the Rockets 14-5-0-3 when Benn scores. They are 4-7-0-1 since he got injured. . . . The Rockets are in Seattle and Portland over the weekend. . . .

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In Cranbrook, F Steve Da Silva had a five-point night as the Kootenay Ice dumped the Medicine Hat Tigers, 6-4. . . . Da Silva scored four times and set up another. He has 83 points and is fourth in the points derby, 10 points out of the lead. . . . The Ice (38-20-5-2) has won five of six and is 4-2 against the Tigers this season.. Kootneay is fourth in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Medicine Hat and four behind the Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The Tigers (37-20-5-2) had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . F Dustin Sylvester drew five assists for the Ice, who got a goal and three assists from F Armand Jacquement. . . . Jacquement, an 18-year-old from Switzerland, had 29 points as a rookie last season. This season, he has career highs in goals (24), assists (22) and points (47). . . . C Daine Todd scored three times for Medicine Hat, giving him 24 on the season. . . .

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In Prince Albert, G Juha Metsola made 26 saves to help the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 4-0 victory over the Raiders. . . . The Hurricanes (41-17-2-3) have won three in a row and are third in the Eastern Conference, three points behind the first-place Calgary Hitmen. . . . The Raiders (23-36-3-2) had won two in a row. . . . F Zach Boychuk had one assist. He has 20 points in his last 11 games. . . . Lethbridge went 4-0 versus Prince Albert. . . . Metsola, an 18-year-old from Finland, has three shutouts in his rookie season.