Sunday's serving . . .

G Gavin McHale, who played in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Hurricanes, had a great season this winter with the MJHL’s Portage Terriers. And the 6-foot-7, 20-year-old McHale has topped it off by being chosen as the MJHL winner of the RBC Financial Group junior A scholarship. He gets $1,000 toward his post-secondary studies. McHale is planning to attend the U of Manitoba in Winnipeg and take business or education. . . . The Medicine Hat Tigers scratched five injured plays Saturday — they lost 5-1 to the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes — and hope to have at least some of them ready for Friday. D Cody Carlson (shoulder), C Bretton Cameron (appendicitis) LW Tyler Ennis (leg), F Colton Grant (shoulder) and D Pat Kozyra (knee) all are hurting. They lost D Shayne Brown with a possible concussion during the 5-1 loss to Lethbridge. . . .
All first-round playoff series but one will use a 2-2-1-1-1 format. The exception is the Everett-Spokane series. It opens in Spokane with games Friday and Saturday, but then will shift to Everett for games on March 26 and 28 and, if necessary, March 29. An NCAA women’s basketball regional tournament is in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, thus the change. Games 6 and 7 would be played in Spokane on April 1 and 2. . . . Everett D Taylor Ellington (broken foot) should play Friday. He has been sidelined since Jan. 24. . . .
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IT’S OVER
The last regular-season game has been played; the last issue has been settled. . . . The Medicine Hat Tigers will have home-ice advantage in an opening-round series with the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Ice needed to beat the host Calgary Hitmen on Sunday to get home-ice advantage. Calgary won the game, 6-1. . . . Note that the Eastern Conference’s eight playoff teams finished with 11 points of separation. . . .
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The matchups, with seedings in parentheses:
Eastern Conference
Calgary Hitmen (1) vs. Moose Jaw Warriors (8)
Regina Pats (2) vs. Swift Current Broncos (7)
Lethbridge Hurricanes (3) vs. Brandon Wheat Kings (6)
Medicine Hat Tigers (4) vs. Kootenay Ice (5)
Western Conference
Tri-City Americans (1) vs. Kamloops Blazers (8)
Vancouver Giants (2) vs. Chilliwack Bruins (7)
Spokane Chiefs (3) vs Everett Silvertips (6)
Seattle Thunderbirds (4) vs. Kelowna Rockets (5)
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The playoff matchups are set. For statistical analysis, schedules, etc., keep tabs on Alan Caldwell’s blog — Small Thoughts at Large — through the playoffs. There is a link to it over there to the left. I can’t begin to provide what Alan does, so I won’t even attempt it. He’s the best. Check it out.
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SUNDAY IN THE WHL:
In Calgary, in the only game of consequence, the Hitmen romped to a 6-1 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Hitmen (47-20-1-4) 4-0, won seven of eight from the Ice th is season. . . . The Ice (42-22-5-3) needed to win to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference. Instead, it is fifth and won’t have home-ice advantage against the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . The first-place Hitmen dumped the Ice 4-0 in Cranbrook on Saturday. . . . Going into the weekend, two victories would have given the Ice a shot at first place in the conference. . . . The Hitmen set a WHL single-game attendance record of 19,289. That broke the record of 19,103 set March 15, 1997, when the Seattle Thunderbirds played to a 6-6 tie with the Winter Hawks in Portland’s Rose Garden. . . . Calgary was 5-for-15 on the PP in the two games. . . . On Sunday, the Ice got the game’s first goal — F Arnaud Jacquemet’s 27th — and Calgary got the next six. . . . F Ian Schultz had two goals and an assist for Calgary. . . .
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In Vancouver, Chilliwack F Mark Santorelli scored two goals to win the WHL scoring title but his Bruins fell 5-3 to the Giants. . . . Santorelli went into the game with 99 points, one fewer than Kelowna Rockets C Colin Long, who played his last game Saturday. Santorelli scored a PP goal at 16:48 of the first period and added a second goal at 1:56 of the third period. He finished with 27 goals and 74 assists, for 101 points. . . . The Giants (49-15-2-6) won the season series 8-0-1-1. The two teams open a first-round round series in Vancouver on Friday. . . . The Bruins (28-35-4-5) had won their last two games. . . . F Evander Kane scored twice for Vancouver. . . . Giants G Kraymer Barnstable was called on to make only 11 saves. Vancouver held a 36-14 edge in shots, including 20-1 in the third period. . . . Giants D Jon Blum scored once and ended the season as the Giants’ single-season record-holder in goals (18) and points (63) by a defenceman. . . . Attendance at a game billed as Gordie Howe’s 80th birthday party was 12,357. Wayne Gretzky wasn’t able to make it but his father, Walter, was in attendance. Walter actually delivered the birthday cake that was later served to the fans. . . . Other guests included Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne, Bill Gadsby, Pat Quinn and Gordie’s eldest son, Marty. . . . Vancouver scratched D Craig Schira, who suffered an undisclosed injury Saturday in Kamloops. He is expected to be ready for Friday. . . . The Bruins rested D Nick Holden and F Oscar Moller. . . .
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In Kamloops, F Dale Hunt broke a 2-2 tie at 5:19 of the third period and the Prince George Cougars went on to a 4-2 victory over the Blazers. . . . The Cougars (20-48-1-3) snapped a three-game losing streak. . . . The Blazers (27-41-2-2) lost 14 of their last 15 games and finished 16-18-1-1 at home, where they now have lost seven in a row and nine of 10. . . . Prince George captain Greg Gardner, 20, was playing the final game of his career and scored his team’s last goal, into an empty net. It was his 24th goal of the season. He set a franchise record for games played on Saturday when he played No. 337, one more than Chris Falloon. . . . Prince George G Real Cyr also concluded his career and he went out head held high, with 39 saves. . . . Prince George D Kalvin Sagert, the team’s third 20-year-old, was solid in his final game. He concluded his career where it began, in Kamloops. He was a first-round draft pick by the Blazers in 2002. Sagert hopes to join the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. . . . Prince George LW Dana Tyrell, a second-round selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2007 draft, will join the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals. . . .
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In Lethbridge, F Dwight King and F Dan Iwanski each scored twice to give the Hurricanes a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . The Hurricanes (45-21-2-4) finished with the Eastern Conference’s second-best record but will be the third seed, behind Calgary and the East Division-champion Regina Pats. . . . The Oil Kings finished their first season at 22-39-4-7 and in 11th place. . . . Lethbridge G Mike Maniago stopped 16 shots to win his 25th game of the season. . . . Edmonton G Alex Archibald, 20, stopped 38 saves in the last game of his career. . . . King finished with 34 goals, while Iwanski got Nos. 9 and 10. . . .
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In Portland, F Matt Schmermund scored a circus-like goal in the circus to give the Winter Hawks a 3-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Winter Hawks (11-58-2-1) had lost 25 of their last 26 games. They won’t be in the playoffs. . . . The Chiefs (50-16-1-5), who rested a handful of players, still finished with the league’s best road record — 24-9-1-2. They went 8-1 against the Winter Hawks. . . . The attendance was 10,407, a sellout in Memorial Coliseum. . . . Travis Ehrhardt, the only defenceman to lead his team in scoring, had a goal and an assist for Portland. He forced the OT with his 10th goal at 12:53 of the third period on the PP. . . . That set the stage for the shootout. Schmermund, who scored Portland’s first goal, his eighth of the season, was the 10th shooter — the first nine all were unsuccessful. And you absolutely have to see this goal which surely will be up on YouTube, if it isn’t already. . . . As Schmermund, a left shot, approaches the net, he shoves the puck to the side, pulls his stick all the way around behind his back — not between his legs — and goes upstairs on G Kevin Armstrong. . . . Schmermund later told The Oregonian’s Boaz Herzog that he had told assistant coach Brian Pellerin of his plan to use a move that he has practised. "I just thought: last game of the season, might as well pull it out," said Schmermund, who is one of the WHL’s classiest skaters. "Go for it," Pellerin replied. . . . The Winter Hawks still set a WHL record for fewest goals scored (132). That record (135) had been held by the 2004-05 Swift Current Broncos. . . .
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In Seattle, F Bud Holloway scored once, giving him 43, as the Thunderbirds dropped the Everett Silvertips, 4-2. . . . .The Thunderbirds (42-23-5-2) won their last three games. They won eight of 10 games with Everett. . . . The Silvertips (39-30-0-3) go into the postseason on a five-game losing skid. . . . Holloway and Medicine Hat’s Tyler Ennis both had 43 goals, behind only Tri-City LW Colton Yellow Horn, who led the league with 48. . . . F Prab Rai got his 20th goal of the season for the Thunderbirds. He also had a team-high 44 assists. . . . Seattle G Jacob DeSerres stopped 36 shots to earn his 20th victory of the season. . . . The Thunderbirds went 25-6-3-2 at home. . . . C Zack Dailey scored twice for Everett, giving him nine. . . . Everett F Kyle Beach, who sat out Saturday with a one-game WHL suspension, was a healthy scratch Sunday. . . . Everett also scratched F Zach Hamill, F Dan Gendur, D Dane Crowley, D Jonathan Harty and G Leland Irving. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson, the 22nd pick in the 2007 bantam draft, made his WHL debut by playing the game’s second half. He stopped 19 of 20 shots.