Thursday notes . . .

The Seattle Thunderbirds reported Thursday that construction on their soon-to-be home, the Kent Events Center, is “back on schedule after materials were delayed for a few days due to storms in the mountain passes a few weeks ago.” According to the Thunderbirds, they will “find out in July when the construction will be finished.” They are expected to open next season in Seattle’s Key Arena and move to their new home a couple or three months into the season. . . .

———

C Taylor Vause has joined the Swift Current Broncos for the remainder of the season. Vause was the 108th selection in the 2006 bantam draft. He spent this season with the midget AAA Calgary Royals. . . . The Tri-City Americans announced Thurday that they will open the first round of postseason play at home, in the Toyota Center, on March 21 and 22. . . . Most, if not all, WHL playoff series should open on those two nights. . . . The ECHL has suspended former WHLer Robin Gomez (Calgary Hitmen-Seattle Thunderbirds, 1999-02) for the rest of this season, including the playoffs. Gomez was with the Victoria Salmon Kings. During a game against Las Vegas on March 1, he came off the bench and, according to an ECHL released, “proceeded to throw a forceful punch, deliberately injuring an unsuspecting opponent.”

———

The Chilliwack Bruins have added C Kevin Sundher, the seventh overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft, to their roster. He spent the season with the B.C. major midget league‚s West Valley Hawks, totaling 54 points in 40 games. Sundher, a 5-foot-11 centre from Surrey, played five games with the Bruins this season, earning one assist. . . . Sundher joins D Brandon Manning as a newcomer to the Bruins. Manning, 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, played for the BCHL‚s Prince George Spruce Kings this season. He had 26 points and 108 penalty minutes for his hometown junior team. . . . The Spokane Chiefs and head coach Bill Peters have finalized a three-year deal that runs through 2010-11. Peters is in the third year of a three-year deal signed prior to 2005-06. The Chiefs won 25 games in his first season as head coach, upped that to 36 last season and have won 45 with seven games left this season. The Chiefs play host to the Tri-City Americans on Friday night with the Chilliwack Bruins in Spokane on Saturday. . . . Tri-City D Mitch McColm has two black eyes and a broken nose following a scrap with Edmonton Oil Kings F Brennan Sonne last week. “I like it,” McColm told Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald, “but I am going to have to put my modeling career on hold for now.”

———

C Charles Inglis, the fourth pick in the 2007 bantam draft, has joined the Saskatoon Blades now that his midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts have been eliminated from the playoffs. . . . When Edmonton F Jeff Lee scored the game’s last three goals in a 6-3 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday, it was the first hat trick in the Oil Kings’ brief history. Lee’s first goal came with his club shorthanded, the first time the expansion team has scored such a goal on home ice. . . . WHL commissioner Ron Robison has told the Prince George Citizen that he doesn’t expect any franchise movement prior to next season. The deadline for teams to file relocation requests with the WHL office is March 31.