Friday notes . . .

And then there were six . . . The Kootenay Ice and Seattle Thunderbirds bowed out of the WHL playoffs Friday night, leaving six teams left in the hunt for the Ed Chynoweth Cup. . . .
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In Calgary, the Hitmen scored the game’s first two goals but ended up losing 5-2 to the Swift Current Broncos. . . . Calgary still leads the series 3-2 with Game 6 in Swift Current on Saturday night. . . . A seventh game, if needed, would be played in Calgary on Monday. . . . The Hitmen got goals from F Ryan White and F Michael Stone before the game was three minutes old and yet trailed 4-2 at the first intermission. . . . D Jesse Dudas got the comeback started, and F Dale Weise, F Keegan Dansereau and F Levi Nelson added goals. . . . Weise later added an empty-net goal. He also had an assist for a three-point night. . . . The Broncos have given up 36 goals in 11 playoff games, 18 of them while shorthanded. . . . Calgary was 1-for-8 on the PP in Game 5; the Broncos were 1-for-4. . . . The Hitmen are expected to give G Martin Jones his first career playoff start after he relieved Dan Spence for the second time in three games in Game 5. Jones came on and stopped all 13 shots he saw in this one and has kicked out 34 straights shots since giving up a goal. . . .
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In Lethbridge, G Juha Metsola stopped 29 shots to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-0 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Hurricanes, who lost the first game in the series, won it, 4-1. . . . The Hurricanes got goals from D Jeff May (PP), F Carter Bancks (shorthanded) and F Dwight King (empty net). . . . Ice G Kris Lazaruk stopped 16 shots. . . . Lethbridge F Mitch Fadden drew two assists. . . . May’s goal was his first of these playoffs, while King’s was his sixth. . . . Metsola’s playoff record now is 8-2. . . . Lethbridge was 2-for-6 on the PP; the Ice was 0-for-6. . . . The Hurricanes again sat out veteran F Mike Wuchterl, who is listed as having the flu. . . . Attendance was 5,018 — that’s a sellout in the Enmax Centre — as playoff fever finally has Lethbridge by the throat. . . .
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In Kennewick, Wash., G Chet Pickard stopped 32 shots as the Tri-City Americans dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-0. . . . The Americans, who lost the first game of the series 7-1 at home, won the affair, 4-1. . . . Tri-City now is 8-1 in these playoffs and has moved into the Western Conference final for the first time since the spring of 1999. . . . LW Colton Yellow Horn scored twice, while RW Taylor Procyshen had a goal and two assists. . . . Pickard has two shutouts in the playoffs. He also blanked Seattle 4-0 in Game 2. . . . Pickard has put up 54 victories this season — 46 in the regular season and eight in the playoffs. . . . Seattle gave up two more PP goals, meaning it surrendged 21 of them in 12 playoff games. . . . In this series, 11 of Tri-City’s 15 goals came via the PP. The Americans, who were 4-for-30 on the PP in sweeping the Kamloops Blazers in the first round, were 11-of-23 against Seattle. . . . While Tri-City was 2-for-4 on the PP in Game 5, the Thunderbirds were 0-for-4. . . . Seattle D Thomas Hickey (concussion) was back for the first time since the middle of the second period in Game 1 but F Prab Rai (concussion), who was hurt in Game 4, didn’t play. . . . Attendance was 5,073. . . . Yellow Horn now has 17 playoff points in nine games. He is two points behind Calgary’s T.J. Galiardi. Yellow Horn and Seattle’s Ian McKenzie lead the WHL with eight goals each. . . .
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In Vancouver, D Jon Blum scored a second-period PP goal to break a 1-1 tie and the Giants went on to a 3-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The series is tied 2-2 with Game 5 in Vancouver on Saturday night. . . . Game 6 will be played in Spokane on Monday with Game 7, if needed, there on Tuesday. . . . Blum scored his second goal of the playoffs at 11:24. . . . C Mario Bliznak and RW Spencer Machacek, with an empty-netter, also scored for Vancouver. . . . Attendance was 8,899. . . . F Levko Koper has Spokane’s goal 3:28 into the opening period. . . . Vancouver had a 38-30 edge in shots on goal. . . . Vancouver RW Michal Repik had two assists and has at least a point in eight straight games. . . . The Giants, who won the opener and then lost the next two avoided losing three straight playoff games for the first time since losing the final three games of their first-round series versus Kelowna during the 2005 playoffs.