Friday . . .

You are aware by now that the WHL handed out some punishment following that late-game altercation between the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers and Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night.
In the end, the affair also resulted in Dick Gibson, the analyst on Hurricanes broadcasts on radio station CJOC-FM, being taken off the air, presumably because he got a bit excited in the heat of the moment.
There has been some interesting reaction to all of this — geez, I often wonder what would happen were we to witness a bench-clearing brawl? — and, in at least one instance, a WHL play-by-play man has chosen to gnaw on one of his own.
Here’s what Regan Bartel, the radio voice of the Kelowna Rockets, wrote on his blog. . . .
“I will admit I was embarrassed when watching the YouTube video of a line brawl that erupted following Lethbridge Hurricanes forward Kyle Beach scoring an empty-netter against the Medicine Hat Tigers Wednesday night.
“I wasn't so much embarrassed by the on-ice conduct, but more so by what was being said on the audio portion of that video.
“To hear what was coming out of the colour analyst's mouth during that altercation made me feel ill. Where was the professionalism? Where was the control? Where was the analytical side of what was happening out on the ice other than becoming 'a fan' and firing verbal barbs at the opposition?
“I can only imagine if my colour analyst Gord McGarva went off in such a manner. I would have no other choice than to look for a replacement. I would be embarrassed for him, me, and the Rockets organization if those words came out of his mouth.
“I am all about having an energy-filled, emotionally charged broadcast, but calling out the opposition team in that manner on the airwaves is waaaaaaaaaaay over the line.
“The Western Hockey League sets a high standard of conduct for its players and coaches, so shouldn't its broadcasters fall under that same umbrella of professional conduct?
“Let this be a reference tool for broadcasters/colour analysts across the league, that it's best to take a step back in situations like these.”
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And then there is this view from Dylan Bumbarger, over at blog.oregonlive.com/winterhawks/ . . .
“I don't get the hate for Dick Gibson. If you listen to WHL games, you hear almost that level of homerism all the time. There's just never an incident that brings it out that much. This is a standard that would get about 80 per cent of the league's broadcasters fired in the same situation.”
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Having watched the same video that everyone else has seen, I am still waiting to see all this showboating that Lethbridge F Kyle Beach is accused of doing. He skates the puck towards the empty net, slows down, looks over his shoulder, stops, and then scores.
And in this day and age of over-the-top histrionics Beach takes all kinds of abuse for showboating!
Please. That wasn’t showboating. To quote a former WHL radio analyst: “That’s absolute crap! . . . That is garbage, garbage, garbage!”
I would suggest that had a player other than Beach scored in such a fashion, nothing much might have happened.
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By the way . . . do you think the folks in Lethbridge are abuzz over all of this. It brings back memories of back in the day when bench-clearing brawls seemed to be a once-a-week (or more often) occasion.
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And, by the way, was that the Hurricanes involved in another multi-fight situation (that’s what the WHL office likes to call them) on Friday night?
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JUST NOTES: The injury bug has taken yet another serious bite out of the Prince George Cougars. F Brian Matte, 20, is gone for at least five weeks with a broken collarbone. Matte, who is from Prince George and made the Cougars as a walk-in during training camp, was injured during Wednesday’s 4-3 victory over the Oil Kings in Edmonton. Matte had 26 points, including 16 goals, in 42 games. . . . With the City of Cranbrook and the Kootenay Ice having signed a 15-year lease earlier this week, word is that there soon could be an announcement involving a few treats for fans, like reduced season-ticket prices and lower ticket prices for seniors and students. . . . The Tri-City Americans have signed F Patrick Holland, 16, to a WHL contract. A Lethbridge native, Holland was a sixth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft. He has 41 points in 30 games with the midget AAA Lethbridge Y’s Men Titans.
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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings scored three first-period goals and went on to dump the Moose Jaw Warriors, 6-1. . . . Brandon G James Priestner faced only 14 shots, two in the third period, in improving to 10-5-2-0. . . . F Andrew Clark got his 26th goal for Brandon, F Jay Fehr got his 23rd, F Scott Glennie added his 25th and F Brayden Schenn got his 20th. . . . Brandon had a 59-14 edge in shots. . . . Brandon was 2-for-10 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 1-for-2. . . . Fehr is on a 16-game point streak, with 28 points in that time, and Clark is on a 15-game tear, having earned 24 points over that stretch. . . . Moose Jaw D Travis Hamonic (knee) sat this one out. . . . The Warriors, who had been 3-0 against Brandon, have lost seven in a row.
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In Regina, F Andrew Bailey and F Dominik Pacovsky scored in a shootout as the Kootenay Ice beat the Pats, 5-4. . . . The Ice led this one 4-0 after the second period, only to have Regina explode for four goals in a span of 12:32 in the third period. . . . Regina C Jordan Weal forced OT with a PP goal at 17:26. . . . Regina D Victor Bartley had a goal and two assists. . . . Bailey had a goal, his 19th, and an assist for the Ice in regulation time, as did F Tylan Stephens. . . . The two teams combined to dress 16 players who still have midget eligibility remaining. . . . Ice D Tyler Vanscourt (right arm) left early in the first period after being checked into the boards by Regina F Graham Hood. Vanscourt didn’t return.
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In Swift Current, F Adam Chorneyko scored a breakaway goal at 14:32 of the third period that stood up as the winner as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Broncos, 4-3. . . . The Blades have won seven straight and are 9-0-1-1 in their last 11. . . . Saskatoon hasn’t lost in regulation time since Dec. 27. . . . The Broncos have lost seven of 10.
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In Prince Albert, F Brenden Dowd scored two first-period goals and later added an assist to lead the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Raiders. . . . The victory was Edmonton’s 22nd of the season, equalling its total for all of last season which was its first in the WHL. . . . F Craig McCallum had a goal and two assists for Edmonton. . . . The Raiders are winless in five games.
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In Lethbridge, the Hurricanes, minus suspended head coach Michael Dyck and two suspended players, got a goal from F Kyle Beach just 13 seconds into the game and went on to dump the Prince George Cougars, 7-2. . . . Dyck, F Dwight King and F Craig Orfino were suspended earlier in the day for their roles in an altercation against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday. . . . Still, the Hurricanes were involved in another multi-fight situation, this one at 16:31 of the third period. . . . F Mark Reners, 16, added his first two WHL goals for Lethbridge, scoring twice 6:27 apart in the first period of his fourth game. Reners, the 18th pick in the 2007 bantam draft, plays for the midget AAA Lethbridge Y’s Men Titans. . . . Assistant coach Matt Kabayama ran the Lethbridge bench in Dyck’s absence.
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In Red Deer, F Kris Foucault scored his second and third goals of the season to help the Calgary Hitmen to a 7-2 victory over the Rebels. . . . Foucault had been with the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles before the Hitmen acquired him from the Kootenay Ice earlier this month. He didn’t score even one goal in 40 games with the Ice; he has three in four games with Calgary. . . . F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft, scored his first WHL goal for Red Deer. . . . F Brett Sonne got his 30th goal of the season for Calgary. . . . Hitmen G Martin Jones picked up his 30th victory of this season with a 22-save effort. . . . Red Deer F Landon Ferraro (groin) missed his second straight game.
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In Kennewick, Wash., G Chet Pickard made 32 saves to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-1 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . The Americans are 19-3-0-1 at home. . . . F Taylor Prochyshen scored his 26th goal of the season for the Americans. . . . Everett has lost four in a row. . . . Everett is without C Paul Van de Velde (concussion) and LW Daniel Bartek (foot).
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In Vancouver, the Giants jumped out to a 5-0 second-period lead en route to a 5-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Attendance was 13,127, the Giants’ fourth-largest crowd ever. . . . F Casey Pierro-Zabotel, the WHL scoring leader, had one goal for the Giants. . . . Kamloops C C.J. Stretch scored to run his point streak to 12 games. . . . Vancouver had a 50-17 edge in shots. . . . Kamloops was without D Michal Siska (leg), F Scott Wasden (arm) and D Brandon Underwood (thumb).
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In Chilliwack, shootout goals by F Kevin Sundher and Alexander Wiklund gave the Bruins a 5-4 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . LW Jamie Benn scored twice for the Rockets, who have lost four in a row. . . . Chilliwack G Lucas Gore stopped 38 shots. . . . It was the first time the Bruins have beaten the Rockets in five meetings this season. In fact, the Rockets had outscored the Bruins 19-2 in four games going into this one.
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In Kent, Wash., LW Drayson Bowman scored twice, the second into an empty net, as the visiting Spokane Chiefs beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-1. . . . Bowman has 20 goals on the season. . . . Spokane G Dustin Tokarski stopped 28 shots to earn his 20th victory of the season.