Friday . . .

The Tri-City Americans made a promotional visit earlier this week and, I would suggest, the TV clip just may be their highlight of the year. You can watch it right here.
-------
F Angelo Esposito of the QMJHL’s Montreal Junior is done for the season after suffering torn knee ligaments. He was injured this week – he tore the ACL in his right knee – in a game with the Victoriaville Tigres. His NHL rights are owned by the Atlanta Thrashers and he is expected to be healthy enough to attend their camp in the fall. Esposito was a member of the Canadian team that won the World Junior Championship in Ottawa early in January.
-------
FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Lethbridge, G Juha Metsola earned his fifth shutout of the season as the Hurricanes beat the Kamloops Blazers, 2-0. . . . Metsola stopped 18 shots in earning his 20th victory of the season. He now shares the franchise’s single-season shutout record with Logan Koopmans (2003-04), Aaron Sorochan (2004-05) and the late Mike Maniago (2007-08). . . . Metsola, a sophomore, has eight career shutouts, one shy of the franchise record held by Logan Koopmans (1999-2004). . . . Lethbridge has put up six shutouts; the Blazers have been blanked three times. . . . F Carter Bancks scored the game-winner with nine seconds left in the first period. . . . Lethbridge had a 33-18 edge in shots. In their last three games, the Blazers have been outshot 131-56. . . . Lethbridge D Eric Mestery (concussion) played for the first time since Jan. 13.
-------
In Moose Jaw, the Warriors scored the game’s first three goals, all in the second period, and went on to beat the Regina Pats, 4-2, and end a four-game losing skid. . . . Quinton Howden, Cody Smuk (shorthanded) and Jason Bast gave the hosts a 3-0 lead. . . . Regina got back into it on Brett Leffler’s 30th of the season and Jordan Eberle’s 29th before the second ended. . . . Regina had just six shots through two periods but outshot the Warriors 20-5 in the third. . . . G Derek Tendler stopped 25 shots for Regina in his first WHL start. Tendler, the 98th pick in the 2007 bantam draft, plays for the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. . . . Former Regina G Jeff Bosch stopped 24 shots for Moose Jaw in his first appearance against his former team. . . . Regina GM Brent Parker was hit with a game misconduct by referee Chris Savage at the end of the second period. . . . The Pats were 0-for-5 on the PP; the Warriors were 0-for-8. . . . Regina has lost six in a row, has a 23-30-15 record and is four points out of a playoff spot with 13 games left.
-------
In Brandon, F Bostjan Golicic scored twice and set up another as the Calgary Hitmen doubled the Wheat Kings, 4-2. . . . Calgary F Joel Broda scored his WHL-leading 42nd goal of the season. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 31 shots, for his 37th victory this season. He is 37-3-3-1. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes stopped 16 shots. . . . Golicic, who has 23 goals, scored both his goals on the PP. . . . Calgary is 10-0-1-0 in its last 11 games. . . . Brandon, which last lost at home on Nov. 14 when it was beaten 2-1 by Calgary, was 9-1-0-0 in its last 10 and had won its last five. . . . Attendance was 5,182.
-------
In Prince Albert, the Swift Current Broncos ran away with a 9-1 victory over the Raiders. . . . After F Dustin Cameron pulled the Raiders into a 1-1 tie midway through the first period, the Broncos scored eight straight goals. . . . F Matt Tassone scored four times for the Broncos, giving him 36 on the season, and also had an assist. A 19-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., Tassone went into this season with 25 goals in 102 career regular-season games. . . . Swift Current got a goal and two assists from Cody Eakin and three assists from F Keegan Dansereau.
-------
In Medicine Hat, F Linden Vey’s two goals led the Tigers to a 7-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old, chasing G Braden Holtby to the bench in the process. . . . It was only the fourth road loss of the season for Saskatoon. . . . The Tigers were 3-for-9 on the PP; Saskatoon was 1-for-6. . . . Medicine Hat G Ryan Holfeld stopped 19 shots. . . . Vey has 19 goals. . . . Medicine Hat LW Travis Dunstall counted his 14th goal and added two assists.
-------
In Kelowna, C Colin Long scored at 3:19 of OT to give the Rockets a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Long, who has 31 goals this season, also had two assists. . . . Vancouver had won the first five meetings between these teams this season. . . . D Tyson Barrie gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead on the PP at 5:39 of the first period. . . . Vancouver F Casey Pierro-Zabotel, who leads the WHL scoring race, tied it with his 30th goal at 2:43 of the second period. . . . Vancouver F Evander Kane scored his 36th at 10:40 of the third. . . . Kelowna LW Jamie Benn, who also had two assists, forced OT with his 36th at 15:04. . . . Kelowna was 1-for-8 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-for-6. . . . Attendance was 6,238. . . . Vancouver’s Jon Blum, one of the WHL’s top defencemen, left the game in the first period after being hit hard twice by Benn. Blum didn’t return. “I'm no doctor, but it's an upper-body inury and it doesn't look good,” Giants assistant coach Chad Scharff told the Vancouver Sun’s Ian Walker. “He'll be reevaluated in the morning and we're just going to have to hope for the best." . . . Kelowna G Mark Guggenberger made 29 saves. . . . Vancouver G Tyson Sexsmith was terrific, with 24 saves. He was named the game’s second star. . . . The Rockets are 15-5-1-2 since play resumed after Christmas.
-------
In Kennewick, Wash., F Craig McCallum scored late in the third period to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 3-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . The victory lifted Edmonton into a tie with the Prince Albert Raiders for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. . . . G Cam Lanigan stopped 25 shots for Edmonton. . . . F Kruise Reddick’s second-period goal gave the Americans a 2-1 lead. . . . F Robin Soudek tied it for Edmotnon at 10:09 of the third period and McCallum won it at 14:18. . . . The teams played on pink ice as the Americans held their fourth annual Breast Cancer Awareness Night. They raised more than $18,000 for the Tri-Cities Cancer Center.
-------
In Chilliwack, Prince George C Brett Connolly scored three times to lead the Cougars to a 5-2 victory over the Bruins. . . . Connolly, who has to be considered the leader for the WHL’s rookie-of-the-year award, has 27 goals. . . . All three of the 16-year-olds goals came on the PP as the Cougars went 3-for-8. . . . The Cougars, who occupy the Western Conference’s final playoff spot, hold a 14-point edge on the Bruins, who have 14 games remaining.
-------
In Everett, G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 24 shots to lead the Silvertips to a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Heemskerk has two shutouts this season. . . . Everett got a goal and two helpers from F Byron Froese. . . . The victory ended Everett’s franchise-record six-game home losing skid. . . . Attendance was 7,257. . . . The Silvertips closed to within two points of the fifth-place Kamloops Blazers in the Western Conference. Everett holds two games in hand on Kamloops.
-------
In Red Deer, F Willie Coetzee broke a 1-1 tie with a PP goal at 11:37 of the second period as the Rebels beat the Kootenay Ice, 2-1. . . . The Ice thought it had tied the game with 2.2 seconds remaining when the puck got over the goal line during a scramble. But officials ruled the net had come off its mooring before the puck went over the line. . . . Red Deer F Cass Mappin (foot) didn’t play. . . . Red Deer G Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 shots.
-------
In Portland, LW Drayson Bowman set up two goals to help the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 victory over the Winter Hawks. . . . The defending Memorial Cup champions closed to within four points of the Tri-City Americans, who are the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference at the moment. . . . Spokane C Justin McCrae, back from a long absence with a knee injury, scored the game’s first goal, his fourth of the season. . . . Spokane G Dustin Tokarski stopped 29 shots, two more than Portland’s Kurtis Mucha.