Friday . . .

If the playoffs started today:
Eastern Conference
Calgary (1) vs. Prince Albert (8)
Saskatoon (2) vs. Kootenay (7)
Brandon (3) vs. Lethbridge (6)
Medicine Hat (4) vs. Swift Current (5)
Medicine Hat is one point ahead of Swift Current, with both having played 62 games. . . . Lethbridge holds a one-point lead over the seventh-place Kootenay Ice. The Ice has one game in hand. . . . Prince Albert and Edmonton are tied for eighth, with the Raiders having a game in hand and one more victory. The Regina Pas are ninth, four points back. . . . Keep in mind that should there be a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot, a sudden-death game will be played to decide the issue.
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Western Conference
Vancouver (1) vs. Prince George (8)
Tri-City (2) vs. Everett (7)
Spokane (3) vs. Seattle (6)
Kelowna (4) vs. Kamloops (5)
Tri-City holds a four-point lead on Spokane, which has one game in hand. . . . Kelowna is five points behind Spokane. . . . Kamloops is fifth, one point ahead of Seattle and two ahead of Everett. . . . Prince George has a 12-point lead on Chilliwack, with each team having 10 games left.
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FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
In Regina, the Pats got back on track – well, they at least won – as they beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-2. . . . The Pats had lost seven in a row. The victory lifted them to within four points of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. . . . The Warriors, who have lost three straight, scored the game’s first two goals – getting a PP score from F Martin Filo and a shorthanded tally from F Jason Bast, his 20th – in the first period. . . . Regina D Victor Bartley got a PP goal just 23 seconds after Bast scored and Regina added three second-period goals. . . . F Thomas Hricina had two of Regina’s second-period goals. . . . Regina G Linden Rowat stopped 34 shots, while Warriors G Jeff Bosch turned aside 23. . . . Moose Jaw was 1-for-8 on the PP; Regina was 1-for-3. . . . The teams meet again Sunday in Moose Jaw. . . . Regina has a 5-1 edge in the season series with Moose Jaw.
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In Swift Current, G Morgan Clark stopped 26 shots to help the Broncos to a 4-2 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . D Eric Doyle had two assists for the Broncos, who got a goal and an assist from F Keegan Dansereau. . . . F Mike Brown, in his 55th game, scored his first goal this season for Swift Current.
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In Calgary, F Brett Sonne had two goals and F Brandon Kozun had a goal and three assists as the Hitmen dumped the Red Deer Rebels, 7-2. . . . Attendance was 15,072. . . . F Joel Broda and D Michael Stone each added a goal and two helpers for Calgary. . . . Sonne, with 28 goals in his last 25 games, is on a 16-game point streak. . . . Broda leads the WHL with 47 goals. . . . Sonne has 44 goals, while Kozun has 38. . . . Kozun, who has points in 14 straight games, reached the 100-point barrier, the first Calgary player to get there since F Jordan Krestanovich in 2000-01. . . . Kozun now has 101 points and leads the WHL scoring race by a point over Vancouver Giants F Casey Pierro-Zabotel. . . . Calgary led this one 5-0 after one period, setting a franchise record by scoring three times in 55 seconds in the process. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones, who is 24-0-2-0 in his last 26 starts, stopped 26 shots, including a Landon Ferraro penalty shot attempt, as he put up his 40th victory of the season. He broke the franchise record of 39 that was set by Alexandre Fomitchev in 1998-99. . . . The Hitmen were 3-for-7 on the PP; the Rebels were 0-for-7. . . . Calgary D Paul Postma leads the WHL in plus-minus, at plus-62. . . . Calgary, which is 5-0-0-0 against Red Deer, has won 10 straight, the third time this season it was won at least than many in a row. . . . The Hitmen have won a franchise-record 31 home games, two short of the WHL record. Calgary has two home games left, against the Regina Pats and Kelowna Rockets. . . . Calgary visits Red Deer on Saturday night.
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In Prince George, F Tomas Vincour returned from a shoulder injury to score one goal and set up another as the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Cougars, 3-2. . . . The teams meet in Prince George again Saturday night. . . . The Oil Kings built a 3-0 lead before the Cougars scored two third-period goals. . . . The Cougars have lost four in a row. . . . The Oil Kings moved into a tie with the Prince Albert Raiders for the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot.
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In Chilliwack, F Seth Compton and F Tyler Shattock had two goals each to help the Kamloops Blazers to a 4-3 victory over the Bruins. . . . Compton broke a 3-3 tie at 5:15 of the third period as the Blazers erased a 3-1 deficit. . . . Shattock scored twice on the PP as Kamloops was 2-for-4 with the man advantage. . . . F Ryan Howse scored twice for Chilliwack, which held a 42-22 edge in shots. . . . Kamloops G Justin Leclerc stopped 39 shots. . . . The Bruins were 0-for-4 on the PP.
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In Kent, Wash., G Calvin Pickard stopped 36 shots as the Seattle Thunderbirds blanked the Spokane Chiefs, 3-0. . . . Seattle D Sena Acolatse scored his sixth goal, at 13:58 of the second period, and it stood up as the winner. . . . The Chiefs held a 36-29 edge in shots, including 13-6 in the third period. . . . Pickard, the younger brother of Tri-City Americans G Chet Pickard, has two shutouts in his freshman season. . . . It was the fourth time this season Spokane has been blanked. It was the third time Seattle has put up a shutout. . . . On Wednesday in Spokane, the Chiefs beat the Thunderbirds, 7-3.
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In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans erased a 2-1 deficit with four third-period goals as they beat the Everett Silvertips, 5-2. . . . Tri-City G Chet Pickard stopped 23 saves in winning his 30th game of the season. He has started 18 straight games since returning from the World Junior Championship. . . . Everett G Kent Simpson stopped 36 shots. . . . The loss knocked Everett into seventh place in the Western Conference, behind the Kamloops Blazers and Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . F Mitch Fadden scored his 28th at 1:23 of the third period to tie the score 2-2 and D Brett Plouffe got his 14th at 7:01. . . . F Adam Hughesman had two assists for the winners. . . . Everett lost F Dale Hunt (concussion) midway through the first period after he was upended by Plouffe.
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In Lethridge, D Thomas Kundratek had two goals and two assists as the Medicine Hat Tigers dumped the Hurricanes, 6-3. . . . He has three goals on the season. . . . Medicine Hat got a goal and two assists from F Linden Vey. . . . The last time these teams met in Lethbrdige, things got a bit ugly late in the third period. This game, however, was quiet. It featured 13 minors and two majors. . . . Attendance was 5,270. . . . Lethbridge G Juha Metsola wasn’t dressed and you have to wonder if that little tweak that took him out of a game after the first period a week ago isn’t worse than folks let on. . . . Medicine Hat was 2-for-6 on the PP; Lethbridge was 3-for-7. . . . The teams meet again Saturday in Medicine Hat.
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In Vancouver, the Kelowna Rockets scored four times in the second period and beat the Giants, 6-2, in front of 11,517 fans. . . . C Cody Almond had three goals and an assist for the Rockets. Almond was one of the Rockets to hear criticism earlier in the week from Rockets president and GM Bruce Hamilton after a 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Chilliwack Bruins. Gee, do you think Almond read his press clippings and got motivation from them? . . . Kelowna F Mikael Backlund, who also heard it from Hamilton, had a goal and an assist. . . . Almond has 30 goals on the season, as does C Colin Long, who got to No. 30 in this one. . . . It was the second time this season the Giants have surrendered more than four goals. . . . Kelowna F Ian Duval set up four goals. . . . Vancouver, which started a stretch of eight games in 10 days, pulled starting G Tyson Sexsmith after two periods. He will start Saturday when the Giants meet the Blazers in Kamloops. . . . Kelowna G Mark Guggenburger turned aside 36 shots. . . . Rockets F Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan had two assists. . . . Vancouver F Casey Pierro-Zabotel had one assist to reach the 100-point plateau. But he now trails Calgary F Brandon Kozun by one point in the scoring race. . . . Vancouver won the first five games in the season series with Kelowna but the Rockets have won the last two. . . . Geez, Regan, was that you pulling my chain?