Friday . . .

So I got out the calculator today — not enough fingers and toes for this one — because I wanted to know how many WHL games Bob Ridley, the radio voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers, has called. . . . All because Regan Bartel, the voice of the Kelowna Rockets, was stroking himself the other day for reaching regular-season game No. 1,000. . . . Now this isn’t to belittle Bartel’s accomplishment, but I think any time a broadcaster is patting himself on the back for 1,000 games, he owes it to the hockey world to mention Bob Ridley. . . . Ridley, you should know, called the play of regular-season game No. 2,784 on Friday night in Regina. Yes, that is just regular-season games involving the Tigers. . . . Throw in playoff games — the Tigers have been involved in 306 of them — and that number reaches 3,090. . . . And, geez, let’s not forget the Memorial Cup. The Tigers have played in 20 Memorial Cup games. . . . Add it all up and Ridley has called the play of 3,110 hockey games involving the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . It'll be 3,111 tonight when the Tigers are at home to the Kootenay Ice. And it's be No. 3,112 on Sunday in Cranbrook. The man goes on and on and on; he makes the Energizer Bunny look like a couch potato. . . . Ridley has missed one game — ONE GAME!!!!! — because his then-boss assigned him to cover the Canadian women’s curling championship in Saskatoon. The fact that the boss’s wife was on the Alberta representative may have had something to do with that. . . . And let’s not forget that Ridley also has put on about a gazillion miles behind the wheel of the Tigers’ bus. . . . When it comes to the WHL and the radio bunch, there isn’t any doubt who is THE MAN!
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JUST NOTES: D Craig Schira of the Vancouver Giants has signed a free-agent deal with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Schira, 20, was a sixth-round bantam draft pick of the Regina Pats in 2003. He never was drafted by an NHL team. Schira has 55 points this season, fifth among WHL defencemen. . . .
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If the playoffs started today:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Calgary (1) vs. Prince Albert (8)
Saskatoon (2) vs. Lethbridge (7)
Brandon (3) vs. Kootenay (6)
Swift Current (4) vs. Medicine Hat (5)
Prince Albert and Edmonton are tied for eighth, with 63 points. Prince Albert has three games left; Edmonton four. Regina has 58 points with five games remaining. . . . Should two teams tie for eighth, a sudden-death game will be held.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Vancouver (1) vs. Prince George (8)
Tri-City (2) vs. Everett (7)
Kelowna (3) vs. Seattle (6)
Spokane (4) vs. Kamloops (5)
The first two matchups seem almost certain. . . . Kelowna holds a one-point lead over Spokane. . . . Kamloops is three points ahead of Seattle.
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The WHL’s tiebreaking procedure:
1. If two teams tie for a position in the standings, the first tiebreaker is most victories. . . . If that is a tie, the second tiebreaker is most points in games between those two teams. . . . If they still are tied, the edge goes to the team with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular-season play. . . . And if it is still a tie, the edge goes to the team with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in games played between the two teams in regular-schedule play.
2. If three or more teams finish tied for a position, the edge goes to the team with the most victories. . . . Should the teams have won the same number of games, then the higher position shall be awarded to the team having the greatest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular-season play. . . . If the teams still are still tied, the total records of the teams against each other will be used with the team with most points having the edge. . . . If it still is tied, the team with the most victories in games among those teams will have the edge. . . . And if the teams still are tied, the team with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular-season games among the teams will get the edge.
3. If two teams are tied for the last playoff position, those teams will play a sudden-death game in the home arena of the team having won the most games in the regular season. If the teams are tied in victories, see (1) above for the tiebreaker used to select the game site.
4. In the event three or more teams are tied in points for the last playoff position, (2) above will be used to advance one or more teams and the remaining two teams will play a sudden-death game, using (3) above to determine a site.
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FRIDAY NIGHT:
In Vancouver, in the much-hyped game of the night, the Calgary Hitmen scored four times on the PP and beat the Giants, 4-0. . . . The victory allowed Calgary (57-9-3-1) to stretch its lead over Vancouver (55-8-1-3) atop the overall standings to four points. The Hitmen have two games left; the Giants have five. . . . Calgary was 4-for-7 on the PP; Vancouver was 0-for-2. . . . C Brett Sonne had a goal and two helpers for Calgary. . . . Sonne has 47 goals. G Martin Jones stopped 28 shots for his seventh shutout this season. It was the first time Vancouver has been blanked. . . . The Giants were shut out three times last season. . . . Attendance was 14,128. . . . Calgary was coming off a 5-1 beating at the hands of the Blazers in Kamloops on Wednesday. The night before that, the Hitmen, with Jones in goal, beat the Cougars 7-0 in Prince George. . . . Vancouver had won its last six games. . . . Calgary is 37-1-1-0 when it scores first. . . . Calgary beat the Giants twice this season, as it also won, 6-3, at home on Jan. 16. . . .
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The Saskatoon Blades got a late third-period goal from F Charles Inglis to beat the host Prince Albert Raiders 5-4 on Friday night. The Blades have now won 28 road games this season, tying a WHL single-season record set by the Calgary Hitmen in 1999-2000. . . . Saskatoon has two road games remaining, in Moose Jaw on Tuesday and back in Prince Albert on Friday. The CHL single-season record for road vicoties is 30, held by the QMJHL’s Trois-Rivieres Draveurs (1978-79). . . . Attendance in the 2,580-seat Art Hauser Centre was 3,007. . . . Inglis had two goals, the ninth and 10th of his freshman season. . . .
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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings scored five third-period goals and beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 7-4. . . . Brandon is five points behind Saskatoon with each team having four games remaining. . . . Brandon G Andrew Hayes, who came on in relief of starter James Priestner, wasn’t beaten on nine shots. . . . F Brayden Schenn scored twice for Brandon, giving him 30 for the season, two more than he scored last season. He also had two assists. . . . The Warriors have lost three straight. . . .
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In Kamloops, the Blazers hung on for a 5-4 victory over Portland as the Winter Hawks scored what they thought was the tying goal a split-second after the game-ending buzzer. . . . The victory lifted Kamloops three points clear of the sixth-place Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . RW Tyler Shattock scored twice for Kamloops. . . . C Chris Francis had a goal and two helpers for Portland. . . .
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In Red Deer, the Kootenay Ice scored a 3-2 victory over the Rebels and clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot. . . . The loss eliminated Red Deer from the playoff picture for a second straight season. . . . F Andrew Bailey’s PP goal at 9:31 of the third period broke a 2-2 tie. It was his 25th goal this season. . . . F Landon Ferraro got his 36th goal for the Rebels. . . .
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In Kent, Wash., the Tri-City Americans erased a 1-0 deficit with four second-period goals and beat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-2. . . . The Americans clinched their second straight U.S. Division pennant with the victory. . . . The Americans, who had gone 20 years without winning a pennant, now have done it in back-to-back seasons. . . . The Thunderbirds have lost three straight. . . .
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In Regina, the Pats kept their playoff hopes alive by scoring the game’s last three goals and beating the Medicine Hat Tigers, 4-3. . . . The Pats, with five games remaining, are five points behind the Edmonton Oil Kings and Prince Albert Raiders, who are tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference. . . . The Tigers, meanwhile, have four games left and are three points behind the fourth-place Swift Current Broncos. . . . Regina had lost its last four games. . . .
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In Prince George, G Kevin Armstrong stopped 31 shots as the Cougars blanked the Spokane Chiefs, 2-0. . . . This one will have been especially sweet for Armstrong, 20, who was dealt by the Chiefs to the Cougars over the summer. . . . It was his second shutout of the season. . . . The loss, combined with the Kelowna Rockets’ 3-1 victory over the Chilliwack Bruins, dropped the Chiefs into fourth spot in Western Conference, a point behind Kelowna. . . . “This one is definitely the biggest game of my career,” Armstrong told Ted Clarke of the Prince George Citizen. “We played two good games in their rink and unfortunately things didn’t go our way. I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time and things finally clicked. I have my teammates to thank for that, they were getting desperate out there blocking shots and keeping the puck in their end most of the time and really not giving them a sniff.” . . . Prince George outshot Spokane 39-31, including 20-9 in the first period. . . . The Chiefs had D Cory Baldwin (hand) and D Stefan Ulmer (concussion) back in the lineup. . . . The victory allowed Prince George to clinch the conference’s final playoff spot. . . . F Brian Matte (collarbone) returned to the Cougars’ lineup for the first time since Jan. 21. . . .
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In Edmonton, G Travis Yonkman stopped 34 shots as the Swift Current Broncos scored a 3-1 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Attendance was 10,136. . . . The victory lifted the Broncos three points clear of the fifth-place Medicine Hat Tigers. The top four teams get home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. . . . F Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist for the Broncos.
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In Chilliwack, the Kelowna Rockets dumped the Bruins 3-1 and moved into third place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Third place is especially important because it would mean that if things go according to seedings in the first round that third-place team would miss a second-round engagement with the Vancouver Giants.