Friday . . .

The Medicine Hat Tigers were without D Matt McCue for Game 5 against the Swift Current Broncos and the 20-year-old will miss Game 6 in Medicine Hat on Sunday, as well. He was suspended for two games by the WHL under supplemental discipline for a hit on Swift Current D Eric Doyle early in Game 4 on Wednesday in Medicine Hat. There wasn’t a penalty called on the play. Doyle left the game and didn’t return. The Broncos asked for the supplemental discipline and the WHL agreed. “I think it was more of a forearm, but it was certainly dealt with as a blow to the head which caused an injury to an opponent,” Richard Doerksen, who as the WHL’s vice-president hockey handles discipline, told the Medicine Hat News. “(Cutting down on hits to the head) has been a real area of emphasis for our league for a couple of years now.” . . . Doyle didn’t play in Game 5 on Friday night.
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Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that the Senators are leaning towards keeping Cory Clouston on as the NHL team’s head coach. According to Garrioch, GM Bryan Murray likely will talk with owner Eugene Melnyk sometime in the next two or three weeks. Clouston, a former Kootenay Ice head coach, replaced Craig Hartsburg as the Senators’ head coach on Feb. 2. Ottawa is 15-7-3 since Clouston took over. . . . Clouston had been the head coach of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. He has another season left on his AHL contract.
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JUST NOTES: If you’re interested, the Kamloops Blazers drew 157,511 to their home games, an average of 4,375 fans per game. On the road, they played before 186,876 fans, an average of 5,196. Combine it all and the Blazers played in front of 344,387 fans, an aveage of 4,783 per game. . . . The Blazers were the only team not to post a regular-season shutout. It was the first time since the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons, the franchise’s first in the league, that Kamloops didn’t record at least one shutout. . . . Overall, WHL goaltenders put up 92 regular-season shutouts, the fifth-highest total in WHL history, behind 2004-05 (141), 2006-07 (120), 2003-04 (107) and 2005-06 (103). . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings, who got past the Kootenay Ice in four games in the first round, will open the second round on the road. That’s because the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair will be in their home rink, Westman Place. And the Wheaties can’t play out of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg because the AHL’s Manitoba Moose have home games scheduled. . . . Two former WHLers were named to the Atlantic University Sport Hockey Conference all-rookie team. F Chris Bruton, who captained the Memorial Cup-champion Spokane Chiefs last season, had 29 points for the Acadia Axemen. G Kris Westblom, who played for the Kelowna Rockets, put up a 2.74 GAA in 16 games with the Axemen.
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FRIDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES: There were two of them and they were good ones. . . .
In Swift Current, F Cody Eakin scored three times as the Broncos beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 5-3 to take a 3-2 lead in that series. . . . Game 6 goes Sunday in Medicine Hat. . . . The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was six minutes old on goals from F Bretton Cameron and F Tyler Ennis, with his eighth of the series. . . . The Broncos got two goals from Eakin before the period ended. . . . F Sean Ringrose gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead at 4:48 of the second period, only to have D Joel Rogers tie it for the Broncos at 18:44 of the period. . . . Eakin finished filling his hat into an empty net. These were his first three goals of the series. . . . F Dillon Wagner broke the tie at 6:14 of the third. . . . F Geordie Wudrick and F Michael Stickland each had two assists for the Broncos. . . . D Mark Isherwood set up two goals for the Tigers. . . . Swift Current had a 46-37 edge in shots. . . . Attendance was 2,710.
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In Everett, the Tri-City Americans broke a 1-1 tie with three third-period goals as they beat the Silvertips, 4-1. . . . The Americans lead the series 3-1. They’ll play Game 5 on Saturday night in Kennewick, Wash. . . . D Tyler Schmidt broke the 1-1 tie at 12:50 of the third period and F Mitch Fadden added insurance just 36 seconds later. . . . When Fadden, who also had two assists, scored, the Ams had a 51-20 edge in shots. . . . F Jason Reese scored a PP goal later in the third period for Tri-City. He drew assists on each of the other two third-period goals. . . . F Daniel Bartek got Everett on the board on the PP at 10:39 of the first period. . . . F Johnny Lazo pulled the Americans even at 3:52 of the second. They needed video review before the goal was awarded. . . . Everett G Thomas Heemskerk stopped 51 shots. . . . Tri-City G Chet Pickard made 23 saves. . . . Everett was without F Kellan Tochkin (upper body). . . . The Americans lost F Spencer Asuchak with 2:29 left in the third period. He was injured when he went awkwardly into the boards while finishing a check. Asuchak, who signaled to the bench that he was in difficulty as soon as he went down, was fitted with a neck support and taken from the ice on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital for evaluation. . . Attendance was 4,164.
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Three games are scheduled for Saturday night. . . . Tri-City is at home with a 3-1 lead on Everett. . . . The Spokane Chiefs play at home with a 3-1 lead on the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes meet the Blades in Saskatoon in a series that is 2-2. Game 6 is scheduled for Monday in Lethbridge.