Sunday . . .

Kurtis Mucha is on his way home to Sherwood Park, Alta., the first professional start of his hockey career now history.
Mucha, who has played four seasons with the Portland Winter Hawks, played 59 minutes for the ECHL’s Boise-based Idaho Steelheads on Friday night as they dropped a 3-2 decision to the visiting Phoenix RoadRunners.
Mucha was still in Portland on Wednesday morning, but later in the day he began the drive home to Sherwood Park, which is on the east side of Edmonton. He arrived home early Thursday.
Mucha, who will turn 20 on June 3, got a call from the Steelheads Thursday at 10 a.m. It seems they had run out of goaltenders, with Rejean Beauchemin having been recalled by the AHL’s Houston Aeros and starter Matt Climie having joined the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
The Steelheads, then, brought in Mucha and Andy Pate, who this season played for the Cheney-based Eastern Washington University Eagles.
Three hours after getting that phone call, Mucha was in the air, flying from Edmonton to Seattle. The flight out of Seattle to Boise was delayed, so he didn’t arrive in the Idaho city until 6:35 p.m. The game had a 7:10 start and he knew that he was to be the starter. He arrived at the arena at 6:55 p.m., and says it took him a maximum of eight minutes to get dressed.
Keep in mind, too, that he hadn’t played since March 15, when the Winter Hawks, who didn’t make the playoffs, were involved in their last regular-season game.
So there he was . . . he hadn’t skated in three weeks and he’s headed into the first professional start of his career without a warmup.
He finished with 25 saves and actually had a 2-1 lead at one point in the third period. Phoenix tied it at 6:18 and won it with a PP goal at 14:36.
By Saturday night, Beauchemin was back in town and making 21 saves — Pate was on the bench — as the Steelheads scored eight times and beat the RoadRunners, 8-2.
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The Prince George Cougars have released four veteran players, three of whom played as 19-year-olds this season. Already gone from this season’s roster are F Dana Tyrell, G Kevin Armstrong, F Brian Matte and D Cameron Cepek. Tyrell will play professionally; the other three used up their eligibility. Now the Cougars have told F Alex Poulter, D Colin Scherger, D Matt Cumming and F Marcus Watson that they don’t figure in the team’s plans. All but Cumming, who turns 18 on Nov. 7, will be 20 next season. "We'll keep their rights for now, but they won't be back for camp," general manager Dallas Thompson told Jim Swanson, the sports editor of the Prince George Citizen. . . . As of now, the Cougars will have G Joe Caligiuri, D Dallas Jackson, D Cody Hobbs and F Tyler Halliday in camp as 20s. . . . Swanson’s story, including news on the coaching front, is right here.
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SUNDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES: The two Eastern Conference series resumed and now two more teams — the Calgary Hitmen and Brandon Wheat Kings — have 2-0 leads. . . .
In Calgary, F Tomas Karpov’s second-period PP goal broke a 1-1 tie as the Hitmen dumped the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 2-1. . . . Calgary leads the series 2-0 with the next three games in Lethbridge, starting on Tuesday. . . . Calgary F Kris Foucault opend the scoring at 8:57 of the first period on, yes, the PP. Foucault, who had nine regular-season goals, has five in six playoff games. . . . Lethbridge pulled even when D Luca Sbisa scored 17 seconds into the second period. . . . Calgary was 2-for-8 on the PP, failing to score on three 5-on-3s; Lethbridge was 0-for-4. . . . Attendance was 9,727. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 23 shots, while Lethbridge’s Juha Metsola turned aside 29. . . . Lethbridge D Mitch Versteeg was off for roughing when the winning goal was scored. . . . “For them to make a call like that in a playoff game, it cost us the game,” Lethbridge head coach Michael Dyck told Scott Fisher of the Calgary Sun. "Obviously if you look at a replay, it was a phantom call. In the third period, they get their stick up on our defenceman and there is no call. All we're looking for is a level playing field.” . . . On the latter incident, Fisher wrote: “(Dyck) was rightfully incensed when Hitmen winger Ian Schultz later took a swipe an airbourne puck and ended up high-sticking Versteeg in the face. The officials ignored what appeared to be an obvious call.” . . . Lethbridge F Kyle Beach took roughing and cross-checking minors and a misconduct at the final buzzer when he went after Schultz. . . . Calgary remains without its leading scorer, F Brett Sonne, who is injured. . . . Lethbridge again scratched injured F Carter Bancks.
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In Medicine Hat, F Andrew Clark scored three times as the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Tigers, 8-6. . . . The next three games will be played in Brandon, starting Wednesday. . . . The Tigers scored five first-period goals, driving Brandon G Andrew Hayes to the bench before it was 15 minutes old. He stopped four of eight shots. James Priestner came on in relief and earned the victory, stopping 11 shots. . . . Medicine Hat G Ryan Holfeld gave up seven goals on 31 shots. . . . Clark has six goals in these playoffs. . . . Brandon trailed 5-2 when F Brayden Schenn scored a PP goal at 19:21 of the first period. . . . The Wheat Kings then scored the game’s next four goals, two PP scores in the second period and two even-strength scores in the third, to take a 7-6 lead. Clark iced it with an empty-netter. . . . F Tyler Ennis had five assists for the Tigers, four of them in the first period. . . . F Zdenek Okal scored three times for Medicine Hat and has seven in the playoffs. He got his three goals in the first period, the third one coming at 16:36. . . . Brandon was 3-for-4 on the PP; the Tigers were 2-for-5. . . . Attendance was 4,006.