Wednesday . . .

The Regina Pats are close to a new deal with Todd Ripplinger, their longtime director of scouting. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post is reporting that Ripplinger, who is putting the wraps on his 12th season as the club’s top scout, and the Pats are in the final stages of putting together a new contract. Ripplinger signed a three-year deal after the 2005-06 season. . . . Harder also reports that the Pats are expected to re-sign athletic therapist Greg Mayer, too. . . .
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WEDNESDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES: The Calgary Hitmen are through to the Eastern Conference final as they completed their second straight sweep of these playoffs. Which means that the Lethbridge Hurricanes are done. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings are a victory away from their second straight sweep. Which means the Medicine Hat Tigers’ season hangs by a thread. . . . In the Western Conference, both series are 2-2.
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In Brandon, the Wheat Kings got goals from six players as they dumped the Medicine Hat Tigers, 6-1. . . . Brandon leads the series 3-0 and can finish it off at home on Friday night. . . . Brandon F Brayden Schenn opened the scoring 42 seconds into the game. . . . F Colton Grant of the Tigers tied it at 2:45, but the Wheat Kings scored the game’s last five goals. . . . Brandon led 3-1 and 5-1 at the intermissions. . . . Schenn has six goals in these playoffs. . . . Brandon F Matt Calvert and F Andrew Clark each scored his seventh goal of the postseason. . . . Brandon outshot the visitors, 47-20. . . . Attendance was 4,093. . . . The Brandon Sun reports that more than 40 scouts from at least 15 NHL teams took in the game. Most of the scouts were on their way to Grand Forks, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., where the IIHF World U-18 championship opens Thursday.
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In Lethbridge, the Calgary Hitmen scored twice in the game’s first two minutes and went on to beat the Hurricanes, 6-0. . . . Calgary swept the series and now is 8-0 in these playoffs. It will play the winner of the Brandon-Medicine Hat series in the Eastern Conference final. . . . Calgary got early goals from Brett Sonne (1:30) and Joel Broda (1:52) and never looked back. . . . Calgary G Martin Jones stopped 18 shots in earning his second shutout of these playoffs. . . . Sonne scored twice in his first game. . . . Calgary F Brandon Kozun scored his sixth goal on a third-period penalty shot to make it 5-0. . . . Calgary was 2-for-3 on the PP; Lethbridge was 0-for-5. . . . Attendance was 3,092. . . . A year ago, the Hurricanes swept the Hitmen en route to the WHL’s championship final where they were ousted in four by the Spokane Chiefs.
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In Kelowna, LW Jamie Benn scored the winner in overtime and drew three assists as the Rockets beat the Tri-City Americans, 4-3. . . . The series is 2-2 with Game 5 in Kennewick, Wash., on Friday. Game 6 will be played Sunday in Kelowna. . . . Benn scored on the PP at 12:52 of the first OT period. . . . The Rockets were 3-for-4 on the PP; the Americans were 1-for-4. . . . Tri-City had F Taylor Procyshen back in the lineup after a one-game absence, but F Jason Reese remains out. . . . Tri-City lost F Mitch Fadden early in the third after a hit by D Tyler Myers. Fadden’s left arm was in a sling after the game. . . . The Rockets forced OT on D Tyler Myers’ PP goal at 10:37 of the third. . . . C Cody Almond had a goal and two assists for the Rockets. . . . Attendance was 5,578. . . . Tri-City D Riley McIntosh, who was with Kelowna last season, was off for hooking when Benn scored his winner. “The difference was the calls,” Americans head coach Don Nachbaur told Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald. “That was ridiculous. It was going back and forth on both sides. We played our asses off. It shouldn’t have been decided on a call like that. It’s pretty disappointing.” . . . Tri-City G Chet Pickard stopped F Mikael Backlund on a third-period penalty shot with the score tied 3-3. . . . Backlund had scored the game’s first goal in the opening period.
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In Spokane, G Dustin Tokarski stopped 41 shots to lead the Chiefs to a 1-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . The series is tied 2-2 and heads for Vancouver and Game 5 on Friday. . . . Game 6 will be played in Spokane on Sunday. . . . C Tyler Johnson scored the game’s only goal, at 12:31 of the first period on the PP. . . . The Giants were penalized twice in the first period for having too many men on the ice. Johnson scored while the Giants tried to kill the first of those. . . . Attendance was 4,838. . . . The Chiefs went with five defencemen as Brendon Kitchton didn’t dressed. He has the dreaded upper body injury. . . . Vancouver F Lance Bouma went hard into the boards right at the game’s final buzzer but the Giants expect him to be OK for Game 5.