Thursday . . .

THE CHAMPIONSHIP: The WHL final is returning to Kelowna, this time for Game 6. . . . The Calgary Hitmen, who lost the first three games of the series, won their second in a row Thursday night, beating the visiting Kelowna Rockets, 6-1. . . . The Rockets now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 and will play host to Game 6 on Saturday night. A seventh game, if needed, would be played in Calgary on Monday. . . . The Hitmen have outscored the Rockets 12-3 over the last two games. . . . The only team in WHL history to lose the first three games of a best-of-seven series and come back to win was the 1995-96 Spokane Chiefs. They made that comeback against the Portland Winter Hawks. . . . The Hitmen, who had a 50-19 edge in shots, opened the scoring at 16:29 of the first period when they crashed the crease and F Kris Foucault scored his 11th goal of these playoffs with G Mark Guggenberger down and out. . . . Calgary’s second goal came off a rebound on a PP at 3:48 of the second period. F Joel Broda, the WHL’s leading sniper in the regular season, scored it, his first goal of the series. It was his ninth goal of these playoffs. . . . Kelowna C Cody Almond halved the deficit, beating G Martin Jones with a backhand at 11:10 of the second period. . . . Calgary had a 30-13 edge in shots at the time. . . . The Hitmen got that one back just 1:19 later when F Brett Sonne banged a Kyle Bortis rebound past Guggenberger. . . . Broda added a second goal at 18:38 of the second period, putting in a rebound off the end boards. . . . Calgary D Alex Plante upped the count to 5-1 at 14:39 of the third period and you can bet both teams then started thinking about Game 6. . . . Calgary F Rigby Burgart completed the scoring with his first playoff goal at 17:30 of the third period. He had one goal in 50 regular-season games. . . . Foucault’s goal made him a 20-goal man this season. He had nine goals in 26 regular-season games, 22 of the games and all of the goals coming with the Hitmen after he was acquired from the Kootenay Ice. . . . Calgary was 2-for-9 on the PP; Kelowna was 0-for-4. . . . Attendance was 7,428. . . . Among the Kelowna scratches were LW Jamie Benn and F Kyle St. Denis, both of whom are believed to have concussions. . . . The teams boarded a flight to Calgary following Game 4 in Kelowna on Wednesday night. After Game 5, they got back on the plane and returned to Kelowna.
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JUST NOTES: The Memorial Cup opens May 15 in Rimouski with the host Oceanic meeting the WHL champion. . . . Stan Butler, the director of hockey operations and head coach of the Brampton Battalion, has been fined $1,500 by the OHL. Butler, a former head coach of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, was upset about the officiating late in Game 4 of the OHL final Wednesday night after his goaltender, Thomas McCollum, was involved in a collision with F Dale Mitchell of the Windsor Spitfires. "I don't know how that's not a five-minute penalty," Butler said. "If you watch it, you see that. The referees have to make those calls, but for some reason in this series, they put their whistles away and it goes back to 1970s standards." Windsor leads the OHL final 3-1 and can wrap it up Friday night at home. . . . The QMJHL final also could end on Friday night. The Drummondville, who are playing at home, hold a 3-1 lead on the Shawinigan Cataractes.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes will announce Friday that they won’t be renewing the contract of head coach Michael Dyck.
Dyck, who joined the Hurricanes during the 2005-06 season, guided the Hurricanes into the 2008 WHL final, where they were swept by the eventual Memorial Cup-champion Spokane Chiefs.
Lethbridge general manager Roy Stasiuk, whose performance also was put under the microscope by the team’s board of directors, has one year left on his contract.
This season, the Hurricanes finished seventh in the Eastern Conference and upset the second-seeded Saskatoon Blades in the first round of the postseason before falling in four games to the Calgary Hitmen.
In his three-plus seasons, Dyck, 40, was 134-120-19 with the Hurricanes.
Dyck’s name immediately goes into the mix in Regina, where the Pats are looking for a replacement for head coach Dale Derkatch, who was fired on Tuesday despite having two years left on his contract.
The Hurricanes join the Chilliwack Bruins, Everett Silvertips and Regina without head coaches.
The Bruins are believed to be interested in Marc Habscheid, while Everett GM Doug Soetaert has said he won’t hire anyone until after the NHL draft.
A defenceman, Dyck played 136 regular-season games with the Pats (1986-89). He went on to work as an assistant coach with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Lethbridge and Vancouver Giants. Originally, the Lethbridge board interviewed Dyck as a potential general manager, before offering him the job as head coach.
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post, who broke the story involving Dyck’s future on Thursday night, also has speculated that Dean Chynoweth, the general manager and head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, might be a candidate. Regina general manager Brent Parker would have to ask for and receive permission to talk with Chynoweth before moving forward.
According to Harder, who spoke Thursday with Broncos chairman Al Stewart, Parker hasn’t asked for permission. At least, not yet.
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Hey, don’t forget that Sunday is Mother’s Day.
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WHL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL (all times local):
(Kelowna leads series 3-2)
Friday: Kelowna 3 at Calgary 1
Saturday: Kelowna 5 at Calgary 2
Monday: Calgary 0 at Kelowna 2
Wednesday: Calgary 6 at Kelowna 2
Thursday: Kelowna 1 at Calgary 6
Saturday: Calgary at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
x-Monday: Kelowna at Calgary, 7 p.m.

x — if necessary.
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THE PICKS:
John Down (13-1), Calgary Herald: Calgary, in 6.
Jeff Bromley (12-2), Kootenay NewsAdvertiser: Calgary, in 6.
Alan Caldwell (12-2), Small Thoughts At Large: Calgary, in 6.
Scott Fisher (12-2), Calgary Sun: Calgary, in 6.
Dan Russell (11-3), CKNW Radio, Vancouver, and Shaw Cable: Calgary, in 5.
Gregg Drinnan (11-3), Kamloops Daily News: Kelowna, in 6.
Rob Vanstone (11-3), Regina Leader-Post: Calgary, in 4.
Cory Wolfe (11-3), Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Kelowna, in 6.
Kevin Mitchell (10-4), Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Calgary, in 7.