Thursday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: D Robby Sandrock (Spokane, Swift Current, Medicine Hat, Kelowna, 1994-99) signed a one-year plus option contract extension with Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia, plays in Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had eight goals and 15 assists in 30 games for Zagreb this season.
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You’re heard it said a million times: Hockey is a small world.
How small?
Well, consider this . . .
After Abbotsford head coach Jim Playfair exited the premises following his now legendary Saturday night explosion, assistant coach Jared Bednar took over the Heat bench.
Bednar, a former head coach of the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, is in his first season with the Heat.
Playfair, if you weren’t aware, got tossed after becoming rather frantic as he disputed a call by referee Jamie Koharski.
The Charleston Post and Courier reports that “this wasn’t the first time that Bednar was in the middle of a dispute involving Koharski and a head coach.”
It seems that in 2004, according to the newspaper, “South Carolina head coach Jason Fitzsimmons was suspended six games for throwing a water bottle at Koharski when Bednar was an assistant coach with the Stingrays.”
As Bednar told The Post and Courier: “Hockey is a small world.”
Of course, Playfair, Bednar and Fitzsimmons all are former WHL players. Playfair skated for the Portland Winterhawks and Calgary Wrangers (1981-84), Bednar played for the Saskatoon Blades, Medicine Hat Tigers, Spokane Chiefs and Prince Albert Raiders (1990-93), and Fitzsimmons tended goal for the Moose Jaw Warriors (1989-92).
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F Cody Eakin, the Swift Current Broncos’ MVP this season, had quite a professional debut with the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Wednesday. Eakin, a third-round pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2009 NHL draft, scored on his first shot, his goal at 9:49 of the first period giving the Bears a 2-0 lead over the host Syracuse Crunch. Hershey went on to a 5-2 victory.
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It looks as though G Barry Brust (Spokane, Calgary, 2000-04) has been shut down for the season. Brust, who plays for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades, had surgery on an injured foot and head coach Malcolm Cameron has told Woody Wommack of the Naples News that the goaltender won’t be on the club’s playoff roster. "He's done," Cameron said. "The recovery from surgery on his foot is going to take a lot longer than originally expected."
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And now for a note that will interest most coaches . . .
The Associated Press reported Thursday that “University of Nebraska-Omaha hockey coach Dean Blais has received a two-year contract extension that pays him US$250,000 a year and keeps him with the Mavericks through 2014-15.” . . . Blais just completed his first season with the Mavericks, who were 20-16-6 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. They will play in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association next season. . . . Blais was the head coach of the U.S. team that won the 2010 world junior championship in Saskatoon.
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PLAYOFF NOTES: The Calgary Hitmen are 10-1-1 in their last 12 meetings with the Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . As mentioned here earlier, courtesy of the Calgary Sun’s Scott Fisher, Hitmen G Martin Jones is 10-0 in his career against the Tigers, who are going to be reading and hearing about that stat until they beat him. . . . Something I hadn’t noticed until now: Medicine Hat scored 276 goals, the second-highest total in the WHL during the regular season. And that was a full 45 goals fewer than the Brandon Wheat Kings scored. In this day of the half-dead puck, that is quite a disparity. . . . One year ago, the Kelowna Rockets took care of the Tri-City Americans in six games and they went on to win the WHL championship. The teams meet again in the second round, starting Friday night in Kennewick, Wash. . . . In that last series, the Americans lost F Mitch Fadden, F Jason Reese and F Taylor Procyshen, their three leading scorers, to injuries. D Brett Plouffe also went down during the series. . . . Last season, the Rockets finished with three fewer points than the Americans (101-98); this time, the spread is 97-76, again in favour of the No. 1-seeded Americans. . . . Tri-City won all four games from Kelowna this season and outscored the Rockets, 20-5, in the process. However, the teams haven’t played since Dec. 5. . . .
The way Tri-City GM Bob Tory has it figured, the Rockets are the favourites going into this series. As he told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier: “Let’s be quite honest: They’re the defending league champions, and they have to be favoured to repeat until someone knocks them off. They’ve proven that in the second half of the season when they got healthy and again in the playoffs. Until someone beats the defending champions, they are the top dog. We’re going to have to be at our best to compete with them.” . . .
One of the most intriguing second-round matches has the Portland Winterhawks against the Vancouver Giants. Don Hay, now the Giants’ head coach, was head coach of Canada’s national junior team when it went 7-0 and won the gold medal at the world junior championship in Red Deer. At the time, Mike Johnston, now the GM and head coach of the Winterhawks, was working for Hockey Canada and was assigned to the national junior team as an assistant coach. The two men have remained friends. Of course, they have never opposed each other in a playoff series before now. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that Giants F Tomas Vincour (undisclosed) didn’t practice Thursday. D Kevin Connauton (ill), F Brandon Scholten (flu) and D Luke Fenske (undisclosed) also sat out. . . . The Brandon Sun reported Thursday that “Wheat Kings D Darren Bestland hasn’t practised all week and his status for this weekend is unknown, while C Jay Fehr is back after sitting out a couple of skates. . . . Brandon D Ryley Miller remains out indefinitely with a broken jaw.”
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WHL PLAYOFFS
SECOND ROUND
(Best-of-7)
(x — if necessary)
(All times local)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Calgary (1) vs. Medicine Hat (5)
Friday: Medicine Hat at Calgary, 6 p.m.
Sunday: Medicine Hat at Calgary, 4 p.m.
Tuesday: Calgary at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Calgary at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.
x-April 9: Medicine Hat at Calgary, 6 p.m.
x-April 11: Calgary at Medicine Hat, 5 p.m.
x-April 13: Medicine Hat at Calgary, 6 p.m.
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Brandon (2) vs. Saskatoon (3)
Friday: Brandon at Saskatoon, 6 p.m.
Saturday: Brandon at Saskatoon, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Saskatoon at Brandon, 5 p.m.
April 9: Saskatoon at Brandon, 5:30 p.m.
x-April 10: Saskatoon at Brandon, 5:30 p.m.
x-April 12: Brandon at Saskatoon, 6 p.m.
x-April 14: Saskatoon at Brandon, 5 p.m.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Tri-City (1) vs. Kelowna (6)
Friday: Kelowna at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: Kelowna at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
Tuesday: Tri-City at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Tri-City at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
x-April 9: Kelowna at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
x-April 11: Tri-City at Kelowna, 5 p.m.
x-April 13: Kelowna at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
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Portland (5) vs. Vancouver (2)
(all Portland games at Memorial Coliseum)
Saturday: Vancouver at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sunday: Vancouver at Portland, 5 p.m.
Wednesday: Portland at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
April 9: Portland at Vancouver, 7:30 p.m.
x-April 10: Portland at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
x-April 13: Vancouver at Portland, 7 p.m.
x-April 14: Vancouver at Portland, 7 p.m.