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How many former WHLers have community service awards named in their honour? Well, former Tri-City Americans F Adam Hughesman, who spent five years with the team, now has his name on just such an award. . . . This is a wonderful story and Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald has it all right here.———
The Allan Cup final in Red Deer will feature Newfoundland’s Clarenville Caribous against the host Bentley Generals. . .
. The final starts at 5:30 p.m. MT and will be televised by TSN. . . . The Generals beat the Kenora Thistles 3-2 in their semifinal. . . . “If it’s easy, it’s not worth it. Give them all kinds of credit,” Generals captain Sean Robertson told Greg Meachem, the sports editor of the Red Deer Advocate. .“That was their fourth (game) in four nights and it came right down to the end. We had to dig in a little bit and adapt to what they were doing. We need a little credit there, too, we held on and persevered against a pretty good hockey team in a pretty tough hockey game.” 
. . . Generals head coach Brandin Cote added: “After they scored their first goal, we panicked a bit, which is uncharacteristic for us. Maybe it was just the pressure of the situation, but at the end of the day we stuck with it anyone who has won a championship has to win those types of games. I’m proud of the guys.” . . . The Caribous beat the Generals 5-3 in the 2011 Allan Cup final in Kenora, Ont. . . . Earlier Friday, the Caribous beat the Rosetown, Sask., Redwings, 6-2.———
THE COACHING GAME:
Brad Rihela is the new head coach of the junior B Aldergrove Kodiaks of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League. Rihela had been an assistant coach with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. Rihela announced his signing via Twitter on Friday.
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The WHL’s playoff situation:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
THIRD ROUND
Edmonton (1) vs. Calgary (3)
(Series tied 1-1; Game 3 on Tuesday night in Calgary; all games on Shaw TV, with Dan Russell calling the play.)
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
THIRD ROUND
Portland (1) vs. Kamloops (3)
(Portland leads series, 1-0; Game 2 tonight in Portland.)
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FRIDAY’S GAMES:
In Edmonton, G Laurent Brossoit stopped 23 shots to lead the Oil Kings to a 6-0 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . Brossoit has four shutouts in these playoffs. . . . D D Martin Gernat scored two goals and added two assists for Edmonton. . . . The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead into the third period when they scored five times, three of them coming via the PP. . . . Edmonton went 4-for-14 on the PP after starting 0-for-9. . . . Calgary, which took 101 of the 147 penalty minutes handed out, was 0-for-4. . . . Edmonton F Henrik Samuelsson, again with his father, Ulf, in the stands, opened the scoring with his eighth goal of these playoffs. He’s got eight snipes now. . . . Edmonton F Mitch Moroz thought perhaps he had scored at 17:52 of the first period to give his side a 2-0 lead. But the goal was disallowed, the ruling being that he had kicked it in. . . . The Hitmen lost F Jake Virtanen to a second-period kneeing major and game misconduct. . . . Edmonton D Cody Corbett, who was hit by Virtanen, left the game and didn’t return. . . . Edmonton F Trevor Cheek scored his seventh playoff goal. He’s scored in four straight games. . . . Calgary F Victor Rask didn’t get a point for the first time in 12 playoff games. . . . The Oil Kings added D Ashton Sautner to their lineup, while taking out D Dysin Mayo. . . . The Hitmen had F Pavlo Padakin back from a knee injury. . . . Calgary F Balder Brooks is playing with a full cage after losing five teeth during practice on Tuesday. He also took 15 stitches to a lip. . . . Attendance was 9,447, the largest playoff crowd in Edmonton this spring (or is it still winter in Edmonton?). . . . The NHL's Calgary Flames played their final home game of the season on Friday night. Immediately after the game, the ice men took out the Flames' logo from centre ice and were replacing it with a Hitmen logo. . . .
In Portland, F Ty Rattie had a goal and two assists and was ejected in the third period as the Winterhawks beat the Kamloops Blazers, 4-1. . . . Rattie broke a 1-1 tie when he scored on a second-period penalty shot. He was awarded the penalty shot after being slashed by D Joel Edmundson while on a breakaway. . . . That was Rattie’s 42nd career playoff goal, leaving him second on the WHL’s all-time list, one ahead of former Flin Flon Bombers star Reg Leach and five in arrears of former Medicine Hat Tigers sniper Mark Pederson. . . . Rattie, who now leads the playoff scoring race with 22 points, was tossed at 18:02 of the third period. He was given a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct for a hit on F Chase Souto. Rattie maintains that Souto speared him to precipitate the hit. Souto was given a spearing minor. . . . Kamloops welcomed back F Colin Smith, who missed three games with a suspected concussion, and F Tim Bozon (hand), who hadn’t played since being injured in a melee at the end of Game 3 in a first-round series on March 26. ———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT (19):
F Brendan Leipsic, Portland
F Pavlo Padakin, Calgary
F Ty Rattie, Portland (major)
CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT (6):
F Travis Ewanyk, Edmonton
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From the Portland Winterhawks (@pdxwinterhawks): “Rattie and Bozon with words en route to the penalty box. Bozon suggested Season 3 was The Wire’s best, Rattie said Season 4.”
(But we all know that it was Season 5, don’t we?)
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