D Mark Pysyk of the AHL’s Rochester Americans collapsed while taking part in a pickup basketball game on Saturday and was taken to hospital. He was released later in the day. Pysyk is a former captain of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has more right here.
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THE WHL PLAYOFF PICTURE:
EAST DIVISION: Brandon (9 games remaining) will finish atop the Eastern Conference standings and now trails Kelowna by one point in the race for first place overall. . . . Regina (10) will finish second in the division. . . . Swift Current (10) is third, eight points ahead of Moose Jaw (10), which is six points ahead of Prince Albert (11). . . . The Warriors are five points behind Edmonton (10), which holds down the conference’s second wild-card berth.CENTRAL DIVISION: Calgary (9) is atop the division, two points ahead of Medicine Hat (9). . . . Red Deer (10) is third, seven points behind Medicine Hat and five ahead of Kootenay (8), which is in possession of the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . Edmonton (10) is seven points behind Kootenay.
B.C. DIVISION: Kelowna (9) has clinched first place in the Western Conference and holds a one-point lead over Brandon atop the overall standings. . . . Victoria (10) will finish second. . . . Prince George (9) has won three straight and moved back into third place, one point ahead of Vancouver (10) and two up on Kamloops (9). . . . Vancouver is two points behind Tri-City (9), which holds down the conference’s second wild-card berth.
U.S. DIVISION: Everett (9) sits atop the division, but is only two points ahead of Portland (10). . . . Seattle (10) is third, nine points behind Portland and six ahead of Spokane (11). . . . Spokane holds the conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . Spokane is seven points ahead of Tri-City (9), which is 2-8-0 in its last 10 and clinging to that second wild-card spot.
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IF THE PLAYOFFS BEGAN TODAY:
Eastern ConferenceBrandon vs. Edmonton
Calgary vs. Kootenay
Regina vs. Swift Current
Medicine Hat vs. Red Deer
——
Western Conference
Kelowna vs. Tri-City
Everett vs. Spokane
Victoria vs. Prince George
Portland vs. Seattle
(NOTE: Team with home-ice advantage shown first.)
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Swift Current, F Dryden Hunt scored two goals and set up another as the Medicine Hat Tigers dropped the Broncos, 5-1. . . . Tigers F Cole Sanford scored his WHL-leading 47th goal at 11:13 of the second period for a 2-1 lead. . . . Sanford had the WHL lead until Portland F Oliver Bjorkstrand tied him later in the evening. Bjorkstrand later scored again, giving him 48. . . . Hunt, who has 30 goals, scored at 19:52 of the second, on a PP, and again at 1:30 of the third. . . . Sanford also had an assist, getting him up to 88points in 63 games. . . . Tigers F Trevor Cox, the WHL scoring leader, drew three assists. He’s got 97 points in 60 games. . . . Tigers F Steve Owre and D Kyle Becker each had a goal and an assist. . . . Owre has 16 goals; Becker has 11. . . . F Jake DeBrusk got No. 37 for the Broncos. . . . The Tigers were 2-for-5 on the PP; the Broncos were 0-for-2. . . . Medicine Hat G Nick Schneider stopped 30 shots, nine fewer than Swift Current’s Landon Bow. . . . The Broncos had D Dillon Heatherington back in the lineup. He last played on Jan. 23. . . . The Tigers (39-21-3) have won two in a row. . . . The Broncos (30-27-5) have lost two straight. . . .
In Moose Jaw, F Jesse Shynkaruk scored at 1:31 of OT gave the Warriors a 6-5 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . The Pats led 2-0 on a pair of goals by F Adam Brooks, the second one shorthanded. . . . The Warriors then scored four in a row, with F Tanner Eberle getting two of them in 24 seconds and F Jack Rodewald scoring his 30th. . . . The Pats tied it in the first half of the third period as F Jesse Gabrielle scored his 20th and Brooks completed his first hat trick with his 25th. . . . F Patrick D’Amico gave Regina a 5-4 lead with his 18th goal at 15:28 on a PP. . . . Warriors F Brett Howden got his 15th at 16:56 to force OT. . . . Shynkaruk won it with his seventh goal of the season. . . . Eberle left the Warriors’ bench for the dressing room early in the third period and didn’t return. After the game, Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald tweeted: “Tanner Eberle is still being evaluated, but it looked like a shoulder injury and he has had a previous shoulder surgery.” . . . Rodewald also had two assists, while linemate Brayden Point scored his 29th goal and had two assists. . . . Moose Jaw D Austin Adam also had two helpers. . . . Moose Jaw was 2-for-5 on the PP; Regina was 1-for-3. . . . The Warriors (26-31-5) have won two straight. . . . Regina (33-20-9) is 0-1-2 in its last three. . . . 
In Brandon, F Peter Quenneville scored twice to help the Wheat Kings to a 6-4 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . Quenneville has 20 goals, and is the seventh player on the Brandon roster to reach that mark. . . . The Wheat Kings built a 5-2 lead before the Ice got two goals in the latter half of the third period to get to within one. . . . Brandon F Morgan Klimchuk iced it with an empty-netter at 19:28 of the third. He’s got 27 goals. Klimchuk also had two assists. . . . Brandon F Tim McGauley had two assists as he ran his point streak to 19 games, tied for the longest such streak in the WHL this season. F Dryden Hunt put together a 19-game streak split between the Regina Pats and Medicine Hat Tigers earlier in the season. Hunt put up 30 points, 10 of them goals, in his streak. McGauley has 39 points, including 27 assists. . . . According to Bruce Luebke, the radio voice of the Wheaties, McGauley has the team’s longest point streak since F Cory Cyrenne went 23 games in 1997-98. . . . F Tim Bozon scored twice for the Ice, giving him 31 this season. He has scored at least 30 goals in each of his four WHL seasons. . . . Ice F Jaedon Descheneau scored his 30th goal, while F Sam Reinhart had two assists. . . . Brandon G Jordan Papirny, making his 13th consecutive start, stopped 26 shots. . . . The Wheat Kings (46-10-7) are 3-0-1 in their last four. . . . The Ice (33-28-3) had points in their previous seven (5-0-2). . . . 
In Red Deer, D Kord Pankewicz scored in the fifth round of a shootout to give the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Rebels. . . . With Red Deer shooting first, Rebels F Connor Gay and Hurricanes F Jamal Watson exchanged first-round goals. . . . After seven skaters fired blanks, Pankewicz won it. . . . Lethbridge F Tyler Wong, celebrating his 19th birthday, forced OT with his 23rd goal at 13:05 of the second period. . . . Red Deer F Reese Johnson scored his first WHL goal, in his third game, at 11:07 of the first period. . . . Hurricanes F Mike Winther tied it with his 13th at 15:11. . . . Red Deer F Adam Musil got his 13th on a PP at 2:26 of the second for a 2-1 lead. . . . Red Deer F Wyatt Johnson came up empty on a penalty shot seven seconds into OT. . . . Lethbridge G Jayden Sittler stopped 30 shots, while Red Deer’s Rylan Toth turned aside 27. . . . The Hurricanes (19-35-8) snapped a five-game losing skid (0-3-2). . . . The Rebels (32-20-10) had won their previous two games. . . . 
In Kamloops, the Blazers erased a 3-2 third-period deficit and beat the Vancouver Giants, 6-3. . . . F Carter Popoff gave the Giants a 3-2 lead with his 24th goal at 2:23 of the third period. . . . Kamloops D Michael Fora tied it with his fifth goal at 8:16. . . . F Cole Ully of Kamloops broke the tie with his 30th goal at 13:07 and freshman F Quinn Benjafield got his second of the game, and fifth of the season, at 16:20. . . . F Jackson Houck scored his 20th goal for Vancouver in the first period and F Ty Ronning notched his first of the season, also in the first. . . . Ully finished with a goal and two assist, giving him 81 points in 60 games. He also was plus-4. . . . F Logan McVeigh and F Joel Hamilton each had two assists for Kamloops. . . . The Blazers scratched freshman F Deven Sideroff, who left early in the third period of Friday’s 4-2 victory over visiting Victoria with an apparent injury to his right wrist. In his absence, F Jesse Zaharichuk started on the right side with Needham and Ully. Cody Nickolet, who tracks WHL lines and defence pairings, has the Ully-Needham-Sideroff line together for 54 of the Blazers’ 62 games going into last night. . . . Before the night was done, Kamloops head coach Don Hay had cycled a number of skaters through the right wing on that line. Later, he even split up Needham and Ully, putting Ully out with Luke Harrison and McVeigh. It paid off in Harrison’s 12th goal, at 17:37 of the second. . . . Vancouver had F Matt Bellerive (illness) back for the first time since Jan. 25. . . . The Blazers scored four goals on seven shots in the third period. . . . F Tyler Benson had two assists for Vancouver. . . . There were three minor penalties called, two to the Blazers. . . . Neither team scored on the PP. . . . The Blazers (24-33-6) have won two in a row. . . . The Giants (26-33-3) have lost two straight. . . . 
In Spokane, F Curtis Miske scored three goals to help the Chiefs to an 8-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans. . . . The Chiefs took control with five second-period goals. . . . Miske, a freshman from Beaumont, Alta., who turned 18 on Jan. 17, now has five goals in 49 games. . . . Chiefs F Adam Helewka scored twice, giving him 35, and added an assist, while F Kailer Yamamoto and F Keanu Yamamoto each had three assists. Yes, they are brothers. . . . Spokane G Garret Hughson stopped 22 shots. He lost his shutout bid when F Taylor Vickerman scored his sixth goal on a PP at 19:45 of the third period. . . . Tri-City F Beau McCue missed on a second-period penalty shot. . . . Spokane D Riley Whittingham took a charging major and game misconduct at 19:02 of the third period. . . . Tri-City G Beck Warm, a 15-year-old making his first start, stopped 31 shots. With regular goaltenders Eric Comrie and Evan Sarthou injured, Warm is the fifth starting goaltender the Americans have used this season. . . . Spokane leads the season series 7-3-0 with two games remaining. . . . The Chiefs (30-27-4) have won three in a row. . . . The Americans (27-33-3) have lost four in a row. . . . 
In Kelowna, F Kenton Helgesen scored at 15:57 of the third period to give the Calgary Hitmen a 2-1 victory over the Rockets. . . . Helgesen’s goal was his 20th of the season. . . . Rockets F Leon Draisaitl scored the game’s first goal, his 14th, at 8:40 of the first period. That was his 200th WHL point. . . . Draisaitl was later ejected, taking a major for goaltender interference at 14:31 of the second period. . . . Calgary F Jake Virtanen tied the game 1-1 with his 19th goal, on a PP at 5:55 of the second. . . . Virtanen also had an assist. . . . Hitmen G Brendan Burke stopped 30 shots. He’s 9-1-1 since being acquired from Portland at the trade dealine. . . . Rockets G Jackson Whistle started for the first time since Feb. 6 when he beat visiting Kamloops, 5-3. He underwent an appendectomy after that start. . . . Whistle turned aside 22 shots in this one. . . . D Josh Morrissey returned to Kelowna’s lineup after a one-game absence, but left in the second period with an apparent left leg injury. According to Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier, Morrissey “got tangled up with Calgary forechecker Carsen Twarynski, went down awkwardly and had to be helped off the ice unable to put any weight on his left leg.” . . . Calgary was 1-for-3 on the PP; Kelowna was 0-for-6. . . . The Rockets remain without injured F Rourke Chartier. . . . The Hitmen (39-19-5) are 5-1-0 on a six-game swing that started with five U.S. Division stops. . . . The Rockets (48-11-4) had won their previous two games. They also had won eight straight on home ice. . . . Fisher’s game story is right here. . . . 
In Kent, Wash., F Oliver Bjorkstrand ran his goal-scoring streak to a franchise record-tying 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-2. . . . Bjorsktrand scored twice, giving him 48 goals in 49 games, as he took over the WHL’s goal-scoring lead. . . . He now shares the franchise record of 11 straight games with F Tony Currie, who did it in 1976-77, the Winterhawks’ first season in Portland. . . . Bjorkstrand broke a 1-1 tie at 13:40 of first period and later added an empty-netter at 18:01 of the third. . . . The online scoresheet credits Bjorkstrand with Portland’s third goal, a PP score at 2:29 of the second period, but that one is expected to be changed to F Paul Bittner, who also scored another goal. He’s got 29. . . . Bjorkstrand also had an assist. He has 90 points, good for second spot in the scoring race. . . . F Chase De Leo scored his 31st goal and added an assist for Portland, while F Nic Petan had two assists. . . . F Mathew Barzal got his 12th goal and had an assist for Seattle. . . . Portland G Adin Hill was credited with 49 stops, 26 more than Seattle’s Taran Kozun. . . . Portland was 1-for-1 on the PP; Seattle was 0-for-3. . . . The Winterhawks (37-20-5) have points in eight straight (6-0-2). . . . Seattle (31-23-8) has lost three in a row (0-2-1). . . . 
In Everett, the Prince George Cougars scored the last five goals and beat the Silvertips, 5-1. . . . F Jake Mykitiuk, who began his WHL career with the Cougars, got Everett on the board with his third goal at 10:16 of the first. . . . Cougars F Chase Witala tied it with his 31st at 13:02 of the first, on a PP. . . . F Aaron Boyd broke the tie with his sixth, at 8:21 of the second. . . . Witala finished with two goals, while F Jansen Harkins had three assists for a third straight game. . . . Cougars D Josh Connolly had two assists, and F Zach Pochiro scored his 16th goal and added an assist. . . . Cougars G Ty Edmonds stopped 27 shots, two more than Everett’s Austin Lotz. . . . Prince George was 2-for-4 on the PP; Everett was 0-for-6. . . . The Silvertips were without D Ben Betker, who served a one-game suspension for a headshot major and game misconduct he incurred on Friday night. . . . Everett also was missing two other defence men — Kevin Davis and Tristen Pfeifer, both with undisclosed injuries. . . . The injuries and the suspension meant that Everett dressed just four defencemen, so F Dawson Leedahl helped out on the back end. . . . The Cougars scratched F David Soltes for a second straight game. . . . The Cougars (26-33-4) have won three in a row. . . . The Silvertips now are 37-19-7.———
SUNDAY’S GAMES
(all times local)Prince Albert at Edmonton, 4 p.m.
Moose Jaw at Regina, 6 p.m.
Swift Current at Saskatoon, 6:05 p.m.
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MONDAY’S GAME
(all times local)Seattle at Victoria, 7 p.m.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES
(all times local)Edmonton at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.
Red Deer at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
Calgary at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
Seattle at Victoria, 7:05 p.m.
Kelowna at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Vancouver at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
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My view from the broadcast booth in Kelowna. Some guys are going to have some great nights in that corner! #makeitup pic.twitter.com/0GNYQna4JM
— Brad Curle (@BCurle_Hitmen) March 1, 2015
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In Regina, the Pats scored the games first four goals, three of them via the PP, as they beat the Red Deer Rebels, 4-1. . . . F Jesse Gabrielle got the game’s first goal, at 15:49 of the first period. He’s got 19. . . . Regina then scored three second-period PP goals. F Braden Christoffer got his 19th goal at 6:52. F Adam Brooks added No. 22 at 11:34. D Colby Williams scored his seventh at 13:41. . . . Regina G Tyler Brown, who stopped 23 shots, lost his shutout when D Haydn Fleury scored his fourth goal at 2:02 of the third. . . . Regina was 3-for-9 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-for-4. . . . The Pats (32-19-7) have won two in a row. . . . The Rebels (30-20-9) have lost two straight. . . . 
In Saskatoon, F Jayce Hawryluk and F Rihards Bukarts each had two goals and two assists to help the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 7-3 victory over the Blades. . . . F Ryan Graham gave the Blades a 1-0 lead with his 15th goal 23 seconds into the game. . . . Brandon scored four goals before the period ended to take control. . . . Hawryluk, who has 24 goals, has seven points in two games since returning from a 13-game absence. . . . Brandon F Tim McGauley scored twice, giving him 37, and added an assist. He is riding a 16-game point streak. One of his goals came on a second-period penalty shot. . . . Brandon’s Quenneville brothers, John and Peter, each had two assists. . . . D Nikita Soshnin and F Wyatt Sloboshan had two assists each for the Blades. . . . Saskatoon F Brett Stovin played in game No. 250, all with the Blades, while D Brycen Martin, who was acquired from Swift Current in January, played in his 200th regular-season game. . . . Already without D Ivan Provorov, F Nolan Patrick, D Kale Clague and F Reid Duke, Brandon scratched F Braylon Shmyr (ill) after the pre-game warmup. That left it with 16 skaters. . . . Without G Alex Moodie (concussion) and G Logan Thompson (pink eye), Brandon had Justin Holder backing up Jordan Papirny. Holder, a 19-year-old from Brandon, plays for the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines. . . . Brandon improved to 44-10-6. . . . The Blades (17-39-3) have lost three straight. . . . Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun has a game story 
In Kent, Wash., G Taran Kozun stopped 15 shots for the shutout as the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Everett Silvertips, 7-0. . . . Kozun has four shutouts this season, all in his last 10 appearances, and 10 shutouts in his career. . . . This was the first time this season that Everett was blanked. . . . F Keegan Kolesar’s 18th goal, at 8:23 of the first period, stood up as the winner. . . . F Roberts Lipsbergs scored twice, giving him nine, and added two assists, while F Scott Eansor scored his 11th goal and had two assists, and F Mathew Barzal had three assists. Barzal has seven assists in his last two games. . . . Each team was 0-for-3 on the PP. Seattle had scored at least one PP goal in 12 straight games. . . . The Thunderbirds (31-21-7) have won two in a row. . . . Everett (35-17-7) had been 2-0-3 in its last five but now is on its first three-game losing skid of the season. . . . 
In Vancouver, G Payton Lee stopped 33 shots as the Giants got past the Kamloops Blazers, 1-0. . . . F Dakota Odgers scored the game’s only goal, his fourth, at 4:44 of the second period. . . . Kamloops G Connor Ingram stopped 21 shots. . . . Vancouver was 0-for-1 on the PP; Kamloops never had an opportunity. . . . Lee has three shutouts this season and five for his career. . . . The Giants improved to 26-31-3. . . . The Blazers (22-33-6) have lost four in a row. . . . After the game, Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province tweeted that Giants F “Dalton Sward left in the 2nd with a hand injury and was getting X-rays afterwards, according to coach Claude Noel.” . . . 
In Spokane, G Wyatt Hoflin turned aside 29 shots as the Kootenay Ice dumped the Chiefs, 5-0. . . . Hoflin has three shutouts this season. . . . F Jon Martin’s seventh goal, at 8:41 of the first period, stood up as the winner. . . . The Ice got two goals from each of F Luke Philp, who has 26, and F Jaedon Descheneau, who has 27. . . . Philp also had an assist. . . . F Austin Vetterl and F Sam Reinhart each had two assists. . . . The Ice roster now includes four 25-goal men. . . . The Ice (31-27-2), which won four of five from Spokane, is 3-0-1 in its last four. . . . The Chiefs (27-27-4), who have been blanked six times since Jan. 17, have lost three in a row. . . . 
In Victoria, F Taylor Crunk scored twice and F Logan Fisher had four assists to help the Royals to a 5-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets. . . . One night earlier, the Rockets had beaten the host Royals 3-2, with F Leon Draisaitl breaking a 2-2 tie in the last minute of the third period. . . . Last night, the teams were 1-1 going into the third period. . . . F Brandon Magee broke the tie with his 17th goal at 6:39 and F Jack Walker got his 16th goal at 8:04. . . . Crunk provided more insurance with his second of the game and eighth of the season at 14:07. . . . Draisaitl scored his 11th goal, on a PP, at 17:00 to get the Rockets to within two, but Royals D Travis Brown got an empty-netter at 17:37. He’s got 17 goals. . . . Victoria G Justin Paulic stopped 31 shots, three fewer than Kelowna’s Michael Herringer. . . . The Royals (33-23-4) had lost their previous two games. . . . The Rockets (46-10-4) had a four-game winning streak snapped. . . . These teams will meet again Wednesday, this time in Kelowna.
In Kelowna, G Jake Morrissey stopped 28 shots to help the Rockets to a 6-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . It was Morrissey’s first career shutout. . . . F Tyson Baillie and F Leon Draisaitl each had two goals and two assists. . . . Baillie reached the 200-point plateau for his career. He has 202 points, including 92 goals, in 244 games. . . . Baillie, who has 34 goals, had been out since Feb. 7 thanks to a headshot from Kamloops F Quinn Benjafield, who sat out Game 3 of a four-game suspension last night. . . . Draisaitl has 27 points, including nine goals, in 17 games since joining the Rockets from the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. . . . D Riley Stadel and F Dillon Dube each had two assists. . . . The Rockets (44-9-4) have won two in a row. . . . The Warriors (22-30-4) are eight points out of a playoff spot with 16 games remaining. . . .
at this point in the season to last season’s final numbers.
have, for a second time, come up with Spokane Chiefs Wine -- aka Top Shelf Red.
In Brandon, F Adam Brooks broke a 2-2 tie at 8:56 of the third period as the Regina Pats got past the Wheat Kings, 3-2. . . . The Pats had lost seven straight games in Brandon. . . . Brooks scored twice, giving him 12 goals. . . . His first goal, at 1:18 of the second period, gave the Pats a 2-0 lead. . . . The Wheat Kings tied it on third-period scores by F Nolan Patrick, his ninth, and D Reid Duke, also his ninth. . . . Regina D Kyle Burroughs was plus-3. He leads the WHL at plus-31. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple stopped 32 shots in winning his eighth straight decision. . . . Brandon G Jordan Papirny made his ninth consecutive start. He has appeared in 26 of the team’s 30 games this season. . . . Papirny turned aside 35 shots, including a second-period penalty shot attempt by F Austin Wagner, who had two assists. . . . On Wednesday, the Pats beat the visiting Wheat Kings, 4-2. . . . The sweep moved them to within seven points of the East Division-leading Wheat Kings. . . . Regina (18-10-1) has won five in a row and 10 of 11. . . . Brandon (21-7-2) has lost two straight. . . . The Pats are off tonight, while Brandon travels to Swift Current. . . . 
In Red Deer, F Conner Bleackley scored twice to give the Rebels a 2-1 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . F Jack Rodewald provided the visitors with a 1-0 lead with his 14th goal at 13:22 of the first period. . . . Bleackley equalized at 13:58 of the first and it was the Toque Toss goal. . . . Bleackley got the winner, his 10th goal this season, on a PP, at 2:30 of the second. . . . Red Deer G Rylan Toth stopped 16 shots, 11 fewer than Moose Jaw's Justin Paulic. . . . The Rebels (15-11-4) travel to Lethbridge tonight. . . . For the Warriors (12-13-3), this was the first of three games in less than 48 hours in Alberta, with each of them a Teddy Bear game. They are in Edmonton tonight. . . . Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald has more on last night's game right here. . . .
In Kamloops, F Jayden Hart broke a 4-4 tie with 25.9 seconds left in the third period to give the Prince Albert Raiders a 5-4 victory over the Blazers. . . . Hart's goal, his 15th, came via the PP as Kamloops D Ryan Rehill had gone off for cross-checking at 18:11. . . . The Raiders, who have won seven straight road games, scored the game's first two goals, outshooting their hosts 13-1 to that point, but were forced to come back from a 4-3 deficit. . . . WHL Facts (@WHLFacts) tweeted that this is the Raiders' longest road winning streak in at least 18 years. . . . Kamloops F Matt Revel tied the game with his second goal, and 11th of the season, at 4:43 of the third. . . . Kamloops F Cole Ully made it 4-3 on the PP at 8:06. He's got 13 goals. . . . The Raiders got even at 11:53 when F Simon Stransky got his fourth goal. . . . In its last four home games Kamloops has fallen behind 6-0, 3-0, 3-0 and 2-0. It is 1-3 in those games. . . . Kamloops has been outscored 43-23 in first periods this season. They are 1-11-2 when they trail after the first. . . . The head coaches in this one have 970 WHL victories between them. Don Hay of the Blazers is at 621, while this was victory No. 349 for Prince Albert's Marc Habscheid. He's 8-5-0 with the Raiders. . . . The Raiders (15-14-0) are to play in Kelowna tonight, while the Blazers (12-14-5) play host to Prince George. . . . 
In Everett, F Trevor Cox scored three times and set up another to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Silvertips. . . . Cox, who has eight goals, scored the game’s last two goals after Everett had gotten to within one, at 3-2. . . . F Remi Laurencelle scored twice for Everett, giving him six goals. Both came on second-period PPs. . . . D Tommy Vannelli and D Tyler Lewington each had two assists for the visitors. . . . Medicine Hat F Cole Sanford scored the game’s first goal, his 18th. It was shorthanded. . . . Medicine Hat G Marek Langhamer stopped 29 shots, 18 more than Everett’s Austin Lotz. . . . Down 4-2, Everett head coach Kevin Constantine pulled Lotz for the extra attacker with 5:33 to play. Cox scored an empty-netter with 33.7 seconds left to play. . . . F Jake Mykitiuk was pointless in his debut with the Silvertips. He apparently didn't get to Everett in time for the game day skate, so the pregame warmup was his first time on the ice with his new teammates. . . . The Tigers (20-6-2), who have won four straight, will meet Seattle in Kent, Wash., tonight. . . . Everett (17-6-4) is in Portland tonight.
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