Another surgery for Patrick ... Wheat Kings, Silvertips swap goalies ... Wellsby moves to BCHL

EPIC!"@CFL: What a time @TheMapleLeafUK w/the #GreyCup & @HenryBurris celebrating #Canada150! #BringItIn #CFL pic.twitter.com/HTyAd1oD9H"

— Lisa (@charmschool1) June 30, 2017

It’s July 1, which means Happy Canada Day to Bobby Bonilla, who retired as a baseball player in 2003 and last played for the New York Mets in 1999. But his contract called for him to receive US$1,193,248.20 every July 1 through 2035. . . . And how much will your bank account grow by today?

——

In looking back at all that happened during the NHL’s draft weekend in Chicago, the move that may have the biggest impact on the 2017-18 season was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ acquisition of tough guy Ryan Reaves from the St. Louis Blues. The Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups without a bodyguard for Sidney Crosby and Co. Will Reaves’ arrival in Pittsburgh signal the start of an arms race?

——

Of course, the Detroit Red Wings tried to play for a number of seasons — post-Bob Probert and Darren McCarty — without a bodyguard for the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. And we all know how that turned out.

——

It seems that every CFL season is the same as the last one. Observers are critical of the officials for throwing too many flags. But why are those same observers to reluctant to point fingers at coaches for the lack of discipline being shown by players who put the officials in positions where they can call those penalties?

——

Wonder Woman and I journeyed to Kelowna on Friday, a trip we always enjoy. Yes, dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory was terrific. But, I’m here to tell you, the Kelowna traffic crawl is right there with that of the Lower Mainland.

——

We also were left to wonder if there was anyone left at home in Alberta, or if the citizenry all had made the trek to the Okanagan.

——

“Toronto columnist Steve Simmons claims the Maple Leafs are closer to a Stanley Cup than many think,” writes RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “Right. And I’m closer to dating Kate Upton than many think.”

——

Currie, again: “Tim Hortons is offering poutine doughnuts on July 1 to salute Canada’s 150th birthday — but only in the U.S. Unless I’m mistaken, this is how Canada won the War of 1812.”

———

F Justin Feser (Tri-City, 2008-13) has signed a one-year contract with the Krefeld Pinguine (Germany, DEL). Last season, he had 22 goals and 30 assists in 45 games with Olten (Switzerland, NL B). He led the team in goals, assists and points. . . .

D Jesse Dudas (Lethbridge, Prince George, Swift Current, Regina, 2003-09) has signed a one-year contract with Nové Zámky (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, with Debrecen (Hungary,MOL Liga), had one goal and five assists in six games. He started the season with TPS Turku (Finland, Liiga), but was injured in the first Champions League game and never played in the regular season. . . .

F Keegan Dansereau (Calgary, Swift Current, 2003-09) signed a one-year contract with MAC Budapest (Hungary, MOL Liga). Last season, with Dunaújváros (Hungary, MOL Liga), he had 34 goals and 37 assists in 39 games. He led the league in points and was tied for the lead in goals. . . . 

F Layne Ulmer (Swift Current, 1997-2001) has signed a one-year extension with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). An alternate captain, he had 19 goals and 33 assists in 51 games last season. Ulmer completed his MBA at Cardiff Metropolitan University during last season. . . .

D Mark Louis (Brandon, Red Deer, 2003-08) has signed a one-year extension with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). Last season, he had one goal and 12 assists in 45 games. . . .

F Carson McMillan (Calgary, 2005-09) has signed a one-year extension with Esbjerg (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). Last season he had nine goals and eight assists in 39 games. . . . 

F Luke Lockhart (Seattle, 2007-13) has signed a one-year contract with Kunlun Red Star Beijing (China, KHL). Last season, with University of British Columbia (CIS), he had nine goals and nine assists in 28 games. Kunlun Red Star opens training camp today (Saturday) with three days in Beijing, and is to begin on-ice sessions in Switzerland on July 8. . . .

F Adam Řehák (Medicine Hat, 2011-12) has signed a one-year extension with the Invicta Dynamos Gillingham (England, National). In 27 games last season, he had 27 goals and 25 assists. He led his team goals, assists and points, while finishing second in the league scoring race.

———

F Nolan Patrick, the second overall selection in the NHL’s 2017 draft, has undergone another surgical procedure.

Ron Hextall, the Philadelphia Flyers’ general manager, revealed on Friday that Patrick won’t be taking part in the on-ice part of a development camp next week.

“Nolan had abdominal surgery on June 13, which related to his injury he dealt with this past season,” Hextall said in a news release.”

The Flyers expect Patrick to “be able to resume full activity” sometime between mid-July and early August.

This means that Patrick had surgery 11 days before the Flyers selected him during the draft in Chicago.

"To me, that brought clarity to us in terms of what’s been nagging him the whole year,” Hextall told reporters on a conference call. “There was something there. For us it was almost — I don’t want to say it was a positive — but when you look at everything that happened to him during the year and in and out, now we know what the issue was."

Patrick first was injured late in the WHL’s 2015-16 playoffs. He had surgery to repair a sports hernia in July 2016 and returned for the start of the WHL’s regular season. He played five games, the last one on Oct. 11, and then sat out until Jan. 13. He was injured again on March 17 and missed Brandon’s four playoff games as it was swept from a first-round series by the Medicine Hat Tigers.

In the 33 regular-season games in which he was able to play, Patrick put up 20 goals and 26 assists.

If Patrick doesn’t crack the Flyers’ lineup out of training camp, he must be returned to the Wheat Kings.

——

(Photo: @bdnwheatkings)

The Brandon Wheat Kings and Everett Silvertips swapped goaltenders on Friday, with Brandon Peacock, 17, heading west in exchange for Zach Bennett. . . . Peacock, from Quesnel, B.C., has played three seasons at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C. Last season, with the White prep team in the CSSHL, he was 12-6-1, 3.24, .896. The Wheat Kings selected him in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. . . . In mid-June, the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters announced that they had signed Peacock for 2017-18. . . . Bennett, from Winnipeg, will turn 17 on Oct. 1. The Silvertips picked him in the seventh round of the 2015 bantam draft. Last season, he was 2.20, .936 with the midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers, and he was a second-team Manitoba Midget Hockey League all-star.

——

The BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs have added F Austin Wellsby, 20, to their roster. Wellsby, who is from Chilliwack, played the past three seasons with the WHL’s Kootenay Ice. Last season, he had six goals and 12 assists in 60 games. In 164 regular-season games, Wellsby had 15 goals and 20 assists. . . . The Ice selected him in the fourth round of the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft.

——

If you’re a regular here, and even if you aren’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.

BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.

I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).

———

Bram Stephen is the new head coach of the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. He spent the previous five seasons with the Grant MacEwan College Griffins. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach for two seasons (2009-11) with the AJHL’s Drayton Valley Thunder. . . . In Spruce Grove, Stephen takes over from Michael Ringrose, who left as the organization underwent an ownership change in June.

——

Chris Taylor has signed on as head coach of the Rochester Americans, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. He replaces Dan Lambert, who was fired after one season as the Sabres underwent a regime change. Lambert has since signed as the head coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. . . . Taylor is a former Americans player and played three seasons (2002-05) with Jason Botterill, Buffalo’s new GM, in Rochester. . . . Taylor spent four seasons (2012-16) as an assistant coach with the Americans. Last season, he was an assistant with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

Hurricanes-Pats gets TV treatment ... Regina merch sales off the charts ... Home-ice advantage important?

We don't have our roster yet, but Golden Knights fans are already enjoying the #StanleyCupPlayoffs2017. pic.twitter.com/qUU3msDzGZ — Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 20, 2017

Has Dart Guy become the new Marlboro Man? If so, you have to wonder how happy the NHL pooh-bahs are to have a guy with a dart stuck in the middle of his painted face as one of the icons for the first round of playoffs.
 ——
 If you were wondering, Shaw TV and Access7 will show the WHL’s Eastern Conference final between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Regina Pats. That series opens with games in Regina on Friday and Saturday nights. . . . This should be something of a grudge match, too, seeing as the Pats, a wild-card team a year ago, dumped the Central Division-champion Hurricanes in five games in a first-round series.
 ——
 There should be some emotion in the Western Conference final, too, seeing as it’s the fourth time in five seasons that Kelowna and Seattle have clashed in the playoffs. A year ago, the Thunderbirds swept the Rockets in the conference final. . . . The most memorable series between these teams occurred in the first round in 2013 when Seattle won the first three games and Kelowna won the last four.
 ——
 Rylan Toth of the Thunderbirds led all WHL goaltenders with 36 regular-season victories. However, he was injured late in the season and hasn’t even dressed for a game in these playoffs. In his absence, freshman Carl Stankowski has gone 8-0, 2.24, .913. . . . This being the playoffs, Toth’s mother, Marie, likely doesn’t even know if he’s healthy enough to play. But what does Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk do if Toth is ready?
 ——
 I didn’t have a dog in the hunt, but it was good to see F Tyler Wong, the Hurricanes’ captain, emerge as Tuesday night’s hero with the Game 7 OT goal — shorthanded at that — against the host Medicine Hat Tigers. Wong is wrapping up his WHL career with his fifth season in Lethbridge and he’s stuck it out through thick and thin. You know that no one has enjoyed the past two seasons more than has Wong, who may be the most-loved player in franchise history.
 ——
 Wong and Kelowna F Reid Gardiner are tied for the playoff scoring lead, each with 22 points. . . . So, yes, Regina will pay a little extra attention to Wong, and, yes, it already has started. Here’s John Paddock, Regina’s GM and head coach, in conversation with Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post: “(Wong is) a hard-working, inspirational guy who has skill. He’s physical. He jumps a couple feet in the air when he hits guys and doesn’t get called.” . . . Sheesh, John, don’t you realize that WHL officials, both on-ice and off, don’t read anything in the playoffs.
 ——
 You may recall that it was almost two years ago — May 5, 2015 — when WHL commish Ron Robison was in Lethbridge, suggesting to the team’s board of directors that they should sell the franchise. You have to think the hockey fans of Lethbridge are rather pleased that it didn’t happen. ——
 What does it mean to a WHL team to be alive this deep into the playoffs? Well, Stacey Cattell, the Pats’ COO, told CBC News in Regina that “merchandise sales are . . . almost 50 per cent more than they were last (season) overall.” He also revealed that the Pats surpassed last season’s total merchandise sales by the fourth game of these playoffs.
 ——
 If you haven’t yet seen Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees at the plate, well, you’re cheating yourself. The Yankees’ starting right fielder, he is 6-foot-7 and 282 pounds, and he moves like a much smaller man. Last night, Judge, who bats right, hit a 448-foot home run that landed halfway up the left-field bleachers. At the age of 24, he has two of the three longest homers to have been hit at the ‘new’ Yankee Stadium — he hit a 457-footer last season and that’s No. 1. ——

pic.twitter.com/y0ix8YPphU — Christian Roatis (@CRoatis) April 19, 2017

———

As the WHL takes a break, Hartley Miller, the sports director at 94.3 The Goat in Prince George, points out: Home teams went 22-22 in the first round; Home teams went 13-10 in the second round. He adds that when it came to Game 7s, home teams in Round 1 were 1-1 and they were 1-1 in Round 2. The numbers would indicate that home-ice advantage, which teams supposedly play so hard for over the 72-game regular season, is vastly over-rated. The third round — aka conference finals — is scheduled to open on Friday with the Kelowna Rockets meeting the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., and the Lethbridge Hurricanes visiting the Regina Pats. To this point, the Rockets have played in 11 playoff games; the Thunderbirds have been in the minimum eight, having swept the Tri-City Americans and Everett Silvertips. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes, who scratched five regulars for Games 6 and 7 against the Medicine Hat Tigers, have played in 14 games; the Pats have been in 11.
——
 The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed F Brendan Stafford, 17, to a WHL contract. From Edmonton, Stafford is a list player. He also is a cousin go F Drew Stafford of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. This season, Brendan had six goals and 18 assists in 60 games with the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders. Last season, he had 17 goals and 21 assists in 52 games with the midget A team at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn.
——
 D Scott Allan, who played with three WHL teams, has decided to attend Concordia University of Edmonton and play hockey for the Thunder. Allan, who is from Thornton, Colo., played most of the last two seasons with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors, helping them to a national championship a year ago. In the WHL, the 6-foot-7, 225-pounder had stints (2013-15) with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Seattle Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Hurricanes.
 ——
 The Battlefords North Stars will represent the SJHL at the Western Canada Cup in Penticton, April 29 through May 7. The North Stars beat the host Flin Flon Bombers 6-5 on Wednesday night to sweep the SJHL’s championship series and win the Canalta Cup. In fact, the North Stars went 12-0 as they ran roughshod through the playoffs. If you’re wondering, the last teams to run the SJHL playoff table were the dynastic Prince Albert Raiders, in 1976 and 1982. . . . The North Stars last were SJHL kings in 2000. . . . In the MJHL, the Portage Terriers won their third straight championship, beating the visiting OCN Blizzard, 1-0, last night behind 27 saves from G Kurtis Chapman. The Terriers, who have won seven titles in 10 seasons, won the series, and the Turnbull Cup, in six games. Portage lost the first two games of the final, then roared back with four victories. . . . In the BCHL, the host Penticton Vees erased a 3-0 deficit and beat the Chilliwack Chiefs, 4-3 in OT. The Vees now lead the series, 3-1, with the first opportunity to wrap it up on Saturday in Chilliwack. . . . F Ryley Risling got the OT winner. . . . The Vees, of course, are in the Western Canada Cup as the host team, so the Chiefs will be the BCHL representative.
 ——
 If you enjoy stopping off here and would care to make a donation to the cause, please feel free to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there. If you have some information you would like to share or just a general comment, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com. If interested, you also are able to follow me on Twitter at @gdrinnan.
 ———

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.
——

THURSDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled
——

FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Kelowna vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m. (Game 1) Lethbridge at Regina, 7 p.m. (Game 1)
There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

Wong wins it for 'Canes ... Shorty in OT sends 'Canes to Regina ... Series opens Friday

The Eastern Conference final, featuring the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Regina Pats, will open at the Brandt Centre in Regina with games on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets for those games sold out in about 10 minutes on Tuesday. . . . All eyes are on Regina F Adam Brooks, the team captain, who hasn’t taken a shift since injuring a knee in Game 2 of the second-round series with the Swift Current Broncos that ended in Game 7 in Regina on Monday. . . . “I don't know for sure (if he could return)," John Paddock, the Pats’ GM and head coach, told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post on Tuesday. “I’d like to say that I’m hopeful at some time in the series, but that’s me talking. That’s not really (trainer) Greg (Mayer) or the doctors telling me that.” . . . Brooks was in uniform and on the Pats’ bench for the last three games of the series with the Broncos, but he never got on the ice. . . . A prolific scorer, he won the WHL scoring title last season and finished one point behind teammate Sam Steel this season.

——
F Alexander Kuvayev (Lethbridge, Vancouver, 2010-12) has signed a one-year extension with Spartak Moscow (Russia, KHL). This season, he was pointless in 22 games with Spartak; and had seven goals and three assists in 17 games with Khimik Voskresensk (Russia, Vysshaya Liga).
———

On Tuesday, I mentioned ticket scalpers being in evidence prior to Game 7 between the Swift Current Broncos and the Pats in Regina on Monday night.

It wasn’t long before I heard from Dan Russell, the former host of the popular Vancouver radio show Sportstalk and a man with considerable experience doing WHL play-by-play.

He recalled two instances of seeing scalpers prior to WHL games.

The first was in 1984 at Queen’s Park Arena, the home of the New Westminster Bruins. They were playing the Portland Winterhawks and it was Game 9. Yes, Game 9.

“(They were doing a) rousing business outside,” Russell recalls, “and I remember hearing $75-$100 in those days.”

Russell added: “Portland won the series after trailing 4-3 through seven games. Lol. (Cliff) Ronning was huge (for the Bruins) in that series and scored what many of us felt was the tying goal in the third period (of Game 9), before there was any hint of video review.”

Russell also recalled seeing scalpers in 2005 when the Vancouver Giants were playing the Kelowna Rockets in Game 6 at the Pacific Coliseum.

“It was during the NHL lockout,” he recounted. “Fans were starving (for hockey). Shaw’s TV coverage and heavy Sportstalk radio coverage was the only hockey being talked about in a starved market and it led to crowds that just kept building during series. Game 6 was a sellout with confirmed scalpers doing strong business. The telecast was the most viewed TV show in the market on that night.”
——
Finland beat Team Canada 6-3 to conclude round-robin play at the IIHF U-17 World Championship in Poprad, Slovakia, on Tuesday. Finland (4-0-0-0) finished atop Group A, with Canada (2-1-0-1) second. D Jett Woo of the Moose Jaw Warriors had one of Canada’s goals. G Ian Scott of the Prince Albert Raiders gave up five goals on 27 shots before being lifted at 1:24 of the third period. . . . Team Canada will play Sweden (2-0-0-2), the third-place team from Group B, in a Thursday quarterfinal game in Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia. . . . In another game, D Mark Rubinchik of the Saskatoon Blades had two goals, including the winner, and an assist as Russia got past Czech Republic, 5-4. Rubinchik had six points, including two goals, in four round-robin games. Russia will meet Sweden in a quarterfinal game on Thursday. . . . In the other quarterfinal games, it’ll be Finland against Czech Republic and Team USA vs. Switzerland.

 ——
The Prince George Cougars have signed F Liam Ryan, who turned 17 on Jan. 2, to a WHL contract. From New Westminster, B.C., he was a seventh-round selection in the 2015 WHL bantam draft. This season, he had 15 goals and 28 assists in 38 games with the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League.

——
The Vancouver Giants have signed G Jacob Wassermann, ??, to a WHL contrct. The 6-foot-5 native of Humboldt, Sask., was an eighth-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft. This season, he played for the midget AAA Saskatoon Blazers, going 10-13-0, 3.23, .902 in 26 games. In five playoff games, he was 1.81, .947.

——
  The QMJHL lost its defending champion on Tuesday night as the Chicoutimi Sagueneens bet the host Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, 4-3 in OT, in Game 7 of a second-round series. Chicoutimi, which trailed 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the third period, went into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed; the Huskies were No. 2. . . . The Sagueneens next will face the No. 1 Saint John SeaDogs. . . . The other semifinal will have the No. 4 Charlottetown Islanders up against the No. 5 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. The Armada beat the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan, 7-1, in Game 7 last night.

 ——
  In the OHL, F Warren Foegele scored at 10:40 of OT to give the host Erie Otters a 5-4 victory over the London Knights in Game 7 of their second-round series. The Knights are the defending Memorial Cup champions. . . . The Otters will meet the Owen Sound Attack in the Western Conference final, one that will feature a pair of former WHL coaches. Kris Knoblauch runs the bench for the Otters; Ryan McGill does the same for the Attack. . . . In the Eastern Conference final, it’ll be the Peterborough Petes facing the Mississauga Steelheads. —— There will be a definite WHL flavour to the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2017 inductions on Oct. 7 at Winnipeg’s Canad Inns Polo Park. Included in the Class of 2017 are Murray Bannerman (Winnipeg Clubs, Victoria Cougars, 1973-77), Jim Benzelock (Winnipeg Jets, 1967-68), Laurie Boschman (Brandon Wheat Kings, 1976-79), Pat Falloon (Spokane Chiefs, 1988-91) and Lew Morrison (Flin Flon Bombers, 1967-68), all of whom played in the WHL. Also being inducted will be Rob Martell, a former WHL linesman who went on to a career in the NHL. . . . For more on the complete Class of 2017, check this right here.

 ——
The Brooks Bandits won their second consecutive AJHL championship on Tuesday, beating the host Whitecourt Wolverines, 4-1, to sweep a best-of-seven final. . . . Brooks has won four championships in the past five seasons — 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017. . . . This time, Brooks went through the playoffs with only one loss, while outscoring its opposition, 75-16. . . . Brooks had finished the regular-season with the AJHL’s best record — 51-5-4. . . . The Bandits now move on to the Western Canada Cup in Penticton, B.C., April 29 through May 7. The five-team tournament will feature the host Penticton Vees, the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs, the Bandits and the champions of the SJHL and MJHL. The top two teams in that tournament will advance to the RBC Cup. The Vees hold a 2-1 lead over Chilliwack, having posted a 5-2 home-ice victory before 3,009 fans last night. They’ll play Game 4 tonight in Penticton. . . . F Massimo Rizzo, taken 15th overall by the Kamloops Blazers in the WHL’s 2016 draft, opened the scoring for the Vees, on a PP, with his first BCHL goal. Rizzo has yet to sign with the Blazers or commit to the NCAA route.

 ——
 If you enjoy stopping off here and would care to make a donation to the cause, please feel free to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there. If you have some information you would like to share or just a general comment, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com. If interested, you also are able to follow me on Twitter at @gdrinnan.
 ———

PED statement I'd love to see: "It helped me play better. I thought I could get away with it, turns out I couldn't. See you in 80 games." — Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) April 18, 2017

———

TUESDAY’S GAME (all times local):

This. 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 #AllAboard #WHLPlayoffs http://t.co/6egYjFwzw3 — #AllAboard (@WHLHurricanes) April 19, 2017

.@tylerwong_5 all smiles after scoring what he said is one of the top goals of his career. The Game 7 OT winner for the @WHLHurricanes #yql pic.twitter.com/ALkkLok8mh — Nick Kuhl (@NKuhlHerald) April 19, 2017

At Medicine Hat, F Tyler Wong scored his second goal of the game, at 3:02 of OT, to give the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 5-4 victory in Game 7 of a second-round series. . . . The Hurricanes are 5-0 in Game 7s in franchise history, with two of those on the road. They now will meet the Regina Pats in the Eastern Conference final. That series will open with games in Regina on Friday and Saturday nights. . . . With the Medicine Hat defenders backing up, Wong skated into the Tigers’ zone and beat G Michael Bullion with a 20-foot wrist shot. . . . Just moments earlier, Lethbridge G Stuart Skinner had made a huge save on Tigers F John Dahlstrom. . . . Wong’s goal sent the Hurricanes into the third round for the first time since 2008. . . . F Zach Fischer (7) had given the Tigers a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the first period, only to have the Hurricanes score three times before the end of the period. . . . F Jordy Bellerive (4) tied it just nine seconds later. . . . Wong gave the Hurricanes their first lead, at 16:22. . . . F Egor Babenko (7) extended that lead at 19:13, with Wong earning an assist. . . . Medicine Hat went back out front with three goals in the first half of the second period. . . . F Matt Bradley (4) got the Tigers to within a goal at 4:07. . . . F Mark Rassell, who finished with seven goals, then scored twice, at 5:14 and 9:26, to send the home team out front. . . . F Dylan Cozens, a 15-year-old AP, tied it for Lethbridge, with his second goal of the series, at 17:17 of the third period. . . . Cozens also had an assist on Bellerive’s goal. . . . Wong, the captain, won it with his 11th goal of these playoffs. It came 54 seconds after Lethbridge D Brennan Riddle had been sent off for high-sticking. . . . Bellerive added an assist to his goal. . . . Skinner finished with 36 saves, 11 more than Bullion. . . . The Tigers were 1-5 on the PP; the Hurricanes were 0-3. . . . Just like for Game 6, the Hurricanes scratched D Calen Addison, F Matt Alfaro, F Zak Zborosky, F Ryan Vandervlis and F Zane Franklin, all of them regulars. . . . Lethbridge added F Connor Lyons to the lineup, taking out F Jayden Davis. Both are APs. . . . “I am so proud of the team,” Lethbridge GM Peter Anholt told Taking Note, via text, shortly after game’s end. “(Head coach) Brent (Kisio) and the coaches did such an unreal job of keeping the guys focused. Never looked for excuses. Just played. Faced adversity and overcame it. So proud.” . . . The road team won five of the seven games in this series. The Hurricanes went into Medicine Hat and won Games 2, 5 and 7. . . . Announced attendance: 5,556.
 ——

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.
 ——

THURSDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled
 ——

FRIDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

Kelowna vs. Seattle, at Kent, Wash., 7:35 p.m. (Game 1) Lethbridge at Regina, 7 p.m. (Game 1)

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.