Pats gain some life . . . Rockets have Royals on ropes . . . Brown a hall of famer

D Michael Busto (Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Kootenay, 2001-07) has signed a one-year extension with Angers (France, Ligue Magnus). This season, in 24 games, he had three goals and 11 assists. . . .
F Riley Emmerson (Tri-City, 2004-06) has signed a one-year contract as player/head coach with the Edinburgh Capitals (Scotland, UK Elite).This season, with Edinburgh, had had 14 goals and 18 assists in 50 games. That was strictly in a playing role; he was an alternate captain.
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TUESDAY’S GAMES:

In Regina, the Pats broke a 1-1 tie with two second-period goals and went on to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings, 3-2. . . . Brandon leads the series 2-1 with Game 4 in Regina tonight. . . . Game 5 is scheduled for Brandon on Friday. . . . The Wheat Kings had won their previous six games. . . . F Jared McAmmond’s first playoff goal gave the Pats a 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first period. . . . That was Regina’s first lead of the series. . . . Brandon F Stelio Mattheos, the first pick in the 2014 bantam draft, tied it with his first goal at 15:48. . . . D Carter Hansen put the Pats back into the lead with his first goal at 1:53 of the second. . . . F Jesse Gabrielle, who was acquired from the Pats from Brandon in January, got his second goal at 5:08 for a 3-1 lead. . . . Brandon F Peter Quenneville, with his second goal, cut into the lead on a PP at 18:32 of the second. . . . Regina G Daniel Wapple stopped 39 shots, 11 more than Brandon’s Jordan Papirny. . . . Brandon was 1-for-3 on the PP; Regina was 0-for-1. . . . Among Brandon’s scratches were F Rihards Bukarts, F Jayce Hawryluk, F Morgan Klimchuk and D Colton Waltz. . . . D Chase Harrison (undisclosed injury) and D Sergey Zborovskiy (suspended) were among Regina’s scratches. . . . D Brady Pouteau, a fourth-round pick in the 2013 draft, made his playoff debut with the Pats. Poteau, who turned 17 on Jan. 9, is from Oak Bluff, Man. (Not Oak Lake. Not Oak River. Oak Bluff.) He played for the midget AAA Pembina Valley Hawks. . . . Attendance was 5,236.

In Victoria, special teams were a big deal as the Kelowna Rockets dumped the Royals, 4-2. . . . The Rockets lead the series, 3-0, having outscored the Royals 13-5. . . . The Rockets scored a shorthanded goal and two on the PP as they erased an early 1-0 deficit. . . . F Alex Forsberg got Victoria on the board with his third goal at 1:03 of the first period. . . . Kelowna F Leon Draisaitl tied it with a shorthanded goal at 8:18. It was his first goal of this series and third of the playoffs. . . . F Nick Merkley gave Kelowna the lead with a PP score at 14:19. It was his second goal of the playoffs. . . . The Royals tied it when F Greg Chase got his sixth goal 54 seconds into the second period. . . . The Rockets scored the game’s last two goals, with F Gage Quinney getting his fourth goal at 9:02 of the second and D Madison Bowey scoring his fourth, on a PP, at 15:16. . . . Kelowna was 2-for-6 on the PP; Victoria was 0-for-6. . . . Kelowna G Jackson Whistle stopped 28 shots as the Rockets ran their winning streak to seven games. . . . Victoria G Coleman Vollrath turned aside 24 shots. . . . Rockets F Tyson Baillie had two assists. . . . Yesterday, in this space, I mentioned that Shaw TV was covering the Medicine Hat-Calgary series in its entirety. Yes, that was in error. Shaw actually is showing all games in the Kelowna-Victoria series, including Game 4. It will be played in Victoria tonight. . . . D Josh Morrissey was among Kelowna’s scratches, although he is in Victoria with his teammates. . . . Attendance was 5,517.
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F Cole Ully of the Kamloops Blazers has been reassigned to the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, Ully was selected by Dallas in the fifth round of the NHL’s 2013 draft and has signed an NHL deal. Ully has been in Texas for a while now, but the move was just made official, which frees him up to dress for the AHL team. This season, he had 94 points, including 34 goals, in 69 games.
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I was remiss in not mentioning earlier in the week that Bob Brown, the architect of those great Kamloops Blazers teams in the late-1980s and early-1990s, was inducted into the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday. (I, too, was surprised that he hadn’t been inducted a long time ago.) Brown was the general manager, head cook and chief bottle washer when the Blazers on the 1992, 1994 and 1995 Memorial Cup titles. . . . If Brown wasn’t the best GM in WHL history, he certainly is in the conversation. . . . These days, Brown is a scout with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
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F Connor McDavid totalled 14 points in the Erie Otters’ sweep of the London Knights in the OHL playoffs. Erie will play the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the next round.
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In the MJHL, the Portage Terriers completed a sweep of the Steinbach Pistons to sweep the championship final. The Terriers, the host team for the RBC Cup, went 12-0 in the playoffs. The Terriers had gone 53-3-4 in the regular season. . . . In the BCHL, F Dakota Conroy (Brandon, Victoria, Prince Albert, 2010-15) drew four assists to lead the Penticton Vees to an 8-5 victory over the host Nanaimo Clippers. The Clippers won twice in Penticton; the Vees won twice in Nanaimo. They’ll play Game 5 in Penticton on Thursday and Game 6 in Nanaimo on Friday.
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THE COACHING GAME:

The QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs and head coach Ross Yates announced Tuesday that they have chosen to part company. . . . Yates joined the Sea Dogs as an assistant coach in 2012 and was the head coach by October 2013. He also was co-general manager, with Christian Vermette. Prior to this season, Yates dropped the GM part of his duties as Darrell Young became director of hockey operations. The Sea Dogs finished this season 32-26-10, then lost a first-round series to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
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The OHL’s Niagara IceDogs announced Tuesday that GM/head coach Marty Williamson will be out of action for the immediate future. “Williams is currently suffering from heart issues, which he is working to address,” according to a news release from the team. . . . Assistant coaches Dave Bell and Billy Burke are handling the team in Williamson’s absence. . . . Later Tuesday, the IceDogs beat the visiting Oshawa Generals 7-3 in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Generals lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 in St. Catharines on Thursday.
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The SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers have decided not to renew the contract of general manager/head coach Rockie Zinger. This season, the Klippers went 37-12-7 to finish atop the Kramer Division. Only the Sherwood Division’s Melfort Mustangs, with 87 points, finished with more points than the Klippers (81). Kindersley was 6-4 in the playoffs, losing a semifinal series in six games to the Notre Dame Hounds. . . . Zinger moved up from assistant coach to head coach in Kindersley in December 2010 when he replaced Larry Wintoneak.

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The new rink for @tigershockey is taking shape on the west side of Medicine Hat. #viewfromthehighway pic.twitter.com/SEJY55WYqs
— Brad Curle (@BCurle_Hitmen) April 14, 2015

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Kenton Smith (Calgary, 1995-2000) signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite). He had 10 goals and 30 assists in 53 games for the Devils this season.
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Tyler Olsen of the Chilliwack Times has the latest on the BCHL’s return to Chilliwack right here. . . . Among other things, Olsen asked Moray Keith, a former minority owner of the WHL’s Chilliwack Bruins and one of the BCHL franchise’s owners, about a possible return by the WHL should the opportunity arise. . . . "Judging by the way we were treated by the WHL,” Keith said, “we're not very anxious to be involved with those folks again.”
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THE COACHING GAME: The SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers have signed Rockie Zinger to a one-year deal as head coach. He hired on as an assistant coach prior to this season, then was named interim head coach when Larry Wintoneak was fired on Dec. 13. . . . The NAHL’s Kenai River Brown Bears have signed head coach Oliver David to a two-year extension. David, from L.A., just completed his first full season as head coach, after moving up from assistant to interim head coach in October 2009. . . . The QMJHL’s P.E.I. Rocket announced that Corrado Micalef and Jamie Blanchard will return as assistant coaches under new head coach Gordie Dwyer.
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JUST NOTES: D Mike Reddington, a veteran of five-plus WHL seasons, has decided to attend the U of Lethbridge and play for the Pronghorns of head coach Greg Gatto. Reddington, from Port Coquitlam, B.C., was the Lethbridge Hurricane’s captain last season. He played 196 regular-season games with the Spokane Chiefs before being dealt to the Hurricanes early in the 2009-10 season. He played 133 games with the Hurricanes, completing his major junior eligibility this season. Reddington had 23 points in 68 games this season, along with 99 penalty minutes. After the WHL season, he played four games with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. . . . F Evan Richardson, a first-round pick in the 2009 WHL bantam draft, has committed to Boston College. Richardson, from Nanaimo, B.C., had 42 points in 55 games with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies this season. The Swift Current Broncos selected him with the 15th pick of the 2009 draft.
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According to capgeek.com, F Linden Vey of the Medicine Hat Tigers, who has signed a three-year deal with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, will get an AHL salary of US$67,500 in each of the three seasons, with an NHL salary of $790,000 each season. He got a $270,000 signing bonus over three years. Vey, who won the WHL scoring title this season, was a fourth-round selection in the 2009 NHL draft.
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The Kootenay Ice finally scored some goals — and took advantage of a break — to stay alive at the Memorial Cup. The Ice beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-4 in OT — F Matt Fraser got the winner — and now will play in a tiebreaker on Thursday in Mississauga. . . . Tonight, it’s the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors and the Owen Sound Attack, in a rematch of the OHL final which the Attack won in seven games. The winner goes on to Friday’s semifinal; the loser gets the Ice on Thursday. . . . The winning goal came after the Ice gained the offensive zone on a play that was offside. . . . It was the second time in the tournament that an offside play preceded a game-winning goal. On Friday, the Sea Dogs got past Mississauga 4-3 with the winning goal coming off an offside entry into the offensive zone.
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In Houston, Aeros team captain Jon DiSalvatore scored with 1:13 left in the third period to give his side a 4-3 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs. It was Game 7 of the AHL’s Western Conference final. . . . The Aeros, who are affiliated with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, will meet the Binghamton Senators in the AHL final. . . . The final, which will follow a 2-3-2 format, opens with games Friday and Saturday in Houston.

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