Kelowna one win from title; can finish it on Wednesday . . . First two draft picks sign

F Gaelan Patterson (Saskatoon, 2006-10) signed a one-year contract with Sparta Sarpsborg (Norway, GET-Ligaen). This season, with the Idaho Steelheads (ECHL), he had 11 goals and 25 assists in 71 games.
———

MONDAY’S GAME:

In Kelowna, F Rourke Chartier scored twice and added an assist to help the Rockets to a 5-3 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . The Rockets lead the championship series for the Ed Chynoweth Cup 3-0 and get their first chance to close it out on Wednesday night at home. . . . This certainly hasn’t turned into the series most observers were expecting, but it does fit in with the rest of this spring’s playoff rounds. With this series yet to be completed, the WHL has had two series go four games this season, with eight decided in five, three in six and one in seven. . . . Kelowna F Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring with his ninth goal, shorthanded, at 6:35 of the first period. . . . Brandon tied it on F Morgan Klimchuk’s PP goal at 7:48 — he’s got three goals — but Kelowna responded with the game’s next three goals. . . . F Gage Quinney put Kelowna back out in front 59 seconds later, with his sixth playoff goal. . . . F Dillon Dube got his fifth at 4:15 of the second period and Chartier made it 4-1 at 15:02. . . . Brandon F Nolan Patrick scored his eighth goal at 15:28 of the second and F Tim McGauley got his eighth, at 10:06 of the third, to get the visitors to within one. . . . But Chartier iced it with his 12th of the playoffs at 13:48. . . . Rockets F Nick Merkley had three assists, while Draisaitl and Quinney had an assist each. . . . Draisaitl has 26 points, two behind Calgary F Adam Tambellini, who leads the scoring race. . . . Kelowna G Jackson Whistle stopped 26 shots, one fewer than Brandon’s Jordan Papirny. . . . Brandon was 1-for-3 on the PP; Kelowna was 0-for-5. . . . The referees were Matt Kirk and Steve Papp. . . . Attendance was 6,271.
———


The Spokane Chiefs have signed D Ty Smith, the first overall selection in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. Smith, 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, is from Lloydminster, Alta. . . . The only other time the Chiefs held the first overall selection was in 2006 when they took D Jared Cowen. . . . This season, Smith had 28 points, including nine goals, in 16 games with the bantam prep team at the Delta, B.C., Hockey Academy.
——
The Lethbridge Hurricanes have signed D Calen Addison, the second overall selection in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. Addison, 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, is from Brandon where he played this season with the bantam AAA Wheat Kings. He had 76 points, including 45 goals, in 31 games.
——
D Andy Stevens, a fifth-round pick by the Kootenay Ice in the 2013 bantam draft, has said he will play next season with the BCHL’s Powell River Kings. He played this season with the junior B Campbell River Storm of the Vancouver Island junior league. The Storm won league, provincial and Western Canadian championships. . . . "We're moving ahead without [Stevens] and wish him nothing but the best in Powell River," Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth told Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. "He's going to stay on our list. Hopefully down the road he looks at it and wants to move up another level. That will be up to him as his career moves along." . . . Rocca’s story is right here.
——
Here’s Cathal Kelly, in The Globe and Mail: “While he’s being squired across the continent like a visiting monarch, everyone dropping to their knees as he enters the rink, we’ve all decided Mike Babcock is the best coach in hockey. Not ‘one of’ or ‘arguably.’ Just the best, full-stop. Why is that?” . . . Why, indeed? . . . Kelly’s column is right here.
———



In the OHL, the host Erie Otters scored a 4-3 victory over the Oshawa Generals on Monday night. The Generals lead the championship series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled for Erie on Wednesday night. . . . Erie F Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist. . . . The Otters led it 4-1 before Oshawa made it close with a pair of late goals. . . .

The 2015 U-17 World Hockey Challenge is to be held in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., from Oct. 31 through Nov. 8. The tournament, which last year was held in Sydney, N.S., is to feature three Canadian and five international teams.
———

THE COACHING GAME:

Travis Young is the new head coach of the bantam AAA Kings Mutual Wildcats in Berwick, N.S. Young played five WHL seasons (1999-2004) with the Brandon Wheat Kings and Prince Albert Raiders, before going to Acadia U and playing for the Axemen. He cut his career short after three seasons there due to post-concussion syndrome. He went on to spend six seasons as an assistant coach with the Axemen. Last season, the native of Souris, Man., was the head coach of the junior A Bridgewater Lumberjacks of the Maritime Hockey League.
———

#Mac T watching #kelowna rockets, #playoffhockey. pic.twitter.com/tl6qkK48xj

— Kro (@Kro9Kro) May 12, 2015

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.

F Jakub Langhammer (Spokane, 2002-04) has been loaned to Sparta Prague by Hradec Kralove (both Czech Republic, Extraliga) for the rest of this season. In 33 games, he had six points, including four goals. . . .
D Deron Quint (Seattle, 1993-96) has been traded to CSKA Moscow by Spartak Moscow (both Russia, KHL) for monetary compensation. In 43 games, he had 23 points, 11 of them goals. . . . Quint was the fourth-highest scoring defenceman at the time of the move. He played in Saturday’s KHL All-Star Game and won the shooting accuracy in the skills competition. The West won the game, 18-16. Quint had one assist.
———

Thanks to Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix for his kind words as he wrapped up a WHL notebook that is right here.
I agree with him on D Aaron Ekblad of the OHL’s Erie Otters. Were I a rating service, Ekblad would be No. 1 on my list of players eligible for the 2014 NHL draft. Yes, I also would have had Seth Jones atop my 2013 rankings. There isn’t anything like a big, skilled defenceman.
———
Former WHLer Travis Young (Brandon, Prince Albert, 1998-04) is the new head coach of the Bridgewater Lumberjacks of the junior A Maritime Hockey League. Young is from Souris, Man., the hometown of the likes of Andy Murray, the head coach at Western Michigan, and Garry Davidson, the GM of the Everett Silvertips. . . . Young is the Lumberjacks’ third head coach this season. Their record (2-29-5) may have something to do with that. . . . Young, 31, replaces Matt Church, who resigned. Church had taken over from Ron Watkins, who was fired early in the season. . . . Young played three seasons at Acadia U in Wolfville, N.S., and was an assistant coach with the Axemen for six seasons before doing some coaching in Europe.
———
Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, and his wife, Myrna, became naturalized U.S. citizens on Wednesday. Danny Moran of The Oregonian has more right here.
———
G Cole Kehler has joined the Kamloops Blazers and will be on the bench for weekend home games against the Vancouver Giants on Friday and the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday. He will back up Bolton Pouliot. . . . G Justin Myles, acquired last week from Seattle, is out with an undisclosed injury. . . . Kehler, a sixth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, has appeared in four games with Kamloops this season. From Altona, Man., he plays with the midget prep team at the Okanagan Hockey Academy. He is 17-4-0.
———
The headline in Kamloops This Week reads — Lawyer: Tom Gaglardi, Northland are guilty. . . . The lawyer in question here is Rob Bruneau, a Kamloops defence lawyer, who is representing Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, his father, Bob, and Northand Properties Corp. They have been charged with two counts of harmful altertation of a fish habitat. . . . Tim Petruk of KTW has more right here.
———
Keith Olbermann took a swipe at Vancouver Canucks F Tom Sestito the other night on ESPN2, after the latter picked up 27 penalty minutes in one second of playing time. Sestito’s 13-year-old sister later came to her brother’s defence on Twitter. If you missed all of this, Brent Axe of syracuse.com has the story right here.
———
Every year, columnist Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers up the Trite Trophy, and he does it in a column that is well worth reading. The 2013 version is right here.


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.