WHL in eye of LGBT storm? ... Butcher, Polei get 2017-18 AHL deals ... DraftGeek guide available, too

In all my years covering junior hockey, I've never seen love for a player like this! Fans lined up to say good-bye to Tyler Wong! #whl #yql pic.twitter.com/UH3ZpXaIDc

— Pat Siedlecki (@radiopat258) May 2, 2017

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F Ben Maxwell (Kootenay, 2003-08) has signed a one-year contract with Spartak Moscow (Russia, KHL). This season, he had eight goals and seven assists in 48 games with Sochi (Russia, KHL). He was an alternate captain. . . .

D Rory Rawlyk (Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Prince Albert, Red Deer, 2000-03) has signed a one-year contract with Memmingen (Germany, Oberliga). This season, he had three goals and 12 assists in 21 games with Brașov (Romania, MOL Liga), one goal and one assist in 14 games with the Florida Everblades (ECHL), and four goals and five assists in 25 games with the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL). . . .

D Jonathan Harty (Everett, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Székesfehérvár (Hungary, Erste Bank Liga). This season, with Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Erste Bank Liga), he had five goals and eight assists in 23 games. He also had two goals and 15 assists in 26 games with the Heilbronner Falken (Germany, DEL2).

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F Jaret Anderson-Dolan of the Spokane Chiefs will be a first-round selection in next month’s NHL draft. He made sure of that by putting up 76 points, including 39 goals, this season as a 17-year-old sophomore.

But it is his commitment to excellence that makes him really special, that and the fact that he has two

JARET ANDERSON-DOLAN

mothers. Josh Horton of the Spokane Spokesman-Review has written a terrific story about Anderson-Dolan and it’s all right here, including this:

“Jaret hears other players talk smack to him on the ice about his two moms, although it happens less in the WHL because he’s a respected player within the league.

“But that’s far from the worst prejudice and discrimination he’s experienced.

“When Anderson-Dolan was going through the WHL bantam draft process, some teams told him and his family they would not take him because of his two mothers.

“Anderson-Dolan, with the talent to be picked in the top five of the (2014) draft, slipped all the way to No. 14 to Spokane.”

As Anderson-Dolan told Horton: “I can’t change people’s opinions. If that’s how they feel about it, I’d honestly rather not be in that organization if they’re going to be like that. I’d rather be in an organization with the Chiefs where they support it completely.

“Maybe that ended up with me falling in the draft a little bit, but I don’t really care, honestly.”

Really, WHL? In 2014, three short years ago, there were teams that took the low road on this? There were teams who chose not to draft a highly talented player because he grew up in a household with two moms? Really?

The WHL has to be better than this. Perhaps this will make its way on to the agenda for its annual meeting in June. In the meantime, I’m thinking that we haven’t heard the end of this, at least not on social media. There were indications on Twitter last night that a storm is brewing.

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It turns out there is another bantam draft guide available, this one put together by DraftGeek, which is hooked up with the gang at DUBNetwork. . . . While Western Elite Hockey Prospects, which was mentioned in this space yesterday, has D Kaiden Guhle ranked No. 1, the crew at DraftGeek is going with F Connor McClennon of the Pursuit of Excellence. . . . DraftGeek’s guide, which may be purchased right here, features its top 180 skaters and 25 goaltenders, who are eligible for Thursday’s bantam draft. . . . There also are thumbnails of each of the top 180, a mock first round, a list of the top 10 U.S.-born prospects, and DraftGeek’s top 22 2003-born prospects.

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The Bakersfield Condors have signed F Chad Butcher and F Evan Polei to AHL contracts for 2017-18. Butcher played out his junior eligibility with the Medicine Hat Tigers, while Polei did the same with the Red Deer Rebels. . . . Butcher, from Kamloops, put up 103 points, including 76 assists, in 68 games this season. In four seasons, he had 259 points, 82 of them goals, in 301 games. . . . Polei, from Wetaskiwin, Alta., had 33 goals and 29 assists in 69 games this season. In 242 career games, he had 131 points, including 72 goals. He actually finished this season with the Condors, getting into one game and recording one minor penalty. . . . The Condors are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.

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Two players off the Kelowna Rockets’ roster are off to the AHL. . . . F Dillon Dube has joined the Stockton Heat, a team whose head coach is Ryan Huska, a former Rockets’ assistant coach and head coach. Dube was a second-round selection by the Calgary Flames, the Heat’s parent club, in the 2016 NHL draft. This season, he had 55 points, 20 of them goals, in 40 games. He missed the start of the WHL season with a knee injury incurred at the Flames’ training camp. . . . Dube’s stay was a short one as the Heat’s season ended last night when it fell 2-1 in OT, on a shorthanded goal, to the San Jose Barracuda. San Jose won the best-of-five series, 3-2. . . . D Lucas Johansen will finish the season with the Hershey Bears, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. He was the 28th overall selection in the NHL’s 2016 draft. This season, he had 41 points, including 35 assists, in 68 games. . . . Dube and Johansen both have signed three-year entry-level NHL contracts.

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The OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads are scheduled to open the OHL’s championship series on Thursday in Erie, Pa., against the Otters.

On Tuesday, Rogers TV shut down channels in Brampton, Mississauga, Richmond Hill and Toronto.

This apparently won’t impact the televising of the OHL’s final series — it’s called the Rogers OHL Championship Series — but there are expected to be changes before another regular-season arrives.

In Western Canada, Shaw TV announced last week that it was shutting down three stations — in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. That means that the WHL on Shaw, which is in its 13th season, will end its run with the conclusion of this season’s championship series.

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Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell, the new owners of the @WHLKootenayICE, met w/ mayor Lee Pratt and biz community today. All excited for future. pic.twitter.com/Gn9r2BaAGm

— Trevor Crawley (@tcrawls) May 3, 2017

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D Ben Verrall, who played one game with the Prince Albert Raiders in 2013-14, will attend York U in Toronto and play for the Lions. Verrall, from Saskatoon, played the past three seasons with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. He will turn 21 on Aug. 10. . . . In three BCHL seasons, he had eight goals and 21 assists in 132 games.

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The BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs have signed Matt Hughes to a two-year contract, with an option for a third season, as general manager and head coach. Hughes had been the head coach of the U-18 Midget Prep team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. . . . Hughes also has coaching experience in the AJHL and NAHL, as well as in the BCHL with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. . . . Hughes takes over from Kevin Willison, who was fired after this season. He had been with the Bulldogs for six seasons. . . . Alberni Valley finished 16-32-7-3 this season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012. . . . Evan Hammond, the radio voice of the Bulldogs, has a news release right here.

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Terry Lake once again references my father's 1995 firing from Kamloops Blazers. https://t.co/ji4J1wfIil

— Scott Brown 😐 (@BrownieScott) May 2, 2017

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MONDAY-THURSDAY’S GAMES (all times local):

No Games Scheduled.

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FRIDAY’S GAME (all times local):

Seattle at Regina, 7 p.m. (Game 1)

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Saturday . . .

The exodus of WHL players to the pro ranks has begun now that some teams have had their seasons come to an end.
G Brandon Anderson of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has been recalled by the NHL’s Washington Capitals and assigned to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Anderson, 18, was an undrafted free agent when he attended Washington’s training camp last fall. By the time his stint there ended, he had signed a three-year contract with the Capitals.
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The Capitals added another WHLer to their stable on Saturday when they announced the signing of F Garrett Mitchell of the Regina Pats.
Mitchell, 19, was a sixth-round pick in the 2009 NHL draft. He played in his 264^th regular-season game with the Pats on Saturday night in Saskatoon.
Mitchell finished this season with career highs in goals (18), assists (34) and points (52) in 70 games.
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F Max Domi, the son of former Toronto Maple Leafs toughie Tie Domi, has told OHL teams not to bother drafting him because he is headed south. Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun reports that Max, 15, will play next season in the USHL. He was expected to be an earlier selection in the OHL’s 2011 draft.
“I played junior but (Max’s mother) Leanne and I want our kid to go to college,” Tie Domi told Simmons. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but for us, it was the right decision.”
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There are four regular-season games remaining.
Here’s what is left to be decided:
1. Who will finish fifth and sixth in the Western Conference? The Chilliwack Bruins are fifth and are out of games. The Vancouver Giants, with one game left, are one point behind the Bruins. The Giants are at home to the Everett Silvertips tonight. . . . The fifth-place finisher plays the No. 4 Tri-City Americans in the first round; the sixth-place finisher draws the No. 5 Spokane Chiefs. . . . Whichever team gets Spokane will open with two games at home as the Chiefs’ home arena isn’t available next weekend.
2. Who will finish ninth and 10^th in the Western Conference? The Kamloops Blazers are out of games and have 64 points. The Seattle Thunderbirds are a point back with one game left. They are at home to the Tri-City Americans tonight. The Americans are 8-0-0 against Seattle this season.
Here are the matchups that have been decided:
EASTERN CONFERENCE:
1. The Saskatoon Blades, who finished on top of the WHL’s overall standings, will face the Prince Albert Raiders, who wound up eighth in the conference. The Blades are 9-0-1 in their last 10; the Raiders have won three straight, including a weekend sweep of the 11^th-place Swift Current Broncos.
2. The Red Deer Rebels finished atop the Central Division so are the conference’s No. 2 seed. They get the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round. The Rebels took two from the Oil Kings on the weekend, winning 4-3 on the road Friday and 3-1 at home Saturday.
3. The Medicine Hat Tigers have one game left but have clinched the conference’s third seed. They will play the Brandon Wheat Kings in the first round. . . . Brandon finished strong, going 7-2-1 in its last 10, but will have to play its first-round home games in the MTS Centre in Winnipeg as the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair takes over the Keystone Centre. . . . The Tigers finish up this afternoon in Calgary. . . . Medicine Hat F Linden Vey goes into the final day leading the scoring race by two points over Spokane F Tyler Johnson.
4. The Kootenay Ice will finish fourth in the conference, which means a first-round matchup with the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Ice has been red hot, going 6-0-1 in its last seven.
WESTERN CONFERENCE:
1. The Portland Winterhawks clinched first place in the U.S. Division and the conference last night as they ran their winning streak to five. They will meet the Everett Silvertips in the first round.
2. The Kelowna Rockets finished atop the B.C. Division so are the No. 2 seed for the first round. Remember that the survivors are reseeded by points after the first round. The Rockets will go up against the No. 7 Prince George Cougars in the first round.
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It’s worth noting that two key players were ejected with major fouls on Saturday night, and their cases will be on the desk of Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s disciplinarian, in the morning.
F Shayne Wiebe of the Brandon Wheat Kings took a boarding major during an 8-4 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors. Before leaving, Wiebe scored his 44^th goal.
In Kelowna, Rockets F Evan Bloodoff, one of their heart-and-soul guys, was tossed with a charging major during a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Giants.
Neither Brandon nor Kelowna has any regular-season games remaining, so any suspensions would mean playoff games lost. A suspension to either of those players could turn into a key factor in a first-round series.
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In Brandon last night, F David Toews had two goals and two assists as the Wheat Kings doubled the Moose Jaw Warriors, 8-4. . . . G Hampus Gustafsson had four assists for Brandon. . . . The Wheat Kings lost F Shayne Wiebe, their captain and a 44-goal man, with a boarding major and game misconduct at 19-01 of the first period. . . . Toews reached the 20-goal mark with his two scores. . . .
In Cranbrook, F Cody Eakin scored two goals and set up another as the Kootenay Ice dropped the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes, 7-1. . . .
In Swift Current, F Igor Revenko’s 23^rd goal at 19:54 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Prince Albert Raiders a 4-3 victory over the Broncos. . . .
In Saskatoon, F Marek Viedensky had a goal and an assist, leading the Blades to a 4-2 victory over the Regina Pats. . . . Blades G Steven Stanford picked up the victory to finish at 40-5-0. . . .
In Medicine Hat, G Deven Dubyk stopped 27 shots to help the Tigers to a 1-0 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. . . . F Curtis Valk scored the game’s only goal, his eighth, at 3:14 of the first period. . . . That was Dubyks’ first career shutout. . . . G Mike Snider stopped 30 shots for the Hitmen. . . . F Linden Vey drew an assist on Valk’s goal, giving him 115 points this season. He leads the WHL scoring race by two points over F Tyler Johnson of the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Tigers are in Calgary today, while the Chiefs play in Portland. . . .
In Red Deer, F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice as his Rebels got past the Edmonton Oil Kings, 3-1. . . . Nugent-Hopkins finished with 31 goals. . . .
In Chilliwack, the Lucas Gore Show continued its run as the Bruins goaltender stopped 37 shots in a 3-0 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . Earlier in the week, Gore established WHL records with 72 saves through three periods and 77 saves through OT in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Chiefs in Spokane. . . . He has five shutouts this season and 10 in his career. . . . Everett has been blanked nine times this season. . . . F Kevin Sundher scored twice for the Bruins -- he has 24 -- and added an assist. . . .
In Prince George, D Sena Acolatse had a goal and three assists as the Cougars dumped the Kamloops Blazers, 5-1. . . . Cougars F Brett Connolly added a goal, his 46^th, and two assists. . . . The Blazers, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Friday night when they lost 3-2 in a shootout to the visiting Cougars, finished the season on an eight-game losing streak (0-6-2). . . . Kamloops had Cam Lanigan in goal, ending Jeff Bosch’s run of 23 straight starts. . . . Attendance was 4,770. . . .
In Kelowna, the Vancouver Giants snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Rockets. . . . F Andrej Stastny won it with his 10^th goal, breaking a 3-3 tie at 10:48 of the third period. . . . Stastny also had two assists. . . . The Rockets lost F Evan Bloodoff at 10:22 of the first period when he was ejected with a charging major and game misconduct. . . . Bloodoff’s hit was on D Joel Rogers, who recently returned from a concussion. Rogers was taken off the ice on a stretcher and checked out at hospital. . . . Doyle Potenteau has lots more on that game right here at DubNation. . . .
In Kent, Wash., the Portland Winterhawks overcame a 3-2 deficit with three straight goals and then hung on to beat the host Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-4. . . . Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 48 shots. . . . The Winterhawks will meet the Everett Silvertips in the first round. Portland won nine of 10 games from Everett in the regular season. . . . F Pearce Eviston scored for Portland in his WHL debut. Eviston, 18, signed with the Winterhawks after putting up 38 points in 44 games with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., F Kruise Reddick and F Brendan Shinnimin each had two goals and two assists to lead the host Tri-City Americans to a 6-4 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . The Americans had lost five straight games to the Chiefs. . . . F Tyler Johnson had a goal and an assist for the Chiefs, giving him 113 points, two off the league lead. Medicine Hat F Linden Vey has 115 points. . . . Spokane had a nine-game winning streak end. . . . Johnson and the Chiefs are in Portland tonight; Vey and the Tigers finish up in Calgary. Johnson has a WHL-high 52 goals.
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SATURDAY’S CFB COUNT
Six minors:
Moose Jaw F Antonin Honejsek
Kootenay D Joey Leach
Calgary D Alex Roach
Everett F Ryan Harrison
Portland F Brendan Leipsic
Tri-City F Jordan Messier

Thursday . . .

FIRST ROUND
(Best-of-7)
(All times local)
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Calgary (1) vs. Moose Jaw (8)
(Moose Jaw leads series 3-2)
Thursday: Moose Jaw 2 at Calgary 5
Saturday: Calgary at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.
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Brandon (2) vs. Swift Current (7)
(Brandon wins series 4-0)
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Saskatoon (3) vs. Red Deer (6)
(Saskatoon wins series 4-0)
Thursday: Saskatoon 5 at Red Deer 2
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Kootenay (4) vs. Medicine Hat (5)
(Series tied 2-2)
Friday: Medicine Hat at Kootenay, 7 p.m.
Sunday: Kootenay at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Tri-City (1) vs. Chilliwack (8)
(Tri-City leads series 3-1)
Friday: Chilliwack at Tri-City, 7 p.m.
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Vancouver (2) vs. Kamloops (7)
(Vancouver wins series 4-0)
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Everett (3) vs. Kelowna (6)
(Series tied 2-2)
Friday: Kelowna at Everett, 7:35 p.m.
Saturday: Everett at Kelowna, 7 p.m.
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Spokane (4) vs. Portland (5)
(Spokane leads series 2-1)
Friday: Portland at Spokane, 7 p.m.
Saturday: Portland at Spokane, 7 p.m.
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THURSDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES:
In Calgary, the Hitmen stayed alive with a 5-2 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Moose Jaw, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, holds a 3-2 edge in the series. Game 6 is Saturday at the Crushed Can. Methinks the joint will be hopping. . . . F Brandon Kozun, the WHL’s regular-season scoring leader, led Calgary with a goal and three assists. . . . Moose Jaw scored first, when F Antonin Honejsek scored his third of the series at 18:59 on the PP. . . . The Hitmen scored the next five goals, before Honejsek closed the scoring with his fourth at 13:53 of the the third period. . . . Calgary was 3-for-5 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 1-for-6. . . . Attendance was 7,138.
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In Red Deer, the Saskatoon Blades scored a 5-2 victory over the Rebels to sweep the first-round series. . . . F Adam Kambeitz scored shorthanded for Red Deer at 1:47 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon scored the next four goals, starting with one from D Stefan Elliott on the PP at 8:06 of the first period. . . . F Jeremy Boyer put the Blades out front at 113:11 of the second and F Curtis Hamilton notched the eventual winner at 4:23. . . . Saskatoon G Steven Stanford, beaten only three times in four games, stopped 31 shots and finished the series with a .977 save percentage. . . . Red Deer G Kraymer Barnstable turned aside 32 shots. . . . Red Deer was 1-for-8 on the PP; Saskatoon was 1-for-4. . . . Attendance was 3,800. . . . The Rebels played without F Landon Ferraro and F Andrej Kudrna. “This was a big game, a game we needed to win to survive to play the next day, and those two guys weren’t at 100 per cent physically,” Red Deer head coach Jesse Wallin told Greg Meachem, the sports editor of the Red Deer Advocate. “We just felt that to give ourselves the best chance we needed 20 guys on the ice who were 100 per cent, who were ready to compete at that level. We had healthy bodies available and although it was a difficult decision, we decided that was the right way to go.” 
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MEANWHILE . . .
With Swift Current having been eliminated, Broncos F Cody Eakin is to join the Hershey Bears, the AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals. Eakin, who had 91 points, including 47 goals, this season was a third-round pick by Washington in the NHL’s 2009 draft.
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With the Kamloops-Vancouver series over, Shaw TV shifts its attention to the series between the Kootenay Ice and Medicine Hat Tigers. That series is 2-2 with Game 5 in Cranbrook on Friday night. Shaw won’t televise that game, but will show Game 6 from Medicine Hat on Sunday and, if necessary, Game 7 from Cranbrook on Tuesday.
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The U of Manitoba Bisons staged quite a comeback as the CIS hockey championship began at Fort William, Ont., Gardens. F Mike Heller got his second goal, at 1:51 of OT, to give the No. 5 Bisons a 5-4 victory over the No. 2 McGill Redmen. . . . McGill led that one 4-1 going into the third period. . . . Manitoba tied it on goals by F Kyle Howarth (Medicine Hat, Spokane, Prince Albert, 2003--06), Hellyer (Prince Albert, 2003-06) and F Ian Duval (Regina, Calgary, Moose Jaw, Kelowna, 2003-09). Duval tied it with 4.8 seconds left in the third period. Duval also made the pass that set up Hellyer’s winner.
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How did the Vancouver Giants celebrate their four-game sweep of the Kamloops Blazers that was completed Wednesday night? Well, they spent a couple of hours sitting on their broken down bus between Kamloops and Vancouver. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports that the Giants’ bus broke down not far from Kamloops and the team had to wait a couple of hours for a replacement. Instead of getting back to their homes by 3 a.m., they didn’t get home until around 6. . . . As Ewen pointed out, the Giants’ bus has had a tough season. “The bus has already had difficulties on trips from Chilliwack and Regina and there was the flat tire just outside Binscarth, Man., that caused a six-hour delay during their extended Eastern Conference roadswing brought about by the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.”
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The SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks have hired Doug Johnson as their next head coach. He presently is an assistant coach with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Johnson, from Bracken, Sask., is a former Hawks player. . . . He replaces Colin O’Hara who resigned on Feb. 10.