– The World Under-18 Hockey Championship opens Thursday in Finland. The Canadian team includes three members f the Brandon Wheat Kings in John Quenneville, Jayce Hawryluk and Ryan Pilon, along with Elkhorn product Travis Sanheim of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. Canada faces Sweden in their opening game, with that contest beginning at 11:30 a.m. (CDT) Thursday.
– The second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs came to an end Wednesday night. The Medicine Hat Tigers scored three unanswered third period goals to beat the Kootenay Ice 4-1 in Game Seven of their Eastern Conference semifinal. Virden product Landon Peel scored the lone goal for Kootenay, who let a 3-1 series lead slip away. Medicine Hat will now play the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Eastern Conference Final while Kelowna faces Portland in the Western Conference Final. Both conference finals begin Friday night.
– A first round playoff exit has cost Calgary Hitmen head coach Mike Williamson his job. The Hitmen announced Wednesday that they would not exercise the option year on Williamson’s contract, and will have a new head coach in place for next season. Williamson had a 210-127-23 record in five seasons with the Hitmen, a .615 winning percentage. There now are three WHL teams looking for new bench bosses, with the Kamloops Blazers and Saskatoon Blades also are looking for head coaches.
– The Winnipeg Jets have signed head coach Paul Maurice to a four-year contract extension. Maurice was brought in on January 12 after former coach Claude Noel was fired at the end of a five-game skid. The Jets responded well to the coaching change, winning seven of their nine remaining games in January. Winnipeg was 18-12-5 overall under Maurice. The Jets ended the season at 37-35-10 and missed the playoffs for the third straight year after relocating to Winnipeg from Atlanta.
– Dale Weise scored in overtime to hand the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening game of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series Wednesday night. Elsewhere in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist as Anaheim built a 4-0 lead and held on for the 4-3 victory over Dallas to start their Western Conference quarter-final and Brandon Sutter’s wrist shot near the midway point of the third period was the winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets to start their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final.
– The field is set for the Western Canada Cup. The Yorkton Terriers claimed the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title Wednesday night with a 4-0 victory over Melville, completing a four-game sweep of the Millionaires in the League Final. Russell product Derek Falloon was pointless in the decisive game, but had three goals and seven points in 14 playoff games with Yorkton. The Terriers join the AJHL champion Spruce Grove Saints, BCHL Champion Coquitlam Express, MJHL Champion Winnipeg Blues and host Dauphin Kings in the Western Canada Cup. It begins a week from Saturday.
– Manitoba’s South East Prairie Thunder closed out their round-robin at the Allan Cup Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over the Bentley Generals. Terry Yake had a goal and an assist for the Prairie Thunder while Tyler Dittmer had a pair of assists. Riley Dudar and Dustin Degagne also scored for South East while Mark Friesen and Steve Christie combined for 36 saves in net. The Prairie Thunder finish the round-robin with a 1-and-1 record and will face the Kenora Thistles in one of the quarter-final games Thursday night.
– An appeal hearing for two parents banned from hockey rinks has been re-scheduled until the third week of May. The hearing for Leon and Christine Belandiuk was originally supposed to take place Wednesday, but was postponed because of scheduling conflicts. Hockey Winnipeg suspended the Belandiuks from attending any arenas where their son will be participating in hockey for the next three years for their role in a physical confrontation in a dressing room during a tournament in Fargo, North Dakota on February 8th.
– The Saskatchewan Roughriders have locked up another piece of their core as they try for a second straight Grey Cup championship. The Riders have signed Darian Durant to a contract extension after the quarterback helped Saskatchewan win the CFL title on home soil last year. The Riders have also given new deals to coach Corey Chamblin and GM Brendan Taman this off-season.
– Mother Nature is delivering a dose of déjà vu with the cancellation of this weekend’s John Keogh Rugby Festival for the second straight season. The weather forecast and the conditions at Brandon’s John Reilly Field will keep players off the pitch. If the weather cooperates, the Westman High School Rugby League’s regular season is slated to start next week.
– Brandon product Mike McEwen and his Fort Rouge team are 2-and-0 at the Grand Slam of Curling Players Championship in PEI. McEwen defeated Sweden’s Niklas Edin 8-3 Wednesday and is the lone unbeaten team in Pool A. Jeff Stoughton is 1-and-1. In Pool B, Kevin Koe and Brad Gushue are off to 2-and-0 starts. In the women’s standings, reigning Canadian champion Rachel Homan and Eve Muirhead are 2-and-0 in Pool B while Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni are 2-and-0 in Pool A. Jennifer Jones evened her record at 1-and-1 Wednesday with a 9-8 victory over Ontario’s Julie Hastings.
