The WHL’s conference finals continued to roll along on Tuesday night as the 
Kamloops Blazers faced head coach Matt O’Dette and the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash. The Western Conference final will continue with Game 4 tonight in Kent, before returning to Kamloops for a Friday game. . . . O’Dette was back on the bench last night after missing the first two games in Kamloops with an undisclosed illness. . . .
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the No. 1 Winnipeg Ice is in Edmonton where it will face the No. 2 Oil Kings again tonight. Edmonton holds a 2-1 lead in the series, thanks to OT goals in Games 1 and 3. The Ice and Oil Kings will hang around Edmonton after tonight, too, because Game 5 is to be played there on Friday.
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TUESDAY IN THE WHL:
Western Conference
In Kent, Wash., the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers scored three times before the game 
was 12 minutes old and went on to beat the No. 4 Seattle Thunderbirds, 6-3. . . . The Blazers lead the best-of-seven conference final, 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Kent tonight. The teams then will return to Kamloops for Game 5 on Friday. . . . F Logan Stankoven, who leads the WHL playoffs in goals and points, scored two of those early goals — at 0:27 and 11:39 — sandwiched around a PP score by F Daylan Kuefler (5), at 11:21. . . . D Kevin Korchinski (5) got Seattle on the board at 18:38. . . . F Jared Davidson (8) pulled the home team to within one goal at 13:25 of the second period. . . . However, F Quinn Schmiemann (2) restored the Blazers’ two-goal lead at 17:58. He also had two assists. . . . Kuefler (6) upped the lead to 5-2 at 13:16. . . . Seattle got that one back when F Matt Rempe (5) scored, on a PP, at 16:13. . . . Stankoven completed the scoring with an empty-netter, at 18:45. . . . That was Stankoven’s second hat trick of the series; he’s got seven goals in the three games. . . . He leads the WHL playoffs in goals (17) and points (28), all done in 13 games. . . . Each team was 1-for-3 on the PP. . . . Kamloops got 27 stops from G Dylan Garand. . . . G Thomas Milic turned aside 23 shots for Seattle. . . . The Thunderbirds were without veteran F Henrik Rybinski for a second straight game. He had 65 points in 47 regular-season games, and had three goals and 10 assists in 13 playoff games when he suffered an undisclosed injury in Game 1 of this series.
Steve Konowalchuk, the head coach of the Red Deer Rebels, was in the house last night in Kent, Wash. Konowalchuk may be coaching in Red Deer now, but you know he’s a fan favourite with the Thunderbirds’ crowd. After all, he was the head coach of the Thunderbirds for six seasons (2011-17), including their WHL championship season of 2016-17. That was the last time the Thunderbirds won the title.
Headline from The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton): Flames head coach starting to think team should cover this McDavid guy.
From The New York Times: Another form of the Omicron subvariant BA.2 has 
become the dominant version among new U.S. coronavirus cases, according to federal estimates on Tuesday, a development that experts had forecast over the last few weeks. . . . There was no indication yet that the new subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1, causes more severe disease than earlier forms did. BA.2.12.1 made up about 58 percent of all new U.S. cases, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ending May 21. . . . As Americans approach their third Memorial Day weekend of the pandemic, the country is averaging more than 100,000 new confirmed cases per day for the first time since February, according to a New York Times database.
The U of Windsor Lancers men’s hockey team is going to spend some time in Merritt, B.C., in August. They will be involved in a hockey academy while there, and they also will play a couple of exhibition games. The big news — really big news — is that they are going to spend time working with First Nations communities who continue on the road to recovery from wildfires and floods that hit them hard in 2021. . . . The Lancers will be helping to erect five emergency homes, a project that should take five days if all goes according to plan. . . . “We’re always looking for opportunities for our student athletes to learn and grow at the rink and away from the rink,” head coach Kevin Hamlin said, “and this just seemed to be a great fit given all the craziness that’s happened and come to light out west.” . . . There’s more on this story from AM800 News right here.
If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
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Vancouver General Hospital Living Donor Program – Kidney
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
Level 5, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
604-875-5182 or 1-855-875-5182
kidneydonornurse@vch.ca
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Or, for more information, visit right here.
TAKING NOTE 