Some Twitter tidbits from Saturday’s two WHL playoff games . . .
Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow): ”Heading back to Saskatoon for Game 7 as the Pats win at home for first time in series. Count on usual suspects to keep the party going. Alexander Suzdalev scores twice, Connor Bedard brings in a goal, 3 assists, and Stanislav Svozil secures 3 helpers.” . . . “Suzdalev extends point streak to 7 with two goals, seventh multigoal game this season. Svozil also a point in 7 straight. Recorded six games of at least 3 assists during the season. Add another 4 points to Connor Bedard, 19 in series. Bowen Byram led playoffs in 2019 with 26.” . . .
Brandow, again: “The Portland Winterhawks are moving on thanks to an overtime goal from Robbie Fromm-Delorme, team’s first OT win to clinch since a CQF win against Seattle in 2015. First career postseason goal, scoring for 8th time. Gabe Klassen, James Stefan whip up G & A.” . . .
Scott Sepich (@SSepich): “Kamloops and Portland faced off in 8 playoff series between 1984 and 1995 and just 2 since. Hawks won in 2012 and 2013, Blazers last won in 1995. Kamloops will be the heavy favorite this time around.”
Winterhawks historian Andy Kemper (@AndyKemper): “The OT winner for Robbie Fromm-Delorme was the first series-clinching goal on home ice in OT in Winterhawks franchise history. They had clinched four road series in OT before, but never on home ice.”
Is that Scotty Bowman in the front row on the right side of the photo?
WHL PLAYOFF NOTES:
The Regina Pats and the Blades will settle their first-round series tonight when they play Game 7 in Saskatoon. Yes, there will be a healthy crowd in SaskTel Centre. . . . In the Pats’ last five visits to Saskatoon, announced attendance has totalled 62,497. . . . If Saskatoon wins, the Blades will meet the Red Deer Rebels in the second round, with the Winnipeg Ice facing the Moose Jaw Warriors. A Regina victory sends the Pats to Winnipeg and Moose Jaw to Red Deer. . . .
Lucas Punkari of the Brandon Sun notes: Regina’s last Game 7 win was over Swift Current in the 2017 Quarters . . . Swift Current got its revenge in the 2018 first round . . . Saskatoon’s last Game 7 win was over Regina in the 2000 first round . . . The Blades lost Game 7s in the first round to Lethbridge in 2009 and Brandon in 2002. . . .
Michael Ball, who posted the above tweet, was doing play-by-play of Saturday’s game between Saskatoon and Regina when the Pats scored a third-period goal that originally was declared a goal, then was reversed on video review, then was allowed to stand after another video review. . . . The WHL Supervisor for the game was Tim Tisdale, a former Pats assistant coach and head coach (1998-2000). It was Tisdale who asked Access Communications if they had more angles than the WHL video review booth of the play in question. . . . You have to think that didn’t sit well with the Blades and their supporters. . . . Tisdale, of course, scored the winning goal in OT that gave the Swift Current Broncos a 4-3 victory over the host Blades in the 1989 Memorial Cup final. . . . Now there are rumblings that former Blades head coach Marcel Comeau will be the WHL Supervisor for Game 7. . . .
There was an interesting situation at the CN Centre in Prince George before the Cougars and Tri-City Americans hooked up for Game 6 of their first-round series on Sunday. . . . The CN Centre’s Twitter account posted: “Due to the Easter holiday, our concessions were not able to schedule extra staff to accommodate the packed arena. For tonight’s playoff game only, guests may bring in outside food. Outside beverages of any kind are still not permitted.” . . . Of course, outside food in an arena seems to be a real delicacy these days, doesn’t it?
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SUNDAY IN THE WHL PLAYOFFS:
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Tri-City (5) at Prince George (4) — F Chase Wheatcroft scored in OT as the 
Prince George Cougars beat the visiting Tri-City Americans, 5-4, to advance to the second round. . . . The Cougars won the series, 4-2, by winning the last three games, the first two of which were played in Kennewick, Wash. . . . This will be the Cougars’ first time in the second round since 2007. . . . Wheatcroft’s third goal of the series came from the right side off a 2-on-1 break at 2:31 of OT. This was Wheatcroft’s 50th goal this season; he had 47 in the regular season. . . . The Cougars’ victory means the Western Conference’s top four seeds all have advanced. The No. 1 Seattle Thunderbirds will meet the No. 4 Cougars in the second round and will follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, while the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers face the No. 3 Portland Winterhawks. . . . Those series will open Friday in Kent, Wash., and Kamloops. . . . The Cougars took a quick 2-0 first-period lead on goals from F Riley Heidt (2), at 4:51, and F Cole Dubinsky (3), at 7:57. . . . Heidt also had two assists. . . . F Reese Belton (2), who was celebrating his 21st birthday, got the Americans to within a goal at 12:23, but F Fischer O’Brien (1) got that one back for the Cougars at 17:05. . . . Tri-City tied it on second-period goals by F Ethan Ernst (1), at 0:17, and F Tyson Greenway (5), at 17:18. . . . Prince George F Zac Funk (4) broke the 3-3 tie at 2:02 of the third period. . . . The Americans pulled even again at 13:34 on a goal by F Jake Sloan (3). . . . Each team was 0-for-1 on the PP. For the series, the Cougars were 1-for-15; the Americans were 1-for-17. . . . G Ty Young recorded the victory with 34 saves, two more than Tri-City’s Tomas Suchanek. . . . The announced attendance was 5,383, the third-largest crowd in Prince George this season. A visit by F Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats on Dec. 2 drew 6,027, 5,880 showed up for the Cougars’ last home game of the regular season against the Kamloops Blazers on March 25.
With the 10th anniversary of her kidney transplant within in sight, Dorothy is taking part in her 10th straight Kamloops Kidney Walk. So, yes, she is fund-raising. . . . The 2023 Walk is scheduled for June 4. . . . If you would like to donate to her cause, you are able to do so right here.
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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.
four assists — on Wednesday night in an 11-1 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals.
fighting from its games. Tony Ferrari of The Hockey News added to that story on Wednesday. A QMJHL spokesperson told Ferrari: “The QMJHL is planning to have a rule in place that will ban fighting, making it black and white that it is no longer a part of our game. The punishments have not been decided as of yet. We will be looking to have a rule in place in June when the next general annual assembly of the members of the board of governors takes place.” . . . The aim is to have these changes in place for the start of the 2023-24 season. . . . With all that is known about concussions and CTE, the time has come. You have to think it won’t be long before the OHL and WHL follow suit. . . . Ferrari’s story is 
place in the Western Conference as the WHL’s regular season heads down the stretch. The prizes? The seventh seed gets the No. 2 Kamloops Blazers in the first round; the eighth seed draws the No. 1 Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . The Giants, though, are likely to be without F Samuel Honzek until at least Tuesday as he recovers from a headshot he absorbed from Kelowna F Carson Golder on Friday. Golder was later suspended for four games. . . . Honzek, who has 21 goals and 31 assists, isn’t expected to play this weekend as the Giants suit up three times in fewer than 48 hours. . . . The Giants are at home to the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday. . . . Steve Ewen of Postmedia has more on the Giants and their injuries 
forget it. . . . You may recall that the Travellin’ Bedards were in Brandon and the attendance was announced as 5,954 and that was said to be a single-game attendance record for the Wheat Kings in Westoba Place. . . . Well, upon further review. . . . it turns out that there was an announced attendance of 6,042 for a March 13, 2010 game in which the Wheat Kings beat the Pats, 3-1. And, on March 10, 2010, there was an announced attendance of 6,022 as the Wheat Kings beat the Moose Jaw Warriors, 8-2. . . . Here’s hoping the printer hadn’t started running off copies of a new record book. . . . BTW, according to the Keystone Centre’s website, Westoba Place has 5,102 seats. So I’m guessing that the higher attendance figures include standing room and seating in private suites.
F Nathan Pilling and D Vojtech Port — will miss the remainder of this season due to undisclosed injuries. . . . Hauf, who turned 19 on Jan. 11, is from Krefeld, Germany. He had 21 points, including five goals, in 45 games. . . . Pilling, 18, is from Calgary and in his second WHL season. He was acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors, for whom he had 10 points, including seven goals, in 23 games. With Edmonton, he recorded 13 points, 10 of them goals, in 35 games. He is the grandson of former Oil Kings player/coach Gregg Pilling, who played for the 1963 Memorial Cup champions. . . . Port, 17, is from Jilhlava, Czechia. He had 17 points, four of them goals, in 48 games after coming over from the Red Deer Rebels early in the season. . . . The Oil Kings, the WHL’s defending champions, are 8-44-3, which is the 22-team league’s poorest record. With Hauf and Port, both freshmen, out for the duration the Oil Kings will finish the season without any import players. They have 13 games remaining, including a date with the visiting Winnipeg Ice today.
As of Saturday, 9 p.m. PT, the Coronavirus Resource Centre at Johns Hopkins University reports that 3,894 people died from COVID-19 in the U.S. in the past week, including 629 in the past day. . . . The total number of deaths in the U.S. is 1,111,485. . . .
players to certify a hazing, bullying and abuse lawsuit filed three years ago against the CHL, its three major junior hockey leagues, and its teams as a class action, an Ontario judge has proposed an alternate potential path to justice.
There is more on the late Don (Smokey) McLeod, the WHA/NHLer from Trail, B.C., who was among the first goaltenders to use a curved stick. . . . Back in the day, Doug Soetaert, the former general manager of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, was tending goal for the Edmonton Oil Kings, At the same time, he recalls, the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers were playing out of the Edmonton Gardens. . . . McLeod would have been playing with the Houston Aeros or Vancouver Blazers at the time. . . . “I would go over after practice and help WHA visitors as stick boy,” Soetaert tells Taking Note. “He gave me one for helping him out.” . . . Soetaert sent me photos of that particular stick. You have to admit that’s some kind of curve. . . . Soetaert played four seasons (1971-75) with the Oil Kings before going on to a pro career that included 284 regular-season NHL games.
TAKING NOTE 