THE BEDARD REPORT: F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats enjoyed his second six-point night of this season on Wednesday in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. . . . Bedard finished the night with a goal and five assists. . . . He leads the WHL in goals (52), assists (59) and points (111), all in 43 games. He holds a 26-point lead over F Zach Benson of the Winnipeg Ice in the points derby. . . . Bedard, who won’t turn 18 until July 17, is on the verge of averaging two points per game for his career. He now has 239 points in 120 regular-season games. . . . This was Bedard’s first five-assist game of his career. . . . Since having a 35-game point streak come to an end on Feb. 3, Bedard has 21 points, including 13 assists, in six games. . . . Next up for Bedard and the Pats? A visit to Brandon for a Friday night game with the Wheat Kings.
When I was a youngster, I had an aunt and uncle who every Christmas would buy me a subscription to The Hockey News. That is how I came to be interested in the career of Val Fonteyne, who played 820 regular-season NHL games and another 149 in the WHA. . . . The amazing thing is that Fonteyne, a native of Wetaskiwin, Alta., who now is 89 years young, totalled 30 penalty minutes in all those games. Seriously! He never had more than four PiMs in any one season. However, somehow, in 1957-58, while with the WHL’s Seattle Americans, he actually ended up with 11 PiMs. I would love to know what he did to incur a major penalty that season.
I mention him today because it seems his grandson, Matt, is cut from the same cloth. Matt, who also is from Wetaskiwin, played with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips and now is with the U of Alberta Golden Bears. On Wednesday, Canada West handed out some post-season awards and the 25-year-old was named the winner of the Sportsmanship and Ability Award.
In five seasons (2013-18) in Everett, Fonteyne’s season-high in penalty minutes was 28. In 48 games over two seasons with the Golden Bears, he has 10 penalty minutes. This season, the team captain has 12 goals and 20 assists in 28 games, and four PiMs. . . .
Four other former WHL players were honoured by Canada West.
F Riley Sawchuk (Tri-City Americans, Edmonton Oil Kings) of the Mount Royal U Cougars was named the player of the year. He signed a pro contract with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins earlier this week. . . . Connor Hobbs (Medicine Hat Tigers, Regina Pats) of the U of Saskatchewan Huskies got top defenceman honours, with Carl Tetachuk (Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors) of the U of Calgary Dinos the top goaltender. . . . F Jakin Smallwood (Winnipeg Ice) of the Golden Bears was saluted as rookie of the year. . . .
Mark Howell of the U of Calgary was named coach of the year. He played in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Medicine Hat Tigers, and later was an assistant coach with the Brandon Wheat Kings. . . . Howell’s Dinos will play a best-of-three semifinal series with Saskatchewan this weekend. The Dinos are on a 23-game winning streak.
If the WHL playoffs started today:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Winnipeg (1) vs. Medicine Hat (8)
Red Deer (2) vs. Calgary (7)
Saskatoon (3) vs. Regina (6)
Moose Jaw (4) vs. Lethbridge (5)
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
Seattle (1) vs. Kelowna (8)
Kamloops (2) vs. Vancouver (7)
Portland (3) vs. Prince George (6)
Tri-City (4) vs. Everett (5)
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WEDNESDAY’S WHL HIGHLIGHTS:
F Zach Benson scored once and added three assists as the Winnipeg Ice skated to a 5-2 victory over the Hitmen in Calgary. . . . Benson opened the scoring with his 30th goal at 8:25 of the first period. . . . F Matt Savoie (28) added two goals for the Ice, the first one a shorthanded effort, and F Connor McClennon (38) also scored twice. . . . G Daniel Hauser earned his 30th victory of the season with 24 saves, including a first-period stop on a penalty-shot attempt by F Sean Tschigerl. . . . Hauser is 30-3-1, 2.43, .911 this season. In 82 career regular-season appearances, he is 71-6-3, 2.29, .911. . . . Winnipeg (45-7-1) has won eight in a row and now leads the Eastern Conference by 13 points. . . . Calgary (24-25-7) and Medicine Hat are tied for seventh, two points behind Regina and two ahead of Swift Current. . . .
F Connor Bedard had a goal and five assists and wasn’t even the first star as the host Regina Pats beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 6-3. . . . F Tanner Howe was selected as the No. 1 star after scoring twice and adding two assists. . . . While playing in Bedard’s shadow, Howe, who turned 17 on Nov. 28, is having quite a season. He now has 68 points, including 28 goals, in 53 games. Last season, he finished with 69 points, 27 of them goals, in 64 games. . . . Last night, it likely was Howe’s second goal that stung the Tigers the most. He scored seven seconds into the third period to gave the Pats a 4-1 lead. . . . Regina D Stanislav Svozil had three assists and that pushed him over the 100-point mark for his career. He now has 101 points, including 84 assists, in 101 games. . . . Regina (27-24-3) has won two in a row and now is sixth in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Calgary and Medicine Hat (23-23-9), which is 6-2-3 in its past 11 games. . . .
The Kamloops Blazers are on a 10-game winning streak after beating the Broncos, 6-3, in Swift Current. . . . The Blazers have won four in a row on this tour of the Central Division that continues in Lethbridge on Friday and Medicine Hat on Saturday. . . . Last night, the Blazers got two goals from each of F Ryan Hofer (36) and Connor Levis (16). . . . Hofer’s second goal gave the Blazers a 5-0 lead at 15:01 of the second period. . . . The Broncos opened the third period with three goals, but Levis put it away at 16:31. . . . F Josh Filmon got No. 34 for the Broncos, with F Connor Hvidston (17) adding a goal and an assist. . . . Kamloops held a 53-29 edge in shots, including 24-9 in the first period. . . . Kamloops (37-10-6) is second in the Western Conference, eight points behind Seattle. . . . Swift Current (25-26-3) has lost four in a row. It is ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Calgary and Medicine Hat. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans opened up a 4-0 lead en route to a 6-2 victory over the Everett Silvertips. . . . F Adam Mechura (20) and F Jalen Luypen (9) each had two goals and an assist for the winners. . . . F Ben Hemmerling scored his 20th of the season for Everett. . . . This may have been a playoff preview. . . . Tri-City (27-21-7) is fourth in the Western Conference, four points ahead of Everett (27-24-3) and five up on Prince George.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers announced on Wednesday that they and Ken Plaquin, their general manager and head coach, “have agreed to part ways.” Plaquin was in his third season with the Klippers. . . . Tyler Traptow, who had been an assistant coach, will serve as the interim GM/head coach for the remainder of this season. . . . The Klippers, who lost 5-4 to the visiting Yorkton Terriers on Wednesday night, are 11-30-7, which is the poorest record in the 12-team SJHL.
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before nine other teams were to begin arriving for their quarantine sessions, the Nova Scotian government chose to inform the IIHF and Hockey Canada that the tournament was off.
necessitated by teams having missed games because of positive tests. . . . The end result is that without any more postponements a number of teams won’t play 24 games in this developmental season as was originally hoped. . . . Two of the teams that have experienced positive tests, the Calgary Hitmen and Kelowna Rockets, will play 21 and 16 games respectively. . . . The Hitmen, by the way, have completed their 14-day isolation period and have been cleared to resume team activities. They now are scheduled to return to game action on Friday afternoon against the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes. . . . The WHL’s news release on the schedule changes is 
over the Swift Current Broncos. . . . The Wheat Kings (16-3-2), who have won five straight, now hold a three-point lead over the idle Saskatoon Blades (14-3-3) and the Winnipeg Ice (15-5-1), which beat the Moose Jaw Warriors last night, atop the Regina hub standings. . . . The Broncos (4-16-1) have lost two in a row. . . . F Lynden McCallum (13) gave Brandon a 1-0 first-period lead, with Ritchie, who has 10 goals, making it 2-0 at 14:49 of the second. . . . D Mat Ward (5) scored for the Broncos, on a PP, at 16:39. . . . Ritchie got that one back at 17:33 and D Rylan Thiessen (1) added another at 19:04. . . . F Brett Hyland (3) and D Vince Iorio (5) added PP goals for Brandon in the third period. . . . The Wheat Kings were 3-for-6 on the PP; the Broncos were 1-for-6. . . . Brandon held a 33-18 edge in shots. . . . 
the Moose Jaw Warriors, 6-5 in OT, in the Regina hub. . . . The Ice (15-5-1) has points in four straight (3-0-1). . . . The Warriors are 8-11-2. . . . F Cade Hayes (4) gave the Warriors a 5-4 lead with a PP goal at 14:38 of the third period. . . . F Peyton Krebs (13), who now has points in 20 straight games, tied the game at 18:48 with G Carl Stankowski on the bench for the extra attacker. . . . Smallwood, who had opened the scoring at 1:08 of the first period, won it with his 13th goal at 1:46 of OT. . . . The Ice erased deficits of 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 to win this one. . . . Winnipeg was 2-for-4 on the PP; Moose Jaw was 2-for-3. . . . Krebs finished with two goals. After being blanked in his first game, he’s got 13 goals and 26 assists in his 20-game streak. Last season, he scored 12 times in 38 games. . . . The Ice also got two goals from F Skyler Bruce. He has three on the season. . . . Hayes finished with two goals and an assist. . . .
assists to help the Vancouver Giants to a 5-3 lead over the Victoria Royals in Kelowna. . . . The Giants (9-3-0) have won four in a row. . . . The Royals (1-10-1) have lost seven straight. . . . The game’s first five goals came via the PP. . . . F Brayden Tracey (8) gave the Royals a 1-0 lead at 3:25 of the first period. . . . Kannok Leipert (4) tied it at 15:32. . . . Victoria went back out front on a goal by F Tarun Fizer (3) at 2:58 of the second period. . . . The Giants took control with the next three goals — from F Eric Florchuk (4), at 14:58, Sourdif (5), at 16:21, and F Zack Ostapchuk (4), at 3:18 of the third. . . . F Ty Yoder (3) got Victoria to within a goal at 4:57, but F Justin Lies (2) restored Vancouver’s two-goal lead at 13:47. . . . The Giants finished 3-for-9 on the PP; the Royals were 2-for-5. . . . Vancouver had a 38-20 edge in shots, including 11-5 in the first period and 12-5 in the second.
would be almost two months later than the June 10 opening date at which it once was aiming. . . . The plan is to open training camps in late June, have each team play 14 games, down from the normal 18, and hold the Grey Cup game in Hamilton on Dec. 12 instead of Nov. 21. . . . Here’s Randy Ambrosie, the CFL commissioner: “We will play CFL football in 2021.” . . . He then admitted that it all hinges on getting approval from public health officials in various jurisdictions and getting the OK from government and health officials to have “a significant number of fans in the stands, in a significant number of venues at the start of the season, and in the rest of our venues soon after that, so a 2021 season is financially tenable for our clubs.” . . . In the end, like so many other things, the CFL will go ahead if the virus allows it. . . . In the meantime, get vaccinated so that we can get all sports back and with fans in the stands. . . . 
seven roster players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list. As well, one player off their taxi squad had tested positive, as had one coach.
Olympiques, Quebec Remparts, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Rimouski Oceanic on Saturday. The Olympiques and Remparts each recorded a positive test. Both teams played against the other three teams in recent days, so they were put into isolation, too. The Sherbrooke Phoenix were shut down earlier in the week, but were given the OK to return to team activities on Friday after all players and staff tested negative. . . . Having put five teams into isolation, the QMJHL announced that it has delayed the start of its playoffs. Its Quebec-based teams completed their regular seasons on Friday and were to begin playoffs on Thursday. The teams in the Maritimes are scheduled to continue with regular-season games through May 1 and begin playoffs on May 4. . . . 
TAKING NOTE 