When we went to bed on Thursday night, D Olen Zellweger of the Kamloops Blazers was coming off a six-point night and was one point out of the WHL 
playoff scoring lead. . . . That all changed at some point on Friday when he was awarded a fourth assist from the Blazers’ 10-4 series-clinching victory over the Winterhawks in Portland.
The assist in question came on the Blazers’ fourth goal, at 2:29 of the second period, that provided the visitors with a 4-2 lead. It was scored by F Matthew Seminoff, with the primary assist going to F Cedar Bankier.
The added point upped Zellweger’s night’s work to seven points and means that he actually tied the WHL record for most points by a defenceman in a playoff game. Darryl Sydor, a former Blazers skater who now is one of the franchise’s five owners, had seven points, including six assists, in an 11-5 victory over the visiting Tri-City Americans on March 22, 1991.
The WHL record for most points in a playoff game is eight. It is shared by F Dave Chartier of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Portland F Alfie Turcotte. Chartier had five goals and three assists in a 13-4 victory over the visiting Regina Pats on March 27, 1981; Turcotte put up four goals and four assists in a 13-4 victory over the host Seattle Breakers on March 26, 1983.
The added point also moved Zellweger into a tie with F Logan Stankoven of the Blazers for the WHL’s playoff scoring lead, each with 21 points, one more than F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats, whose season ended on April 10. Stankoven has 10 goals and 11 assists; Zellweger has seven goals and 14 assists.
Stankoven is tied for the lead in goals with Bedard and F Dylan Guenther of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Zellweger is tied for the lead in assists with Seattle F Brad Lambert.
The Thunderbirds, the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, and the No. 2 Blazers, will open the best-of-seven conference final in Kent, Wash., with games on April 29 and 30.
Both teams will go into Game 1 with 8-0 records in these playoffs.
A few Twitter tidbits left over from Thursday’s lone WHL playoff game . . .
From Scott Sepich (@SSepich): “I remember being there the last time the Winterhawks gave up 10 in a playoff game at home in the 1989 league final against a Swift Current juggernaut (also a 10-4 score). Hawks haven’t been beaten this soundly much over the years, but the Blazers just had a huge talent advantage.”
Sepich, again: “Portland’s captain in that 1989 loss to Swift Current was Shaun Clouston, who just happens to now be the Blazers’ head coach.”
From Chad Klassen (@klassen87): “According to the WHL, the Blazers are undefeated through two rounds for the first time since 1984 when they went 10-0 (best-of-9 series) on their way to the WHL championship.”
Klassen, again: “The Blazers meet Seattle in a Western Conference final rematch that will be fantastic. With both teams 8-0, it’s the first time since 2009 (Brandon vs. Calgary in East final) that undefeated conference finalists meet.” . . . Calgary swept Brandon in that 2009 Eastern Conference final.
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WHL PLAYOFF NOTES:
While the Seattle Thunderbirds enjoyed yet another day off while going to a baseball game, the Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades played in Friday night’s lone WHL playoff game. . . . The Blades, playing at home, put up a 6-3 victory and now trail their Eastern Conference semifinal, 3-2, with Game 6 to be played in Red Deer on Sunday afternoon. If they need a seventh game, it would be played in Red Deer on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the other Eastern Conference semifinal will resume tonight in Winnipeg with the No. 1 Ice and No. 4 Moose Jaw Warriors tied, 2-2. After Game 5, they’ll return to Moose Jaw for Game 6 on Monday. If needed, a seventh game would be played in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
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FRIDAY IN THE WHL PLAYOFFS:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Red Deer (3) at Saskatoon (2) — The Saskatoon Blades sent their Eastern 
Conference semifinal back to Red Deer with a 6-3 victory over the Rebels. . . . Red Deer still holds a 3-2 series lead, with Game 6 scheduled for Sunday afternoon. . . . A seventh game, if needed, would be played in Saskatoon on Tuesday night. . . . Last night, the Blades scored the game’s last three goals after the teams had traded goals and found themselves in a 3-3 second-period tie. . . . D Tanner Molendyk (2) gave the Blades a 1-0 lead at 5:39 of the first period, only to have F Kai Uchacz (7) tie it at 11:08. . . . The Blades went back out front as F Egor Sidorov (6) scored, on a PP, at 11:59. . . . And the Rebels tied it when Uchacz (8) scored again, at 16:58. . . . Sidorov (7) struck on another PP at 18:03 and the Blades led 3-2 at the intermission. . . . F Ollie Josephson (2) got Red Deer back into a tie at 1:28 of the second period. . . . But it was all Blades after that, with D Aiden De La Gorgendiere (2), who also had two assists, counting on a PP at 19:35, F Jayden Wiens (6) scoring at 5:41 of the third period, and Molendyk (3) adding another at 12:34. . . . The Blades got three assists from F Trevor Wong, who has 17 points, 13 of them helpers, in 12 games. . . . Saskatoon was 3-for-6 on the PP; Red Deer was 0-for-3. . . . G Ethan Chadwick earned the victory with 14 saves. . . . The Blades were without F Justin Lies who was hit with one of those TBD suspensions after taking a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on Red Deer F Kalan Lind in Game 3 on Wednesday. Lind, who left the ice on a stretcher that night, also was scratched. One would have to believe he is in concussion protocol.
At some point in the past week, I heard former NHL D P.K. Subban, who is rather good in a studio role during these NHL playoffs, talking about hockey being football on ice with all the collisions and nastiness. . . . Except that I would suggest there are far more headshots in hockey than in football. And, of course, two football players aren’t allowed to stand and punch each other in the face. . . . And if your head is above ground, you know that there are a number of people who played hockey and came to struggle with brain injuries later in life. . . . And yet there was Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, denying all in a conversation with A Martinez of National Public Radio just the other day.
“We listen to the medical opinions on CTE and I don’t believe there has been any documented study that suggests that elements of our game result in CTE,” Bettman said. “There have been isolated cases of players who have played the game that have CTE, but it doesn’t necessarily come from playing in the NHL.”
Ken Campbell of Hockey Unfiltered points out that the NFL admitted in 2016 that there is a link between head trauma and CTE. The NHL, though? Not so much.
“What you’re trying to do,” Bettman said, “is equate football to hockey, and the two are not comparable when it comes to head contact.”
As Campbell writes: “But now it’s getting laughable. His statements on the link between the kind of head trauma that can occur in the NHL and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) are getting as ridiculous as those of the tobacco lobby when it comes to cigarettes and the National Rifle Association when it comes to guns. And he’s clearly putting himself on the wrong side of history.”
Hey, P.K. Subban, back to you.
THE COACHING GAME:
Derrick Martin is the new general manager and head coach of the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks. Martin, 38, has spent the past two seasons on the coaching staff at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Edmonton. Prior to that he was an assistant coach with the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints for four seasons. . . . Martin takes over from Clayton Jardine, who spent four seasons as the Kodiaks’ head coach. Jardine signed on as general manager and head coach with the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers on April 10.
THINKING OUT LOUD — We all are well aware that we can’t get away from the gambling commercials on TV and the ads all over the place in the playing facilities. Hey, just watch those stupid changing board ads during an NHL game. In other words, the pro leagues are racking in the dough. So let’s not act surprised when the NFL has to discipline a bunch of people for violating their betting rules and regulations. . . . And you can bet that there will move of this down the road. . . . I’m sorry, Hyundai, but I still don’t know what the heck WAH is. . . . There isn’t anything more predictable in sports than fan reactions during NHL playoffs. Both sides are upset with the biased officiating and it seems that the broadcast crew is biased both ways, too. And it repeats itself year after year after year.
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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.
Wednesday night. The Edmonton Oil Kings now are 8-0 in these playoffs after completing a sweep of the Rebels with a 4-2 victory in Red Deer last night. . . . The Oil Kings await the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal in which the Winnipeg Ice holds a 3-1 lead over the Moose Jaw Warriors. . . .
In Moose Jaw, the No. 1 Winnipeg Ice rode three second-period goals to a 5-3 victory over the No. 4 Warriors. . . . The Ice holds a 3-1 edge in the conference semifinal. They’ll play Game 5 in Winnipeg on Friday night. . . . F Mikey Milne (8) got Winnipeg started at 16:28 of the first period, only to have F Jagger Firkus (5) tie it at 18:57. . . . The Ice took a 3-1 lead on two quick goals early in the second period, as F Jack Finley (6), at 6:45, and F Owen Pederson (5), on a PP, at 7:20, found the range. . . .Firkus (6), who also had an assist, cut into that lead, on a PP, at 13:09, but F Matt Savoie (4) got that one back just 29 seconds later. . . . F Cole Muir (1) stretched Winnipeg’s lead to 5-2 at 3:55 of the third period. . . . Moose Jaw D Majid Kaddoura (2) rounded out the scoring at 11:22. . . . Finley has goals in five straight games during which time he has totalled six goals and four assists. . . . F Ryder Korczak had three assists for Moose Jaw. . . . G Daniel Hauser stopped 30 shots for the Ice, four more than Moose Jaw’s Jackson Unger. . . . The Warriors were without F Robert Baco, who was hit with a TBD suspension after taking a charging major and game misconduct in Game 3. . . .
In Red Deer, the No. 2 Edmonton Oil Kings unleashed a 51-shot attack as they beat the No. 3 Rebels to complete a sweep of their conference semifinal. . . . The Oil Kings, who led 1-0 after the first period, took control with two goals 31 seconds apart in the first minute of the second. . . . F Jalen Luypen (3) had scored at 15:51 of the first period. Then F Dylan Guenther (8), scored eight seconds into the second and F Carter Souch (5) made it 3-0 at 0:39. . . . F Jhett Larson (3) pulled the Rebels to within two at 8:20, but Guenther (9) stretched the lead to three at 18:34. . . . D Blake Gustafson (2) got a shorthanded score for the Rebels at 13:47 of the third period. . . . Guenther also had an assist for a three-point outing. He’s got 12 points in eight playoff games. . . . The Oil Kings held a 42-10 edge in shots through two periods. . . . G Sebastian Cossa turned aside 14 shots for Edmonton. In these playoffs, he is 8-0, 1.48, .932. . . . The Rebels got 47 stops from G Connor Ungar.
In Portland, F Lukas Svejkovsky scored once and added three assists, and G Thomas Milic turned aside 28 shots, leading the No. 4 Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-0 victory over the Winterhawks. . . . This was the Winterhawks’ first loss in seven playoff games this spring. . . . Portland holds a 2-1 lead in the conference semifinal. This series is following a 1-2-1-1-1-1 format. They return to Kent, Wash., for Game 4 on Friday. . . . F Jared Davidson (5) gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 6:14 of the first period, the third time in three games that the Thunderbirds opened the scoring. . . . Svejkovsky (5) scored at 5:29 of the second period, and F Conner Roulette (1), on a PP, made it 3-0 at 7:29 of the third. . . . Seattle added two empty-netters, from Davidson (6), who also had an assist, and F Lucas Ciona (5). . . . Milic, who had three shutouts in the regular-season, posted his second of these playoffs. He is 5-3, 1.82, .929. . . . Seattle was 1-for-4 on the PP; Portland was 0-for-3. . . . 
owners of baseball’s Portland Pickles are kicking the tires.
pledged to the lender in November that he would try to sell the Winterhawks by January. That obviously did not happen, nor was there any public statement that the team was for sale.
The AHL had suspended play on March 12. . . . According to the league, “The standings — sorted by points percentage — and statistics as of March 12 are considered final and official, and will serve as the basis for determining league awards for the 2019-20 season.” . . . When another season gets here, the AHL will have a new commissioner as this was Dave Andrews’ last go-round. A former head coach of the WHL’s Victoria Cougars (1982-84), Andrews has been the AHL’s president and CEO since 1994. . . . This season also marked the end of a franchise in San Antonio, with the Rampage relocating to Henderson, Nev., for 2020-21.
TAKING NOTE 