– The Brandon Wheat Kings are expected to welcome Peter Quenneville back to their lineup this weekend. Quenneville has missed the last ten games with a lower body injury but practiced without restrictions on Wednesday and is set to go for Brandon’s final two games of the regular season. Jens Meilleur also practiced on Wednesday, but in a no-contact jersey. Meilleur has missed the last five games with a lower body injury. Brandon visits Regina on Friday night before hosting the Pats Saturday to close out the regular season. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on the Wheat Kings on his blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– The Wheat Kings will enter the final weekend of the regular season in a three-way fight for the final two playoff spots in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. Wednesday’s results saw Red Deer edge Kootenay 3-2 and Regina whallopped Prince Albert 7-1. Brandon and Red Deer are tied for 7th-8th-place, two points ahead of the 9th-place Raiders. All three teams have two games left in the regular season. That means that the Wheat Kings can make the playoffs by winning both of their remaining games.
– The Virden Oil Capitals are in a virtual must-win situation Thursday night when they host the Swan Valley Stampeders in Game #3 of their MJHL Sher-Wood Division semifinal (7:30 p.m. Tundra Oil & Gas Place). Virden has lost the opening two games of the Best-of-Seven series, and have lost eight in a row and 14 of their last 18 games going back to the regular season. In MJHL playoff action last night, Jonah Wasulak had a goal and two assists to pace the Steinbach Pistons to a 6-1 victory over the Portage Terriers. The Pistons take a 2-1 lead in the Best-of-Seven Addision Division semifinal.
– Jason Swyripa’s hat-trick paced the Deloraine Royals to a 7-2 win over the Souris Elks in Tiger Hills Hockey League action Wednesday night. Brad Twordik added two goals and an assist as the Royals won the Western Division Final 3-1. Meanwhile, Richard Henderson scored a pair of third period goals including the winner on the power-play with 1:46 left as the Gladstone Lakers edged the Carberry Plainsmen 7-6 Wednesday night. Gladstone leads the Best-of-Five Eastern Division Final 2-1 with Game #4 Thursday night in Gladstone.
– The Major Pratt Trojans have home-ice advantage for the Provincial A/AA High School Hockey Championship. The six-team championship opens today in Russell, with Major Pratt playing Deloraine-Hartney in their opening game at noon. The Neepawa Tigers are the two-time defending champions. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more on the host team here.
– Kenzie-Dawn Dearsley scored 8:01 into overtime as the Pembina Valley Hawks blanked the Yellowhead Chiefs 1-0 in the opening game of their Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League semifinal series Wednesday night. Taylor Reimer stopped 27 shots for the shutout for Pembina Valley. Game #2 of the Best-of-Five series is Friday night in Shoal Lake.
– Chris Higgins had the only goal in the shootout as the Vancouver Canucks beat Winnipeg 3-2 Wednesday night, handing the Jets their fifth straight loss. Andrew Ladd and Michael Frolik scored the goals for the Jets, who are five points behind Dallas for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Alexandre Burrows had the first two goals of his injury-marred season for the Canucks, ending a 49-game goalless drought.
– Rich Peverely of the Dallas Stars is done playing this season. The forward collapsed during a game Monday night and his doctor says the 31-year old will undergo a procedure that was originally planned for after the season. He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in training camp. The status for the rest of his career is up in the air.
– NHL general managers concluded their March meeting Wednesday and decided not many changes to the game are needed right now. Only three things are set to be recommended for consideration to the competition committee. They are changing ends in overtime, making faceoff violators move back instead of being tossed out and altering the faceoff circles to push players on the outside further away from each other.
– Thursday’s ‘In the Hack with Resby Coutts’ program on CKLQ will include a visit with Brier champion and Brandon product Nolan Thiessen. Thiessen and teammates Kevin Koe, Pat Simmons and Carter Rycroft captured the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship this past weekend. The team didn’t get much time to celebrate, as they begin play in the World Curling Tour’s National Grand Slam of Curling in Fort McMurray, Alberta Thursday. Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame inductee and former Brandonite Steve Gould will also be on the show Thursday night. It airs at 7:00 p.m. on 880 CKLQ.
– The Toronto Blue Jays’ loss is the Atlanta Braves’ gain. The Braves have signed free agent pitcher Ervin Santana to a one-year contract. The move comes a day after the Braves announced that Kris Medlen, who had already been named the club’s opening-day pitcher, left spring training with an elbow injury. The Blue Jays had been one of the top bidders for Santana’s services.
– Score one for the New York Jets. They’ve agreed to terms with wide receiver Eric Decker. He set career highs last season with the Denver Broncos catching 87 passes for over 12-hundred yards receiving with 11 touchdowns. Decker was considered the top wide receiver in NFL free agency.
– Kobe Bryant’s season is over. The Lakers report that he was examined by the team physician who determined that the knee injury that has kept Bryant out of the lineup hasn’t healed.
– A handful of Idaho hockey fans is suing a Boise minor league arena, saying they were duped into thinking a $7 beer contains more brew than a $4 beer. The lawsuit says CenturyLink Arena, home of the Idaho Steelheads hockey team, defrauded customers by charging $3 more for a tall, narrow cup advertised as a ‘large’ that actually holds the same amount of beer as the shorter, wider cup described as a ‘small.’ The fans are seeking $10,000 — which is a lot of beer money, no matter how it’s served.
