Winterhawks sweep away Silvertips: CHL playoffs

The Portland Winterhawks scored three goals in 4:39 during the second period to beat the Everett Silvertips 6-2 and sweep their conference quarter-final in Western Hockey League action Thursday.

Portland took advantage of a second-period meltdown by Everett, with goals by Craig Cunningham, Sven Bartschi and Joe Morrow in the opening 4:39 of the period to give the Winterhawks a 5-1 lead that was never threatened.

The Winterhawks will play either Kelowna or Chilliwack in the second round. Chilliwack lost 4-2 to Spokane on Thursday and would need to overturn a 3-1 series deficit to advance.

The Red Deer Rebels also advanced, beating Edmonton 5-1 and completing a sweep of the Oil Kings.

Elsewhere, Prince Albert beat top-ranked Saskatoon 5-2 and Medicine Hat edged Brandon 5-4.

At Everett, Wash., Taylor Peters, Riley Boychuk and Brad Ross also scored for Portland, the Western Conference's top seed. Mac Carruth earned the win in goal with 31 saves.

Jari Erricson and Manraj Hayer scored for Everett. Luke Siemens made 38 saves in goal for the Silvertips.

WHL

Rebels 5, Oil Kings 1

At Edmonton, Brett Ferguson scored twice as Red Deer swept the Oil Kings.

Mathew Dumba, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Andrej Kudrna also scored for the Rebels.

Curtis Lazar replied for Edmonton.

Chiefs 4, Bruins 2

At Spokane, Wash., the  Chiefs rushed out to a three-goal first period lead and hung on to beat Chilliwack.

Steven Kuhn, Mike Aviani, Marek Kalus and Brenden Kichton scored for Spokane.

Roman Horak and Brandon Manning replied for Chilliwack.

The Chiefs took a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is Saturday in Spokane.

Rebels 5, Blades 2

At Prince Albert, Sask., rookie Todd Fiddler scored twice as the Raiders beat Saskatoon.

Mark McNeill added a goal and an assist for Prince Albert, while TJ Constant and Igor Revenko also scored.

Curtis Hamilton and Brayden Schenn both had a goal and an assist for Saskatoon.

With the victory the eighth-seeded Raiders evened the series 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday in Saskatoon.

Tigers 5, Wheat Kings 4

At Winnipeg, Linden Vey scored the winning goal with 25 seconds left in the third period as Medicine Hat defeated Brandon.

Vey had two goals and two assists as the Tigers tied the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final 2-2, with Game 5 set for Saturday in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Emerson Etem had a goal and two assists, while Kale Kessy and Jace Coyle also scored for the Tigers.

Brodie Melnychuk, Tyrel Seaman, Matt MacKay and Shayne Wiebe replied for the Wheat Kings.

QMJHL

Sea Dogs 4, Screaming Eagles 0

The top-ranked Saint John Sea Dogs swept their way into the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs Wednesday with a 4-0 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on a night where five teams were eliminated from the post-season.

Stanislav Galiev, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu had a goal and an assist each as the Sea Dogs completed the four-game sweep on the road. Zack Phillips added three assists and Michael Kirkpatrick also scored to round out the scoring.

Mathieu Corbeil earned the win in his first start of the playoffs while Andrew Hayes suffered the loss for Cape Breton.

The Sea Dogs will open the QMJHL quarter-finals at home, with Games 1 scheduled for April 8.

The second-ranked Montreal Juniors, third-ranked Quebec Remparts and fourth-ranked Drummondville Voltigeurs also completed first-round sweeps. Montreal beat Halifax 4-2, Quebec downed Val-d'Or 5-2 and Drummondville edged Chicoutimi 5-4 to advance to the next round.

In the only upset so far in the first round, 11th-ranked Victoriaville completed a sweep of sixth-ranked Acadie-Bathurst with a 4-3 overtime win. The Tigres were the only home team to win on Wednesday's eight-game schedule.

Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was: Shawinigan 4 P.E.I. 2; Lewiston 4 Moncton 3 (OT); and Gatineau 4 Rimouski 3 (OT).

Juniors 4, Mooseheads 2

At Halifax, Jeremy Gouchie had a goal and two assists as Montreal swept the Mooseheads.

Trevor Parkes had a goal and an assist while Louis Leblanc and Philippe Lefebvre also scored for the Juniors.

Konrad Abeltshauser and Gabriel Desjardins replied for Halifax.

Remparts 5, Foreurs 2

At Val-d'Or, Que., Jonathan Audy-Marchessault had a goal and four assists as Quebec eliminated the Foreurs.

Joel Champagne had a goal and two assists while Ryan Bourque, Frederick Roy and Tomas Filippi also scored for the Remparts.

Olivier Archambault and Alexandre Carrier scored for Val-d'Or, while Connor Gagnon had two assists.

Voltigeurs 5, Sangueneens 4

At Chicoutimi, Que., Ondrej Palat had two goals and an assist as Drummondville advanced to the next round with a win over the Sagueneens.

Pier-Antoine Dion, Charles-David Beaudoin and Marc-Olivier Vachon also scored for Drummondville, while Sean Couturier added two assists.

Nicolas Therrien had a goal and two assists for Chicoutimi. Alexandre Lavoie, Steve Lebel and Gabriel Vermette also scored and Charles Hudon had two assists.

Tigres 4, Titan 3

At Victoriaville, Que., Yannick Dube scored in overtime as the Tigres completed a sweep of Acadie-Bathurst.

Phillip Danault, Carl-Antoine Delisle and Brandon Hynes also scored for the Tigres.

Sebastien Trudeau, Gabriel Levesque and Marc-Olivier Mimar scored for the Titan.

Cataractes 4, Rocket 2

At Charlottetown, Dave Labrecque, Peter Sakaris and Michael Bournival each had a goal and an assist as Shawinigan beat P.E.I.

Maximilien Le Sieur also scored for the Cataractes.

Ben Duffy and Philippe Paradis scored for the Rocket.

Shawinigan leads the series 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Charlottetown.

Maineiacs 4 Wildcats 3 (OT)

At Moncton, N.B., Etienne Brodeur scored his second goal of the game in overtime and added an assist as Lewiston beat the Wildcats.

Pierre-Olivier Morin and Kirill Kabanov each had a goal and two assists for Lewiston.

Allain Saulnier, Devon MacAusland and Alex Saulnier scored for Moncton, while Marek Hrivik assisted on all three Wildcat goals.

The Maineiacs lead the series 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Lewiston, Maine.

Olympiques 4 Oceanic 3 (OT)

At Rimouski, Que., Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in overtime to lead Gatineau over the Oceanic.

Hubert Labrie, Raphael Lafontaine and Philip-Michael Devos also scored for the Olympiques.

Felix Lefrancois, Jarrad Struthers and Petr Straka scored for Rimouski.

Gatineau leads the series 3-1 and hosts Game 5 on Friday.

OHL

Wolves 5, 67's 3

Josh McFadden and Michael Sgarbossa scored goals 58 seconds apart early in the third period Thursday night and the Sudbury Wolves rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa 67's to complete a surprising sweep of their first-round Ontario Hockey League playoff series.

The 67's scored first and were up 3-1 at one point, but the Wolves scored four unanswered goals. McFadden scored the winner when his shot from the point changed direction off a 67's player and beat Petr Mrazek at 6:35 of the third, period less than a minute after Sgarbossa's second goal of the game.

"It's the kind of thing we had all series, we just never gave up," Sgarbossa said.

Sgarbossa and Joshua Leivo, with an assist, each scored shorthanded while Eric O'Dell scored into an empty net with 6.9 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Wolves.

The second-seeded 67's were playing in their home rink for the first time in the best-of-seven matchup. They opened the series at Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, before playing twice in Sudbury.

However, it will be the 67's only home playoff game after dropping four straight to the underdog Wolves, who were seventh in the Eastern Conference during the season, finishing 31 points back of the 67's.

"We knew all along (people) weren't expecting too much of us and that's what we wanted," Sgarbossa said.

Elsewhere in the OHL, it was: Niagara 4, Brampton 1; London 5, Owen Sound 2 and Saginaw 4, Guelph 3.

IceDogs 4, Battalion 1

At Brampton, Ont., Andrew Aggozino scored twice as Niagara beat the Battallion to complete a first round sweep.

Johnson Andrews and Myles Doan also counted for the IceDogs.

Stephon Thorne replied for Brampton.

Mark Visentin made 28 saves for Niagara. Cody St. Jacques was chased from the Battalion net after giving up four goals on 11 shots.

Knights 5, Attack 2 

At London, Ont., Jared Knight scored twice to pace the Knights to a win over Owen Sound.

London evened the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final 2-2, with Game 5 slated for Owen Sound, Ont., on Saturday.

Dane Fox, Matt Rupert and Seth Griffith also beat Attack goalie Jordan Binnington and chased the 17-year-old by the eight-minute mark of the third period. Binnington allowed five goals on 40 shots and was replaced by Tampa Bay prospect Michael Zador.

Dylan MacEachern and Sacha Guimond each had a pair of assists for London, the No. 8 seed in the conference.

Owen Sound, which won 46 of 68 games in the regular season to lead the Western Conference standings, got goals from Keevin Cutting and Brendan Childerley.

Michael Houser stopped 35 shots for the Attack. shots. Matej Machovsky stopped all 13 shots he faced.

Spirit 4, Storm 3

At Guelph, Ont., Mavric Parks made 30 saves, including 14 in a big second period, and Saginaw edged the Storm.

The Western Conference quarter-final series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday in Saginaw, Mich.

The Spirit scored all their goals on 16 shots in a busy second period for both goaltenders. Jordan Swarz, Brad Walch, John McFarland and Josh Shalla all beat Guelph goalie Brandon Foote. Ryan O'Connor added two assists.

Francis Menard scored twice for Guelph, while Kyle Pereira had the other goal. Foote finished with 26 saves.