Mooseheads defenceman Trey Lewis (Ghyslain Bergeron, The Canadian Press)

During the 2012 President's Cup playoffs, the Halifax Mooseheads lost then-captain Cameron Critchlow for a crucial playoff game after he received an automatic ban for removing a foe's helmet during a fight even thought it was debatable he did so. History has repeated itself with Halifax team leaders receiving penalties that call for automatic suspensions.

In the final minute of Game 4 of the President's Cup final, Baie-Comeau's Alec Jon Banville touched off a skirmish by bumping Mooseheads goalie Zachary Fucale after a whistle. Fucale retreated to a neutral corner, only to get bumped by the Drakkar's Charles Poulin. That led Lewis to intervene; after all that he got the aggressor penalty after standing up for his goalie. So Banville gets two games for precipitating the fracas while somehow Lewis gets one for doing something any player in his skates would have done. Perhaps the judgment was 'eye for an eye' and each team should lose a player for the potentially decisive Game 5 in Halifax on Friday, but common sense might suggest that Lewis was no aggressor. Besides, does the Q really want a goalie fighting a skater, which is usually a mismatch?

Oliver Bjorkstrand is first in WHL rookie playoff scoring with 18 points in 19 games (Bryan Heim, Portland Winterhawks)

Oliver Bjorkstrand's two experiences playing in Edmonton were a world of difference.

This week, the Portland Winterhawks' dashing Dane helped his team win twice on Edmonton Oil Kings' ice to move within a single win of winning the Western Hockey League title. It's quite the opposite from the 18-year-old's experience playing for Denmark in the 2012 world junior championship at Rexall Place, when Bjorkstrand, his brother Patrick and their coach-father Todd were just trying to keep a newly promoted team from getting overwhelmed.

"It's just a little better than losing by seven goals each game," Oliver Bjorkstrand, who is NHL Central Scouting's 36th-ranked North American skater, quipped during an interview this week. "No, it feels pretty good. It's a good place to play. I like it a lot.

"Maybe a little bit," Bjorkstrand, who hails from Herning, Denmark, added when asked if he has drawn on those superficially disparate experiences. "When I played here for Denmark I knew we were underdogs and we had to work really hard. It's the same thing here. It's the finals and if you don't work hard, you won't have a chance to win. So yes, I guess I took a little bit from the national team."

As it happened, the mere fact that the then 16-year-old Bjorkstrand was playing in that 2012 WJC put him on the Winterhawks' radar. The WHL powerhouse, thanks to the Calgary Flames' Sven Baertschi and New York Islanders' Nino Niederreiter blossoming into NHL first-round picks, has had an excellent track record with imports. Baertschi came to Portland for his 18-year-old season, while Niederreiter profiled more as a power winger. Bjorkstrand, a dual American-Danish citizen, is thriving while being an undersized 17-year-old who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds ("I need to gain some weight and build some muscle so I need to work really hard in the off-season").

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

With the Portland Winterhawks one win from the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Kerry Eggers plumbs the depths the franchise had sunk to before Bill Gallacher bought it in late 2008. (Portland Tribune)

Edmonton Oil Kings coach Derek Laxdal did a little soft-shoe routine to get around calling out centre Henrik Samuelsson for his late high-sticking penalty that essentially ended Game 4 against Portland. (Edmonton Journal)

New Regina Pats coach Malcolm Cameron has inked a two-year contract as the club's new bench boss after the departure of Pat Conacher. (Regina Leader-Post)

Hey, a trade: veteran forward Joel Hamilton heads to Vancouver, with a third-round bantam selection going to Red Deer. (Vancouver Province)

No two ways about it, Alberta is now the biggest player-producing province in the Dub. (Coming Down The Pipe!)

OHL

Beastly Plymouth Whalers wing Tom Wilson has been called up by the Washington Capitals for their Stanley Cup playoff series. Is there a chance he might draw into the lineup? (Russian Machine Never Breaks)

Colts veterans (from left) Ryan O'Connor, Zach Hall, Mark Scheifele and Steven Beyers celebrate a goal (OHL Images)

Mark Scheifele delivered, Dale Hunter deflected and the upstart Barrie Colts have the London Knights on the brink of elimination. On with the post-game questions:

Barrie 6 London 4, ENG (Colts lead final 3-1, Game 5 Friday at London) — What's gone wrong for London? The Colts have been opportunistic and London's defence corps, despite having three world junior-calibre rearguards with Pittsburgh Penguins prospects Scott Harrington and Olli Määttä and Russian rookie Nikita Zadorov (who likely has a WJC in his future), seems to be in a shambles. (Their midseason add on the blueline, 19-year-old Justin Sefton, hasn't been playing much.) Throw in some shakiness from Anthony Stolarz that is part and parcel of the high-ceiling goalie having only a half-season of OHL experience. Give Barrie coach Dale Hawerchuk his due for having a the right supporting cast around Scheifele and their headliners and it makes sense how the Colts could be up 3-1, when seven days ago the best-case scenario seemed

Mark Scheifele's back-to-back 5-points nights have helped Barrie take a 3-1 lead on favoured London (Terry Wilson, OHL Images)

No. 1 star: Mark Scheifele, Barrie Colts (OHL)

The Winnipeg Jets email inbox is probably overflowing with thank-yous from fans of Barrie and, quite possibly, some who support 18 other OHL teams. Scheifele, whose return from the Jets to play out his 19-year-old season shaped the Colts' season scored four goals in a fast and furious third period to lead the Colts to a 6-4 comeback win and 3-1 series lead over the favoured London Knights. For the second night in a row, Scheifele (4G-1A, +2) affirmed why, regardless of who gets the OHL's player of the year award on Thursday, he has been the league's best forward since Alex Galchenyuk graduated from the Sarnia Sting to the Montreal Canadiens in January.

The final is far from over, since the defending champion Knights are eminently capable of overcoming a 3-1 deficit. The imagined best-case scenario going into the series was that Barrie might be even though four games. That 2-2 tie seemed likely after Barrie scored in the first minute on a Scheifele setup and then fell behind 3-1 on the scoreboard.

Scheifele has 10 points in the series' past two games (OHL Images)

Dale Hunter is often a man of few words until he wants the media to talk about something other than how his London Knights are playing.

Dale Hunter and the Knights host Game 5 of the final on Friday (Terry Wilson, OHL Images)Out of possible exasperation with the officials, or confusion stemming from the London Knights being down 3-1 in the Ontario Hockey League final, Hunter delivered a classic post-game tirade on Wednesday. Following the Barrie Colts' 6-4 comeback win, where Mark Scheifele scored four of the underdogs' five third-period goals to push London to the brink of elimination, Hunter accused the Winnipeg Jets first-rounder and his teammates of auditioning for Celebrity Diving.

It probably beats addressing the Knights' inability to suppress Scheifele, who has scored or assisted on 12 of the Colts' 17 goals through four games. Or why goalie Anthony Stolarz has allow 10 goals on 53 shots in the past two games. Or why

"Actually we played very well, got a 3-1 lead and the last six minutes of the second period, they started diving," Hunter said in a post-game press conference on Rogers Television. "And Belleville [which the Colts beat in the OHL Eastern final] warned us about that. Scheifele, these guys, they love to dive and draw penalties. They do three in a row and its changes the course of the game that way. It's a tough call when the referees, when people dive, they don't know whether it's a true hook or not a hook. Unfortunately, that's what they've been doing and they did it in the round before. It changed the course of the game.

"It's tough on the referees. If they're going to get away with it, we're going to have to do it also. It doesn't make for a very good hockey game. The National Hockey League, they have a rule, if you're on the list [of habitual divers], they don't get the calls."

Stefan Matteau after scoring his first NHL goal in February (The Associated Press)

Well, what is father to say in these situations? Two weeks ago, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada ignited a firestorm by washing their hands of New Jersey Devils first-round choice Stefan Matteau midway through their QMJHL semifinal series vs. the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. (The teams would soon change the channel in rather unconventional fashion.) Matteau and his former-NHLer father, Armada assistant coach Stéphane Matteau, made no public comment at that time, allowing a narrative that portrayed B-B coach Jean-François Houle and GM Joël Bouchard as disciplinarians to form.

Wednesday, the elder Matteau broke the family's silence by speaking to Tom Gulitti (@TGfireandice). Matteau's contention is his 19-year-old son was singled out by the team due to his status as a returnee from the NHL and was released "for just a shouting match."

Pat Conacher was Regina's bench boss for 2 seasons (Postmedia)The timing would lead one think a bigger and brighter stage awaits Pat Conacher.

After just two seasons at the helm of the Regina Pats, the former NHL assistant coach and AHL head coach is on the move again after resigning. Time will tell how this affects the chances Regina, which always seems to be in the midst of rebuilding, has of getting back into the playoff field next season. The Pats seem to have taken it in stride by promoting from within, moving two-year assistant Malcolm Cameron into the top job.

From Jamie Nye (@jamienye)

Conacher says after deliberation with his family he decided he will not return to Regina, despite having one year left on his contract.

The Pats have promoted assistant coach Malcolm Cameron to Head Coach.

"As Pat had another year on his contract his resignation certainly caught us off guard," said Pats General Manager Chad Lang in release from the team. "We would like to thank Pat for his commitment to the Regina Pats organization for the past two years and wish him and his family all the best in the future."

Lang says they did not believe a coaching search was necessary, believing Cameron was the right man for the job. (CJME 980 Regina)