NHL draft prospect Radek Faksa (OHL Images)Add Radek Faksa to the lengthy list of potential high NHL draft picks to go down with an injury. The Czech centre had been having a good start to the playoffs with the Kitchener Rangers, but Thursday the team confirmed the worst in the wake of Faksa being drilled into the boards the previous night in Owen Sound and leaving the game.

From Josh Brown:

Faksa took a shoulder to his chin during the second period of Game 4 of the OHL's Western Conference quarter-final Wednesday night in Owen Sound.

"It's devastating," said Spott. "He's not doing well. It's a huge loss for our hockey club. This is a guy who was trying to be a top 10 pick in the NHL draft."
Brandon Francisco will take Faksa's spot in the lineup for Game 5 in Kitchener [on Friday].

"I've said it before, one player's loss is another player's opportunity," said Spott. (Waterloo Record)

The Rangers still have three chances to oust Owen Sound, which is severely depleted by injuries in its own right. But they might be falling short of the ideal of receiving contributions from all 18 skaters (and then some) to win in the playoffs.

Guelph Storm coach Scott Walker (OHL Images)Thursday's Game 4 of the Plymouth Whalers-Guelph Storm game opened as a pretty good exhibition of playoff hockey, but by the end it was marked and marred by anger over penalty calls and complaints about diving and/or embellishment.

The underdog Storm, who lost 5-2 top drop into a 2-2 tie in the series with the more veteran Whalers, were upset over a video review that went against them when it's doubtful the overhead camera could have confirmed whether the entire puck crossed the line and an apparent missed call on Plymouth moments before the Whalers' clinching goal. (Storm forward Tanner Richard, who'd also scored the non-goal, so to speak, got a misconduct for abuse of officials after that Whalers goal.) Of course, since the Ontario Hockey League frowns on publicly airing out officials — just ask Kitchener's Steve Spott, among others — Guelph coach Scott Walker had to step lightly. So the former NHLer had to get metaphorical.

From Tony Saxon:

Well aware of how quickly the OHL brass hands down fines for criticism of refereeing, which was at best suspect on Thursday, Walker directed most of his frustration at the Whalers.

"I don't care about the refereeing or the Plymouth Whalers, I care about us. But I won't coach a bunch of soccer players like they have over there. They'll never play for my team," he continued.

Walker felt the Whalers were diving to draw penalties.

"Penalty after penalty. You don't have to lie on the ice like that. That's embarrassing." (Guelph Mercury)

Portland Winterhawks' Ty Rattie (Marissa Baecker, Getty Images)

No. 1 star: Ty Rattie, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

Rattie finished Portland's four-game sweep of the Kelowna Rockets with this eye-popping statline: 10 goals, three assists, 13 points, +10 plus/minus and two hat tricks. That's just ridiculous. The St. Louis Blues second-rounder pick scored four goals tonight in Portland's sweep-tacular 5-3 win over the Kelowna Rockets.

Rattie had two goals during the opening period, with Sven Bärtschi (11 points in the series) getting the primary assist on each tally. Kelowna, to its credit, made a game of it and kept fighting back to tie. Early in the third period, Rattie got a breakaway, waited out overage goalie Adam Brown and jammed the puck into the top of the net to get what Winterhawks play-by-play man Todd Vrooman calls the 'Rat Trick.' The teams traded goals once more, with Taylor Leier's deflection putting the Winterhawks ahead to stay. In the final minute, Rattie showed some clairvoyance to cut off a Myles Bell pass that was headed for a streaking Brett Bulmer and went for the empty-netter.

London Knights defenceman Olli MäättäThe London Knights complete their sweep of Windsor, while the Plymouth Whalers pull away in the final 20 minutes to tie their series with Guelph. On with the post-game question?

London 8 Windsor 3 (Western Conference series tied 2-2) — Is Knights defenceman Olli Määttä seriously injured after coming out of the game early? The only spot of trouble for the Knights in a one-sided victory — they scored only one fewer goal tonight than they did in the series' first three wins — came when Määttä was hammered by hulking Spitfires rookie forward Hunter Smith.

The Knights' other two world junior defenders, Scott Harrington and Jarred Tinordi, each played hurt in this series. So there was probably concern when Määttä went out, but that appears to have been overblown.

From Ryan Pyette:

"It's nothing, just a charley horse, and Olli will be fine," said London defenceman Scott Harrington, who played after being a game-time decision, but saw his minutes severely curtailed in the third period. "This was a good first test for us. They were all hard-fought games. We made it through quickly (first to finish in the Western Conference) and that's a good thing. We're going to get a week of rest here (the Knights will likely open the second round next Friday against an opponent to be determined), we'll all be ready to go and we'll get to see the other teams battle it out. (London Free Press)

London will have at least a week to rest. It stands to reason that's enough time for their big three to be in peak form by the time their Round 2 series begins.

Alex Galchenyuk of the Sarnia Sting (OHL Images)

Alex Galchenyuk believes he's back up to speed after a major knee injury cost all but the tailend of his draft season.

Entering this season, the storyline in Sarnia pretty much wrote itself. Galchenyuk, the playmaking centre, and Nail Yakupov, the finisher forever cutting in off the wing with bad intentions for opposing goalies, were expected to foment a debate over who was the better NHL lottery pick. Galchenyuk, of course, tore his left ACL in mid-September and needed surgery and six months of rehab. However, he's returned and has been relatively productive considering all the missed time. The 18-year-old centre has had four points in as many games during the Sting's tension-filled series vs. the Saginaw Spirit, which is knotted 2-2 entering Game 5 on Friday.

"I just had to get used to the speed," says Galchenyuk, who could go anywhere in the top 10 picks in a draft year that's become an utter crapshoot. "I did lots of drills once I started skating so my hands were good, but in a game it's different with so many people flying around. "I had to get my game shape back, my timing back. Now I'm feeling better, every game I'm learning.

"Even the routine [from rehabbing to playing] takes getting used to — you used to sit in the press box and now you're playing in front of fans," Galchenyuk adds with a chuckle.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ... Please swing by for the Chatravaganza at 12 noon ET/9 a.m. PT.

WHL

More on this as details become evident: ex-Everett Silvertips general manager Doug Soetaert has filed a legal suit against the club for breach on contract. (Everett Herald)

League vice-president Richard Doerksen has meted out 10 disciplinary actions in the first round, compared to 15 throughout last season's playoffs. One would think that drops after the first round since fewer teams are playing, (Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regan's Rant)

Buffalo Sabres first-round pick Mark Pysyk spent last summer washing trucks for a transport company. Until he signed his first contract, that is. (Edmonton Journal)

The Calgary Hitmen, down 3-1 entering tonight's Game 5 vs. Brandon, need more out of captain Cody Sylvester. (Calgary Herald)

The Kamloops Blazers' last playoff series win came a couple months prior to the release of American Pie. Now coach Guy Charron's team might be able to go see the latest sequel while they rest for Round 2. (Kamloops Daily News, Victoria Times-Colonist)

Vancouver Giants centre Anthony Ast has reinjured the ankle that caused him to miss the start of the series vs. Spokane. The Chiefs, meantime, have evened it at 2-2. (Vancouver Province)

Talk about adding injury to insult: Regina Pats defenceman Brandon Underwood was injured on Moose Jaw's double-overtime goal on Wednesday. (Regina Leader-Post)

Phoenix Coyotes second-round choice Lucas Lessio had 2 goals on Wednesday (OHL Images)

No. 1 star: Lucas Lessio, Oshawa Generals (OHL)

Here is a suggestion for Niagara IceDogs fan: try the kill-him-with-kindness tack with Lucas Lessio. The way the dangerous left wing has helped the Generalstie the series vs. the heavily favoured IceDogs at 2-2 suggests that booing Lessio each time he touches the puck is bouncing off him like raisins off an Oldsmobile. (Brownie points in heaven if you get that reference.)

The Phoenix Coyotes prospect played perhaps his best game as a Gen, scoring two goals and one assist and getting the goal that put the 'Shwa ahead to stay the second game in a row, leading them to a 5-3 win. During an intermission interview on Rogers Television, Lessio averred that the Generals are better on paper than the the team who finished 28 points ahead of them while playing in a tougher division. Just 3:15 into the frame, he backed up his talk by taking a feed from captain Boone Jenner (1G-2A) and going into to beat Mark Visentin for the tiebreaking tally.

Jenner scored the eventual game-winner less than four minutes later and Los Angeles Kings prospect Andy Andreoff iced the win with a late goal. Rookie goalie Daniel Altshuller was busy and brilliant again; he's stopped 90-of-97 shots across the two Oshawa victories.

Niagara IceDogs coach-GM Marty Williamson and forward David Pacan (OHL Images)The Niagara IceDogs are unexpectedly tied, marquee prospect Radek Faksa left his game with an injury and 3-of-4 games needed overtime. So it was pretty much par for the course in these playoffs. On with the post-game questions!

Oshawa 5 Niagara 3 (Eastern Conference series tied 2-2) — How grateful should the IceDogs be that Game 5 (and 7, if necessary) are in the cosy confines of the Jack Gatecliff Arena? The IceDogs' vaunted defence, bolstered by world junior teammates Dougie Hamilton and Jamie Oleksiak, has looked like they were skating in molasses during their consecutive losses. They haven't contained the Generals' core forwards such as newly signed Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Boone Jenner, Lucas Lessio or Nicklas Jensen, who all had three points on Wednesday.

It's really a mind-over-matter deal for coach Marty Williamson's team:

"You're never as good as you think and never as bad as you think," Williamson said. "We were awfully good, and I think we thought things were going to be easy. Now, we probably feel like we're the worst team and we're not that bad. We just have to tweak a few things."

The biggest area the IceDogs need to tweak is their commitment to defence which was so good during the regular season they led all of the OHL in goals against.

"We're sloppy away from the puck, and we're just not seeing things real well," Williamson said. "We're allowing them to be a lot faster because we're not seeing things and moving to it. (St. Catharines Standard)