Spokane Chiefs captain Darren Kramer (The Canadian Press)

For many players in their final season of junior hockey, their biggest preoccuption is landing a pro contract to keep their dream alive. Spokane Chiefs captain Darren Kramer was drafted by the Ottawa Senators last spring, so he's seeking another kind of financing — for his patent-pending "double twist off" jar.

Kramer first drew attention for his invention in early 2011. Now he and Chiefs teammate Steven Kuhn have posted a video on YouTube — have the producer's of CBC's Dragon's Den seen this?! — demonstrating the jar's many uses. The acting is infomercial-worthy.

(Hey, it is much smoother than Dave Rose's Steak Me Home Tonight commercial on Happy Endings.)

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

WHL

Kamloops Blazers captain Chase Schaber is out after suffering a deep skate cut. (Kamloops Daily News, Victoria Times-Colonist)

Highly touted NHL draft prospect Henrik Samuelsson makes his post-season debut tonight as the Edmonton Oil Kings seek a 3-0 series lead over Kootenay. (Edmonton Journal)

Ottawa Senators prospect Mark Stone and his Brandon Wheat Kings, remembering how they couldn't seal the deal after being up 2-1 in last season's playoffs, are one win from bouncing Calgary. Getting captain Cody Sylvester back didn't do enough for the Hitmen. (Calgary Herald, Luber's Lounge)

Spokane Chiefs captain Darren Kramer is pressing on with his peanut butter solution. (Vancouver Province)

Colorado Avalanche first-round pick Duncan Siemens and his Saskatoon Blades are staring at a second consecutive sweep in the playoffs. Not very auspicious for next season's MasterCard Memorial Cup host team. (Sportsnet)

Top 2013 NHL draft prospect Nathan MacKinnon (Mike Carrocetto photo)
Sixteen-year-old phenom Nathan MacKinnon apparently missed the memo to forget about scoring pretty goals in the playoffs.

Crowding the goal crease to deflect shots and dig for rebounds is the old reliable during the post-season. MacKinnon can do that, of course, but he reached back for a little extra on Tuesday night when the Mooseheads were trailing in the third period on Tuesday against the Moncton Wildcats. The prospect for next year's NHL draft was going 1-on-3 against Wildcats defenders as he crossed centre ice. Instead of settling for playing the puck into a corner of a rink, he made them look like they were wearing cement shoes before going in to deke goalie Roman Will. The tying goal put the Mooseheads on their way to an overtime win and their first playoff series victory in four years.

This might have stopped the between-the-legs and the spinnerama-and-score goals that MacKinnon scored earlier in the series, which were highlighted Tuesday on BTN.

Plymouth Whalers defenceman Austin Levi had 3 assists Tuesday to get his team back in its series vs. Guelph (OHL Images)

One second seed, Plymouth, has momentum back after winning on Tuesday. The other, Ottawa, might be on the run after successive overtime losses. Meantime, the Brampton Battalion are getting ready to break out the brooms.

Plymouth 7 Guelph 1 (Storm lead Western Conference series 2-0) — Who knew junior players take it personally when their coach calls them "old and cocky?" The Whalers rolled, with Ottawa Senators first-rounder Stefan Noesen scoring twice in the first 6 1/2 minutes on his way to a five-point game.

This completely followed the script a few folks anticipated coming into the series. Plymouth needed to be made to, in the words of White Goodman, bleed their own blood before getting engaged in the series. Their defence was much stronger than in Game 2, particularly signed Carolina Hurricanes draft choice Austin Levi, who earned three assists.

Re-reading the advance story, one gets the sense Storm coach Scott Walker knew this was coming. The Storm went all out in the first two games to build the series lead and there was bound to be some regression.

Nothing is left to chance when it comes to gamesmanship in the playoffs — especially when the favourite is behind in their series heading into a must-win game on enemy ice.

The Victoriaville Tigres were down 2-0 to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar entering the third game of their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League series on Tuesday. They needed to do something to instill solidarity throughout the ranks in order to come back in the series. However, judging by the straits they are now in — down three games to none after an 8-2 loss — their idea of going into a V formation for pregame stretches backfired. Was that inspired by the V in the team's crest and not by having seen the Mighty Ducks movies one too many times as kids?

The Drakkar were not fazed. Having already begun stretching in their own end of the rink, captain Félix Girard and his teammates rose as one and moved closer to the Tigres, just a few feet shy of centre ice. The partisan crowd went wild, delighted to see that their beloved hometown team wasn't about to stand for these stretching shenanigans.

Kitchener Rangers' Tyler Randell (OHL Images)

So much for the belief/hope/notion that there's a conversion rate for suspensions in the regular season and those meted out in the playoffs.

Few would have imagined a double-digit-game ban suspension when rugged Kitchener Rangers winger Tyler Randell was placed on suspension last weekend for a check to the head of Owen Sound centre Artur Gavrus in the opener of the teams' playoff series. Missing games in the post-season hurts a lot more for a player than it does to sit out in the regular season. Just ask Gavrus' teammate, Mike Halmo, who could end his junior tenure on Wednesday watching from the press box.

However, the league has come down hard on Randell. He's been suspended 10 games, which could potentially end his time in junior. The Rangers are up 3-0 on a depleted Owen Sound team in their first-round series, so the most realistic scenario is that they would have to reach the third round before Randell could return. It is a surprise insofar as it's the playoffs. However, it is in line with what the league has handed down when someone makes direct contact to the head of an unsuspecting player, to borrow the OHL's terminology.

Detroit Red Wings second-round pick Xavier Ouellet (The Canadian Press)The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada passed their first playoff test. Now comes the tougher one — the unfriendly confines of Gatineau's Robert Guertin Arena.

Strange and mysterious things have been known to happen to visiting teams at the Guertin come playoff time, with a ghost roaming the building and taking up residence behind the opposition net. The Armada, the franchise which relocated from Montreal to the suburbs, have taken a commanding 2-0 series lead, but now the old barn will be jumping heading into games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It's never easy against Gatineau, they're a very good playoff team that play extremely well at home," Armada coach Jean-François Houle says. "We (Armada) know we'll have to be ready, they have a history of playing well at the Guertin in such a great atmosphere that is created by the fans."

Winning this match-up would be a tremendous boost to the Armada's coaches, players and staff. It would also give the first-year team's fans a taste of a playoff run. The Armada worked hard all year, finishing 40-22-4-2 to earn the No. 3 playoff seed by winning the Telus West division.

"Being successful in the playoffs is very important for our fans as well as everybody that is associated with the team," Houle says. "We exceeded our expectations during the regular season and it's very important to do the same in the post season. Not many people thought we would end up where we did in the standings and we want to prove to everybody that it wasn't a fluke."

Halifax Mooseheads centre Nathan MacKinnon (The Canadian Press)When you think about it, it is quite something that Nathan MacKinnon can score a great goal and not have the video get into wide circulation right away.

The 16-year-old Halifax Mooseheads phenom, whom as you know is projected to be the No. 1 choice in the 2013 NHL draft, is off to a terrific start in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. MacKinnon has five goals and seven points in three games for Halifax, who have shot out to a 3-0 lead in their first-round series against the Moncton Wildcats. While he has done it alone, obviously, he's also restored interest in his hometown's junior hockey team, who drew more than twice as many fans to their first two playoff games (14,987) than they did last year (6,511). To top it off, MacKinnon (yes, he's from the same town, Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, as Sidney Crosby and yes, he attended the same U.S. prep school) has produced two highlight-reel goals so far during the series.

First came Friday's spinnerama goal. TSN's Sportscentre had it as highlight of the night, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether.With the Mooseheads on the power play, MacKinnon drew the Wildcats' best defenceman, James Melindy, close to him near the half-wall. With a rapid 180-degree spin, he got away from Melindy, then kept control of the puck while navigating between diving defender Patrick Downe and the pokecheck of goalie Roman Will before scoring.

That was good, but it might not even the best move MacKinnon has pulled so far in the post-season. On Monday night, he took a pass in front of Will and rather than turn to shoot, put his stick through his legs and wired the puck into the net. It takes great strength and fast-twitch muscles to pull that off, so it's pretty remarkable for someone who is five months shy of turning 17.