Thursday coast-to-coast: Playoffs finally arrive; Jarred Tinordi back in London lineup

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ... please come by for the Chatravaganza at 12 noon ET/1 p.m. AT/9 a.m. PT.

WHL

The Calgary Hitmen's bright young hope, 15-year-old Jake Virtanen, will be utilized fully in tonight's playoff opener vs. Brandon. Meantime, the Wheat Kings' Michael Ferland is promising to bring some jam to this picnic. (Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun)

Lukas Sutter will helm the Saskatoon Blades' shutdown line as their primary focus shifts to shutting down Medicine Hat's Emerson Etem and Hunter Shinkaruk. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Patiently building has paid off for Edmonton Oil Kings GM Bob Green. (Edmonton Journal, The Canadian Press)

One sidebar to the Spokane-Vancouver series: Chiefs scoring leader Brenden Kichton was cut from Team Canada last fall by Giants coach Don Hay. (Vancouver Province)

Los Angeles Kings prospect Jordan Weal is no longer lumped with the other Jordan who used to play for the Regina Pats. Fellow named Eberle. (Regina Leader-Post)

The Kamloops Blazers won the B.C. Division but their attendance totals remained unchanged compared to last season. Odd, that. Meantime, their opponent, the Victoria Royals, might be dealing with some injuries. (Kamloops Daily News)

The Portland Winterhawks are aware their fortunes have been "iffy" when they haven't outworked teams. (Portland Tribune)

Vancouver Giants goalie Adam Morrison is finally making his first playoff start, as an overage. (Vancouver Sun)

The Pipeline Show gang has predictions for Round 1 in the Dub. So does Steve Ewen. (Vancouver Province, Coming Down The Pipe!)

OHL

Connor McDavid did not exactly jump for joy at the prospect of joining the Erie Otters, did he? The 15-year-old can enter the OHL a year before his 1997-born peers. Erie, of course, has the top pick. At least we know now the draft rules for McDavid are the same as those for everyone else. (Yahoo! Sports)

Montreal Canadiens prospect Jarred Tinordi will be on the London Knights blueline for Game 1 vs. Windsor on Friday. (London Free Press)

Goalie Jaroslav Pavelka had a much better statline for the Windsor Spitfires as a newcomer to the OHL than Jack Campbell did a season ago. (Windsor Star, CBC)

Josh Brown reports that in a show of unity, half the Kitchener Rangers are sporting dyed-red mohawks haircuts and the other half of the team has gone blond. Aren't red and gold the colours of their opponent, the Owen Sound Attack? (Waterloo Record)

The Plymouth Whalers recall they were hammered 9-1 by Guelph earlier in the season. Meantime, Storm goalie Garret Sparks is game for the chance to play giant-slayer. (Detroit Free Press, Guelph Mercury)

The Barrie Colts were in the top five in the league in scoring defence. This did not get enough play during the regular season. (Barrie Examiner)

Peterborough Petes coach Mike Pelino is chalking up a second consecutive ninth-place finish to injuries and inexperience. The Petes had 1995-birthdate players play 273 games, writes Mike Davies. (Peterborough Examiner)

The OHL does not tabulate faceoff stats, but Belleville coach-GM George Burnett says that element of the game has been part of why his team went 1-7-0-0 vs. Ottawa. The Battle Of The 613 opens tonight. (Belleville Intelligencer)

Prediction time! (The Hockey Writers)

QMJHL

We know who is the favourite going into the playoffs, but Patrick King will tell you which team is the darkhorse. (Sportsnet)

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles might lose their series to Saint John again, but at least it won't be with the same guys as last year. Sixteen new faces are in coach Ron Choules' lineup. (Halifax Chronicle-Herald)

Nathan MacKinnon is not much on this talk his Halifax Mooseheads are building for the future. (Metro Halifax)

The Quebec Remparts are getting defenceman Ryan Culkin back in time for Game 2 of their series vs. Drummondville. (Le Soleil)

When Gatineau Olympiques coach-GM Benoît Groulx starts buttering up an opponent, that's when it's time to get nervous. (Le Droit)

Florida Panthers pick Logan Shaw is geared up for a potential playoff run with Quebec. (Cape Breton Post)

A sweep is expected in Shawinigan. (Le Nouvelliste)

More playoff predictions! Two Q series open this evening. (Temps d'Arret, Coming Down The Pipe!)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.