Tuesday coast-to-coast: Medicine Hat’s Bob Ridley set for milestone broadcast

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

WHL

The voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Bob Ridley, will commentate his 3,000th regular season game on Wednesday. His contemporary in southern Alberta, Calgary Flames play-by-play man Peter Maher, says 3,000 games in junior is tougher than doing it in The Show: "I would say, his calling 3,000 games have been a whole lot more of a rigour than my 3,000 games. Even if he didn't drive the bus, just busing to all those games all over the place would be a real chore." (Calgary Herald)

The Spokane Chiefs and Vancouver Giants are already locked in to facing each other in the first round of the playoffs. Such is life in a conference with three powerhouses. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)

One generally assumes coach Ryan Huska will have his Kelowna Rockets ready to be a tough out in the first round of the playoffs against either Portland or Tri-City. (Kelowna Capital News)

Getting to know Thomas Lenchyshyn, a defenceman from Steinbach, Man., likely to be taken early in the WHL bantam draft. (WHL)

Other media outlets are aware that the Spokane Chiefs' Liam Stewart is Rod Stewart's sire. (E! Online, Pro Hockey Talk)

OHL

Dallas Stars goaltending prospect Jack Campbell can help seal his former team's fate in Thursday's Sault Ste. Marie-Windsor tilt: "By far, it'll be the biggest OHL regular season game I've ever played in." (Sault Star)

Likely high NHL first-round pick Alex Galchenyuk is apparently in good spirits now that he's set to rejoin Nail Yakupov in the Sarnia Sting lineup.

The young Guelph Storm and somewhat more seasoned Kitchener Rangers are trending in opposite directions entering tonight's final installment of the Hwy. 7 rivalry. (Waterloo Record)

Perhaps suspension fatigue and the fact it was a player from a small-market team contributed to Belleville Bulls defenders Alex Carnevale's eight-game head-checking ban staying under the radar. Paul Svoboda is not happy about it, though. (Belleville Intelligencer)

Being in a playoff race is something novel for many of the younger Windsor Spitifres. (Windsor Star)

Up in Sudbury, Wolves coach Trent Cull wants noise for tonight's potential playoff preview vs. Brampton. (Sudbury Star)

Graduating Saginaw Spirit defenceman Brad Walch is nearing the end of a long junior road. (minbc.com)

QMJHL

Slow starts are plaguing the Halifax Mooseheads of late. (Metro Halifax)

Hey, is someone going to give league scoring leader Yanni Gourde a chance at a NHL contract? (The Hockey Writers)

The Shawinigan Cataractes seem to be in throes of late regular-season lethargy, writes Steve Turcotte. Is that due to being impatient for the playoffs to arrive, or a chilling sign of things to come? (Temps d'Arret)

Defenceman Mickaël Beauregard, whom the Gatineau Olympiques added through their deadline deals with Chicoutimi, has proven to be a real find. (Le Droit)

Six points out of a playoff berth with six games left, the P.E.I. Rocket must beat Moncton tonight. (Charlottetown Guardian)

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