The Southwest Cougars are one win away from advancing to round two of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League playoffs. Kole Beard scored the go-ahead goal with 35 seconds left in the second period as Southwest shaded the Pembina Valley Hawks 2-1 Tuesday night in Souris. Lynden Gould also scored for the Cougars who lead the best-of-five quarterfinal two games to one. Southwest netminder Micky Gross made 25 saves. Game four goes Thursday in Morden. 


The Westman Wildcats meet the Eastman Selects tonight in Hartney (7:30 p.m.) in game one of their best-of-five Manitoba Female U18 AAA Hockey League semifinal. The Wildcats swept the Pembina Valley Hawks in three straight in the opening round of the playoffs. The Selects eliminated the Interlake Lightning in four games in their quarterfinal series.


Eric Reid stopped all 27 shots he faced as the Virden Oil Capitals blanked the Dauphin Kings 4-0 at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. Luke Robson, Layton Veitch, Josh Lehto and Nolan Chastko with his 29th of the season did the goal scoring for the Oil Capitals. 


Hayden Hart scored the go-ahead goal 7:40 into the third period as the Boissevain/Souris/Deloraine/Waskada Broncos shaded the Reston/Elkhorn/Melita/Hartney Renegades 5-4. Ty Tosh had a pair of goals for Boissevain/Souris/Deloraine/Waskada while the rest went to Riley Fluker and Rayan Sprott. Logan Flannery had a pair of goals for Reston/Elkhorn/Melita/Hartney and singles went to Chase Flannery and Eric Drummond. The deciding third game in their best-of-three Westman High School Hockey League consolation quarterfinal takes place tonight (8 p.m.) in Souris. 


The Brandon Wheat Kings opened their five-game road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Jayden Wiens had a pair of goals for the Wheat Kings. Jackson DeSouza also scored for the visitors. Brandon trailed 4-0 until Wiens scored his 19th of the season with 5:05 left in the second period. The Wheat Kings, who face the Hitmen in Calgary tonight, are in sixth place in the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference. Brandon is two points ahead of the seventh place Prince Albert Raiders; three points ahead of the eighth place Lethbridge Hurricanes and six points up on the ninth place Hitmen. 


The Winnipeg Jets dropped a 4-3 decision to the Seattle Kraken at Canada Life Centre. Andre Burakovsky sniped the go-ahead goal with 2:39 remaining for the Kraken. Adam Lowry, Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter replied for the Jets who had won two straight and nine of their past 11. Mason Appleton chipped in with two assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves. 


Denisa Krizova scored twice in regulation and in the shootout as Minnesota shaded Ottawa 4-3 in the lone Professional Women's Hockey League game. 


Reid Carruthers has a 4-1 record and Matt Dunstone is 3-2 heading into day six at the Brier in Regina. Carruthers will meet Andrew Symonds of Newfoundland & Labrador and Dunstone will take on Scott Howard of Ontario on today's 2 p.m. draw. Carruthers has the only perfect record in Pool A. Trevor Bonot of Northern Ontario leads the A Pool Standings with a 5-1 record. Team Carruthers is tied with Brendan Bottcher of Alberta for second place. Dunstone is alone in fourth spot. Mike McEwen of Saskatchewan, Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories and Tyler Smith of Prince Edward Island are 4-1 and share first place in Pool B.