Playoff Preview by Greg Meachem
By Greg Meachem
With the Edmonton Oil Kings claiming the final Western Hockey League playoff berth with Tuesday’s 6-4 sudden-death win over the host Medicine Hat Tigers, the post-season dance partners have been determined.
The Oil Kings will play another five games, it says here, before succumbing to the Brandon Wheat Kings in an Eastern Conference quarter-final opening Thursday, while the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors — again, in this writer’s opinion — will also advance (the Rebels/Calgary Hitmen series will be previewed Friday).
Out west, the Victoria Royals posted the league’s best record of 50-16-3-3 and finished with 106 points, while the Kelowna Rockets were one of three squads to also hit the century mark in points.
However, while the Royals should sweep their first-round opponents — the Spokane Chiefs — the defending league champion Rockets are considered by many to be the underdogs in their series with the Kamloops Blazers.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Thunderbirds are clearly favoured in their match-up versus the Prince George Cougars and the Everett Silvertips/Portland Winterhawks best-of-seven clash could go the limit.
Here’s a closer look at each series:
Eastern Conference
Brandon vs. Edmonton
The Oil Kings will need outstanding goaltending to threaten the powerful Wheat Kings, but unless Patrick Dea returns from injury in short order that possibility remains a longshot.
Brandon finished with a conference-best 48 wins and 102 points and is led by the league’s No. 4 and No. 5 scorers in Jayce Hawryluk (47-59-106 in only 58 games) and Nolan Patrick (41-61-102). John Quenneville sniped 31 goals in 57 games and rearguards Ivan Provorov (21-52-73) and Macoy Erkamps (13-58-71) have provided some impressive secondary offence.
Still, the Wheaties aren’t perfect and they are capable of having the occasional off-night.
Prediction: Brandon in five.
Lethbridge vs. Regina
A total of 14 points separated these combatants at the conclusion of the regular season and both teams posted six wins in their final 10 games.
Therefore, the Pats might be capable of recording a post-season upset, but only if No. 1 stopper Tyler Brown upstages the Hurricanes’ duo of Stuart Skinner and Jayden Sittler, and that’s not a good bet.
Regina does have the league scoring champ in Adam Brooks (38-82-120) and also boast the likes of fellow forwards Sam Steel and Cole Sanford, but potted 61 goals fewer than the ‘Canes, who are led offensively by Brayden Burke (27-52-109) and Tyler Wong (43-46-89) and also got 30 goals from Giorgio Estephan, 29 from Igor Babenko and 70 points from defenceman Andrew Nielsen.
The ‘Canes also possess a strong blueline and their one-two goaltending punch is among the best in the league.
Lethbridge in six.
Prince Albert vs. Moose Jaw
The Raiders finished a mere three points clear of the Warriors, making this the toughest series to call.
Prince Albert’s blueline brigade, with Jesse Lees and Brendan Guile at the forefront, is superior to the Warriors defensive corps, but other than RW Reid Gardner (43-49-92) the Raiders don’t possess much in the way of explosive forwards.
The Warriors have two of the league’s premier up-front skaters in Dryden Hunt, who was second in WHL scoring with 116 points, including a league-best 58 goals, and perhaps the league’s top forward in Brayden Point, who collected his 88 points (35-53) in only 48 outings.
Rylan Parenteau has provided the Raiders with solid netminding, but Zach Sawchenko gives Moose Jaw the edge in that department.
Moose Jaw in seven.
Western Conference
Victoria vs. Spokane
The Royals suffered one regulation loss over their final 29 regular-season contests and were 10-0-0-0 down the stretch.
That’s nothing less than sizzling hot.
Only two teams scored more than Victoria, which got 91 points (31-60) from veteran Alex Forsberg, and 85 and 84, respectively, from Tyler Soy (46-39) and Jack Walker (36-48). In addition, rookie and diminutive centre Matthew Phillips burst onto the scene with 37 goals and 76 points and Joe Hicketts might be the league’s best defenceman.
The Chiefs had one player among the league’s top 40 scorers — Kailer Yamamoto was 29th with 71 points (19-52) — and are laden with injuries.
Toss in the fact that the Royals’ Griffen Outhouse and Coleman Vollrath were first and third among WHL goalies with respective goals-against averages of 1.82 and 2.40, and this shapes up as a short series.
Victoria in four.
Kelowna vs. Kamloops
The Rockets aren’t the same team that captured the 2015 WHL crown, especially without the services of injured forward Nick Merkley and netminder Jackson Whistle, both done for the season.
Tyson Baillie, who finished seventh in league scoring with 95 points, including 43 goals, is Kelowna’s main weapon.
The Rockets have some nice additional offensive pieces in Justin Kirkland (31 goals), Dillon Dube (26) and Rourke Chartier (25), but the team didn’t exactly close out the regular season on a roll, going 5-4-1-0 in their last 10.
The Blazers, meanwhile, were 9-0-1-0 in their last 10 outings and netminder Connor Ingram sizzled down the stretch and finished sixth among league stoppers with a 2.61 GAA. He also posted a .922 save percentage, a 34-15-5-4 record and four shutouts.
Led by Ingram and forward Collin Shirley (37-42-79) and entering the playoffs red-hot, the Blazers could be prime candidates to record an upset. However . . .
Kelowna in seven.
Seattle vs. Prince George
This shapes up as a physical series between two hard-nosed clubs, but the Thunderbirds captured the U.S. Division with a 9-0-1-0 slate in their final 10 regular-season games while the Cougars were 3-6-0-1 over the same stretch.
The T-Birds are blessed with one of the league’s top offensive talents in Mathew Barzal (27-61-88 in 58 games), while 20-year-old Landon Bow was a major trade-deadline acquisition — from the Swift Current Broncos — and was fourth among WHL stoppers with a 2.49 GAA.
Seattle has secondary scoring with Ryan Gropp (34 goals) and Keegan Kolesar (30) and possesses a large and effective defensive corps led by Edmonton Oilers prospect Ethan Bear.
The Cougars got impressive campaigns from forwards Chase Witala (40-39-79) and Jesse Gabrielle (40-35-75) but gave up 39 goals more than the T-Birds and closed out the regular season schedule on a five-game losing streak.
Seattle in five.
Everett vs.Portland
What they lacked in scoring punch during the regular season, the Silvertips compensated for in defence.
Everett’s 182 goal-output was second-worst in the league — behind only the Kootenay Ice — but only Victoria surrendered fewer than the 172 given up by the “Tips.
Carter Hart’s 2.14 GAA was second-best among league stoppers and he was No. 1 in wins with 35 and second to only Bow with six shutouts. Still, Everett had just two players — Remi Laurencelle, with 28, and Carson Stadnyk (21) — hit the 20-goal mark during the winter.
The Winterhawks, meanwhile, have Dominic Turgeon (36-34-70), Rihards Bukarts (31-31-62) and Alex Schoenborn (27-30-57) up front and Caleb Jones on the back end, while Adin Hill turned in a respectable regular season with a 2.96 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Defence wins at the most important time of the season, so . . .
Everett in seven.
Coming Friday: A preview of the Rebels/Calgary Hitmen series.
Photo by Rob Wallator
