Around the CHL

As the semi-final series’ are coming to a close now, with five of the six series in the CHL decided, I thought I should write a little something on the subject. In the OHL, both conference finals went five games with the conference leaders of the regular season advancing to the OHL final. In fact, the conference finals consisted of the top two teams from each conference. These series went as expected, if a bit quicker then some would have thought, so I won’t spend any more time on this.

The story of the CHL playoffs so far has got to be the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They have played three series so far and have played the minimum twelve games. Talk about a team getting on a roll when it matters. In the first round they swept the Val d’Or Foreurs; the second round was the Rimouski Oceanic that had the misfortune of facing the Huskies and dusted off their golf clubs after the fourth game; and in the semi-final round, the Huskies made quick work of the Saint John SeaDogs. They have a tough task in the QMJHL finals as they are up against the Gatineau Olympiques who have lost only two games this playoff year and has the top scorer in the playoffs in Claude Giroux. Can the Olympiques tame the Huskies or will the Huskies sweep their way to the Memorial Cup? We will have to wait until next week to find out.

Out in the west, they are seeing perhaps the best series of the playoffs so far as the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs are tied at two games each. Three of the four games have gone into overtime with two of them going into double overtime. There have been only nine goals scored in the series with all games being decided by two goals or less. The goaltenders have been stellar as Dustin Tokarski of the Chiefs has shutout the Americans in two games and Chet Pickard has one shutout. The Lethbridge Hurricanes have the luxury of watching this series unfold as they have already advanced to the finals by sweeping the Calgary Hitmen.