The Conference Finals

There will be no Memorial Cup repeat this year for the Vancouver Giants as they were defeated four games to two by the Spokane Chiefs in the last quarter final series to be decided in the CHL. Spokane will face the Tri-City Americans in the Western Conference final of the WHL while in the Eastern Conference final, the Calgary Hitmen will face the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Spokane Chiefs finished the 2008 WHL season with 107 points, outdone only by one team, their conference final opponents, the Tri-City Americans who had 108 points. This series has the feel of a seven gamer as the two teams battled each other tough all season. In the twelve games between the two teams, the Americans won seven of them to take the season series. The Americans also outscored the Chiefs by one goal in the season match ups (33-32) but the Chiefs shutout the Americans twice while scoring at least one goal in all twelve games. Three games went into overtime with two of them being decided by a shootout (Tri-City won all three of these games).

The Eastern Conference will also be a tight series as Lethbridge finished three points behind Calgary in the East Division. The six game season series was dominated by Lethbridge five games to one and they outscored Calgary 20-11 in those games. The last three meetings between the two teams were decided by one goal, all going in Lethbridge’s favour. Calgary was also shutout twice by Lethbridge so it would appear that the Hurricanes have the edge in this series.

Moving east into Ontario saw four quarter final series that really were not that close. The conference leaders in the regular season, the Belleville Bulls and the Kitchener Rangers, swept their series while the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds won in five games and the Oshawa Generals won in six games. As a result, the Kitchener Rangers will face the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds in the Western Conference final and the Belleville Bulls will face the Oshawa Generals in the Eastern Conference final.

During the season, Kitchener and the Soo met four times and other than a 5-1 Kitchener win in mid December, the games were closely fought affairs with the first game being decided in a shootout. The remaining two games were decided by two goals or less. The season series ended in a tie with Kitchener winning two games and the Greyhounds winning two games with the Rangers outscoring the Greyhounds 13-11. This conference final series does have the potential to go the distance but I feel that Kitchener is playing extremely well right now and has such a well balanced offensive attack that they will take the series before the seventh game. I was way off in my previous predictions so I will leave this one really general.

Unlike the western side of the OHL, the Belleville Bulls were clear winners of their season series with the Oshawa Generals, winning five of eight. Perhaps the most alarming stat from the regular season for a Generals fan is the dominance Belleville showed over Oshawa in the last half of the season. Oshawa was unable to defeat the Bulls in all four contests losing two of them by five or more goals. Those two games were a big reason why Belleville outscored Oshawa 37-28 in head-to-head match ups during the season. The two overtime games between the two went in the Bulls favour. Oshawa has picked up their game during the playoffs and might have found their steam during the last series with Niagara so they will not go easily for the Bulls. This series might come down to who wants it more and I get the feeling that Belleville will outlast the Gens for the series win in seven.

Finally, in the QMJHL, the Halifax Mooseheads are set to take on the Gatineau Olympiques in the one semi-final series while the top team in the regular season, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, will take on the Saint John Sea Dogs. Halifax swept the two game season series with Gatineau while Rouyn-Noranda did the same to Saint John.

The conference finals will begin in Ontario tomorrow with both conferences in action. The WHL will get started in Calgary on Thursday while the QMJHL doesn’t start until Friday in Rouyn-Noranda.