WHL Playoffs Steaming Along

This past weekend, the first two games of the quarterfinals began with eight teams vying for a spot in the Memorial Cup.

Starting in the Eastern Division, the Brandon Wheat Kings have shown why they were the Scotty Munro Champions. They blitzed the Regina Pats in the first two games in Brandon by scores of 5-1 and 5-2 and show no signs of slowing down. They continue the series in Regina Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Central Division has Calgary visiting Medicine Hat Tigers and are doing so currently without Brendan Burke whom they acquired near the trade deadline from the Portland Winterhawks. Burke was slated to be their top guy ahead of Mack Shields, but suffered an injury during the series with Kootenay and hasn’t returned to action yet. The Hitmen won a 3-1 contest in the first game and then in the second game, Calgary lost a heartbreaker in overtime following a weird dump in by Medicine Hat near center ice which somehow fooled Mack Shields and allowed the Tigers to tie up the series. They just competed their third game on Monday night which Calgary won in overtime to give Calgary a two games to one lead.

In the BC Division, Kelowna Rockets have used all cylinders as they powered past Victoria Royals 5-0 in the first game and thought they had things well in hand leading 3-0 midway through the second period. However, Victoria pulled out three successive goals to send the game into overtime. They needed just 58 seconds to settle this one and it came out in the Rockets favor with a 4-3 final. Games three and four take place in Victoria on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The US Division is all knotted at a game apiece after the Portland Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips battled in the Xfinity Arena in Everett. The first game was all Everett for the majority of the game. Everett put up 3 goals in the first 25 minutes and controlled the play in the first half of the game. Portland broke the shutout with 27 seconds left in the second period, but saw that momentum disappear just 14 seconds later when Everett restored their three goal lead. Everett would make it a four goal lead before Portland made a small comeback and scored midway through the frame. The Hawks added another with four minutes left in the game and pulled their netminder for the extra attacker. Despite a few opportunities on the Everett net, the Hawks players played netminder a few times, blocking some shots that were labelled for the net. The final in game one was 5-3. The next night, Portland found itself down a goal early in the game, but this game would feature a different outcome. It was Portland scoring twice in the first period to lead the game for the first time. Everett refused to go away as Nikta Scherbak scored twice to take the lead heading into the third period. During the third period, a wild up and down game ensued with several near chances for both teams. During one exchange, Portland sent four players deep into the attack zone. Paul Bittner worked the puck hard along the boards to Chase DeLeo who would then find Adam Henry behind the net. Henry worked free and came out front shooting the puck into the melee in front of the net which found its way past Everett goaltender Carter Hart to tie the game. Despite more frantic action in the third, the game was sent into overtime. With tired bodies, many chances occurred with no results, so the game would go into a second overtime. Everett took possession off the opening faceoff, but Portland worked the puck free sending a wafting shot toward the Everett net. Carter Hart smothered it for a faceoff in the zone. Right off the faceoff, Nic Petan backed the puck to Oliver Bjorkstrand who wristed a hard shot just under the crossbar only 29 seconds into overtime period two to seal the win the Winterhawks at 4-3. With the series tied, action heads to Portland for games three and four. Due to Garth Brooks at the Moda Center for the week and a Brewers Fest at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday and Wednesday, games have now been scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Coliseum. Game five will take place in Everett on Sunday, April 19.

Ice Chips:  The Portland Winterhawks Booster Club will be a part of the 82nd Avenue Parade of Roses on Saturday, April 25 starting at 9:30am from Eastport Plaza to SE 80th and Yamhill. Last year, the Booster Club was awarded the Community Spirit Award for the parade. Nearly 10,000 people attend the parade each year and is the first parade of the Rose Festival season.