CHL playoffs start tonight

[juliansteed]

All I can say is Perfect Vacation is Perfectly Putrid...

Hahaahahaha!

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Mississauga wins game 1 of it's series 3-0 over Niagara. Cizakas with 1 assist.

 

[Destroydacre]

Destroy saw a great game tonight with the Chiefs winning in OT. Spokane moves on to face Portland in the Western Conference final.

What a game tonight. I've lost my voice. Chiefs trailed 3-0 at the start of the 3rd (and quite honestly stunk it up) and I dunno what the hell the coach said during the intermission, but 3:13 into the 3rd the game was tied. The refs did their best to give the Ams the game (no joke it was the worst reffed game I've ever seen) but Spokane fought through it and won it in overtime. Incredible.

And for the cherry on top I got home just minutes before the Sharks won their game in OT and found out they did the exact same thing the Chiefs did. What an amazing hockey night!

Spokane/Portland, what a hell of a series it's gonna be. Down to the final four and a Spokane/Medicine Hat WHL final is still a possibility. Can't ask for more to this point, but there's still a ton of hockey left. It's gonna take everything the Chiefs have to get by the Winterhawks and even then it might not be enough. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[dash]

woot! Victoria is back in the Dub next season. Excellent news!

The WHL Board of Governors has approved the sale of the WHL franchise in Chilliwack and its relocation to Victoria effective starting with the 2011-12 season. Graham Lee, whose company RG Properties developed, built and operates the 7,000-seat Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, has purchased the franchise and will move the WHL franchise to the B.C. capital for the start of next season.

“We are very excited to bring WHL hockey back to Victoria,” said Lee. “From the day we first got involved with this building over a decade ago, our goal has been to look at all opportunities that will bring excitement and entertainment to the city as well as providing economic benefits. Bringing a WHL team to Victoria exemplifies that commitment.”

“We are very pleased to be in a position to announce the WHL will be returning to the City of Victoria and Vancouver Island next season,” commented WHL Commissioner Ron Robison. “Although any relocation is a difficult process, we know the Victoria market will be a great addition to the WHL.”

WHL Network

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Niagara beat Mississauga 5-3 last night. Cizikas with 2 assists.

Playoffs begin again in the Q & the Dub tonight. Should be fun.

 

[puckhead]

woot! Victoria is back in the Dub next season. Excellent news!

does this mean Salmon Kings move / fold / share the facility?
they are currently in the 2nd round for the Kelley Cup

 

[dash]

does this mean Salmon Kings move / fold / share the facility?
they are currently in the 2nd round for the Kelley Cup

It's a good question and I don't know the answer...I did watch the video officially announcing Victoria back in the WHL and Victoria mayor Dean Fortin was quite giddy about the return. I sense that Victoria and Vancouver Island hockey fans will strongly support a WHL team (and I never sensed that kind of support for the Salmon Kings).

/I guess the next question is what will they be called? Is Victoria Capitals too obvious?

 

[dash]

Actually, on Victoria WHL - www.vicwhl.com, they have a poll for naming the team and Victoria Capitals is one of the choices. Others are:

Victoria Dragons
Victoria Force
Victoria Royals
Victoria Tide
Victoria Thunder

Of the above, I like the Royals the best, followed by the Capitals.

/Maybe as a write-in, I should suggest Victoria Secret

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I like the Dragons.

 

[Destroydacre]

Actually, on Victoria WHL - www.vicwhl.com, they have a poll for naming the team and Victoria Capitals is one of the choices. Others are:

Victoria Dragons
Victoria Force
Victoria Royals
Victoria Tide
Victoria Thunder

Of the above, I like the Royals the best, followed by the Capitals.

/Maybe as a write-in, I should suggest Victoria Secret

What they should do is fold the Prince George franchise and move them to Chilliwack as a pseudo expansion team and let Victoria assume the Cougars history.

How can you not like that logo?

 

[Destroydacre]

Both WHL conference finals start tonight with Medicine Hat hosting Kootenay and Portland hosting Spokane.

For the Chiefs they'll be playing without their leading scorer Tyler Johnson who was suspended for 1 game for a kneeing major in Tuesday's game 6 series clincher over Tri-City. The loss hurts, but Spokane won the final two games of the Chilliwack series where he was out with a concussion so they know they can do it. Spokane has had a lot of success in Portland the past few seasons, hopefully they can keep that up.

Keep finding ways to get it done Chiefs!

And go Tigers!

 

[dash]

We're going to OT at the arena in Medicine Hat. 5-5 tie. Etem has four points so far.

 

[dash]

Rats!! Kootenay just won game 1 in OT (Cody Eakin with the winner).

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Spokane beat Portland 2-1. All Nino could get was one assist. Spokane outshot the Winterhawks by a wide margin.

The Sea Dogs beat Lewiston in OT 5-4.

 

[Destroydacre]

Spokane beat Portland 2-1. All Nino could get was one assist. Spokane outshot the Winterhawks by a wide margin.

The Sea Dogs beat Lewiston in OT 5-4.

Great game tonight by the Chiefs. The score is not indicative of the play, the Chiefs dominated the game and Portland got a lucky goal with 24 seconds left in the 3rd. To play like that without Tyler Johnson was something I did not expect. Still a lot of series left though and the Chiefs cannot take any shifts off. Portland will make them pay if they do.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Great game tonight by the Chiefs. The score is not indicative of the play, the Chiefs dominated the game and Portland got a lucky goal with 24 seconds left in the 3rd. To play like that without Tyler Johnson was something I did not expect. Still a lot of series left though and the Chiefs cannot take any shifts off. Portland will make them pay if they do.

Was Portland flat or is Spokane just that good?

 

[juliansteed]

Sea Dogs come from behind to take Game 1 5-4 in OT against the Maineiacs. Blues' prospect Stephen MacAuley scored the winner on a play that was set up nicely by Simon Despres. Kabanov had the Maineiacs 3rd goal, which for a while looked like it might stand up as the winner. The Maineiacs definitely look like they are for real.

In the other semi-final opener Gatineau gets a road victory in Quebec to take a 1-0 series lead.

 

[Destroydacre]

Was Portland flat or is Spokane just that good?

I can't really say that Portland was flat, but it definitely wasn't their best game. With a couple exceptions this is how Spokane has played against Portland all year, it's really the only way to beat them. The Chiefs horribly outshot Portland over the 9 games they played in the regular season, but the goal totals were just about even. You can't play Portland even and expect to win. You have to outshoot them and outchance them (and even then it's not always enough). They just have so much talent, maybe more than I've ever seen on a junior team (and yes that includes Windsor last year). Spokane is one of the few teams that has the mix of talent and work ethic to be able to out-chance Portland. Most teams can't do it.

Spokane has a very good team and their defense is particularly well suited to stopping Portland's end to end game and feeding the Chiefs transition. Portland's defense and goaltending is average to good depending on the day so the Chiefs are oftentimes able to to score on the transition against the Winterhawks. That and they forecheck very well causing turnovers and keeping the puck in the Hawks' zone. Even still with the Chiefs badly outplaying Portland tonight, that doesn't mean they didn't get their chances. They always do, but the Chiefs' goalie is one of the best in the league. He made some very big saves tonight.

In the end it's only one game. I know Portland can play better, and they will play better, it's up to the Chiefs to up their game to match. It's a good start for Spokane, but the series is far from over. In the blink of an eye guys like Niederreiter and Johansen (among others) can put up hat tricks (see a game earlier this year where Portland scored 5 goals on the Chiefs in under 2 minutes).

 

[juliansteed]

Sea Dogs come from behind to take Game 1 5-4 in OT against the Maineiacs. Blues' prospect Stephen MacAuley scored the winner on a play that was set up nicely by Simon Despres. Kabanov had the Maineiacs 3rd goal, which for a while looked like it might stand up as the winner. The Maineiacs definitely look like they are for real.

Here are some highlights from this game:

[YOUTUBE]760cggK2MUw&feature=channel_video_title[/YOUTUBE]

 

[dash]

Tigers are in trouble as they lost game 2 by a score of 3-0 tonight...Kootenay is just playing lights out and I don't know if the Tigers have an answer.