And then there were five

Only five teams left in the hunt for the WHL title after three of the second-round series came to an end over the weekend.

The Eastern conference final will feature Calgary hosting Lethbridge, while the Western conference final will feature Tri-City hosting whoever wins the Spokane/Vancouver series which the Chiefs currently lead 3-2.

Shaw seems to usually alternate between showing West and East conference series, so my guess is that if the Giants come back to beat the Chiefs, then Shaw will show the Vancouver vs Tri-City series in the third round. If the Chiefs eliminate the Giants though, then the West final is two American teams which probably has little ratings appeal to Shaw....so in that case I would think we would see the Calgary-Lethbridge series. Just my guess anyway.

I'll post a Hitmen-Hurricanes preview in the next day or two, and a West conference preview once we know who the 2nd team in it is.

The Calgary-Lethbridge schedule should be released today....the Hitmen will have home ice advantage but some creative scheduling is going to be required if they want to play the usual 2-2-1-1-1 format. Friday night is fine for game #1 in Calgary but the Saddledome is booked Saturday for a Roughnecks lacrosse game, and Sunday it is reserved for the Flames/Sharks game six if required. So, they will either have to play game one on Thursday (which is probably a day earlier than the WHL wants to start the playoffs) or wait until Monday to play game two.

One other option that could be considered is playing a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 format. Travel is not really an issue since the two cities are only two hours apart. Start Friday night in Calgary, go to Lethbridge for game two on Saturday or Sunday, then back to Calgary for number three on Monday or Tuesday, etc.

UPDATE: The league has released the schedule for the first four games of the Calgary-Lethbridge series. Games one and two in Calgary will be Thursday and Friday, followed by games three and four in Lethbridge next Tuesday and Wednesday. Game five in Calgary probably depends on the Flames situation and so they can't schedule that one until they know the outcome of the Flames-Sharks NHL series.