Away

Things have been a little hectic on a couple personal fronts here for the last week or so, which is why there have been few blog posts in that span. I know, it's playoffs and things should be hopping but I just haven't had the time.

Now I am off on a week's vacation, so there will definitely be no more posts until the first week of April. I'm going to miss the conclusion of the first round of the playoffs and the first couple games of the four 2nd round series, but it can't be helped.....gotta work vacations around the kids school schedules, you know. It's spring break here next week, so I'm off.

Warriors on the verge

Moose Jaw won tonight to take a 3-1 lead over the Hitmen.....I got an email asking if I knew when the last time a #8 seed eliminated a #1 seed in the first round of the playoffs, so I did a little checking.

It has never happened in the years the WHL has been using the 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7 format. But the last time a regular season conference champion (the equivalent of today's #1 seeds) lost in the first round was 2001-02, when the Kamloops Blazers were swept in the first round by Kelowna.

Truly a rare accomplishment any way you look at it.

League comes down on Blades

The WHL has ruled on suspensions after the Rebels-Blades game on Sunday. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to the Blades website and watch the highlights of the game)

Red Deer loses Josh Cowen for 4 games.

Saskatoon losses Randy McNaught for 5 games, coach Lorne Molleken for 4 games, and Sena Acolatse, Darien Dziurynski, and Duncan Siemens for 3 games each.

I get that Saskatoon was unhappy about Cowen running their goaltender with seconds left in a game that was well decided. But there's a right way to respond to that, and putting your five toughest customers on the ice with instructions to jump the opposition is not that right way.

Now, for the next 3 to 5 games Saskatoon has lost a good chunk of the intimidation and physical advantages their team enjoyed, and they'll have to dress four rookies, less experienced, or less capable players to fill out the lineup. And of course they will not have Molleken behind the bench for the next four games either.

This could be the break the Rebels need. Not saying it is going to turn the series around but obviously Saskatoon is a weaker team for the next few games than they were in the first two, when the Rebels failed to score a goal in either game.

Sad news

Anyone who has been a fan of the WHL for more than a couple years will likely recognize the name of Kelly Reitenbach, who was a linesman in the league for many years until recently.

Unfortunately, Reitenbach has been identified as the man killed yesterday in an avalanche near Revelstoke, B.C. while snowmobiling.

Holding it in?

Here's something fun for Friday.....Epcor, the Edmonton water utility company, released this chart the other day showing water consumption rates in Edmonton for February 27th and 28th. The 28th was the day Canada won the Olympic hockey gold medal, if you recall. It's funny to see how consumption spikes right around the time of the intermissions in the game and drops drastically during key points in the game when everyone is glued to their TVs.

This is only for Edmonton but I would think you would see similar spikes in the water consumption rates in most other Canadian cities as well, considering that 50% of Canadians watched the entire game and 80% saw at least part of it. Clearly, people were "holding" the byproducts of their Timmies double-doubles and Mooseheads until the intermission buzzers.

I'd be interested to know what the maximum capacity of Epcor's system is....they hit 460,000 litres demand at the end of the medal ceremony....at what demand levels would the taps run dry in Edmonton?

Predictions - review and playoffs

Fearless playoff prediction time.....but first, a review of my regular season picks, to see if I have any idea what I am talking about when I do this....

Back in September, I saw the East division finishing this way:

1. Brandon

2. Saskatoon

3. Moose Jaw

4. Swift Current

5. Regina (miss playoffs)

6. Prince Albert (miss playoffs)

I actually did pretty well on this one - Moose Jaw and Swift Current were reversed in the actual order of finish, but only by one point. And Regina and Prince Albert were the other way around too, but again, only by two points.

I had the Central as:

1. Calgary

2. Medicine Hat

3. Kootenay

4. Edmonton

5. Red Deer (miss playoffs)

6. Lethbridge (miss playoffs)

I got #2 and #3 reversed here, but only by one point, so I'll take it. But I really overestimated Edmonton and underestimated Red Deer. I did say I thought it would be close but hey, in the end, it wasn't. Oh well.

I had the B.C. division finishing as:

1. Vancouver

2. Kelowna

3. Kamloops

4. Chilliwack

5. Prince George (miss playoffs)

Nailed it. Vancouver was not as good as I thought they'd be, but still in first.

And lastly, I picked the U.S. division as:

1. Portland

2. Everett

3. Spokane

4. Tri-City

5. Seattle (miss playoffs)

Well, I got Everett, Spokane, and Seattle right, but I switched up #1 and #4 so obviously this was by far the worst of the division picks. I think I read a bit too much into Portland's hot start to the season and obviously did not give Tri-City nearly enough credit for what they could do. I use a lot of metrics in making these predictions - age, size, experience, past performance of players, etc - and Tri-City did not rank that high in any of the categories. Which just goes to show that numbers do lie sometimes.

Now, for the first round playoff predictions.....

Eastern Conference:

#1 Calgary vs #8 Moose Jaw:

Calgary is a jaw-dropping 20-1-1 (that's .932) since January 31 and have a goalie who has won 9 straight games against Moose Jaw with a 1.32 GAA and .945 save percentage. Moose Jaw struggled to a sub-.500 record down the stretch and their offence lost nearly 1.25 goals per game after the trade deadline compared to their promising start. There just isn't an upset here. Calgary in four.

#2 Brandon vs #7 Swift Current:

The Broncos had a nice little surge late in the season to get into the playoffs, but their reward is a first round date with the league's 2nd-best team down the stretch, and the Broncos won't even get to play a playoff game in their own rink this year unless they beat the Wheat Kings. Which isn't going to happen. Brandon in five.

#3 Saskatoon vs #6 Red Deer:

Since the trade deadline, these two teams have been roughly equal - Saskatoon was .617 and Red Deer was .603. But Red Deer was 1-6 in March, and did not fare overly well against the Blades this year. If the February Rebels (.714) show up in this series then we might have a series but I'm thinking the Rebels are going to have to wait until 2011 to get their first playoff series win since 2004. Blades in five.

#4 Kootenay vs #5 Medicine Hat:

Should be by far the best series in the Eastern conference in the first round. All the other series have some (or a lot) of elements of a mismatch but these two are pretty evenly matched in most categories. They finished one point apart in the regular season. The Tigers have a slightly better offence, but Kootenay has a slightly better defence. Medicine Hat is older, but Kootenay is bigger. They split their six games this year, 3-3 (oddly enough, the visiting team won all six games). Even their playoff experience is identical. How can you not pick this one to go seven games? I'm going to go with the Tigers pulling out the "upset" with a game seven win in Cranbrook.

Western Conference:

#1 Tri-City vs #8 Chilliwack:

If you like to pick a big upset in the first round, this is the series you want to pick, I think. The Bruins were 3-1 against the Americans this year, and the Americans were much better in the first half of the season (.733 pre-trade deadline) than the second half (.586 since the deadline). I didn't give the Americans enough respect in the regular season predictions and got burned....do I dare do it again? I'm going to say.....no. I'll give the Bruins some respect too though, and say an upset would not surprise me. But I'm going with Americans in six.

#2 Vancouver vs #7 Kamloops:

It says something about the Giants that they can go on a two month road trip and still wrap up their 5th straight division title with a month to play in the season. That said though, they are fortunate that division title comes with a top-2 seed because they are only the #5 team in the conference otherwise and would be facing a much tougher opponent otherwise. Kamloops will not be a pushover though, I don't think.....the Giants may have won 6 of the 8 meetings this year but one was in OT and three were in a shootout, which of course there aren't any of in the playoffs. And Kamloops has the better goaltending, which is so important in the playoffs. I think the Giants are stronger everywhere else, which is why they will prevail, but I expect to see Kamloops come closer to winning this series than any series they've been in since 2005. Giants in seven.

#3 Everett vs #6 Kelowna:

If there's a lower seed that I would NOT want to play, it's Kelowna. I thought they underachieved this year, but they had a lot of injury problems which may have contributed to that. They're mostly healthy now and have a dozen players who won the WHL title last year. All that being said, I don't think you can easily overlook Everett's .786 performance since the trade deadline either. They are the best defensive team in the league and good defence may be boring but it wins titles. I'm going to have to opt against the upset and pick the Silvertips in six.

#4 Spokane vs #5 Portland:

On paper, this gives Ice vs Tigers a run for the best series of the first round. Only four points separate them, and while Portland won five of the eight meetings this year, six of those meetings were decided by two goals or less. I think we should see some exciting, physical, very close hockey games in this series. One major hurdle for me in picking this series is the question mark about the health of Chiefs star Kyle Beach. If he is out for the series, I think the Chiefs are in trouble. If he plays, then the Chiefs probably have an edge. Right now I am going to say Chiefs in seven, but if we find out more about Beach's status prior to the start of the series on Saturday, I may change that prediction one way or the other.

Lottery results

The bantam draft lottery was held this morning, and the Prince George Cougars - who had a 57% chance of winning the first pick - had one of their lottery balls drawn. As a result, the draft order will not change and will be a strict worst-to-first order based on the final standings.

I believe this is just the 13th win of the season for the Cougars.

Playoff matchup stats

I was going to pull together all the playoff stats on all the first-round matchups, but Ice p-b-p voice Jeff Hollick already beat me to it, over on his blog Between The Lines.

Team playoff experience and career playoff leaders in various categories are here.

Breakdown of each first round matchup here.

Having done this a few times, this is a LOT of work so make sure you tell Jeff how much you appreciate it. Nice job!

I'll settle for making some predictions later this week....

Season ends

And as the 2009-10 regular season draws to a close....

- Swift Current beat Moose Jaw, in overtime no less, and the Broncos finish 7th in the East and will play Brandon in the first round. Moose Jaw finishes 8th and will play Calgary.

- needing a point to claim the U.S. division title, Everett comes up short as they lose to Spokane in regulation. So with that, Tri-City wins the division title and gets the #1 seed. They will play Chilliwack in the first round. Everett ends up the #3 seed and will play Kelowna in the first round.

- Seattle beats Vancouver in overtime, which takes Seattle out of the running for the #1 overall draft pick in the draft lottery which will be held later this week. The odds of winning the #1 overall pick this year are:

Prince George: 57%

Edmonton: 24%

Lethbridge: 19%

No other team can win the #1 pick.

Couple other notes....

- The Hitmen's Brandon Kozun is the 2009-10 WHL scoring champion. He notched four points today in Calgary's 8-1 win over Red Deer, and thus moved one point ahead of Regina's Jordan Eberle to finish with a total of 107 points.

- for the first time in four years, the top 16 teams in the league made the playoffs. There are no non-playoff teams who have more points than a playoff team in the other conference. That has not happened since 2005-06.

Playoffs start Thursday....I'll have some series preview stuff out this week, as well as start poring over the final regular season stats looking for stuff to post about....

Saturday night results

Seven games with relevance to the playoff chases tonight....

Swift Current beat Moose Jaw, but in a shootout so the Warriors get the loser point. This result leaves the two teams tied with 77 points each, and one game remaining - against each other in Moose Jaw tomorrow night. Winner gets 7th place and the Wheat Kings in the first round, loser gets 8th place and the Hitmen in the first round.

Swift was 2-4 against Brandon this year and 0-4 against the Hitmen so if that means anything, they'd probably like to win tomorrow and face the Wheat Kings. Whereas Moose Jaw was 2-2 against the Hitmen this year and 1-7 against Brandon so perhaps they'd rather lose tomorrow and face the Hitmen in the first round. We shall see.

Kootenay beat Edmonton, which wraps up 4th place for the Ice, and home ice advantage for their first round series with #5 Medicine Hat. The outcome of the Tigers' game with Lethbridge becomes inconsequential now that the Ice have won.

Everett beat Chilliwack, while Spokane beat Tri-City. These two outcomes mean that Portland will definitely finish in the #5 seed position now, as they cannot catch Spokane anymore. And Spokane will definitely finish in the #4 seed position, because they cannot catch Everett anymore.

As for first place, Everett is now in control. They are tied with Tri-City with 97 points apiece, with the Ams currently having the edge because they have more wins. But Tri-City is finished their season, while Everett plays tomorrow against Spokane. If the Tips get even one point from that game, they will win the division and get the #1 seed, while Tri-City will fall to #3. If the Tips don't get a point tomorrow, then the reverse happens - Tri-City #1 and Everett #3.

Kamloops lost to Vancouver to overtime, which means the Blazers get the loser point. That result, combined with Chilliwack's loss, means the Blazers move ahead of Chilliwack and will finish #7 and play Vancouver in the first round. The Bruins will finish #8 and play Tri-City or Everett.

So, with the final day of the season tomorrow, only two races remain undecided - Everett or Tri-City for #1/#3 in the West, and Swift Current or Moose Jaw for #7/#8 in the East.

Some notes now.....Jordan Eberle of the Pats became the 2nd player to get to 50 goals this season. He did it tonight against Brandon. After a hat trick last night to get to 47, Wheat Kings sniper Matt Calvert was goalless tonight and so he will not get to 50.

For the scoring title, Eberle now sits at #1 with 106 points. The only person who can catch him is Calgary's Brandon Kozun, who is three points back and the Hitmen close out their season tomorrow at home against Red Deer. It's a meaningless game though so maybe Kozun will not even play, which will give Eberle the title. We'll see.

Rumour has it that Shaw is going to cover the Vancouver Giants first round series against Kamloops in the first round. If they decide to cover an Eastern series instead, I hope they do either Kootenay-Medicine Hat or Saskatoon-Red Deer. Please don't do Calgary just because its the biggest market. It won't be a good series, whereas those other two have some promise to go long.

And about the Seattle & Lethbridge games - because Lethbridge lost, they keep alive their chances of landing the #1 overall pick in the bantam draft (aka the "Alex Forsberg sweepstakes"). Only the worst three teams overall have a shot at the #1 pick in the draft lottery. Prince George is going to finish last and get the best chance. Edmonton is going to be 2nd last and will have the 2nd-best chance. But Lethbridge and Seattle are tied with 48 points, with Seattle currently in 3rd-worst and Lethbridge in 4th-worst due to the Hurricanes having more wins. Lethbridge's season is over, while Seattle has one more game to play tomorrow against Vancouver. If they want that shot at the #1 pick, they need to lose both games tonight and tomorrow, in regulation. If they get a point....Lethbridge gets 3rd worst and the last shot at the #1 pick.

Friday results

Some things are settled now....

The Hitmen beat the Oil Kings tonight, and thus the Hitmen have clinched the Scotty Munro trophy for #1 overall in the regular season. They are the first team since the 03-04 Kelowna Rockets to repeat as WHL regular season champions.

Brandon beat Regina, and in the process wrapped up the East division title and thus will get the #2 seed in the East. Saskatoon did win their game against Prince Albert but ultimately that win is meaningless as they cannot catch Brandon anymore after the Wheaties win. So the Blades will get the #3 seed.

Kootenay beat Red Deer, and that put an end to any chance Red Deer had of finishing above the #6 seed. They will be #6 and will face Saskatoon in the first round - the first finalized matchup we have this year.

With Red Deer and Calgary both having locked up their spots, their season finale meeting on Sunday is completely meaningless. Look for some veterans to be rested on both sides in preparation for the playoffs.

Medicine Hat beat Lethbridge, which allows them to keep pace with the Ice in the battle for #4 and #5. The Tigers and Ice will now definitely be facing each other in the first round; what's still up for grabs is home ice advantage. They both have one game remaining, and the Ice have a one point lead in the standings as well as owning the tiebreaker. So the only chance the Tigers have is to win their game (against Lethbridge) and hope the Ice lose theirs (against Edmonton) in regulation. Looks good for Kootenay to finish #4, if you ask me.

In the West, Tri-City beat Spokane, which puts an end to any chances the Chiefs had of finishing first. Everett also won, which keeps the race between Tri-City and Everett for #1 going; Everett still needs Tri-City not to win their last game tomorrow though if they are to have any chance. An Ams win wraps up the division title and #1 seed for the Americans.

Portland also won, which keeps alive their slim chances at home ice in the first round. They could still get that #4 seed if they win their last game and Spokane loses both of their remaining games, in regulation.

Kelowna beat Vancouver, which clinches the #6 spot for the Rockets. And Kamloops picked a bad time to lose to Prince George; that loss, coupled with Chilliwack's OT loser point against Portland, means the Bruins slip one point ahead of the Blazers in the battle for #7/#8. Kamloops now needs one more point from their finale against Vancouver than Chilliwack gets in their finale against Everett if the Blazers want #7 back.

So, 6 of the 16 seedings are set now.....at least four more will be set after tomorrow night's games.....

Friday notes

The final weekend of the WHL regular season is upon us....every team in the Eastern conference has two games remaining, while in the west four teams have three-in-threes this weekend (Everett, Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver) while the other six teams have two games.

For six teams, this weekend's games will be their last of the season, which means for 20 to 30 players on those six teams, their WHL careers are winding down this weekend after three, four, five years in the league....some are graduating overagers, some are 19 year olds who will be playing pro next year, some are 19 year olds who won't make the cut as overagers next year, some are just depth players who will lose their spots to younger, better guys next year. Take a minute to thank, cheer, or tip your cap....

There's also a few things to be settled this weekend - playoff seeds, obviously, which I'll get to in a minute. But also the scoring title is still up in the air....Regina's Jordan Eberle currently leads with 104 points, a 4 point lead over teammate Jordan Weal and Calgary's Brandon Kozun, who both have 100 points. The Pats play both their remaining games against Brandon, while Kozun and the Hitmen face Edmonton and Red Deer. Can Kozun catch Eberle? Can Weal? Will Kozun even play against Red Deer on Sunday if the Hitmen clinch first overall tonight against Edmonton?

And the magic 50-goal mark is still within reach for four players - Eberle needs 2 goals, while Swift Current's Cody Eakin and Chilliwack's Ryan Howse need 4 goals in their last two games, and Brandon's Matt Calvert needs 6 goals in his last two games. Eberle can obviously get two goals quite easily, although he is playing a tough opponent in Brandon. But he has never scored 50 goals, and the Pats aren't going to make the playoffs so these are the last two games of his WHL career. I would expect his teammates to make every effort to get him the puck in order to get those two goals. Calvert needing six goals makes him a bit more of a longshot, but on the other hand, they're playing Regina and the Wheaties have averaged almost six goals per game against the Pats this year. Calvert passed up a chance to play pro with Columbus this year in order to return to the Wheat Kings......they SHOULD be passing him the puck to get those six goals this weekend. I'm half-joking, of course....Brandon's focus needs to be on catching Calgary for #1 overall, and if that can't happen, then at least holding off Saskatoon for #1 in the East division. But if both of those issues are out of the way....

Howse is in tough, he needs four goals from two games against Everett and Portland, two teams still looking to put a lock on high playoff seeds. But he did have some success against those two teams this year - 2 goals in 3 games against Everett and 4 goals in 3 games against Portland. Not as good as he did against Prince George (13 goals in 8 games) but he might have a shot. As for Eakin, he has two games left against Moose Jaw, with both teams jockeying for #7/#8 in the conference yet. He has 8 goals in 6 games against the Warriors this year - so 4 more in 2 games is definitely do-able.

Couple other notes about tonight's games specifically - first, tonight is the Vancouver Giants' first game back in Pacific Coliseum since early January. Of course they were on an extended road trip (with a few "home" games in Langley thrown in) while the Olympics took over Pacific Coliseum for figure skating and short-track speed skating. Insert jokes here about how some players' styles resemble one or the other of those two Olympic sports.

Also, tonight is the first matchup between Brandon and Regina since "Teubertgate" on February 19, when the Pats' Colten Teubert put Brandon's Mark Stone in the hospital with a concussion following a fight that Stone may not have really wanted to be in. The Wheat Kings were not happy with Teubert....tonight they'll get their chance to discuss it with him in person. Just guessing, but I think Teubert should probably expect to see Jordan Hale lining up next to him on an early faceoff.

Now a couple outcomes tonight that could have big effects on playoff positioning:

- a win by the Hitmen over Edmonton will clinch #1 overall for the Hitmen. Failing that, anything less than a win by Brandon over Regina will clinch it for the Hitmen as well.

- one point by Brandon against Regina will clinch the East division title (and at least #2 seed in the East conference) for them over Saskatoon. Failing that, anything less than a win by the Blades against the Raiders will do it too.

- a win by Kootenay over Red Deer, coupled with a loss by Medicine Hat to Lethbridge, will clinch the #4 spot in the East for the Ice.

- A Tigers win over the Hurricanes, or a loss by Red Deer to the Ice will lock the Rebels into the #6 spot.

- a Tri-City win over Spokane, coupled with a regulation loss by Everett to Seattle, will clinch #1 in the Western conference for the Americans.

- one point by Spokane, or one lost point by Portland against Chilliwack, will clinch home ice for the Chiefs and will lock Portland into the #5 seed.

- a win by Kamloops and at least one point by Kelowna, plus a regulation loss by Chilliwack, will lock the Bruins into the #8 seed.

I believe those are the only seeds which can definitely be determined tonight....

Wednesday results

Wednesday's results, and what they mean....

Brandon beat Moose Jaw, while Calgary beat Edmonton and Regina beat Saskatoon. For the three conference leaders, this basically means that Saskatoon has been eliminated from the running for #1. They can not catch Calgary anymore, so at best they can catch Brandon for the East division title and #2 seed. But that is doubtful as well since they are three points back of the Wheaties with two games remaining. In all probability the Blades are going to be #3 seed. Brandon can still catch the Hitmen but that's another 3-back-with-2-games-remaining deal. The Hitmen can lock up first in the East with two points, or one lost point by the Wheaties.

BTW, that Calgary/Brandon race is also for first overall. They are the only two teams left in that race.

In Prince Albert, Swift Current beat the Raiders and that ends the Raiders playoff chances. So, all 16 playoff teams are now known. For the Broncos, the win - combined with Moose Jaw's loss - moves them to within one point of the Warriors with both teams having two games left. The best part is that those two games are a home & home head-to-head set, so they will get to decide themselves who finishes 7th and who gets 8th. Either way one of them will play Calgary and one will play Brandon in the first round. Barring a Brandon collapse to Saskatoon of course.

And, Kootenay beat Red Deer in a key head-to-head battle for the 4-5-6 spots in the East. The loss for Red Deer means that they can no longer finish 4th in the conference; that race is solely between Medicine Hat and Kootenay now. The Ice can finish no lower than 5th, while the Tigers can still finish in any of the three spots.

(Actually, the Rebels CAN still finish ahead of the Ice but it involves winning both their games in regulation while the Ice lose both theirs in regulation, and the Rebels must score something like 45 more goals than the Ice do. So it's completely ridiculous.)

In the West, Chilliwack beat Prince George while Tri-City beat Seattle. The Ams pull two points up on Everett again, with the Silvertips again having a game in hand. For first place, the Tips need 3 points from their last 3 games, plus an additional number of points equal to what the Ams get from their last two games. Spokane, meanwhile, can also get first place by winning their last three games in regulation and having Everett not get more than three points total.

For Chilliwack, they are now tied with Kamloops for 7th/8th, both with identical 32 win records. Kelowna is two points ahead and all three teams have two games remaining.

Tuesday night notes

What tonight's outcomes mean....

Saskatoon beat Moose Jaw, so the Blades close to within one point of the Wheat Kings for the East division title and 2nd/3rd in the conference. Both have three games remaining. The Warriors, meanwhile, miss a chance to all but lock up the #7 spot.

Lethbridge beats Red Deer, so the Rebels squander one of their two games in hand on the Tigers in the race for 4th place in the East. The Rebels now cannot catch the Tigers without help.

Everett loses to Portland, so the Silvertips squander their game in hand on Tri-City. For Portland, the win keeps alive their slim chances of getting home ice advantage in the first round. A loss would have ended those hopes.

Spokane topped Kelowna, which moves Spokane within two points of the division leading Ams and Tips. We have ourselves a three-way race for the division title heading into the final five days of the season now. For Kelowna, they missed a chance to all but lock up the #6 position in the conference.

And Chilliwack beat Prince George, which means absolutely nothing to the Cougars but which keeps the Bruins' chances of finishing higher than 8th alive.

Big slate of games tomorrow night....methinks we'll see some playoff seeds solidified after tomorrow night. Right now only Vancouver (#2 in the West) knows for sure where they are going to finish.

Playoff dates

The first playoff dates have been announced.

Calgary will open up against the Broncos, Warriors, or Raiders with two games on Thursday March 18th and Saturday March 20. Meanwhile, the Giants will open up against either the Rockets, Blazers, or Bruins on Friday March 19 and Saturday March 20.

Brandon, Saskatoon, Tri-City, and Everett have not announced their first two home dates yet, although all four teams have clinched home ice for the first round already and therefore should be free to set those dates whenever they are ready.

As a side note, the people who pick the player of the week are on crack this week.....Martin Jones was 4-0 with three shutouts, a 0.25 GAA, a .992 save percentage, (and three first-star selections!), and that was apparently not as good as somebody with 7 points in three games.

Scoring depth

Something I was thinking about this morning....who are the top teams in the league in terms of depth of scoring? Brandon leads the league in goals with 301 (almost twice Prince George's league-worst output of 154, think about that a moment) but which teams have the most scoring threats, as opposed to teams with one or two big guns?

The breakdown of snipers by # of goals:

	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	50+	Total 20+
Brandon Wheat Kings	2	2	3	0	1	0	0	8
Calgary Hitmen	3	2	1	1	0	0	0	7
Medicine Hat Tigers	4	0	0	2	0	0	0	6
Kootenay Ice	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	6
Tri-City Americans	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	6
Everett Silvertips	1	2	1	0	1	0	0	5
Vancouver Giants	2	1	0	2	0	0	0	5
Portland Winterhawks	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	5
Prince Albert Raiders	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	5
Moose Jaw Warriors	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	5
Spokane Chiefs	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	4
Regina Pats	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	4
Swift Current Broncos	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	4
Chilliwack Bruins	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	4
Saskatoon Blades	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	4
Red Deer Rebels	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3
Kamloops Blazers	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Kelowna Rockets	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
Lethbridge Hurricanes	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
Seattle Thunderbirds	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Prince George Cougars	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Edmonton Oil Kings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

So you can see that Brandon, in addition to leading the league in goals, also leads in depth with 8 players boasting 20 or more goals. They only have one player over 40 goals but they can roll out almost three full forward lines of guys with 20 or more. Which line do you put your checkers out against when you're the opposition? Same with Calgary - only one guy over 35 goals but they can put out 7 forwards with 20-plus.

Compare that to the teams with the leading goalscorers - Spokane (Beach, 51 goals), Regina (Eberle, 46 goals) and Swift Current (Eakin, 45 goals). They may have one big shooter each but they do not have the same depth behind those guys - only four players 20+ each. Is it easier to face those teams in the playoffs (yes, I know Regina isn't going to be there) when you have a lot less scoring options you have to spread your checkers around for? The flip side of that argument though is that with less support, those guys ALREADY face the best checkers every night and they are still getting their goals....