Big Wednesday games

Well, Wednesday was an eventful night. Let's see what happened:

1) Spokane and Tri-City both won, keeping their race for first in the U.S. division and first overall even at 104 points. Spokane still has one game in hand.

In the first-overall race, Vancouver just saw their chances go up in smoke. They cannot finish first overall now....at best the Giants can get 106 points, which is currently two more than the Chiefs and Americans have, but the Chiefs and Ams meet on Saturday so one of those two teams is guaranteed to have at least 106 by the end of that night. That team will also be assured of having more wins than the Giants can finish with, so they've got the tiebreaker over the Giants as well. So, the Giants are locked into the #2 seed now.

2) Kootenay beat Lethbridge, making that race for #1 in the Eastern conference so very much more interesting....more on that in a bit.

3) Regina clinched first place in the East division, guaranteeing them of at least the #2 seed in the conference. They're still in the race for #1 as well. This also means that Brandon, Moose Jaw and Swift Current are all definitely opening the playoffs on the road as they cannot finish any higher than 5th in the conference now. Their only hopes were catching Regina for first in the East and the automatic #2 seed but those hopes are gone now.

On that note, Calgary and Regina have both clinched spots in the top-four in the conference and thus are definitely opening the playoffs at home. Kootenay, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat are still dueling over the other two spots in the top four. Kootenay and Lethbridge could finish anywhere from #1 through #5. Medicine Hat cannot get #1 or #2 but could finish anywhere from #3 to #7.

More on the battle for first in the U.S. division (and with it, #1 overall): the Americans have their work cut out for them to win that race. They absolutely have to win both of their remaining games, and the win over the Chiefs on Saturday has to be in regulation. Spokane has one game in hand on the Ams, and apart from the head-to-head matchup, Spokane finishes the season with two games against Portland. Spokane is 7-0 against Portland this year and Portland has won one game in their last 24 tries. Spokane is going to get four points out of those Portland games (or maybe they don't deserve to beat Tri-City for #1 overall). That means the Americans need to beat Kelowna on Friday, and then the Chiefs in regulation on Saturday. That would tie the two teams with 108 points and the Americans would win the tiebreaker due to having more wins.

The big head-to-head game Saturday is in Kennewick, which should give the Ams home-ice advantage in the game. But I say "should", because in five previous meetings between the two teams in Kennewick this season, the Chiefs have 7 of a possible 10 points.

Back to the battle for first place in the Eastern conference now....an interesting angle that is developing here is that the Ice have quietly come out of nowhere to be a serious contender for that honour. The Ice are red-hot, having picked up 20 of their last 22 possible points. By beating Lethbridge tonight they are now 3rd in the conference, but the interesting thing is that they have two games left now, and both are against the Hitmen. If they win both games, and both in regulation, then they'll finish ahead of the Hitmen.

If that were to happen, and if both Lethbridge and Regina were to lose one point out of their last three and two games respectively, then the Ice would finish #1 in the conference. Not Calgary or Lethbridge, the teams everyone has been talking about for the last couple months.

Really makes you wonder where the Ice might be this year if they hadn't had such an atrocious start to the year. With a decent September & October, they would have run away with the conference title by now and be right up there for first overall too.

Anyway, there's three nights left in the regular season and there are still four teams who could finish #1 in the Eastern conference. Here's how it breaks down:

- Calgary finishes #1 if they get three more points, or if Lethbridge loses three possible points AND Regina and Kootenay each lose at least one possible point.

- Regina finishes #1 if they win both their remaining games (a home-and-home with Brandon), Calgary loses both their games to Kootenay in regulation, and Lethbridge loses at least one possible point.

- Kootenay finishes #1 if they beat Calgary in regulation in both games, and both Regina and Lethbridge each lose at least one possible point.

- Lethbridge finishes #1 if they win all three of their remaining games AND Calgary does not get more than two points. If the Canes don't get all six points then they're down to a prayer: they need five points, AND they need Kootenay to win both games against Calgary, but have the Hitmen get a loser point in ONE game. That would create a three-way tie with 96 points, which the Hurricanes would win due to both them and Calgary having more wins than the Ice (knocking the Ice out) and a better head-to-head record over the Hitmen. It's such a longshot, they better just win all three of their games and pray Calgary doesn't get three points from the Ice. But I think Lethbridge may have done in their chances at #1 with their loss tonight.