Moose Jaw has lost to the Broncos.....that result, coupled with Brandon getting a loser point against the Pats tonight, means Moose Jaw will finish in the #8 spot in the East. They cannot improve on that position whether they win their last game or not.
Brandon failing to beat the Pats means they cannot get the #5 seed. In fact, Brandon is now most likely to finish at #7, unless they beat the Pats in the finale AND have the Warriors beat the Broncos. That means Swift Current is likely to be #6.
Medicine Hat beat Lethbridge in a shootout, thus keeping alive the Tigers' chances of the #3 or #4 seed and home ice in the first round. This also deals a blow to the Hurricanes' chances of finishing #1; they now need to win both their remaining games and have Kootenay beat Calgary twice. Regulation, OT, SO, doesn't matter....but they need two Lethbridge wins and two Kootenay wins.
Chilliwack has defeated Kamloops, which puts an end to the battle for #7 and #8 spots in the West. Chilliwack will be #7, and Kamloops will be #8. And since Vancouver has already wrapped up the #2 spot, we have our first definite playoff matchup: Chilliwack will play Vancouver in a rematch of last year's first round.
Seattle beat Everett, which clinches the #4 seed for Seattle, ending any chance of either Everett or Kelowna getting home ice in the first round. Seattle can take it easy in their last two games now and wait to see which of the Silvertips or Rockets they'll be hosting in the first round.
Kelowna lost to Tri-City anyway so they'd be out of the running for #4 even if Seattle had lost. The Rockets are now reduced to trying to hold off Everett for the #5 spot and the ability to face Seattle in the first round instead of having to play Spokane or Tri-City.
Tri-City and Spokane both won so no change in their race for #1 overall. The team that wins tomorrow night's head-to-head matchup will almost certainly finish first....the only exception is if Spokane loses to the Americans in OT or a shootout; in that case the Chiefs can still win the race for #1 by beating Portland on Sunday.
2 comments:
By my math, Lethbridge can still have Calgary pick up a single point and still catch the Hitmen in the standings.
A single would give Calgary 96 points and 45 wins.
Two Hurricane wins would give them 96 points and 45 wins. Lethbridge holds the edge in the second tie breaker (5-1 in the season series)
Regina also factors in. If they beat Brandon, you'd have three teams with 96 points and 45 wins. As I read the three-team tiebreaker rules, it would come down to a goals-for/goals-against ratio. Without actually calculating the numbers, Calgary would have the edge there, with more goals scored -and- fewer goals allowed than both Regina and Lethbridge.
Yes....I think that's what I said. Lethbridge needs Kootenay to beat Calgary twice. One of them in OT or SO doesn't matter, but they need the Hitmen to not get two points.
If Calgary gets two points, nobody can catch them. If Calgary does not get two points out of the last two games, it's still anyone's game really.
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