Thursday morning notes

Well, everyone is four games into their respective first round series now; two series came to an end last night, while two other teams staved off elimination and two more teams were pushed to the brink of elimination. It has been a rather quick first round, hasn't it....at this point only two out of eight series are sure to go longer than five games. A few thoughts on each outcome last night:

First, the eliminations. Neither of the eventual outcomes surprises anyone, I'm sure, although perhaps some folks thought Chilliwack might win a game against Vancouver. In the end they played four close games but Vancouver won all four. In the Tri-City/Kamloops series, I'm sure a sweep doesn't surprise anyone there. In an overall ranking of the 16 playoff teams based on regular season performance, Tri-City is #1 and Kamloops is #16.

In two other games where teams were facing elimination, the Tigers and Wheat Kings fought back to win last night, bringing those two series against the Ice and Hurricanes, respectively, up to 3-1 counts. The really, really good news for both the Tigers and Wheaties is that they both get to play game 5 at home....which means that if they can just win game 5 in their own barns, they can go back on the road for game six only down 3-2. That's halfway to the comeback. I'm not saying I think either one of them will pull off the comeback, but it's a hell of a lot better situation for them than having to play game 5 on the road.

In Everett, the Chiefs won again to push the Silvertips to the brink at 3-0. Given the chances of coming back from that situation, like I mentioned yesterday, you could say the Tips were really eliminated last night. Everett does have the next two games in their home rink as well though.....but so far they have been beaten by three goals three times now and have yet to hold a lead in the series.

Calgary pushed Moose Jaw to the brink with a 3-1 win in the Crushed Can; the Hitmen now get a chance to wrap up that series on Friday at home. The Warriors played a much more disciplined game last night than they have in the first three games, and so Calgary's powerplay didn't hurt them.....still lost though. The Tribe gets suspended d-man Keaton Ellerby back for game five, but what they really need is to get back the 05-06 Joey Perricone in net. He has a 4.53 GAA and a league-worst .873 save% so far in the playoffs - 5.33 and .856 in the three losses.

In Speedy Creek, the Broncos won a double-OT nailbiter last night to pull even at 2-2 in their series with the Pats. That series now goes to Regina for game five, in which the Pats will get back the suspended Brett Leffler. A lot of folks thought the Broncos could give the Pats a run for their money in this series, and we're seeing that now.

Looking ahead for the Americans and Giants now.....Tri-City will get to play the lowest-ranked team that comes out of the first round. Assuming Spokane does beat Everett, that means the Ams will play the winner of the Seattle-Kelowna series. For the Giants, they now lose their #2 seed for the 2nd round.....teams are re-ranked by regular season points for the 2nd round, with the division winners no longer guaranteed at least #2. Since Spokane had more points than the Giants, that means Spokane becomes #2 for the 2nd round, assuming they beat Everett. That gives Spokane home-ice advantage in a matchup with the Giants. The only way the Giants get home ice in the 2nd round is if Everett comes back to eliminate Spokane.

And another note - I wonder if Shaw will now switch to show a different series for the rest of the first round, now that Vancouver/Chilliwack ended quickly. Personally, I can't wait to watch Dan Russell and Bill Wilms have to once again paste on their fake smiles that they use whenever they're forced to talk about any team but their beloved Giants. And I will miss the way Russell's voice soars a couple octaves every time Vancouver gets a shot on net....