Tuesday notes

Tri-City beat Spokane last night in (what else) overtime, forcing a game seven in their Western Conference final series. That's five out of six games that have gone to OT now. Game seven will be played tonight in Kennewick....I'm not sure that home ice is particularly what the Ams want, since the visiting team has won four of the six games so far, and the winners have been alternating all series too - Spokane won games 1, 3, and 5, while Tri-City has won games 2, 4, and 6. Continuing that pattern, Spokane should win tonight's game seven. But, you play all year in order to have home ice in a critical game like this, and now the Ams have it.

I'm not sure if the league has a record for most OT games in a 7-game series, but this series has to be closing in on that record, if it hasn't set it already. I mean, five games of OT in a seven-game series? And if it goes to OT tonight too, it'll be six OT games out of a possible seven. Things just don't get any closer than they have been in this series.

Meanwhile, Lethbridge has the bus gassed up and ready to go.....the Hurricanes will leave tomorrow morning for the winning city in tonight's game. Game one of the WHL final goes Friday.

Travel-wise, this series is probably about as good as there can ever be for a WHL final. About the only closer possible series is anything involving Kootenay on the East's side. Lethbridge is a seven hour drive from Spokane and nine hours from Kennewick. Not a quick jaunt but only Kootenay is closer amongst all the East teams.

Just checked a few things.....Edmonton to Prince George would be just six hours. But we'll wait for the Cougars and Oil Kings to meet in the WHL final first.

And one other note from that series, Ams forward Drew Hoff was injured in game five on a hit from Spokane forward Judd Blackwater. You can see the hit courtesy of YouTube. On a few message boards, etc, I've seen much controversy about the hit, with a lot of Ams fans (mostly) calling it an elbow, saying Blackwater left his feet, etc. Watch the video. There is no elbow (note how Blackwater tucks his arm in before the hit to prevent leading with the elbow) and it's very obvious that he stayed on his feet and was gliding at the time of the hit - so no charging either. This is a beautiful clean hit on a player who unfortunately had his head down in a very bad part of the ice to have your head down in. That's my unbiased opinion as a fan of neither team.

In other WHL news, there could be another player loss in the works next year for the Everett Silvertips, one they probably weren't expecting. According to Everett Herald scribe Nick Patterson, defenceman (and team captain) Jonathan Harty is leaning towards going to university next year rather than return to the 'Tips to play his overage season.

Players passing up their last year in the WHL to play university isn't rare (Jason Lynch did it this year, turning down playing as an O/A in Red Deer to instead play at UBC) but it's certainly not a frequent occurrence either. This might bear some investigating by the 'Tips....maybe Harty is just unhappy in Everett for some reason and could benefit from a change of scenery. He still wouldn't be in an Everett uniform next year but at least they could get something for him in trade in that case.

Assuming Zach Hamill and Leland Irving turn pro next year (which they almost certainly will since they have signed NHL contracts), Everett's overage choices for next year without Harty are: Taylor Ellington, Eric English, and Graham Poteur. Ummm....

Less than 48 hours to the bantam draft (aka the single most-important event of the year to every team in the WHL) now, which means we're starting to see news stories about it. Kelowna head scout Lorne Frey says he's targeting a forward with his team's first pick (10th overall), and figures that 7 of the first 8 or 9 picks will be forwards, but that overall the draft is deeper in defencemen so we'll see more d-men picked later in the draft. And in Regina, Pats G.M. Brent Parker is ready to make a deal, looking to pick up a few more picks in this year's draft by potentially unloading a goaltender, or perhaps one or more of his team's surplus of overagers for next year. Interesting thought.....perhaps Parker will be willing to deal the reigning Eastern Conference goalie of the year, Linden Rowat. With the Pats facing a bit of a rebuilding year next year, it might make more sense to go with Jeff Bosch (who'll be 18) as the starter and break in either Damien Ketlo (17) or Derek Tendler (16) as the backup, rather than keep the 19 year old Rowat. Rowat might fetch a nice price from a team that fancies itself a good goalie away from being a contender next year.

And, the WHL says they will once again be posting the results of the draft in real-time on WHL.ca as they have in the past. Good to hear.....and as the WHL site posts the results, I will also be posting, here on the blog, the info I have on many of the players such as height/weight, 07-08 stats, etc.