I picked the Rockets in six so I got that one right on the nose (the ONLY one of my 2nd round picks I'm going to get 100% right, unfortunately!), but I have to feel sorry for the Americans, who seemingly had the series in hand before injuries to crucial players caught up to them. You never want to see a team win because the other team ran out of healthy players.....not to say the Rockets couldn't have come back and won anyway but I'm sure having guys like Reese, Procyshen, Toll, Stoklasa, Plouffe, and Fadden out for various parts of the series hurt the Americans a lot. And even when they did play, Reese had a high ankle sprain, Fadden a separated shoulder, Procyshen a torn MCL, Toll had bruised ribs, and Stoklasa two separated shoulders. They might have lost the series but they definitely win the award for most guts.
In the other series, the Giants and Chiefs played overtime for the 2nd straight game, and while this one didn't go to quadruple OT like Friday night's game, it did go to 5:31 of double OT before Evander Kane won it on a sweet feed from James Wright on a 2-on-1. The Giants were facing elimination if they had lost, so the win sets up a winner-take-all game seven tomorrow night in Vancouver. This will be the third 7th game of the playoffs this year....the visiting team has won the first two games. Good news for the Chiefs?
The happiest guy in the building that the Giants won was probably referee Matt Kirk, whose very quick whistle cost the Giants a game-winning goal in the first minute of the first overtime. Had the Chiefs gone on to win the game.....I think it might have been a long summer for Matt Kirk.
It was another great game though in what has been a series full of them. The overtime periods last night were some of the best hockey I have seen all year anywhere. Shaw definitely picked the best series to show.
On that note, I've again been asked if I know who Shaw is carrying in the third round. And again, the answer is no. But, I don't think it's too hard to figure out though. If the Giants win tomorrow night, we've got a Vancouver-Kelowna series in the third round and I cannot see Shaw passing that up, seeing as how the Giants and Rockets are two of their three favourite teams to show. If the Chiefs win though, then I suspect they'll probably show the Hitmen-Wheat Kings series since Calgary would be by far Shaw's biggest market of the four remaining teams.
Speaking of that, the schedule for the Calgary-Brandon series is expected to be released by the WHL today. With the Flames opening the NHL playoffs on the road, the Saddledome is wide open all three days this coming weekend so I'd expect to see games 1 & 2 in Calgary on Friday and Saturday, then shifting to Brandon for games maybe Tuesday & Wednesday. We'll see I guess. I'm curious whether it'll be a 2-3-2 format for the easier travel, or the more traditional 2-2-1-1-1. This is the 3rd playoff meeting between these two teams in the last six years and the other two series were both 2-2-1-1-1's so I'm expecting this one will be as well.....
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