Brandon made it a little closer last night but in the end, the Hitmen's 6-2 2nd intermission lead held up for a 6-4 win. That's Calgary's 3rd straight sweep in these playoffs and means the Hitmen now get to sit for 9 days, again, and wait for the winner of the Kelowna-Vancouver series. The Hitmen fan in me is hoping the Giants and Rockets go 7 games with lots of overtime and that the brutal physical pace of that series so far continues. Gets worse, even. :-)
For Brandon, I'm sure it's not the result they wanted but they can chalk this postseason up as a valuable learning experience for their young stars. The Wheaties got to get a good taste of postseason hockey which will serve them well next season when they are hosting the Memorial Cup and will want to have that kind of experience. I wouldn't say the Wheat Kings' losses for next season are light (Clark, Lowry, Erb, & Aulie for sure, plus they have six potential overage forwards for next season and can only keep three), but much of the nucleus of the team - Schenn, Glennie, Calvert, Stone, Fehr, Green, Robak, Melnychuk, etc - should all be able to return so they'll still be in good shape for an even better year next year.
At the Telus Cup AAA midget championship, all three Western teams are doing very well, currently holding down the top three spots in the six-team tournament after three games each. The top four teams after the five-game round-robin advance to the playoffs. The host Winnipeg Thrashers are currently #1 at 3-0, while the Notre Dame Hounds are 2nd at 2-0-1 and the Calgary Buffaloes are third at 1-1-1. Winnipeg plays Notre Dame today and the winner could very well end up first at the end of the round-robin.
One other note today, from last night's NHL games. Sean Avery stooped to even stupider behaviour in game 4 of the Rangers-Capitals series than what he displayed in game 3. Two dumb penalties gave the Capitals powerplays late in the third period while the Rangers tried to protect a 2-1 lead; on one penalty, Rangers coach John Tortorella had to tell Avery to sit down and quit yapping about the call. Capping his night last night was his decision to squirt TV analyst Ray Ferraro with water while Ferraro was doing a commentary on the game from between the benches. Time for the NHL to step in and send Avery on a spring break, since the Rangers clearly aren't going to do anything about him.
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