More playoff race stuff

As promised, the West now....did the East last night (below)....

Nobody is eliminated in the West yet; all 10 teams could still make the playoffs. Six of the eight playoff spots have been claimed, but only two of those six spots are 'locked in'. And even those two teams might not want to take it easy....

There's probably four distinct races going on in the West this week:

First and most obviously, there's a four way race for the last two playoff spots between Prince George, Everett, Kamloops, and Seattle. This is definitely the most interesting race (though probably not the most important when you consider the winners are probably still first round fodder for the big dogs), because two teams (Everett and Seattle) have four games remaining each while the other two teams have only two games remaining each. Everett and Seattle, while having four games remaining, have tough schedules that are either road games or against top-four teams, or both. Kamloops and Prince George, who only have two games left, play both those games against each other....so somebody's going to lose some possible points.

Right now, Prince George (66pts) and Everett (65pts) are holding down the playoff spots with Kamloops (63pts) and Seattle (61pts) on the outside. Obviously Kamloops can take Prince George's spot if they sweep the two games between the two teams. On the other hand, one win for the Cougars probably clinches a spot for the Cougars AND probably eliminates Kamloops. For Everett, they play all their remaining games on the road, which is not a good thing for them since they're the worst road team in the conference. I think they probably need three points this week OR some Kamloops & Seattle losses. Seattle is in the toughest spot, they probably need to win minimum three or preferably all four of their remaining games, which is brutal since all four of their games are against the top four seeds, one against each. Honestly, I think Seattle is probably out of it. The other three teams though....should be a fun week.

There's also a race for top spot in the conference and the #1 seed through the first three rounds of the playoffs, between Portland and Spokane. The Chiefs trail the Hawks by 1 point and both teams have four games to play this week. Even better, they finish the season with a Sunday tilt against each other in Portland which could decide the title. Before Sunday though, Portland will entertain Vancouver and Everett, and pay a visit to Seattle. The Chiefs will host Chilliwack and Seattle, and visit the Tri-Cities. Portland has the tiebreaker edge in wins and the much easier schedule, unless Spokane beats the Bruins and Americans first I have a feeling that Sunday's game might not matter.

The third race is between Vancouver and Chilliwack for the #5/#6 seeds. They are currently tied with 71 points, with the Giants having one game in hand over the Bruins. Tough schedules all around though - they both play Everett once at home but other than that, the Bruins visit Spokane and Tri-City while the Giants have a home-and-home with Kelowna and a visit to Portland. No easy points for anyone. Giants are really sputtering lately while the Bruins are surging, so don't be surprised to see Chilliwack take the #5 spot despite having fewer games to play.

The last race, one that won't matter until the 2nd round of the playoffs if at all, is between Kelowna and Tri-City for 3rd overall in the conference. For the first round, Kelowna is going to be the #2 seed and Tri-City is going to be the #4 seed. That is set in stone. But for the 2nd round of the playoffs, the divisions are dropped and everyone gets reseeded by points. Assuming the top 4 seeds all win in the first round, Portland/Spokane will be #1/#2 in the 2nd round, and Kelowna/Tri-City will be #3/#4. So, their remaining games are not meaningless....unless you don't care whether you're #3 or #4 since right now it's impossible to determine who of Portland/Spokane #1 & #2 will be.

So, lots of drama still to come in both conferences with just five days of games remaining....