Second round picks

The second round picks:

#23, Vancouver:

Ryley McKinstry - D, 5'11", 167 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Calgary Bisons (AMBHL AAA bantam)	29	9	27	36	60
Calgary Bisons (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	1	2	3	14
Calgary Rangers (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	9	1	2	3	8
Calgary South (Alberta Cup)	5	0	2	2	4

#24, Prince George:

Kody McDonald - F, 5'11", 175 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (OMAHA bantam AAA)	47	45	79	124	141
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	5	7	12	12
South (Alberta Cup)	5	2	4	6	8

#25, Brandon:

Tanner Kaspick - F, 5'11", 183 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Brandon Wheat Kings (MMHL AAA midget)	42	8	30	38	30
Team Grey (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -

#26, Everett:

Patrick Khodorenko - F, 5'10", 160 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Detroit Honeybaked (USA AAA bantam)	- No Stats Available -

Khodorenko is the first American player picked. 

#27, Seattle:

Nolan Volcan - F, 5'8", 175 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Edmonton MLAC (AMBHL AAA bantam)	32	40	36	76	66
Edmonton MLAC (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	2	7	9	6
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	5	4	2	6	4

#28, Regina:

Liam Schioler - D, 6'1", 168 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Shattuck-St. Mary's (U.S. AAA bantam)	61	11	21	32	48
Team Grey (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -

#29, Tri-City (from Lethbridge for Ty Rimmer, May 3, 2012 (LTH had acquired from MJ in Cam Braes deal, Jan 9/12)):

Nolan Yaremko - F, 6'0", 172 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Edmonton SSAC (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	28	41	69	16
Edmonton SSAC (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	2	0	1	1	0
Edmonton SSAC (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	2	7	9	2
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	5	4	2	6	2

#30, Lethbridge:

Tak Anholt - RW, 5'11", 164 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
North Shore Winter Club (PCAHA bantam AAA)	58	29	59	88	30
North Shore Winter Club (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	3	6	9	2
North Shore Winter Club (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	6	3	9	8
Wild (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	3	1	4	0

#31, Kootenay:

Vince Loschiavo - F, 5'11", 155 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Winnipeg Hawks (WMHA major bantam AAA)	28	29	33	62	38
Winnipeg Hawks (WMHA minor midget AAA)	1	0	0	0	0
Winnipeg Hawks AAA (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	6	6	12	4
Team Orange (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -
Winnipeg Hawks (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	4	3	7	6

#32, Medicine Hat:

Mason Shaw - F, 5'6", 150 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Lloydminster Universal Heat (AMBHL AAA bantam)	31	20	66	86	66
Northeast (Alberta Cup)	5	2	2	4	8

#33, Victoria:

Matthew Phillips - F, 5'7", 130 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Calgary Bisons (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	40	37	77	8
Calgary Blackhawks (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	4	4	4	8	2
Calgary Bisons (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	7	5	12	4
Calgary South (Alberta Cup)	5	6	2	8	2

#34, Swift Current:

Cole Johnson - F, 5'9", 180 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Lloydminster Heat (AMBHL)	33	40	31	71	174
Northeast (Alberta Cup)	5	2	0	2	8

#35, Medicine Hat:

Ryan Jevne - F, 5'9", 175 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Edmonton MLAC (AMBHL AAA bantam)	32	56	31	87	38
Edmonton MLAC (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	8	5	13	10
Edmonton North (Alberta Cup)	5	2	4	6	6

#36, Red Deer:

Josh Mahura - D, 6'0", 158 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
St. Albert Sabres (AMBHL AAA bantam)	25	9	13	22	51
St. Albert Sabres (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	0	7	7	10
St. Albert Flyers (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	9	1	2	3	6
Northwest (Alberta Cup)	5	0	2	2	0

#37, Victoria:

Ralph Jarratt - D, 6'0", 160 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (OMAHA bantam AAA)	47	9	44	53	94
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (KIBIHT (AAA))	3	1	2	3	11
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	0	3	3	10
Sabres (B.C. U-16 Cup)	3	0	1	1	6

#38, Spokane:

Dalton Hamaliuk - D, 6'1", 192 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Leduc Oil Kings (AMBHL AAA bantam)	27	8	25	33	64
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	5	0	3	3	6

#39, Vancouver:

Ryan Kubic - G, 5’9, 163 lb	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	Save%
Winnipeg Hawks (WMHA major bantam AAA)	25	1.30	14	0	0	n/a
Winnipeg Hawks AAA (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	3	n/a	3	0	0	n/a
Winnipeg Hawks (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	4	3.32	0	2	1	0.890

#40, Calgary:

Dawson Martin - F, 5'11", 150 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Winnipeg Monarchs (WMHA major bantam AAA)	25	11	27	38	14
Winnipeg Monarchs (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	1	2	3	2
Winnipeg Monarchs AAA (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	8	4	12	0
Team Orange (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -

#41, Saskatoon:

Nolan Reid - D, 5'10", 160 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (SSMHL AA midget)	30	10	17	27	30
Notre Dame Argos (SMAAAHL AAA midget)	2	1	0	1	0
Notre Dame (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	1	3	4	2
Zone 5 (SaskFirst)	- No Stats Available -

#42, Edmonton:

Davis Koch - F, 5'9", 140 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Okanagan Hockey Academy (OMAHA bantam AAA)	56	34	70	104	18
Okanagan Hockey Academy Black (CSSHL Varsity)	3	1	1	2	2
Okanagan Hockey Academy (KIBIHT (AAA))	3	3	3	6	0
Canucks (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	2	1	3	0

#43, Kelowna:

Callun Foote - D, 5'9", 140 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Colorado Thunderbirds (USA AAA bantam)	- No Stats Available -

#44, Saskatoon:

Parker Smyth - LW, 6'0", 158 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Red Deer Rebels Black (AMBHL AAA bantam)	31	16	16	32	90
Red Deer IROC Chiefs (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	1	0	0	0	0
Central (Alberta Cup)	5	0	0	0	6

First round picks

The first round of the 2013 WHL bantam draft....

No surprise at #1, as the Vancouver Giants pick Tyler Benson.

Tyler Benson - LW, 5'11", 180 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Edmonton SSAC (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	57	89	146	52
Edmonton SSAC (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	8	11	19	4
Edmonton SSAC (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	1	1	1	2	0
Edmonton SSAC (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	9	4	13	8
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	5	5	8	13	4

At #2, Regina picks Sam Steel:

Sam Steel - F, 5'10", 156 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Sherwood Park Flyers (AMBHL AAA bantam)	31	52	52	104	16
Sherwood Park Squires (AMMHL minor midget AAA)	3	5	3	8	0
Northeast (Alberta Cup)	5	6	9	15	0

At #3, Prince George goes with defenceman Josh Anderson:

Josh Anderson - D, 6'2", 190 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Cowichan Valley Capitals (VIBHL bantam AAA)	- No Stats Available -
Bruins (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	0	1	1	4

I know, surprising they picked a defenceman but left Clague and Fabbro (two d-men many/most pundits considered the best two?) on the board, eh....guess the rumors are true that the Cougars couldn't get a commitment from any of the other big-name players???

No surprise at #4, Brandon picks the local kid:

Nolan Patrick - F, 6'2", 170 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Winnipeg Hawks (WMHA major bantam AAA)	19	33	42	75	14
Winnipeg Hawks AAA (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	3	0	0	0	0
Winnipeg Hawks (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	6	7	13	6
Team Black (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -

No surprise at #5 either, Moose Jaw keeps it in the family and picks Brett Howden.

Brett Howden - F, 6'1", 170 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Eastman Selects (MMHL AAA midget)	30	11	13	24	16
Team Blue (Manitoba U16 P.O.E.)	- No Stats Available -

Howden is the younger brother of former Warriors Quinton Howden.

At #6, Lethbridge has passed up a chance to get Kale Clague and have traded their pick to Brandon. In return the Wheat Kings give the Hurricanes the #17 overall pick, plus goaltender Corbin Boes.

And the Wheaties pick Clague:

Kale Clague - D, 5'11", 173 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Lloydminster Universal Heat (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	35	42	77	44
Lloydminster Bobcats (Macs AAA midget tournament)	3	1	0	1	2
Lloydminster Bobcats (AMHL AAA midget)	1	0	1	1	0
Northeast (Alberta Cup)	5	4	2	6	0

At #7, Everett goes with forward Tyson Jost:

Tyson Jost - F, 5'9", 169 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (OMAHA bantam AAA)	49	77	79	156	71
Pursuit Of Excellence (Kelowna) (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	10	4	14	15
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	5	5	7	12	2

No surprise at #8 either, as Seattle takes defenceman Dante Fabbro:

Dante Fabbro - D, 6'0", 170 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (PCAHA bantam AAA)	- No Stats Available -
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	2	2	4	6
Avalanche (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	0	2	2	2

Fabbro is a former bantam teammate of newly-signed 2012 #1 overall pick Matt Barzal.


At #9, Kootenay picks the first Saskatchewan product:

Jared Legien - F, 6'0", 175 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Balgonie Prairie Storm (SBAAHL AA bantam)	26	40	26	66	55
Balgonie Prairie Storm (SSMHL AA midget)	6	6	3	9	2
Balgonie Prairie Storm (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	4	4	1	5	0
Zone 1 (SaskFirst)	- No Stats Available -

With the #10 pick, Medicine Hat picks defenceman David Quenneville:

David Quenneville - D, 5'7", 175 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Edmonton SSAC (AMBHL AAA bantam)	32	34	38	72	77
Edmonton SSAC (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	4	5	9	6
Edmonton SSAC (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	4	9	13	24
Edmonton South (Alberta Cup)	4	0	4	4	4

At #11, Victoria picks another smallish defenceman:

Dante Hannoun - C, 5'5", 140 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
North Shore Winter Club (PCAHA bantam AAA)	- No Stats Available -
North Shore Winter Club (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	6	5	11	8
North Shore Winter Club (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	6	6	12	0
Flyers (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	1	0	1	0

In the 12 spot, Swift Current picks up forward Tyler Steenbergen:

Tyler Steenbergen - F, 5'10", 160 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Red Deer Rebels White (AMBHL AAA bantam)	32	39	28	67	20
Central (Alberta Cup)	5	3	2	5	6

#13 overall to Prince Albert goes Jake Kryzski:

Jake Kryski - F, 5'11", 155 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (PCAHA bantam AAA)	- No Stats Available -
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	2	6	8	8
Avalanche (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	0	0	0	4

With the #14 pick, Red Deer goes local:

Jeffrey DeWit - F, 6'2", 170 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Red Deer Rebels Black (AMBHL AAA bantam)	26	18	24	42	30

#15, Tri-City picks up maybe the best shooter in the draft, forward Parker Aucoin:

Parker Aucoin - F, 6'0", 176 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Calgary Northstar Sabres (AMBHL AAA bantam)	33	63	24	87	45
Calgary Northstar Sabres (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	5	5	10	4
Calgary North (Alberta Cup)	5	4	5	9	4

The only player who has ever scored more goals in one AMBHL season than Aucoin's 63 last year was Ty Rattie, five years ago.

At #16, Spokane goes for Saskatchewan defenceman Jeff Faith:

Jeff Faith - D, 6'2", 180 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (SSMHL AA midget)	33	0	11	11	82
Notre Dame (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	1	1	2	8
Zone 1 (SaskFirst)	- No Stats Available -

At #17, using the pick they traded down from #6 to get from Brandon (who got it from Saskatoon in the Michael Ferland trade), Lethbridge picks up the draft's first goalie:

Stuart Skinner - G, 6’3, 185 lb	GP	GAA	W	L	T/OTL	Save%
SSAC Southgate Lions (AMBHL)	n/a	1.75	18	1	2	0.929
Edmonton SSAC (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	n/a	2.67	2	1	1	0.894
SSAC Southgate Lions (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	4	2.53	3	0	1	0.910

You could look at this as the Hurricanes turning the #6 pick into a #1 goalie for now (Boes) and a #1 goalie for the future (Skinner).

#18 now, and the Hitmen pick B.C. forward Beck Malenstyn:

Beck Malenstyn - F, 6'0", 165 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Okanagan Hockey Academy (OMAHA bantam AAA)	53	57	50	107	108
Okanagan Hockey Academy Red (CSSHL Varsity)	9	3	3	6	0
Okanagan Hockey Academy (KIBIHT (AAA))	3	4	3	7	2
Sabres (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	1	2	3	2

The Hitmen fan in me is excited about this pick as I had heard Malenstyn mentioned many times pre-draft as a possible top 10 pick.


At #19 overall, Kamloops takes Quinn Benjafield:

Quinn Benjafield - F, 6'0", 155 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
North Shore Winter Club (PCAHA bantam AAA)	65	59	62	121	34
North Shore Winter Club (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	6	5	8	13	2
North Shore Winter Club (Western Cdn Bantam Champ.)	5	4	8	12	2
Avalanche (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	1	0	1	2

With the #20 pick, acquired from Edmonton for David Musil, Vancouver makes their 2nd pick of the round:

Matt Barberis - D, 5'10", 172 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (PCAHA bantam AAA)	- No Stats Available -
Burnaby Winter Club Bruins (St. Albert AAA bantam trnmt)	5	1	1	2	4
Flyers (B.C. U-16 Cup)	4	1	1	2	2

Kelowna uses the #21 pick on Dylan Dube:

Dillon Dube - F, 5'8", 155 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (SSMHL AA midget)	26	24	20	44	43
Notre Dame Argos (SMAAAHL AAA midget)	4	2	0	2	0
Notre Dame (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	5	2	7	12
South (Alberta Cup)	5	4	2	6	2

And the last pick of the round, #22, is Seattle's, the 2nd of the two first round picks they got from Portland for Marcel Noebels last year:

Kaden Elder - F, 5'10", 160 lb	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Notre Dame Bantam Hounds (SSMHL AA midget)	33	27	37	64	25
Notre Dame Hounds (SMAAAHL AAA midget)	6	1	0	1	0
Notre Dame (Manitoba Bantam Showcase)	4	8	3	11	4
Zone 6 (SaskFirst)	- No Stats Available -

That's it for the first round. Second round will be in the next post.

Draft day

The WHL's annual bantam draft gets underway in about half an hour here. Anyone interested can follow the first round on whl.ca, where they will be live-streaming the first 22 picks. And of course you can follow the entire draft there as well (http://www.whl.ca/draft/fullDraft) as they will post all the picks as they are made, right through the end of the draft.

As I have for a number of years now, I will post some stats on each player as they are picked, right here on the blog. I have a few irons in the fire today so bear with me if the updates are a bit slow sometimes.

Tons of rumours about trades today....gonna be a fun day to see what happens.

Protected lists and the draft

Got a question emailed to me tonight from someone who was wondering about why teams often pass on later-round picks in the bantam draft. Some teams usually start to pass around the 9th or 10th rounds and very few teams are still picking by the last round, the 15th. The person wanted to know why teams would pass on some picks and give up a chance to get a prospect. I thought it was a good question to answer here instead of via email, because there may be others wondering as well.

The answer is that teams are restricted in the number of players they can pick by the number of open spots they have on their Protected Player List (PPL).  Every player you draft must be added to your PPL and the PPL has a maximum size of 50 players.

Prior to the draft the WHL deletes all graduating overagers (that's the 1992-born players this year) from team PPLs. That creates three open spots on every team's list, assuming they previously had the maximum three overagers on their list.

All of the following season's incoming overagers (that's the 1993-born players this year) get moved off the team's main PPL and onto a separate list, the Overage list. They remain on that list over the summer, until the following season's overage cutdown deadline in October when they must be moved back. Moving them off the list at the draft though creates more openings to add drafted players - but of course the number of openings it creates depends on the number of 19 year olds you had on your list. The more 19 year olds you had, the more players get moved to the Overage list and create openings to add drafted players.

Once you have filled all the spots created by these two moves, the only way to keep drafting players is to start deleting other players from your list. This usually happens in the later rounds for most teams and that's when they have to start weighing whether the '98 kid they can draft in the 10th round is a better prospect than the current 50th-best prospect (a '97, '96, '95, etc) on their PPL. When the answer to that question is "No", that's when teams will start passing on their remaining picks. Of course I am over-simplifying the thought process here but you get the idea.

One of the "catches" in this process is that the teams with the most draft picks are sometimes the teams that have traded their 19 year olds for those picks. Thus they don't have a lot of spaces created by the Overage list shuffle, but they still need to find places to put all these players they're going to draft. As an example this year, Vancouver has EIGHT picks in the first three rounds of the draft alone. But, they only had three 19 year olds on their list before (Tvrdon, Franson, Kieser), and so with those three plus their three graduated overagers, they have only opened up six spots on their list. They'd be out of open spots by early in the third round. So you can be sure the Giants staff have identified a number of "lesser" prospects on their list who will be dropped to make room for more draft picks.

Conversely, a team like Saskatoon has traded a number of draft picks - they only have six picks through the first ten rounds. But the Blades had FIFTEEN 19 year olds when we last saw them. So they have a ton of open spaces - far more open spaces than they have picks in the entire draft actually. So it's quite possible the Blades will pick right through the end of the 15th round, simply because they need the prospects and they have the space to do so.

Hope all this makes sense.

Estimated 2013 bantam draft order

The WHL's annual bantam draft goes this Thursday. With that in mind, I'm taking a shot at piecing together the draft order, using information from press releases to figure out which picks have been traded and to where.

This is a best-guess attempt only. Based on past attempts, it's probably largely correct but I'll also guarantee you there are some mistakes - missing picks, etc. If you have any corrections, they are welcome, either in the comments section or sent to the email address over on the right hand side of the blog.


First round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
1	Vancouver
2	Regina
3	Prince George
4	Brandon
5	Moose Jaw
6	Lethbridge
7	Everett
8	Seattle
9	Kootenay
10	Medicine Hat
11	Victoria
12	Swift Current
13	Prince Albert
14	Red Deer
15	Tri-City
16	Spokane
17	Brandon	Saskatoon	for Michael Ferland, Jan 10/13
18	Calgary
19	Kamloops
20	Vancouver	Edmonton	in Musil/Geertsen trade, Oct 31/12
21	Kelowna
22	Seattle	Portland	for Marcel Noebels, Jan 10/12

Second round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
23	Vancouver
24	Prince George
25	Brandon
26	FORFEITED	EVT via POR	for signing of Everett G.M. Garry Davidson. Portland forfeits this pick due to player benefit violations, Nov 28/12
27	Seattle
28	Regina
29	Tri-City	MJ via LTH	for Ty Rimmer, May 3/12 (LTH had acquired from MJ in Cam Braes deal, Jan 9/12)
30	Lethbridge
31	Kootenay
32	Medicine Hat
33	Victoria
34	Swift Current
35	Medicine Hat	Prince Albert	in Busenius/Hart deal, Jan 1/13
36	Red Deer
37	Tri-City
38	Spokane
39	Saskatoon
40	Calgary
41	Vancouver	Kamloops	for Vancouver's 2012 2nd round pick (used on Nick Chyzowski), May 3/12
42	Edmonton
43	Kelowna
44	Vancouver	POR via EDM	for Trevor Cheek, Jan 9/13 (EDM had acquired from POR for Cam Reid, Jan 9/12)

Third Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
45	Lethbridge	Vancouver	in Liam Liston deal, Jun 27/12
46	Prince George
47	Brandon
48	Kamloops	Everett	for J.T. Barnett, Nov 14/11
49	Calgary	Seattle	for Brandon Glover, May 8/12
50	Vancouver	Regina	for Luke Fenske, Jan 6/12
51	Everett	Moose Jaw	in Luke Siemens deal, Oct 3/11
52	Lethbridge
53	Kootenay
54	Medicine Hat
55	Victoria
56	Swift Current
57	Vancouver	PA via MJ	in James Henry deal, Jan 10/12 (MJ had acquired from PA for Shane Gwinner, July 6, 2012)
58	Kamloops	Red Deer	for Brady Gaudet, Oct 20/12
59	Tri-City
60	Brandon	Spokane	in Bertaggia/Kalus deal, Jan 10/13
61	Vancouver	Saskatoon	in Nathan Burns deal, Nov 2/12
62	Spokane	Calgary	for Brady Brassart, Aug 18/11
63	Tri-City	Kamloops	in Sam Grist deal, Oct 9/12
64	Edmonton
65	Kelowna
66	FORFEITED	Portland	Portland forfeits this pick due to player benefit violations, Nov 28/12

Fourth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
67	Saskatoon	Vancouver	in Hodder/Morrison deal, Oct 4/11
68	Regina	Prince George	in Marincin/Blidstrand deal, Jan 10/12
69	Brandon
70	Red Deer	Everett	for Lucas Grayson, Oct 17/11
71	Moose Jaw	Seattle	for Andrew Johnson, Jan 10/13
72	Lethbridge	Regina	for Matt Marantz, Oct 12/11
73	Moose Jaw
74	Lethbridge
75	Victoria	Kootenay	in McKinley/Rintoul deal, July 12/11
76	Everett	Medicine Hat	in Miles Koules deal, Jan 10/12
77	Victoria
78	Kootenay	SC via SAS	for Eric Benoit, Jan 10/13 (SAS had acquired from SC for Brett Lernout, Dec 3/12)
79	Regina	PA via VAN & CGY	in Mayor/Samordny deal, Jan 10/13 (CGY had acquired from VAN in Trevor Cheek deal, Sep 25/12; VAN had acquired in Burns/Hart/Atwal deal, Oct 17/11.)
80	Regina	Red Deer	for Brandon Underwood, Sep 25/12
81	Everett	Tri-City	for Jesse Mychan, Jan 7/12
82	Spokane
83	Victoria	SAS via CGY	in Gogolev/Jones deal, Sep 15/12 (CGY had acquired from SAS for Kyle Schmidt, Sep 15/11)
84	Victoria	Calgary	for Jesse Zgraggen, Jan 7/13
85	Kamloops
86	Edmonton
87	Kelowna
88	Prince Albert	Portland	for Charles Wells, Sep 20/11

Fifth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
89	Kootenay	Vancouver	for John Niebrandt, June 26, 2012
90	Seattle	PG via TRI via PG	in Forsberg/Jacobs deal, Aug 3/12. (PG had acquired from TRI for rights to Brett Connolly, Jan 10/12. TRI had acquired from PG in Owsley/Rimmer deal, Aug 4/11.)
91	Everett	Brandon	in Maguire/Anderson deal, Jul 23/12
92	Everett
93	Swift Current	Seattle	for Kyle Verdino, Aug 11/11
94	Moose Jaw	Regina	in Thomas Frazee deal, Sep 24/10
95	Prince Albert	Moose Jaw	for Tyler Vanscourt, Nov 28/11
96	Kootenay	Lethbridge	for Mike Simpson, Jan 9/13
97	Kootenay
98	Kootenay	Medicine Hat	for Elgin Pearce, Sep 29/12
99	Victoria
100	Swift Current
101	Tri-City	Prince Albert	for Riley Guenther, Jan 9/12.
102	Vancouver	Red Deer	for Wyatt Johnson, Sep 13/12
103	Lethbridge	Tri-City	for Phil Tot, Aug 14/12
104	Prince Albert	SPO via BRN	for Tyler Yaworski, Aug 16/12 (BRN had acquired from SPO for Carter Proft, Nov 1, 2011.)
105	Spokane	Saskatoon	in Valcourt trade, Jan 10/13
106	Calgary
107	Calgary	Kamloops	for Joey Kornelsen, Nov 16/12
108	Brandon	Edmonton	for 2012 1st round import pick, Jun 27, 2012
109	Prince George	KEL via REG	in Marincin/Blidstrand deal, Jan 10/12. Pats had acquired from KEL in Myles Bell deal, Sep 22/11
110	FORFEITED	Portland	Portland forfeits this pick due to player benefit violations, Nov 28/12

Sixth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
111	Moose Jaw	Vancouver	in Brendan Rowinski deal, Nov 11/10
112	Kelowna	Prince George	in Carter Rigby deal, September 2, 2011 (PG has option to defer this pick to 2014)
113	Red Deer	Brandon	for Chad Robinson, Oct 22/12
114	Prince Albert	Everett	for Teal Burns, Nov 12/11
115	Seattle
116	Regina
117	Prince George	Moose Jaw	in swap of 2012 3rd round picks, May 3, 2012
118	Lethbridge
119	Kootenay
120	Medicine Hat
121	Calgary	Victoria	in Gogolev/Jones deal, Sep 15/12. Conditional pick. Not sure of conditions.
122	Seattle	Swift Current	for Chance Lund, Aug 29/12
123	Medicine Hat	Prince Albert	in Tochkin/Bettauer deal, Oct 24/11
124	Red Deer
125	Tri-City
126	Spokane
127	Saskatoon
128	Calgary
129	Kamloops
130	Edmonton
131	Kelowna
132	Lethbridge	POR via VAN	in Liam Liston deal, Jun 27, 2012 (VAN had acquired from POR for Brendan Jensen, Jan 10/12)

Seventh Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
133	Vancouver
134	Moose Jaw	Prince George	in Ehrhardt/Jackson deal, May 3, 2012
135	Brandon
136	Everett
137	Red Deer	Seattle	for Brad Deagle, Oct 5/11.
138	Regina
139	Moose Jaw
140	Lethbridge
141	Kootenay
142	Portland	Medicine Hat	for Cam Lanigan, Oct 17/12
143	Victoria
144	Swift Current
145	Prince Albert
146	Tri-City	Red Deer	for Kaleb Denham, Oct 1/12
147	Seattle	TRI via PG	in Forsberg/Jacobs deal, Aug 3/12. (PG had acquired in Owsley/Rimmer deal, Aug 4/11)
148	Spokane
149	Saskatoon
150	Calgary
151	Kamloops
152	Edmonton
153	Moose Jaw	Kelowna	for Brett Lyon, Jan 10/12
154	Portland

Eighth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
155	Portland	VAN via VIC	for Troy Stecher, Jan 26/13. (VIC had acquired from VAN for Jared Rathjen, Jan 3/13)
156	Prince George
157	Brandon
158	Everett
159	Seattle
160	Regina
161	Moose Jaw
162	Lethbridge
163	Tri-City	Kootenay	for 2012 1st round import pick, Jun 27, 2012
164	Medicine Hat
165	Portland	Victoria	for Troy Stecher, Jan 26/13
166	Vancouver	Swift Current	for ???
167	Prince Albert
168	Red Deer
169	Tri-City
170	Spokane
171	Saskatoon
172	Calgary
173	Kamloops
174	Edmonton
175	Kelowna
176	Portland

Ninth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
177	Vancouver
178	Prince George
179	Brandon
180	Everett
181	Seattle
182	Regina
183	Moose Jaw
184	Lethbridge
185	Kootenay
186	Lethbridge	Medicine Hat	for 2012 2nd round import pick, Jun 27, 2012
187	Victoria
188	Swift Current
189	Prince Albert
190	Red Deer
191	Tri-City
192	Spokane
193	Saskatoon
194	Calgary
195	Kamloops
196	Edmonton
197	Kelowna
198	Portland

Tenth Round:

Ovl	Team	From	Trade details
199	Vancouver
200	Prince George
201	Brandon
202	Everett
203	Edmonton	Seattle	for 2012 2nd round import pick, Jun 27, 2012
204	Regina
205	Moose Jaw
206	Lethbridge
207	Kootenay
208	Medicine Hat
209	Victoria
210	Swift Current
211	Prince Albert
212	Red Deer
213	Tri-City
214	Spokane
215	Vancouver	Saskatoon	for ???
216	Calgary
217	Kamloops
218	Edmonton
219	Kelowna
220	Portland

Second round begins

Well, that was an interesting first round of the playoffs, wasn't it.

By and large, most of the teams that everyone expected to win their first round series did - the higher seed won 7 of the 8 series, with only Saskatoon's upset at the hands of Medicine Hat breaking what would have been a sweep by the higher seeds.

But boy, did some series not go the way most people (myself especially, judging from my first round predictions) expected. I got 7 of the 8 winning teams right but did not pick the correct number of games in any of the eight series. To recap:

Edmonton vs Kootenay - this series went mostly as everyone expected, perhaps the only series in the first round that did. Kootenay won one game (ruining my prediction of a sweep) but it was an OT win in a game in which they were otherwise outplayed.

Saskatoon vs Medicine Hat - one of the shockers of all-time in the WHL playoffs really, the Memorial Cup hosts lose in the first round and not even in a 7 game nailbiter but in a rather one-sided sweep. I'd venture a guess that the number of people who actually predicted a Tigers sweep before the series began is close to zero.

Calgary vs Swift Current - the Broncos did not give the Hitmen quite as tough a series as some (including me) had thought they might, being dispatched in five games. The games were all close (three went to overtime) but Calgary probably never felt they were in danger of losing the series.

Red Deer vs Prince Albert - OK, who thought this would be a sweep? I think a lot of people thought the Rebels would win but it's hard to believe that after such a great start to the year (they were in first place for a while!) the Raiders would go out so easily in the first round of the playoffs.

Portland vs Everett - terrific showing for Everett to win two games considering most predictions called for them to make a quick four game exit. I'd venture that almost nobody predicted anything other than Portland in 4 or 5 here.

Kelowna vs Seattle - Kelowna becomes only the 2nd team in WHL history to win a series after losing the first three games. Like the first time (Spokane over Portland in 95-96) it's fair to say they never should have been down 0-3 in the first place and that winning four in a row is not such an amazing feat when you're 50 regular season points better than your opponent to begin with. You have to give Seattle credit, they hung with the Rockets all series - six of the seven games were one-goal games including five that were decided in overtime. FIVE of seven games in OT!

Kamloops vs Victoria - the Royals gave the Blazers more trouble than some of us, myself included again, thought they would, winning two games and keeping all of the games close until the last one. They're clearly heading in the right direction on the Island....makes you wonder how they might have done if they were healthy and didn't have missing/limping key players.

Spokane vs Tri-City - after so many series that were tougher than expected, here's one where it was actually won in fewer games than many expected. Like the Red Deer / Prince Albert series, I thought it would take more than five games for the Chiefs to beat the Ams but in the end I was wrong about that too.


So with the evidence of my mistaken assumptions in the first round on fresh display, let's take a crack at predicting the second round now....

Eastern Conference:

#1 Edmonton vs #4 Medicine Hat:

The Tigers may have upset the Blades but I have a really hard time seeing them doing the same to the Oil Kings, mainly because the Oil Kings are a better team all-around than the Blades are, but also because the Oil Kings are something the Blades are not: a team with a recent history of success in the post-season. Almost every player (17 in total) on the Oil Kings was also a part of last year's WHL championship team. They know what playoff hockey is, and have had success at it.....something that only 2 or 3 of the players on the Blades could say. The Tigers' chances in this series probably revolve around having ex-Oil King goaltender Cam Lanigan steal four games in net since the Oil Kings have a clear advantage in every area (offence, defence, goaltending, experience) otherwise.

Prediction: Edmonton in five.

#2 Calgary vs #3 Red Deer:

This might be the best series of the second round. These two teams match up very well and played six close games in the regular season - Calgary won the season series 4-2 but only one game was decided by two goals, the other five all were one-goal games. The Hitmen have a big edge offensively and a smaller edge on defence, plus small age, size, and experience advantages. But Red Deer's big weapon is the most important of all and that's in net where Patrik Bartosak is the best goaltender in the WHL. The Hitmen need to figure him out in order to win - something Prince Albert couldn't do to him. The Hitmen did score 10 goals on Bartosak in the 3 regular season meetings he played in, so they just need to do that again in the playoffs.

Prediction: Calgary in six. Seven wouldn't surprise me either.


Western Conference:

#1 Portland vs #4 Spokane:

It's not really accurate to say Portland "struggled" with Everett. Despite losing two of the games, Portland really did dominate Everett in the series and the reason Everett won two games can be summed up in four letters: L, O, T, and Z. In six games Portland outshot Everett 257 - 109 (!!!) and outscored them 32-16 and pretty simply, the four games where L, O, T, and Z didn't steal the win, Everett L, O, S, and T.

In the regular season Portland took 7 of 9 games from Spokane and outscored them 45 - 20 in the process so it's fair to say Spokane is in the same situation Everett was in: they need goaltender Eric Williams to steal them some games (and he struggled a few times against Portland this year - ending with a 4.34 GAA, .884 sv% against the Winterhawks) or it's just not going to happen for them.

Prediction: Portland in six. Five games wouldn't surprise me either.


#2 Kelowna vs #3 Kamloops:

Three weeks ago I would have said this might be a barn-burner of a series, the #2 overall team in the league against the #4 overall team. But that #2 overall team (Kelowna) has sprung a few leaks since then and has six regulars sidelined with injuries and not expected to play in this series. They've also just wrapped up a tough, draining series with Seattle which required them to play overtime five times and fend off elimination four times. Kamloops has no major injuries and have had a few days to rest since concluding their first round series. I have to go with the "underdog" in this one.

Prediction: Kamloops in six.

Do or die day?

From the "master of the obvious" files.....

Seven of the eight series see action tonight and for five teams (and a sixth, to a lesser extent), tonight is a must-win game.

Five of the WHL's eight first round series are currently sitting at 2-0 in favor of one team, and we all know the oft-recited statistic that only one team in WHL history has ever come back from being down 3-0 to win a series. So, for the five teams that are on the bad end of the 0-2 count (that's Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Kelowna, Tri-City, and Victoria), tonight is pretty much a must-win situation if they want to avoid being eliminated in the first round.

Of course it COULD happen that they come back from 0-3. History just tells us that's a lot more difficult to do than it is to talk about doing.

For a sixth team, Swift Current, they trail their series 2-1 and so a loss tonight would put them down 3-1 and heading on the road for game 5. When you lose three of the first four, the odds would seem against you that you can win the next three in a row. Easier than four in a row for sure, but tonight is still a very important win for the Broncos to get.

Draft lottery / order

A day late to this, but as most of you no doubt have already heard, the Regina Pats won yesterday's draft lottery and as a result will move up from 4th overall in the bantam draft up to 2nd overall. Prince George (who were previously #2) will drop to #3, and Brandon (previously #3) will drop to #4. All other teams remain the same, which means the full order for the 2013 first round looks like this:


1. Vancouver
2. Regina
3. Prince George
4. Brandon
5. Moose Jaw
6. Lethbridge
7. Everett
8. Seattle
9. Kootenay
10. Medicine Hat
11. Victoria
12. Swift Current
13. Prince Albert
14. Red Deer
15. Tri-City
16. Spokane
17. Brandon (from Saskatoon for Michael Ferland)
18. Calgary
19. Kamloops
20. Vancouver (from Edmonton in Musil/Geertsen trade)
21. Kelowna
22. Seattle (from Portland for Marcel Noebels)

First round predictions

Take a shot at this here....

Edmonton vs Kootenay: Edmonton in four

Edmonton is too good. I know Kootenay has been hot but Edmonton has still been better in the same time span. Plus Edmonton is defending champs, lots of playoff experience there. They won't be blowout losses but I don't see Kootenay winning a game.

Medicine Hat vs Saskatoon: Saskatoon in five

If the Tigers get some goaltending I think they can give the Blades a bit more of a tussle than this. And you never know with Memorial Cup hosts, just how much fire is in the belly if things get tough and they know they have something to fall back on. I just don't think the Tigers have the goaltending, Lanigan or no Lanigan.

Swift Current vs Calgary: Calgary in six

If I wasn't a homer I would seriously be tempted to pick this as my big first round upset. I think Swift matches up very well against Calgary and also have the edge in net - and goaltending is so important in the playoffs. Calgary's edge is having better depth at every position. They'll need to use it and wear the Broncos' top guys down. Could be a tough, physical series.

Prince Albert vs Red Deer: Red Deer in six.

Red Deer is starting to really hum along at just the right time of year. Meanwhile, Prince Albert has been struggling for a few months now. No reason to see that changing, especially not when Red Deer has (statistically anyway) the best starting goaltender in the entire WHL. 

Everett vs Portland: Portland in four.

Do we really need to go into this one? Isn't "twice as good" enough of an explanation?

Seattle vs Kelowna: Kelowna in five

I was all set to call this one a sweep too, then I heard that Colton Sissons is out for the Rockets, likely for the rest of the season. Losing your #1 center has to hurt and I'll give the Thunderbirds one close game as a result.....maybe a fluky OT win kind of thing. But it's not going to change the overall outcome of this series at all.

Victoria vs Kamloops: Kamloops in four

Victoria's leading scorer is out for the series and there's some question about the health of their starting goaltender too. And they've been kicked out of their home rink for the entire round as well. Things are going from slim to dim here for the Royals. 

Tri-City vs Spokane: Spokane in six. 

This could have been my upset pick. In fact it would not surprise me at all to see the Americans take this one - Troy Trombley has looked really good in stealing the #1 goaltending job after coming in as an emergency backup after Eric Comrie went down and if Spokane can't solve him, he could steal games. But Spokane has been playing well lately and have home ice advantage to boot, so I have to go with the Chiefs. But I'm covering my ass by saying an Americans win wouldn't be surprising here either!

Playoff picture

The WHL playoff picture got a tiny bit clearer last night, although not anything unexpected. With the Prince George Cougars' loss to Kelowna last night, the best the Cougars can do now is tie Everett for the final playoff spot in the West.

Doing this will require the Cougars to win both their remaining games (both against Kamloops) and for Everett to lose, in regulation, all three of their remaining games (two against Victoria and one against Tri-City).

If all this DID come to pass, there would then be a one-game sudden-death playoff in Everett on probably Tuesday (I'm thinking not on Monday as that would force Everett to play on four straight days) to determine who gets the playoff spot.

So, don't hold your breath or anything. It's so extremely unlikely to happen, it's pretty safe to say Everett is going to make the playoffs and Prince George is going to miss.

More playoff races

Another short rundown on the playoff picture as we go through the last five game days of the WHL regular season...

In the East, the top four seeds for the first round are set: Edmonton will be #1, Saskatoon will be #2, Calgary will be #3, and Red Deer will be #4. 

Lethbridge, Regina, Moose Jaw, and Brandon will miss the playoffs in the East.

The #5 through #8 spots are still wide open though and will go to Prince Albert, Swift Current, Medicine Hat, and Kootenay in some order. Swift and Medicine Hat can still finish 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th and could still play any of the top four seeds in the first round year. Prince Albert cannot finish 8th (so they will for sure not face Edmonton in the first round) but can still be 5th, 6th, or 7th. And Kootenay cannot finish 5th (so they cannot play Red Deer in the opening round) but could still be 6th, 7th, or 8th. 

Currently Swift Current is 2 points behind the Raiders. The Tigers are 2 points behind the Broncos. And the Ice are 3 points behind the Tigers. So it's all very close, pretty wide-open yet pending the results of the next few games. 

The other race in the East is a race for potential second round seeding, as Calgary and Saskatoon are jockeying for the 2nd best record in the conference behind Edmonton. Saskatoon gets the #2 seed for the first round by virtue of being the Eastern Division champion, but teams get re-seeded for the second round so if Calgary finishes with more points than Saskatoon then Calgary would be #2 seed for the second round. Assuming, naturally, that they get there.....it's kind of moot if one or both go out in the first round, isn't it. 

Anyway, Calgary has a 3 point lead over the Blades in that race; with both teams having two games left to play, the Hitmen can clinch it by winning either of their remaining games (a home-and-home with the Ice) or having the Blades lose two points from their remaining two games (a pair of road games in Prince Albert).

In the Western conference.....

Portland has clinched #1 seed, Kelowna #2, Kamloops #3, and Victoria #6. So #3 Kamloops will definitely host #6 Victoria in the first round - the sort-of only first round matchup to be set in stone.

I say sort-of because Spokane and Tri-City know they will be the #4 and #5 seeds and therefore will play each other - it's just not decided yet who will be #4 and who will be #5. Spokane has a two point lead and they both have three games left to play - including a home-and-home on Friday & Saturday nights. If that doesn't settle it one way or another then it'll come down to how they do against different opponents on Sunday afternoon.

In the lower portion of the West standings, Vancouver will miss the playoffs. Seattle has clinched a playoff spot but it could be either #7 or #8.

Prince George can still make the playoffs in the #8 spot (I bet Portland is looking forward to THAT bus trip) but it seems unlikely; they are four points behind Everett with both teams having three games left. Realistically Prince George has to win all three of their remaining games (Kelowna, then Kamloops twice) while hoping Everett loses at least three points from games against Victoria (twice) and Tri-City. Any combination of three squandered points by the Cougars or gained points by the Silvertips and it's all over for the Cougars.

Post-trade deadline records

Just a quick little chart for fun here....these are the team winning percentages before and after the trade deadline:

Before After Diff. Brandon Wheat Kings 0.372 0.385 +0.013 Calgary Hitmen 0.721 0.611 -0.110 Edmonton Oil Kings 0.72 0.776 +0.056 Everett Silvertips 0.405 0.370 -0.035 Kamloops Blazers 0.698 0.648 -0.050 Kelowna Rockets 0.738 0.741 +0.003 Kootenay Ice 0.402 0.661 +0.259 Lethbridge Hurricanes 0.533 0.292 -0.241 Medicine Hat Tigers 0.488 0.571 +0.083 Moose Jaw Warriors 0.407 0.426 +0.019 Portland Winterhawks 0.866 0.714 -0.152 Prince Albert Raiders 0.631 0.444 -0.187 Prince George Cougars 0.354 0.375 +0.021 Red Deer Rebels 0.556 0.700 +0.144 Regina Pats 0.455 0.346 -0.109 Saskatoon Blades 0.537 0.817 +0.280 Seattle Thunderbirds 0.417 0.393 -0.024 Spokane Chiefs 0.671 0.554 -0.117 Swift Current Broncos 0.489 0.615 +0.126 Tri-City Americans 0.598 0.625 +0.027 Vancouver Giants 0.256 0.407 +0.151 Victoria Royals 0.551 0.484 -0.067

There's surprisingly (to me anyway) little change for a lot of teams. 

The only really big changes were the improvements by Saskatoon and Kootenay, and the dropoffs by Lethbridge and Prince Albert. With Kootenay, they made almost no changes at the deadline (traded Erik Benoit to Saskatoon was about the extent of it) and were already on the upswing at the time so the deadline had little to do with things. 

Prince Albert made some medium-scale moves, nothing major, but began to slide. They won 25 games in the 2012 portion of the season but have won only 10 in 2013.

Lethbridge made two moves to get bigger and grittier (Mike Simpson from Kootenay and the Merkley/Derko trade with Swift Current) and promptly dropped from 4th place in the East right out of the playoffs, winning only 5 of 24 games since the deadline. Not to say Merkley was THAT valuable to them but  on the other hand, Swift Current did have the 5th-biggest improvement.

For Lethbridge, that's four straight years out of the playoffs now, an eternity in a cyclical league like major junior. The four years also coincides with the employment of Rich Preston as coach and G.M., which begs the question of whether Preston is going to get a 5th year to try to make the playoffs after the calamitous finish to this season.

For Saskatoon, everyone made fun of them for the entire first half of the year and they paid some pretty steep prices for players at the trade deadline, but they accomplished what they wanted to: they remade their team into a contender. No team in the WHL was better than Saskatoon's .817 since the deadline and in fact it's not even really close in that department either. They may be paying for this for years to come but they have a legitimate chance to win a WHL title and an even better chance to win a Memorial Cup. Win that and it'll all be worthwhile, right.

Playoff races

Into the final 10 days of the 2012-13 regular season now and in looking at the standings, I see six playoff "races" still underway - positions to be determined, in other words.

Four teams have been mathematically eliminated from the postseason already - Brandon, Regina, and Moose Jaw in the East, and Vancouver in the West. But beyond that, only two playoff seeds have been clinched and that's #1 in the East, which belongs to Edmonton, and #2 in the East, which will belong to Saskatoon in the first round.

Portland has not yet mathematically clinched #1 in their conference, but they will (by this Saturday night, I'd bet), so I'm not going to call that a "playoff race" anymore. Same with Portland clinching first overall - they haven't yet, but they will by this weekend most likely.

So the six races that are still up in the air....

1) Kamloops vs Kelowna for #2/#3 in the West. Kelowna has a five point lead and one game in hand over the Blazers in this battle, so the race is all but over.

There's a side script to this battle as well and that's that Kelowna is also only one point behind Edmonton for 2nd overall. But I suspect not too many people are really concerned about 2nd overall; the only meaning it will have would be home ice in the WHL Final if Edmonton met the Rockets in that series.

2) Tri-City, Spokane and Victoria for 4th/5th/6th in the West. Victoria is horribly slumping right now and have dropped 9 points back of Spokane for 5th. With only 6 games to play, it seems pretty likely that Victoria is going to end up 6th. So this is really a 2 horse race between the Americans and Chiefs to see who gets home ice for their first round #4 vs #5 matchup. The Ams have a one point lead with both teams having 6 games to play - including two head-to-head games. Could go to the wire.

3) Seattle, Everett, and Prince George for 7th/8th/9th in the West. This race is pretty close to a two horse race since Prince George is 6 points back of Everett for 8th and the Cougars play 6 of their last 7 games on the road, and they are the 2nd worst team in the entire league on the road. It ain't promising for them. So really it's Everett vs Seattle (Seattle has a two point lead with games played even at 67) for the right to be eliminated in four quick games in the first round by Portland and Kelowna/Kamloops. Battling for 7th/8th is really a little bit like a condemned man being offered his choice of the electric chair or a firing squad.

4) Calgary vs Saskatoon for 2nd overall in the East. The Blades are going to get the #2 seed in the first round, but for the second round the seeds get re-done by points, which means that if the Hitmen and Blades end up facing each other in the second round then whoever has more points will get home ice advantage in that series. Calgary currently has a 1 point lead on the Blades and also have one game in hand.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Red Deer is technically still in this race as well, but they are 7 points back of Calgary and they only have four games remaining so it seems very unlikely they would catch the Hitmen to have a chance at 2nd overall in the conference.

5) Red Deer vs Saskatoon for possible #3 seeding in the 2nd round. Red Deer isn't likely going to catch Calgary but they can still catch Saskatoon - they're 4 points back and the Blades have a game in hand. Unlikely but not impossible. If it happened, then assuming no upsets in the first round, we would see Calgary #2, Red Deer #3, and Saskatoon #4 for the second round, meaning Saskatoon would draw Edmonton in the second round. But like I said, it's unlikely to happen.

6) Prince Albert, Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Kootenay, and Lethbridge for 5th/6th/7th/8th/9th in the East.  Prince Albert won 20 games before the end of November. Now they are fighting just to finish in the middle of the pack.

From Medicine Hat and Swift Current (71 pts) down to Lethbridge (62 points) is only 9 points' difference so there's the potential for movement up or down by all these teams.

While the Raiders and Broncos cannot miss the playoffs, one of the Tigers//Ice/Hurricanes will. No mistake though, Lethbridge has their backs up against the wall to make the playoffs. They trail Kootenay for the last spot by 6 points with only 5 games remaining. They need to win at least three of their remaining games, plus win one more game for each game Kootenay wins. Tall order but in Lethbridge's favour is the home-and-home they have with the Ice on Tuesday & Wednesday. It goes without saying that they need to win at least one and preferably both of those games.


And the remaining schedules for the teams still engaged in some playoff races over the final days of the season:

Calgary (5):
Home (4): Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Kootenay
Away (1): Kootenay

Edmonton (4):
Home (2): Saskatoon, Red Deer
Away (2): Moose Jaw, Red Deer

Everett (4): 
Home (2): Victoria, Tri-City
Away (2): Seattle, Victoria

Kamloops (3): 
Home (1):  Prince George
Away (2): Kelowna, Prince George

Kelowna (4):
Home (3): Kamloops, Prince George, Vancouver
Away (1): Vancouver

Kootenay (5): 
Home (2): Lethbridge, Calgary
Away (3): Spokane, Lethbridge, Calgary

Lethbridge (5): 
Home (2): Kootenay, Medicine Hat
Away (3): Calgary, Kootenay, Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat (4): 
Home (1): Lethbridge
Away (3): Prince Albert, Calgary, Lethbridge

Portland (5): 
Home (2): Seattle, Spokane
Away (3): Victoria, Victoria, Seattle

Prince Albert (4): 
Home (3): Medicine Hat, Saskatoon, Saskatoon
Away (1): Brandon

Prince George (7):
Home (1): Kamloops
Away (6): Seattle, Tri-City, Vancouver, Spokane, Kelowna, Kamloops

Red Deer (3):
Home (1): Edmonton
Away (2): Calgary, Edmonton

Saskatoon (4):
Home (1): Regina
Away (3): Edmonton, Prince Albert, Prince Albert

Seattle (4):
Home (3): Everett, Tri-City, Portland
Away (1): Portland

Spokane (5):
Home (3): Kootenay, Prince George, Tri-City
Away (2): Tri-City, Portland

Swift Current (3):
Home (1): Regina
Away (2): Brandon, Regina

Tri-City (5):
Home (2): Prince George, Spokane
Away (3): Seattle, Spokane, Everett

Victoria (5):
Home (3): Portland, Portland, Everett
Away (2): Vancouver, Everett