Malc
03-16-2009, 02:01 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
So, it comes down to this: Win, and the Kelowna Rockets are guaranteed third place.
Lose, and, well, the Rockets still might place third. Confused? Join the club.
This morning, the Rockets expected to know who their first-round playoff opponent was to be. Instead, Kelowna‘s post-season plans were flushed away when food poisoning struck the Spokane Chiefs on Friday.
With 11 sick players, the Chiefs said they weren‘t able to field enough players for a pair of weekend games, including Sunday‘s tilt against Kelowna, and asked the WHL to postpone their games. The league complied, and rescheduled Spokane‘s home game against Kelowna for this evening, 7 p.m., and Saturday‘s game in Tri-City to Tuesday.
Now, while one game doesn‘t generally mean much, tonight‘s contest between Kelowna and Spokane does. Three points separate third-place Kelowna (46-21-1-3, 96 points) from fourth-place Spokane (45-22-0-3, 93 pts.), though the Chiefs have a game in hand.
If the Chiefs win both of their games, in regulation time or otherwise, Spokane will leapfrog the Rockets into third and play the sixth-place Kamloops Blazers in the first round.
If the Rockets win tonight, they clinch third.
Now, things get dicey if Kelowna only earns one point tonight, which opens the leapfrog door for Spokane. If this is the case, the Rockets will need Tri-City to beat Spokane on Tuesday.
According to a WHL press release, if two teams are tied in points, wins are the first tiebreaker, followed by most points between the two teams in their head-to-head series (Kelowna leads 3-0).
If they‘re still tied, then it goes to a goals for and against ratio, followed by a goals for and against head-to-head series ratio.
Tie-breaking formulas aside, by placing third, Kelowna gets to face Kamloops, a team the Rockets have dominated this season.
If the Rockets place fourth, they‘ll play the fifth-place Seattle Thunderbirds instead. On Sunday, Seattle closed out its schedule by smashing Everett 10-0.
In that contest, Seattle outshot Everett 44-27 – a margin somewhat similar to Kelowna‘s 39-19 margin in the Rockets‘ 7-1 drubbing of the Blazers on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
The contest featured several fights, including Rockets netminder Adam Brown trading blows with Blazers goalie Jon Groenheyde at centre ice.
The high-strung emotions could be traced back to Friday night in Kamloops, where the Rockets blitzed the Blazers 6-4 and outshot them 45-18.
“We came out strong and had another good first period,” said Rockets centre Ian Duval. “We kept rolling and we were lucky to get seven goals, but the team has played pretty well in the last two games. Those were two huge wins for us.”
Rockets head coach Ryan Huska called Brown‘s fight needless and agreed emotions got out hand.
“But I thought the referees did a pretty good job at the end of giving guys (10-minute misconducts) and making sure nothing really escalated,” said Huska. “Neither team wants to look at a suspension going into the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, Blazers bench boss Barry Smith was tightlipped after the one-sided contest.
When asked what he thought about the wild ending, Smith said “Yes.”
When asked if lack of discipline was to blame for the 142 combined penalty minutes, Smith said “That‘s the way the game‘s played. Tough game, you lose, guys get excited. That‘s the way she ends.”
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=171484
So, it comes down to this: Win, and the Kelowna Rockets are guaranteed third place.
Lose, and, well, the Rockets still might place third. Confused? Join the club.
This morning, the Rockets expected to know who their first-round playoff opponent was to be. Instead, Kelowna‘s post-season plans were flushed away when food poisoning struck the Spokane Chiefs on Friday.
With 11 sick players, the Chiefs said they weren‘t able to field enough players for a pair of weekend games, including Sunday‘s tilt against Kelowna, and asked the WHL to postpone their games. The league complied, and rescheduled Spokane‘s home game against Kelowna for this evening, 7 p.m., and Saturday‘s game in Tri-City to Tuesday.
Now, while one game doesn‘t generally mean much, tonight‘s contest between Kelowna and Spokane does. Three points separate third-place Kelowna (46-21-1-3, 96 points) from fourth-place Spokane (45-22-0-3, 93 pts.), though the Chiefs have a game in hand.
If the Chiefs win both of their games, in regulation time or otherwise, Spokane will leapfrog the Rockets into third and play the sixth-place Kamloops Blazers in the first round.
If the Rockets win tonight, they clinch third.
Now, things get dicey if Kelowna only earns one point tonight, which opens the leapfrog door for Spokane. If this is the case, the Rockets will need Tri-City to beat Spokane on Tuesday.
According to a WHL press release, if two teams are tied in points, wins are the first tiebreaker, followed by most points between the two teams in their head-to-head series (Kelowna leads 3-0).
If they‘re still tied, then it goes to a goals for and against ratio, followed by a goals for and against head-to-head series ratio.
Tie-breaking formulas aside, by placing third, Kelowna gets to face Kamloops, a team the Rockets have dominated this season.
If the Rockets place fourth, they‘ll play the fifth-place Seattle Thunderbirds instead. On Sunday, Seattle closed out its schedule by smashing Everett 10-0.
In that contest, Seattle outshot Everett 44-27 – a margin somewhat similar to Kelowna‘s 39-19 margin in the Rockets‘ 7-1 drubbing of the Blazers on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
The contest featured several fights, including Rockets netminder Adam Brown trading blows with Blazers goalie Jon Groenheyde at centre ice.
The high-strung emotions could be traced back to Friday night in Kamloops, where the Rockets blitzed the Blazers 6-4 and outshot them 45-18.
“We came out strong and had another good first period,” said Rockets centre Ian Duval. “We kept rolling and we were lucky to get seven goals, but the team has played pretty well in the last two games. Those were two huge wins for us.”
Rockets head coach Ryan Huska called Brown‘s fight needless and agreed emotions got out hand.
“But I thought the referees did a pretty good job at the end of giving guys (10-minute misconducts) and making sure nothing really escalated,” said Huska. “Neither team wants to look at a suspension going into the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, Blazers bench boss Barry Smith was tightlipped after the one-sided contest.
When asked what he thought about the wild ending, Smith said “Yes.”
When asked if lack of discipline was to blame for the 142 combined penalty minutes, Smith said “That‘s the way the game‘s played. Tough game, you lose, guys get excited. That‘s the way she ends.”
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=171484