VANCOUVER – The WHL’s final four teams have been determined. In the Western Conference, the Vancouver Giants and Tri-City Americans do battle, while the Eastern Conference final will be a repeat of last year’s match-up between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Calgary Hitmen. In 2009, the Hitmen swept the Wheat Kings before bowing out in the WHL finals to the Kelowna Rockets. This year, however, the Hitmen have stumbled a bit down the stretch, while Brandon has been taking care of business. The Eastern Conference finals are familiar territory for Calgary, who will make their fourth consecutive trip the league semi-finals. This year’s path to the final four requires 13 games compared to last year’s eight-game double sweep in the first two rounds. The Hitmen’s top gunners, Brandon Kozun, Joel Broda, and Tyler Shattock will have to come up big in the scoring department to keep Calgary rolling against Brandon. However, defense is going to be the key for the Hitmen, as the Wheat Kings boast a killer offensive attack. Brandon is averaging 4.3 goals per game so far this post-season, boasts a power play converting at 30 percent. They have six skaters with a point-per-game average or better. Meanwhile, the Wheaties’ defense has allowed an average of three goals against per game. Calgary will have to capitalize on those scoring chances without turning the series into a shootout. Brandon should be able to carry their momentum through this series and exploit an inconsistent Calgary team. Prediction: Wheat Kings in 6 games. In the Western Conference finals, the Tri-City Americans and the Vancouver Giants meet up for their first ever play-off series. The Americans have a fast-skating offense and balanced scoring, with 14 players burying the puck through 11 post-season games so far. Tri-City’s regular season power play was a force to be reckoned with. If they can recapture that potency against a Giants’ PK that struggled against the Portland Winterhawks in the second round, the Ams will go a long way to ending the series. Tri-City’s standout netminder Drew Owsley comes into the WHL semi-finals with a post-season save percentage of .930 and a goals against average of 2.23. Owsley owned the Giants in the regular season, winning all three of his starts against Vancouver. The Giants offense has been on fire in the playoffs averaging five goals through their ten post-season contests. The top line of Craig Cunningham, Lance Bouma and Brendan Gallagher has combined for a whopping 23 goals and 51 points in 10 games. However, the most drastic difference in this series is goaltending. The Giants 18-year-old keeper, Mark Segal, has been good enough so far, but is not yet at the level of Owsley. Vancouver has the firepower to win this series, but they will be challenged on the back end by the Western Conference’s #1 seed. This series is tough to call, but home-ice advantage and goaltending will be just enough to tip the scales in favor of the team from Washington State. Prediction: Americans in 7 games. The road to the Memorial Cup is narrowing down and each conference finals match-up has the makings of the best hockey of the season. Contact the author at happy.kreter@prohockeynews.com
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