The WHL’s conference finals open Thursday with the Lethbridge Hurricanes meeting the Hitmen in Calgary and continue Friday with the Spokane Chiefs in Kennewick, Wash., to play the Tri-City Americans. . . .
Here is the Western Conference final schedule (all times PST):
Game 1: Friday, April 18, at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, April 20, at Tri-City, 5:05 p.m.
Game 3: Monday, April 21, at Spokane, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Tuesday, April 22, at Spokane, 7 p.m.
x-Game 5: Saturday, April 26, at Tri-City, 7:35 p.m.
x-Game 6: Monday, April 28, at Spokane, 7 p.m.
x-Game 7: Tuesday, April 29, at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
x - if necessary.
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Here is the Eastern Conference final schedule (all times MST):
Game 1: Thursday, April 17, at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Friday, April 18, at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Tuesday, April 22, at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Wednesday, April 23, at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.
Remainder of series to be determined.
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The Americans and Chiefs are meeting in the playoffs for the first time but they have never clashed in the conference final. The Chiefs are 2-1 in series against the Americans, losing in seven games in 1995, winning in four in 2000 and winning in five in 2002. . . . This season, the teams met 12 times, with the Americans winning seven of those games. Because of OT losses and circus time, while the Americans were 7-5-0-0 in the series, the Chiefs were 5-4-1-2. . . . (Only in today’s hockey, where so many statistics are so bastardized, could both teams finish better than .500 in a season series!). . . . Tri-City won four times in Spokane and three times at home. . . . Of course, the classic meeting occurred on March 15 in Kennewick, with the Americans posting a 2-1 victory that wrapped up three pennants – WHL overall championship, Western Conference championship and U.S. Division title. G Chet Pickard, who has been superb in these playoffs, had 28 saves in that one, with RW Blair Macaulay and D T.J. Fast scoring the Tri-City goals. . . .
The Western Conference final has featured two Americans teams on only three occasions. Twice, the Portland Winter Hawks dumped Spokane (1998 and 2001). . . . In 1982, Portland beat the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Why are they opening with Friday-Sunday games? Because the Newsboys, a Christian pop band that isn’t fronted by Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier, is booked in the Toyota Center on Saturday. . . . There also are scheduling conflicts in Spokane where a concert and a circus are booked into the arena, keeping the Chiefs out April 23 and 25. . . .
The Hurricanes and Hitmen are meeting for the third postseason in four years. The Hitmen won first-round series in 2005 and 2006. . . . Calgary finished atop the Eastern Conference, with 99 points. The Hurricanes were three points in arrears. . . . However, the Hurricanes were 5-1-0-0 against the Hitmen in the regular season, outscoring them 20-11 in the process. The Hurricanes won all three games played in Calgary so wouldn’t seem to be intimidated by playing in an NHL building. . . . G Juha Metsola of the Lethbridge Hurricanes is the ADT CHL goaltender of the week. He was 3-0 with a shutout, a 0.89 GAA and a .958 save percentage as the Hurricanes ousted the Kootenay Ice. . . . Metsola made one start against Calgary this season, winning 4-3 on the road on March 9. . . . G Mike Maniago was 4-1 against the Hitmen but Metsola has had the No. 1 job since late in the regular season and has been in 10 of 11 playoff games. . . . Dan Spence has been Calgary’s playoff starter, although Martin Jones went the distance in Game 6 against Swift Current and also beat Lethbridge 3-1 in the regular season. . . . The Hitmen are dominating the playoff scoring race with five of the top six point gatherers. F T.J. Galiardi, who left Dartmouth College to join the Hitmen for this season, has a WHL-leading 16 assists and 21 points. F Brock Nixon, acquired by Calgary from the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 4, has a WHL-high nine goals. Nixon, who had never been out of the first round in his first four WHL seasons, has 17 points. . . . Calgary F Ryan White also has 17 points, while F Brandon Kozun has 16. . . . The only non-Calgarian in the top five is Tri-City LW Colton Yellow Horn, who also has 17 points. . . . Calgary D Karl Alzner, who had seven goals in 60 regular-season games, has sniped six times in the playoffs. And how about Calgary D Paul Postma? Acquired from Swift Current, he has 10 playoff points, six of them goals. Postma had 42 points, including 14 goals, in the regular season. . . . White is the CHL’s player of the week after putting up 12 points in four games against the Swift Current Broncos. . . .
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Former WHL D Tyler Boldt has his first head-coaching position. Boldt has been named head coach of the Chase Chiefs, a B.C.-based junior B team that plays in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Boldt was an assistant coach with the Chiefs this season under GM/head coach Lorne Cumming. Cumming, who scouts for the Vancouver Giants, has resigned, saying that with a full-time job in Kamloops, he doesn’t have the time necessary to handle everything. Cumming also is the father of Prince George Cougars D Matt Cumming. . . . The Chiefs were an expansion team this season. They went 26-21-5 and just missed qualifying for the playoffs. . . . Boldt will share the general manager’s duties with Chiefs owner Fred Pittendreigh. . . .
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The Kamloops Blazers appear poised to name Craig Bonner as their next general manager, perhaps as early as Tuesday, April 22. Bonner, the assistant GM/assistant coach with the Vancouver Giants, is the only candidate on the Blazers’ radar at this time. With the Giants having been eliminated from the playoffs on Monday night, Bonner and Kamloops already are talking. “Now that the season is over, I imagine I’m going to have to make a decision,” Bonner told Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province on Tuesday. “Their situation there, as everyone knows, has been interim and I imagine they want to get going on things. I wouldn’t just leave here to go anywhere. I have a very good job here. The whole organization is first class. I’m not going to go somewhere just to be a general manager. It has to be the right fit and I have to be comfortable in the situation.” . . . . Bonner is a former Blazers defenceman and captain. He also has assistant coaching experience with the Blazers for whom he worked before ending up with the Giants. . . . As well, his wife, Simone, is from Kamloops. . . . One source indicated Tuesday that the Blazers are hoping to hold a news conference on Tuesday to introduce Bonner, who has two years left on his Vancouver contract, as their GM. . . . Unless, of course, Bonner becomes a candidate for the general manager’s vacancy with the Vancouver Canucks. . . .
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RW Bud Holloway, who played out his WHL eligibility with the Seattle Thunderbirds this season, has joined the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs on a tryout agreement. Holloway was a third-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings, the Monarchs’ parent club, in the 2006 NHL draft. The Monarchs are to open the AHL playoffs against the Bruins in Providence on Wednesday. . . . The Monarchs also added Chilliwack Bruins C Oscar Moller on a tryout deal. Moller, from Sweden, was selected by Los Angeles in the second round of the 2007 NHL draft. He turned 19 on Jan. 22. . . . Moller will wear No. 48 with the Monarchs, while Holloway puts on No. 51. . . .
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Former WHLer Kyle Bruce is back with the Prince Albert Raiders as a contracted marketing representative. He will work with the Raiders through the end of July. Bruce also will be getting married this summer; he met Jessica Yablonski while playing in Prince Albert. Bruce spent this season with the Central league’s Wichita Thunder and hopes to crack an AHL team’s roster next season.
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