Four teams in the Western Hockey League's WHL's Western Conference are still involved in a dogfight for the final two playoff positions, and with a new divisional playoff format, that's led to bit confusion as to how many points the Prince George Cougars need to book their playoff berth.
As it stands now, the Cougars require at least one more point to lock up third place in the B.C. Division, which would mean a first-round best-of-seven series against the second-place Victoria Royals.
At the very least, even if the Cougars (30-35-2-3) lose both of their remaining games to the Kamloops Blazers tonight at CN Centre and Saturday in Kamloops, the Cougars are guaranteed they would host a one-game playoff against the Blazers Tuesday night in Prince George based on the fact they would have more wins than the Blazers.
The Blazers (27-36-4-3) need to win both games in regulation time against Prince George to have a shot at qualifying. Kamloops has 61 points, four back of the Cougars, who have 65 points.
The Tri-City Americans (29-37-0-3) and Vancouver Giants (27-40-1-2) are also still in the playoff picture. The Americans have 61 points with three games remaining. Tri-City plays host to Portland tonight and Spokane on Saturday, then will finish the regular season Sunday in Portland.
Here's where it gets complicated. If Tri-City wins all three games and the Cougars fail to gain a point, the Americans would lock up a wild card berth and that would necessitate a game Tuesday between Prince George and Kamloops. The league's tiebreaking protocol specifies if two teams are tied in points for the last playoff spot (the playoff team with the fewest points) they must play each other in a sudden-death one-game playoff.
"As long as Tri-City finishes ahead of Prince George and Kamloops, then Tri-City automatically gets in and if Prince George and Kamloops are tied after that they would have a one-game tiebreaker," said Richard Doerksen, the WHL's vice-president of hockey. "It's really kind of a longshot but it is possible."
Vancouver has 57 points with two games left, but if the Giants win and Kamloops and Tri-City lose their games that could create a three-team logjam with each team tied with 61 points. The Giants host Kelowna tonight and play in Kelowna on Saturday.
"If it's three-way tie for the last spot, unfortunately the team with the fewest wins gets eliminated and the other two would play a tiebreaker game," said Doerksen. "We thought maybe something would be clarified over the last two nights but it's still exactly the same heading into Friday night, which makes is good, it makes it more interesting."
In the Western Conference, Portland and Everett are currently tied for top spot in the U.S. Division, each with 90 points and each with three games left. Kelowna (the top team in the B.C. Division) Seattle and Spokane (the other wild-card team) have also clinched playoff spots. In the Eastern Conference, all playoff positions have been determined. Holding the top three positions in the East Division are Brandon, Regina and Swift Current, while the top three in the Central are Calgary, Medicine Hat and Red Deer. Kootenay and Edmonton are the two wild-card teams.
