WHL Central

[Sylvanfan]

Well the Rebels managed to win another one 3-2 in OT against Tri Cities tonight. Phaneuf pots his 17th of the season as well. Still despite playing some very good hockey for like a month the Rebels continue to be mired in 4th place in the Central Division. The Rebels would be second if they were in the US or East they'd be second, and comfortably I might add. In the BC they'd be 3rd. But with the Tigers, Canes, and Hitmen they sit 4th in the Central. I think the final standings in the Central won't be determined until the last game of the season is played, and that come the final weekend any team could potentially matchup against any team in the division come playoff time. In a year with no NHL, WHL fans in Calgary and the other three cities in Alberta are going to be treated to some great playoff hockey. Too bad the WHL didn't do conference seedings from the get go because you could be all but guaranteed that at least 3 of the Alberta teams would make the second round.

[Jagger]

Originally posted by Sylvanfan@Feb 13 2005, 08:54 PM
Well the Rebels managed to win another one 3-2 in OT against Tri Cities tonight.

Not to be too picky but it was a 3-2 regulation time victory tonight. The Ams scored with under a minute left to make it interesting but that was as close as they got.

The Central is unreal. Close tp 60 games played and only five points seperating the top four teams. Incredible really. It's a real shame that two very good hockey teams are going to be knocked out of the first round of the playoffs, no matter what. Time for the league to go back to the conference pairings in the first round I believe. Swift are comfortably ahead of the two doormats from the East but will not make the playoffs. It's not right anyway you look at ait.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally posted by Jagger@Feb 14 2005, 05:57 AM


The Central is unreal. Close tp 60 games played and only five points seperating the top four teams. Incredible really. It's a real shame that two very good hockey teams are going to be knocked out of the first round of the playoffs, no matter what. Time for the league to go back to the conference pairings in the first round I believe. Swift are comfortably ahead of the two doormats from the East but will not make the playoffs. It's not right anyway you look at ait.

Well I imagine travel distance and expense has a lot to do with it. It's been that way in the BC Division for years where Kamloops, Kootenay, Kelowna, and Prince George or Vancouver were all top 5 teams, but two were knocking each other out in the first round. While the U.S. Division usually only had one really good team and at least one bad team was getting in. Still it is lame to see Moose Jaw and Regina trying to not out lose the other to get 4 games of playoff hockey.