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2024-25 WHL Playoffs Game Thread

macbowes said:
Hicks continues to be a total freak for the Royals. Reschny's line was good again. Royals are definitely not generating the offense that Spokane is, but they're playing a bend-don't-break style, and it's working. Big win tonight to even up the series. Now they have a chance to win at home.
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Didn’t watch, but I don’t know how sustainable it is to be outshot 2-1 in the playoffs. Will be there Friday. Hopefully they shore up the defence a little.
 
MeHateHe said:
Didn’t watch, but I don’t know how sustainable it is to be outshot 2-1 in the playoffs. Will be there Friday. Hopefully they shore up the defence a little.
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Royals continue to play with fire. Being outshot 33-22 through two but holding a 3-1 lead. Gonna say it again: not sustainable.
 
SpeedyCerviche said:
At no point in this series has PA looked to be even close to the Tigers.
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I think the Tigers got really lucky that PA came back to beat Edmonton. The Tigers still would have beaten the Oil Kings eventually but the Oil Kings would definitely have been the nastier opponent because they were such a greasy team and played the Tigers tough during the season.
 
Wild one in Victoria last night. Spokane rang up five in an eight minute stretch in the first period on the way to a 9-6 win. Shots were 46-18 in the visitors’ favour. Spokane is a very good team, well constructed for the playoffs and Victoria came out very flat. The Chiefs won most of the races and most of the battles and the Royals had no answer early, and everyone was awful in the first.
 
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MeHateHe said:
Wild one in Victoria last night. Spokane rang up five in an eight minute stretch in the first period on the way to a 9-6 win. Shots were 46-18 in the visitors’ favour. Spokane is a very good team, well constructed for the playoffs and Victoria came out very flat. The Chiefs won most of the races and most of the battles and the Royals had no answer early, and everyone was awful in the first.
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Team looks completely different tonight, much better intensity all around.
 
Game 7 on Wednesday at the Saddledome. Let's Go! That's a long wait for us fans. What a rollercoaster of a series. I really believe the Canes are the better team but there is a reason they play the games. Meanwhile the Tigers are getting rusty while they wait.
 
macbowes said:
Team looks completely different tonight, much better intensity all around.
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Spoke too soon. These guys take shifts off and it costs them. The third period has been maddening. Although, that goal by Isogai was fantastic.
 
Bocephus said:
Game 7 on Wednesday at the Saddledome. Let's Go! That's a long wait for us fans. What a rollercoaster of a series. I really believe the Canes are the better team but there is a reason they play the games. Meanwhile the Tigers are getting rusty while they wait.
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Injuries to Calgary really catching up to them
 
SpeedyCerviche said:
Injuries to Calgary really catching up to them
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Whoever wins the series truly needs a full lineup to tackle the Tigers. Whether that is Howe or Braillard. Imagine if the Tigers had Basha and Lindstrom? yeesh!
I saw the tigers early in the year in RD when the Rebels beat them and thought...they have a long way to go because I thought they would be contenders. Then they traded for Menighan and that seemed to right their ship. Great job by Willy once again. Of course having #72 fixes most problems.
 
MeHateHe said:
Spoke too soon. These guys take shifts off and it costs them. The third period has been maddening. Although, that goal by Isogai was fantastic.
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Yeah, they can't seem to keep the pedal to the metal when they need to. Apart from Reschny's line, as soon as the team is up, everyone goes into a shell. I have liked their coach for most of the season, but getting outshot as severely as they did in the 3rd is partly on the coach.
 
SpeedyCerviche said:
Injuries to Calgary really catching up to them
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Yeah, it's not super great when two of the major additions made this year are injured and that's not to say Miller hasn't been playing well in net. I'll maintain it was a coaching mistake for Hauser to have played game one of this series though.

Per a Penguins reporter, Howe is done for the playoffs.
 
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2Mototik2 said:
Yeah, it's not super great when two of the major additions made this year are injured and that's not to say Miller hasn't been playing well in net. I'll maintain it was a coaching mistake for Hauser to have played game one of this series though.

Per a Penguins reporter, Howe is done for the playoffs.
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It's always sad to see a player end his WHL career by injury. Maybe he returns as a 20 but not probable.
 
Bocephus said:
It's always sad to see a player end his WHL career by injury. Maybe he returns as a 20 but not probable.
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Nah, he's gone. It would be extremely surprising to see a signed player of his calibre to be back as an overager and I don't think the Hitmen traded for him expecting to get two seasons out of him.

2Mototik2 said:
My hot take before the playoffs start is that people already penciling in a Med Hat vs Everett final are premature. Med Hat has been shown to be beatable (though we'll see if someone can beat them to four wins) and Everett have to shake the choker label and I don't know if Steve Hamilton will be able to outcoach another team if they find themselves in a tight series
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Called it.
 
Canes advance. I wasn't comfortable in the outcome until 15 seconds remained.
A great highway 3 rivalry for the East Final. Let's Go!
So many storylines for this coming series.
Three of the big fish from the deadline are still in it. Price, Cristal, Molendyk. Mynio was great but has now been eliminated.
 
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Bocephus said:
Canes advance. I wasn't comfortable in the outcome until 15 seconds remained.
A great highway 3 rivalry for the East Final. Let's Go!
So many storylines for this coming series.
Three of the big fish from the deadline are still in it. Price, Cristal, Molendyk. Mynio was great but has now been eliminated.
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Really disappointing ending to an otherwise great Hitmen season, the best in a decade. Can point to a lot of things for this loss, namely the Howe and Hauser injuries, but scoring three goals total across the four losses in the series is very telling and their flaws from the regular season came back up, including the lack of powerplay.

I think the East final really comes down to if Unger can keep rolling. I think Med Hat easily wins a shootout series but Lethbridge's best path to winning is being able to keep scores low.
 
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The Hurricanes are going to have an uphill battle if they are missing Braillard, Gustafson, and Doyle as well as their top dogs not producing the way we expect them too. I’m not one to call out underperformers because we seldom know the truth when it comes to injuries, personal life, team dynamics, coaches decisions but the Hurricanes don’t have a current gamebreaker like a McKenna, Chyzowski, or Cristall/Catton/ Van Ohm. They traded for Price and Yager who were good enough to play on Team Canada but I would say their play has been underwhelming so far. Why? I have to think they are both gutting it out and we don’t know the truth.
Regardless, they find themselves in the final 4 teams and hats off to them for that. They have earned it considering they seldom dress a healthy roster.
Any word on the return dates for some of these injured players?
 
I'm assuming that SPO is going to take down POR, but a SPOv.MHT series will be very fun to watch. Both teams are high octane offensive teams, so I would expect high scoring games. If the series goes 6+ games, I wouldn't be surprised to see 60+goals scored in the series.
 
I feel bad for the Hurricanes because the injuries to Braillard and Gustafson and Doyle has meant that they can’t hang with MH.
Their depth players just can’t replace those players which is understandable. It really is a huge reason that they are overmatched.
MH play like assassins that are absolutely relentless.
Also, I think we know which team made the better deadline acquisition.
To lose a top line 19 year old winger, a 20 year old offensive center with a championship on his resume and a defender that plays top 4 minutes is alot to ask when you are up against a wagon in MH that boasts a generational talent like McKenna. That kid is phenomenal!!!
We all want him to play in the Dub next year but what the hell is the point? He is far to good and has nothing to gain by doing that. He needs to play in a league that suits him. College or a men’s league in Europe? He is beyond the Dub already.
 
What I find crazy is it seems like MH had the biggest push back in the first round. I would have never guessed that to be true.
Even when healthy, I personally don't think Leth really had the horses to compete with MH, but would be able to get to 6 games.

Now Spoke/MH. We are good for 13 goals a night with McKenna and Cristal combining for 9 points/night?
 
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I said it before, not that I think Med Hat wasn't the favourite out of the East and wouldn't win the series regardless, but I think they got lucky not having to face Edmonton in the second round.
 
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