Last weekend of the WHL season starts tonight with playoff seeding implications for all 3 Shark prospects. Before we begin, it's important to note that the WHL seeds the playoffs by giving the 2 division winners in each conference the 1 and 2 seeds, then the 6 remaining spots are filled in points order regardless of division. So only the 2nd place team can be in a position where they have fewer points than teams ranked behind them in the playoff seeding.
Victoria (Misskey) are 2nd in the west, 12 points behind 1st place Everett. However, they are only 2 points up on the next best team in their division, Prince George, and their weekend slate is a pair of road games against the Cougars tonight and tomorrow. If Prince George passes them Victoria would fall to 4th in the conference because the #3 team, Spokane, is already 2 points up on the Royals (but have the misfortune of being in the same division as the league-leading Silvetips)
Vancouver (Roberts) is 6th in the west. They can't pass Portland for 5th because they're 4 points back with just 2 games to play and I believe the Winterhawks have the tiebraeker thanks to their win last week, but they could fall to 7th if they stumble over the last couple of game because they are only 3 points ahead of Tri-City and the Americans have 3 games left to play to the Giants' 2. That said, the Giants are in the driver's seat because their wrap-up schedule is tonight in Kamloops against the lowly Blazers and then Sunday at home against the even more lowly Rockets. Meanwhile Tri-City has 3 games in 3 days against a trio of playoff-bound teams in Spokane, Portland, and Seattle.
Calgary (Wetsch) is 3rd in the east, but are actually tied atop the division with conference-leader Medicine Hat, only slotting down on tiebreakers. Both teams have 2 games left on the weekend. Saturday has Calgary against Red Deer and Medicine Hat against Lethbridge, and then a game against each other on Sunday afternoon to likely decide the fate of the division and conference. Medicine Hat having the tiebreaker means they need to lose both games to get leapfrogged, but Calgary has the advantage on Saturday as the Rebels are a non-playoff team while the the Tigers draw a more difficult assigment against the Hurricanes, who are 4th in the conference. The Hitmen are 7 points up on the Hurricanes, so they cannot drop down even if they lose both remaining games.
If the current seedings hold then the playoffs would start next weekend with the following matchups:
Victoria would host Tri-City
Vancouver would start on the road in Spokane
Calgary would host Brandon
But there are the alternate scenarios to consider:
If the Royals fall to 4th they would instead get Portland
If the Giants fall to 7th they would get either Victoria (as things are now) or Prince George (if the Cougars overtake the Royals)
If the Hitmen jump past Medicine Hat they would host Swift Current, who are locked into 8th
chl.ca
