CHL Playoffs: Kootenay Clinches, Olympiques Alive

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Friday night was alright for the Ice as they downed Portland 4-1 to win the series in 5 and claim the Ed Chynoweth Cup advancing to the Mastercard Memorial Cup for the 3rd time in franchise history. It must have been an amazing feeling for Kootenay G.M. Jeff Chynoweth to accept the trophy named after his later father and WHL pioneer.

CHL Playoffs: Sea Dogs break log jam

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Until tonight every league final in the CHL was tied. Portland-Kootenay 1-1. Owen Sound-Mississauga 2-2. Saint John and Gattineau were also even at 1-1, but the #1 ranked Sea Dogs took a 2-1 lead with about as convincing win as you can get.

Tuesday night on TPS

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Tonight we doubled dipped on the draft, previewed the 3 CHL finals, covered off the Royal Bank Cup and discussed the latest on a terrible situation involving a junior hockey player who's facing an very uncertain future. It was all packed into 2 hours.

Saturday Night in the CHL Playoffs

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In Portland the Spokane Chiefs and Winterhawks reverted back to normal after an 11 goal game 4. The home side took a 3-2 series lead thanks to a 3-2 game 5 win. The 4th one goal game in the series. Sven Bartschi led the way on the stats sheet with a goal and 2 helpers and Mac Carruth was solid with 39 saves. In fact both goaltenders were busy as Portland fired 43 shots at the Chiefs James Reid. The Hawks will try and wrap things up on Monday, they won game 3 in overtime but were blown out in game 4. I expect the Chiefs to come out hard and force a game 7, which is great for fans. Hopefully SHAW picks up the remaining games.

Both OHL finalists have been decided already and with Mississauga hosting the Mastercard Memorial Cup this year, it means both the Majors and the Owen Sound Attack are already going to the national championship. That series starts on Tuesday in Mississauga.

In the Q Gattineau will have to win 3 straight over Quebec to reach the league final and face Saint John. They can pick up win number 2 of that streak Sunday night. The Olympique picked up a clutch 5-3 win in game 5 in Quebec and will use home ice advantage to try and force a game 7.

WHL Playoffs: Portland Advances, Chiefs Take Lead

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Two big games in the WHL playoffs tonight as one club faced elimination while two others went to overtime looking to take control of their series. Things didn't work out for Kelowna or Tri-City though as Portland dumped the Rockets 4-2 and move on to the Western Final. The Americans now travel to Spokane down 3-2 to the Chiefs with the last two games coming at the Veterans Memorial Arena.

WHL Playoffs: Rockets Strike Back

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The Portland Winterhawks may have outshot their opponent 55-38 but it was the Kelowna Rockets who scored the winner in extra time to force a 6th game in their second round WHL playoff series. Jessey Astles had 4 goals after two seasons in the WHL but he's got 3 in just 9 playoff games this Spring, the biggest one coming on Friday night.

WHL Playoffs: Chiefs Tri but Can't Outlast Americans

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What a wild one in Kennewick Washington tonight as the Tri City Americans edged Spokane 4-3 in double overtime. Defenceman Tyler Schmidt scored 11 times in the regular season and picked a fine time to notch his first of the second season 2 and a half minutes into the second 'next goal wins' time.

WHL Playoffs:Blades and Rebels on the Run

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It would be insulting to the Kootenay Ice and Medicine Hat Tigers if you were shocked to see them both one win away from the second round of the WHL playoffs. But there's no doubt that it's surprising to see how they've neutralized their favoured opponents Saskatoon and Red Deer.

Tigers take out Wheat Kings, WHL 2nd Round set

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The Medicine Hat Tigers took their first lead of their first round series with Brandon after winning game 5. They closed out the deal tonight in Winnipeg with a victory over Brandon, taking the series 4-2. The Wheat Kings had the Tigers on the ropes in game 5 with a pair of 3 goal leads but Medicine Hat roared back and scored the game winner with 25 seconds to go. Tonight they didn't need a comeback as they jumped in front for good in the 2nd and never looked back. The Wheat Kings actually had the advantage in the first outshooting Medicine Hat 12-6 but Devan Dubyk was perfect and his teammates gave him a 2-0 lead. The Tigers scored 55 seconds into the second frame and built up a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes. Brandon actually outscored Medicine Hat 3-2 in the 3rd but it wasn't enough as the Tigers take it 7-5. Emerson Etem scored twice for the Tigers while Michael Ferland had a hattrick for Brandon.

Here now is a look at the second round match ups.

WHL Playoff Notes:Rebels grab 2-0 lead

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasn't the main story on Saturday night, but he did get the party started for fans at the Enmax Centrium. RNH and Andrej Kudrna picked up Saturday where Friday ended with Nugent-Hopkins 3rd straight goal going back to game 1. After that the Oil Kings did a pretty good job of shutting down and targeting physically the budding star for most of the night. It was Brett Ferguson and Adam Kabeitz who did the damage instead. Both had 3 points as the Rebels grabbed a 2-0 lead in the series. The shots were even at 28, but that was about it, as Edmonton's power play is sputtering. It's 0-9 in the two games and only has clicked once all season vs. Red Deer. The Series shifts to Edmonton for game 3 Monday night (TEAM 1260, SHAW TV)