Pat's Picks: 2011 Conference Finals

The WHL's 2011 Conference finals begin Friday night on two fronts.

In the East, it's an all-Canadian match-up as the Kootenay ICE travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers and in the West, it's an all-American affair as the Spokane Chiefs play the Portland Winterhawks. So far in the post-season, I'm 10-2 with my picks. Here are my thoughts for the Conference finals. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.


EASTERN CONFERENCE

Medicine Hat Tigers (3) vs. Kootenay ICE (4)

Head-to-Head Scorers

Medicine Hat:
Linden Vey 7 points
Tyler Pitlick 3 points

Kootenay:
Brayden McNabb 7 points
Matt Fraser 7 points

Well, I didn't fair too well picking who I thought would end up being in this series. Both the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Kootenay ICE proved me wrong in the semi-finals. Too be honest, I don't think many people gave the ICE a chance against the Saskatoon Blades last round and no one thought, including yours truly that Kootenay would win, let alone sweep the Blades. Go figure! Kootenay deserves some serious credit. They played excellent defensively in that series and goalie Nathan Lieuwen was outstanding. This is the first time since 2004-2005 that Kootenay is making an appearance in the Eastern Final. This will also be the third time in the last four season that Kootenay and Medicine Hat are meeting up in the playoffs and this should be another good one. As for the Tigers, their offence was again impressive as they took out Red Deer in five games, including a big come-from-behind win in game 5. This team never ceases to amaze me. They've got solid goaltending with Tyler Bunz and guys upfront that can score at will, lead by Linden Vey. Medicine Hat had some trouble with the ICE during the regular season, as Kootenay won the six-game season series with a record of 4-1-1. This is a tough playoff series to call. Some really good talent on both teams and goaltending will be huge. Despite what happened in the regular season, I really like Medicine Hat in this series. They have a tonne of offence and that means Kootenay's "D" will have to be very good. If they play like they did against Saskatoon, Kootenay can take this series, but my gut tells me Medicine Hat wins in a long series. Tigers in 7........4-3.


WESTERN CONFERENCE

Portland Winterhawks (1) vs. Spokane Chiefs (2)

Head-to-Head Scorers

Portland:
Ryan Johansen 13 points
Sven Baertschi 11 points

Spokane:
Tyler Johnson 11 points
Brendan Kichton 9 points

This year's Western final features the top two seeds in the conference. The Portland Winterhawks will host the Spokane Chiefs in an all-American match-up. The 'Hawks have come a long way from a team that was the worst in the WHL and in serious turmoil just a few seasons ago to one of the elite teams in the CHL this season. This is the first time Portland has made it to the West final in 10 seasons (2000-2001). This is a pretty deep team that is coming off a second-round victory over Kelwona. This is a match-up of two very high-scoring teams. Spokane found the back of the net 310 times during the regular season and Portland scored 303 goals, so this has the potential to be a high-scoring series. As for Spokane, this is their second trip to the Western final in the last four years. They went to the final back in 2008 and ended up winning the WHL title and Memorial Cup that year too. They're coming off a second-round series win over their biggest rivals, the Tri-City Americans. These two teams saw a lot of each other during the regular season. In the 9 games played, Spokane held a slight edge with a record of 5-3-1. I like Spokane in this series too. They were one of my picks to go to the WHL final before the playoffs started and I'm sticking with them now. Spokane in 6......4-2.

Thanks,
Pat