As if this weekend isn't already the best of the year with March Madness getting underway, the Spokane Chiefs second season begins on Friday when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds in the opening round of the WHL Playoffs.
The Chiefs enter the postseason with more questions than healthy players, after a few guys suffered injuries near the end of the regular season and most of the rest battled food poisoning this weekend.
Yes, that's right. Midway through Friday's 5-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans, Spokane forward Levko Koper began vomiting in the locker room. After the win, defenseman Jared Spurgeon did the same and by the middle of the night, nine others had followed suit.
The severe case of food poisoning forced the postponement of the final two regular season games, which were made up on Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, the Kelowna Rockets locked up the #3 seed in the Western Conference with a 1-0 shutout of the Chiefs in Spokane, but the boys rallied in the season finale by going to Kennewick and knocking off the Ams in a virtually meaningless game, 2-1.
But with the playoffs beginning Friday, the Chiefs are surrounded by question marks. How will they battle back after being mentally and physically drained? Will Ryan Letts make an impact upon his return in Game 3 after being suspended 10 games for concussing Americans netminder Chet Pickard? Will Trevor Glass be a factor after missing several weeks with an upper body injury? Can the Chiefs get any consistent scoring from their third and fourth lines?
The first round hinges on three things: special teams play, Chiefs forward Drayson Bowman and T-Birds goaltender Calvin Pickard.
Spokane is 9-for-27 on the power play versus Seattle this year, while scoring three shorthanded goals in 31 chances. The Thunderbirds, meanwhile, have only converted on two of their 31 power plays. Seattle needs to turn these numbers around if they want to drag the series out.
On the first line, Bowman has either been great or a nonfactor in eight games. Four times, Bowman hasn't scored a point, but in the other four, he's scored at least two goals and has a total of nine goals and an assist.
Trying to stop him will be Pickard, brother of Tri-City goalie Chet. Like Bowman, Pickard has been wildly inconsistent in the series. In two contests, he's given up a total of one goal and in the other two, 10. Whoever gets the better of the Bowman-Pickard swing will probably move on to the second round.
The winner of the series will most likely face the Vancouver Giants, who take on the Prince George Cougars in the opening round. In the other two playoff tilts to open the Western Conference playoffs, the #2 seed Americans face the Everett Silvertips while the Kelowna Rockets open up against the Kamloops Blazers.
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