WHL Conference Finals Announced

Both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals schedules have been announced.

In the East, the Medicine Hat Tigers will take on the Kootenay Ice, in what should be an exciting series.

The Ice are coming off an upset win of the Brayden Schenn lead Saskatoon Blades, winning that series four straight.

The Tigers finished off the Red Deer Rebels in five games on Sunday night, shutting down projected number-one prospect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the process.

In the West, the Portland Winterhawks will take on the Spokane Chiefs after the Chiefs eliminated the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday night.

The Winterhawks were 4-5 in nine regular season meetings with the Chiefs. The two teams met last season in the first round of the playoffs and the Winterhawks won in seven games with Ty Rattie scoring the Game 7 overtime winner.

It will mark the ninth playoff series all-time between the teams, with Portland having won five of the eight series, including the 1998 and 2001 Western Conference Finals, the only two times the teams have met for the conference title.

The Winterhawks have one of the most prolific lineups left in the entire Canadian Hockey League playoffs, sporting five players – Nino Niederreiter (18), Ryan Johansen (14), Sven Bartschi (14), Joe Morrow (11), and Ty Rattie (11) – with more than ten points in the post-season.

It has been scoring by committee for the Chiefs, as they only have two players with over ten points in the playoffs.

Center Steven Kuhn leads with five goals and eleven points, while defenceman Jared Cowen – an Ottawa Senators prospect – has one goal and ten points.  Cowen will have the major task of trying to shut down the powerful Winterhawk offence, and should see plenty of ice throughout the length of the series.

The seven game schedule for this series is as follows:

Game 1: Friday, April 22 at the Rose Garden, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, April 24 at the Rose Garden, 5 p.m.
Game 3: Wednesday, April 27 at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Game 4: Friday, April 29 at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Game 5*: Saturday, April 30 at the Rose Garden, 7 p.m.
Game 6*: Monday, May 2 at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Game 7*: Tuesday, May 3 at the Rose Garden, 7 p.m.
(*If necessary)