It started over a month ago with 16 teams fighting for the right to hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup and now we are down to the final two. The Seattle Thunderbirds will make their second appearance in franchise history and take on the Brandon Wheat Kings, who are in the final for the second straight season.
We have all the makings here for a great series.
Both clubs plowed their way through the first three rounds to get here—Seattle lost once, Brandon four times. Despite similar results, the sides have got it done with opposite styles.
The Wheat Kings are all speed and scoring while Seattle plays tough defence and has been getting outstanding goaltending. It may come down to which team can dictate the style of play more often than the other.
Will it be Kelly McCrimmon’s high flying Wheaties or Steve Konowalchuk’s gritty T-Birds?
In this week’s edition, Jeff previews all three CHL finals with Sam Cosentino, Andy Eide and Jean-Paul Charlebois.
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The numbers
Brandon led the league in scoring during the regular season and so far in the playoffs has stayed the course with 71 goals in 16 games. No other playoff team has scored 60. Seattle has allowed a minuscule 1.62 goals-per-game in the playoffs—something has to give here.
The two teams have been puck-possession monsters. According to whlstats.ca, the Wheat Kings have been dominating the playoffs with an estimated Fenwick-Close of 60 percent while the Thunderbirds aren’t far behind at a 58.
But possession means different things to these teams.
Seattle uses a strong forecheck to create turnovers and make you work to get it out of your own end—you can’t score if you can’t get in their zone. The Wheat Kings use skill to wear you down with their cycle game that often results in your goalie fishing the puck out of his net.
Simply put, whichever team wins this battle will win the series.
The forwards
You’ll be hard pressed to find a deeper top-six than that of the Wheat Kings. John Quenneville (24 points), Nolan Patrick (24), Tim McGauley (21), Reid Duke (20) and Jayce Hawryluk make up five of the top six in WHL playoff scoring. They hit you with speed, skill and finish, and if the Thunderbirds aren’t careful with the puck, Brandon’s transition game can strike like lightning.
Seattle has some talent up front as well. New York Islanders prospect Mathew Barzal leads their top line and is as good as they come. He’s flanked by a couple of 30-goal scorers in Ryan Gropp and Keegan Kolesar. The Thunderbirds’ second line is led by Scott Eansor who is a spark plug and one of the best two-way centres in the league. He’s tenacious on the forecheck and will have the tough task of trying to slow down one of Brandon’s top two lines.
The bluelines
Seattle has the more physical defence led by its top pairing of Jared Hauf and team captain Jerret Smith. Ethan Bear has had a great playoff run with 15 points and his booming slap shot is a weapon on the power play. Bear and Smith can move the puck and have some quickness, but will the rest of Seattle’s big defense be able to handle the speed of the Brandon forwards?
Brandon’s D-corps is led by Philadelphia Flyers first-rounder Ivan Provorov. The Russian is a force with the puck and quarterbacks the Wheat Kings offence. Kale Clague and Macoy Erkamps can also move the puck and have had good offensive showings so far in the playoffs. They will have their hands full with Seattle’s forecheck and will have to live with taking a few hits in their own end. How they handle that will be a key in this series.
The netminders
Glance quickly at Jordan Papirny’s playoff numbers for Brandon and his sub-.900 save percentage might be concerning. If you look beyond that however, you’ll see that he’s been making the saves the Wheat Kings have needed him to. He had a rough Game 3 against Red Deer—giving up four goals on nine shots—but finished the series strong and got them back to the final. He’s been here before and with goaltending always an important aspect to a big series, Brandon should have confidence in their guy.
Landon Bow has simply been spectacular for Seattle. It’s no coincidence that the Thunderbirds got their season in gear after they acquired him from the Swift Current Broncos at the trade deadline. Coming into this post-season he had only seen four games of playoff action but has shown no signs of the moment being too big. His goals-against is 1.54 and he has a save percentage of .936 to go with two shutouts. He has the ability to steal a game and Seattle just might need him to.
The intangibles
Both of these teams have comparable power-play units, so there is no distinct edge. Seattle started slowly in the playoffs with the man advantage but picked it up against Kelowna. Brandon’s penalty kill has been good but not great and they will look to limit Seattle’s chances.
You do have to wonder what role experience will play in this series. Only six of the regular skaters on the Thunderbirds roster have been beyond the second round of the playoffs before, while Brandon has loads of final experience.
Who’s winning this thing?
You have to love when two teams’ biggest strengths are in direct opposition with each other. There’s no doubt the Wheat Kings have more depth up front and can throw a lot of goal-scorers on the ice while Seattle has been shutting down its opponents all season.
Both teams have been red hot, but in the end that depth and experience on the Wheat Kings side should prevail. It will take a while and it will be an entertaining series but look for Brandon to get by in seven games.