It’s my Parting Shot for another W-H-L playoff edition of T-F-P…..

We’ve arrived at the third round of the Dub’s post-season, better known as the Conference finals! Through the first two rounds, The Fearless Predictor has correctly predicted nine of the 12 series winners. I really thought it would be 10 out of 12 – and a perfect four-for-four in the second round – had it not been for a bogus major penalty call in the late stages of Game 4 that totally unglued the Cougars and Prince George fans! It was the turning point of the series that led to expansion Penticton advancing!

With that said, let’s look at the Conference finals, starting with the Western series that opens tonight in Everett, Washington. The Silvertips have rolled through the first two rounds with eight wins in nine games, out-scoring Portland and Kelowna by a 42-14 margin. The Vees are 8-3 so far, out-scoring Seattle and P-G by a total of 37-30. During the regular campaign, the Tips won three-of-four head-to-head match-ups with Penticton, including a mid-March home-and-home series by a 10-6 count. The Vees have been a wonderful story this season, but it’s end of the line as Everett prevails in six games!

Then, tomorrow starts the Eastern Conference final up in Prince Albert as the Raiders tangle with the league’s defending champions from Medicine Hat. Like Everett, P-A are 8-1 in the post-season, out-scoring Red Deer and Saskatoon by a combined 39-14 total. The Tigers are also 8-1 thus far in the playoffs, out-scoring Regina and Calgary by a total of 42-23. During the regular-season, the Raiders and Bengals split four games with each team winning in both teams’ rinks. Medicine Hat won the first two contests before Christmas and Prince Albert won the last two after the trade deadline. Having seen them up close all season, the Raiders are the better squad in two key areas – defensive play and goaltending. The Tigers tend to have their defence up ice thinking offence too much and are prone to counter attacks. As a result, I’m going with P-A in seven games!

Which means I’m saying it’ll be a Raiders-Silvertips league final – which I had originally said back on March 27 in this commentary! No sense changing my mind now!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!