Round 3 tonight

The Kootenay Ice and Medicine Hat Tigers begin the Eastern Conference finals tonight in Medicine Hat. The game, and the entire series, is televised on Shaw starting tonight at 7:30.

The Chiefs are in Portland starting about a half hour later.

Lots of stuff on the series around the net. Matt Coxford has lots of coverage in the Townsman here. while Sean Rooney, a former Sports Ed of the Townsman, has a piece here for the News.

Here's a quick preview:

Up front the two clubs match-up almost identically. Both full of superstars with Vey for the Tigers, who leads the post-season scoring race, and Eakin for the Ice. Matt Fraser is tied with Vey with 10 goals in the post-season. Tigers answer with Emerson Etem. The speedy forward picked by Anaheim in the NHL draft has 16 points, as does big Cole Grbavac, the Tigers power forward. Max Reinhart evens out the Ice forwards with 13 points and red-hot headed into the conference finals. Edmonton Oiler-signed forward Tyler Pitlick is still out with a broken ankle but the walking boot is off and he might return this series. Up front without Pitlick I think the teams are a wash - Edge: Even

On the blueline there is a noticeable discrepancy. The Ice boast Brayden McNabb, Mr. Everything who plays 30+ minutes a night. But there's also James Martin, Joe Leach, Luke Paulsen, Hayden Rintoul and Jagger Dirk. They're deep and handled Schenn, Hamilton and company handily last series. Can they do it again? With the Tigers Cranbrook product Jace Coyle leads the way offensively and plays the most minutes. He's got a ring as a rookie with the Spokane Chiefs when they won a couple of seasons back and leads a no-name bunch that beat up on the Rebels. Kootenay's too deep here. Edge: Big one to Kootenay.

In goal most everyone would give Tiger goaltender Tyler Bunz, another Oiler draft pick, the edge based on this season. But Nathan Lieuwen seems to have finally shaken off the question marks surrounding his junior career and undoubtedly a pro contract awaits the farther he carries this team into the playoffs. Ability-wise the two are dead even. No homer call here but I'm giving the edge to Lieuwen because he's in a groove and though Bunz returned from a concussion in the Rebel series, it could be a factor. Edge: Slight to Kootenay with the hot 'tender.

Injuries - Pitlick's broken ankle (possible return for the series) out-weighs F Brock Montgomery's battle with Mono, though Kootenay could use his grit.

Regular season - Ice won it with a 4-1-1 record but we all know what that means at this point; zilch.

Keys - For the Tigers, who are speedy team (when are they not?), getting through the defensive game of the Ice and whether or not they can penetrate the sizable blueline. Their power play is money in the playoffs at 38% but Kootenay's PK is tops at a 92% kill rate. Something's got to give. Depth is the match-up to watch. With a healthy Drew Czerwonka now on the third unit, he returned at home in the Blade series and gave the Ice a distinct depth advantage. He didn't score much but he punished any Blade he saw. The Tigers could be in for more of the same. Kale Kessy plays the same role for the Tigers. Sheesh, could these teams be any more even?

For the Ice, I wonder if Cody Eakin will click offensively this series. His 3 goals and 6 assists in these playoffs is rather ordinary for the superstar. Granted, the attention he gets on the offensive side of the ledger is extraordinary and it's freed up the Frasers and Reinharts of the Ice world. He's been a horse defensively which will likely continue but I can't see him being held off the scoresheet as much as he has. Kevin King is another who has contributed but not where he usually does. No goals and six assists is a glaring stat. If those change and they get the goaltending they have been, I think the Ice will be in their first WHL final in nine years. Ice in six

F Sam Reinhart continued his hot hand at the Telus Cup national midget championships with a goal today but the Vancouver NW Midget Giants lost this morning 4-1 to London. The Giants are already in the top four for the playoffs with a 4-1 record. They await their opponent for tomorrow's semi-final. Reinhart leads the Telus Cup in scoring with 19 points and is eligible to re-join the Ice for games three and four.

Around the league this week the WHL announced the inevitable in which the Chilliwack Bruins relocated to Victoria as the loop beat the AHL's Moose to the punch. And really, though the team and league talked about the lack of a lease renegotiation for the Bruins with Prospera Place when the AHL's Heat moved in (and competition with the Langley Events Centre where the BCHL's Chiefs play but that's a non-starter - the building is over 30 minutes away from Chilliwack and the Bruins would never draw from Langley in any significant way), in the end it was the draw of the Victoria market and the risk of losing it that did them in. They went from a mid-sized market to a small-market model with the Heat moving 20 min down the highway and the lease should've been renegotiated to reflect that, they stated.

Though I don't understand how minority owners Jim Bond and Moray Keith, who control the rink in Chilliwack through the Chiefs Development Group, couldn't give the Bruins the break they supposedly needed to at least keep the team in Chilliwack for the next few seasons and then try to wrestle control of the franchise from Porter, Burke and Sather. Though, really, it's sounds as soon as there was trouble in the Wack, the league wasn't going to support it either, dictating that the club sell to Victoria (RG) and no one else, not even local interests.

The tangled web of deceit to the Chilliwack fans is best described right here by Tyler Olsen with a great piece.

The collateral damage, besides the city and fans in Chilliwack, also stretches to the media. As per Gregg Drinnan's blog today, Jim Mullin, the now former sports department manager at CKNW, lost his job directly because of his great broadcast journalism in breaking this story, including confirmations from Keith that the Bruins were being sold before the gag-order and a controversial email from Brian Burke. So CKNW fired him for doing his job? Garbage. I hope he's lawyered-up.

And one wonders why I'm a union guy...

In the end the fans and the city of Chilliwack deserved better in this mess. Ice fans, through troubles of their own, have taken it upon themselves to make sure that they are heard and an impact when the attendance issues in the small market of Cranbrook come to a head. The Bruins fans never had a chance.

Good luck to Victoria and I hope the market succeeds this time. With that building it should but, and though the ECHL's Salmon Kings as an argument is a bit of an apples and oranges thing, the Kings only ever drew an average of about 4000. That's good for a small market but Victoria's not a small market.

As for the Wack, I hope the Moose relocate there for the fans sake. The Canuck craziness will ensure a success there.

Enjoy the hockey on the tube tonight.