As a follow-up on last week’s article, we want to take a look at the Western USPHL’s playoff outlook with only two weekends of action remaining. Here’s how things are shaping-up if the Playoffs were to begin today … Valentine’s Day.
Northwest Division
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2023
(1) Vernal Oilers host (4) Rogue Valley Royals
(2) Seattle Totems host (3) Rock Springs Prospectors
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2023
Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed
Winner advances to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)
Prediction:
No change in this prediction. Vernal will host Seattle, with Vernal ultimately advancing to Nationals.
Devil’s Advocate:
Seattle had a really strong weekend hosting both Rogue Valley and Bellingham and appeared to have found a late season groove much like they experienced early in the season. This potential matchup could all come down to goaltending. Both teams have explosive offenses, so if the Flodman / von der Heide / Nash trio can outplay the Tarantino / Di Fiore / Gottschall trio, Seattle could drop Vernal.
Outside Looking In:
Bellingham Blazers: Tied in points with Rogue Valley but Rogue Valley has three games in-hand. The Blazers cannot afford to lose another game and have to hope the Royals lose out.
Mountain Division
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2023
(3) Northern Colorado Eagles host (6) Idaho Falls Spud Kings
(4) Pueblo Bulls host (5) Provo Predators
Round 1 Prediction:
Different matchups than last week, and therefore different predictions…Northern Colorado and Provo advance.
Round 1 Devil’s Advocate:
-Northern Colorado and Idaho Falls are very evenly matched teams – despite their records – and with both teams recent play, I believe it would be a tightly contested full 3-game series. Though the Eagles have the experience to advance, they did not acquire a third goalie (as far as this writer is aware). So in the event that Stringer or Roussel or both get injured in the coming weekends, the Eagles could very likely fall to the Spud Kings.
-Provo has played very well in recent weeks and acquired Ukrainian Hockey League pro-goaltender Savva Serdiuk. Serdiuk has previous USPHL experience, having stolen the net last season in Ogden, when current Predators GM & Head Coach Nick Dreyer was an Assistant Coach with the Mustangs. Though Pueblo is currently on a current 9-game spiral, they can NEVER be underestimated and remain extremely dangerous – given they have home ice advantage, you can’t put it past the rowdy crowds at Pueblo Ice Arena to give the Bulls the edge they need to move onto Round 2.
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2023
(1) Utah Outliers host (5) Provo Predators
(2) Ogden Mustangs host (3) Northern Colorado Eagles
Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)
Round 2 Prediction:
Small change up from last week’s prediction…to a non-shocker. Utah and Ogden will advance. Utah will defeat Ogden to be crowned Division Champions in front of a packed home crowd.
Round 2 Devil’s Advocate:
-Provo’s play has improved every game, and no one would expect this “new” franchise to topple Utah, especially as Utah has owned the series this year — this is what could be Utah’s downfall.
-Ogden has been the better team this year all around compared to Northern Colorado. But the Eagles returned Brayden Fryfogle and he knows what it takes to beat the Mustangs…he was a part of the Eagles teams that took down Ogden the past two post seasons.
Round 3: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 19, 2023
Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed.
Winner is Division Champion
Pacific Division
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2023
(1) Fresno Monsters hosts (4) Las Vegas T-Birds
(2) San Diego Sabers hosts (3) Ontario Jr. Reign
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2023
Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed
Winner advances to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)
Prediction:
No changes here from last week. Fresno will host San Diego. Fresno added netminder Fabian Pozzera and San Diego added forward Nathan Compton – both teams bulking up for deep playoff runs.
Devil’s Advocate:
As mentioned last week, both Ontario and Las Vegas are offensively explosive teams, look away and they’ll put one past you – this is a tightly contested conference and should be A LOT of fun to watch.
Eliminated:
(5) Bakersfield Roughnecks: A first year team that will keep working to build a culture. They’ve been a blast to watch all season.
(6) Long Beach Shredders: 2nd year organization still working through culture building, player retention, and figuring out what happened to the missing logos on the front of their sweaters – next year hopefully all meshes much better and the team experiences growth and success.
(7) Lake Tahoe Lakers: 2nd year organization that had a much rougher go than their inaugural season, including several long-term injuries. Nowhere to go but up.
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Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast
