We continue our coverage of the Western USPHL leading up to the final week of regular season action!
Here’s how things are shaping-up if the Playoffs were to begin today.
Northwest Division
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2023
(1) Vernal Oilers host (4) Bellingham Blazers or 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)
THE BIG STORY LINE
It’s all on the line this weekend after the Royals dropped all three contests in Vernal. This results in the Bellingham Blazers and Rogue Valley Royals being tied in points with three games each remaining before playoffs.
-Bellingham faces off with Seattle this weekend, hosting Seattle on Friday and Sunday at Bellingham Sportsplex, and visiting Olympic View Arena in Seattle on Saturday night.
-Rogue Valley on the other hand is hosting the Pacific Division’s, Lake Tahoe Lakers, at The RRRink in Medford.
Prediction:
No change in this prediction. Vernal will host Seattle, with Vernal ultimately advancing to Nationals. Seattle would need its goaltending to step-up and hold off the offensively explosive Oilers…but it could happen.
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:
Same matchups as last week, but different predictions…Provo & Idaho Falls advance.
-As mentioned last week, Northern Colorado and Idaho Falls are very evenly matched teams despite their records. Northern Colorado is now without Barbeau and Roussel, leaving only Stringer – a lot of pressure on the young netminder – and with no known back-up, not sure how this team moves on past the new and improved Spud Kings should Stringer have a bad showing or get injured.
-Provo and Pueblo are also two evenly matched teams, but with Pueblo’s recent performance, it’s hard to see Provo falling to Pueblo.
All that said, it wouldn’t be shocking to see either Northern Colorado and/or Pueblo advance considering Northern Colorado’s playoff history and Pueblo’s depth…the Bulls just need a bit of puck luck.
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2023
(1) Utah Outliers host (6) Idaho Falls Spud Kings
(2) Ogden Mustangs host (5) Provo Predators
Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)
Round 3: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 19, 2023
Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed.
Winner is Division Champion
Round 2 & 3 Predictions:
Non-shocker. Utah and Ogden will advance and Utah defeats Ogden to be crowned Division Champions (both teams advance to Nationals). Idaho Falls & Provo could shock the division and take out Utah & Ogden.
-A Provo vs Ogden series would get chippy and nasty, and Provo could deal Ogden another early postseason exit if they can get under the skin of the Mustangs players and get them off their game.
-It’s not likely that the Outliers fall to the Spud Kings. But having a week off could backfire on Utah when they meet a ferocious Spud Kings team that fought hard to get to West Valley. Utah can’t underestimate the difficulty this match-up presents.
Pacific Division
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2023
(1) Fresno Monsters hosts (4) San Diego Sabers
(2) Ontario Jr. Reign hosts (3) Las Vegas T-Birds
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:
Ontario and San Diego advance. San Diego then defeats Ontario in Game 3 2OT of Round 2 to advance to Nationals. No matter which way the cards fall in the Pacific, these four teams are very evenly matched and this division could go any which way – nothing that will happen in this division is shocking – but all Pacific playoff games will be worth watching as all these teams are deep in offense, defense and goaltending.
Eliminated:
(5) Bakersfield Roughnecks
(6) Long Beach Shredders
(7) Lake Tahoe Lakers
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Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast
IMAGE COURTESY OF GRAEME GERSTER PHOTOGRAPHY
Instagram: @ggerster
