A Giant Task

The Spokane Chiefs, in impressive fashion after suffering a Game 2 loss, won the final three meetings of their opening round series versus the Seattle Thunderbirds to advance in the WHL playoffs. Next for the reigning Memorial Cup Champions is the team they beat in the second round of the postseason a year ago: the Vancouver Giants.

Unlike last season though, Spokane hasn't defeated Vancouver, getting shelled by 4-0 and 5-2 scores. The only two players who have scored against the Giants, Brendan Kichton and Steve Kuhn, weren't Chiefs last season. Jared Cowen played all eight games, playoffs included, against Vancouver last season, but unless he recovers from torn ligaments in his knee in four days instead of four months, will not see action versus the Western Conference's best team in 2008-09.

Spokane does have momentum heading into this matchup, however. The offense has begun to click, scoring 13 goals in the final three games with Seattle. The defense has been just as good, allowing six goals in that same span. Their special teams unit has been solid, with their penalty kill scoring just as many goals as the T-Birds power play in 22 chances (twice) and their power play converting at 20 percent (four for 20). And Dustin Tokarski, Spokane's make-or-break player in the upcoming series, played very well, yielding nine goals in the five games, while being named one of the game's stars in all four of the Chiefs' wins.

Tokarski, along with the rest of the boys, will have their hands full with a team which scored 23 goals in their four-game sweep of the Prince George Cougars. In two games at home, the Giants scored 17 of those goals, a testament to their explosive offense, which lit the lamp 319 times, second-most in the league. The Giants have four lines which can score in the blink of an eye and have 13 skaters who scored at least 30 points on the season. By comparison, Spokane has eight. League-leading scorer Casey Pierro-Zabotel had 115 points, including 79 assists. Spokane's leading scorer, Drayson Bowman, had 83 points total.

So it comes as no surprise that the key to the series hinges on the style of play exhibited by each team. If Spokane's defense steps up and can keep the contests low-scoring, they have a chance to drag the series out and possibly advance. But if the Giants continue to score at will, like they have much of the season, a new team will be dropping WHL and Memorial Cup Champion banners next year.

Prediction: Vancouver in six. The Giants were rock solid at home against Prince George, but won their only two games away from home by 3-2 margins, one coming in overtime. Road efforts like that won't get it done in Spokane. Conversely, the Chiefs played very well in the Emerald City (well...Kent) and if they can steal one north of the border, could make it a very interesting series.