Seattle over Kelowna in 7: Should be a really close series. Barzal's line is dominant and their forward group is probably better than Kelowna up front, even though both teams have great players and depth. On the other hand Reid Gardiner has 19 points in the last 6 games and the Rockets are looking good coming into the series. On defence, Seattle lost the 2 big d-men in Smith and Hauf from last season that really took it to Kelowna, so I think the Rockets will have a little more room to work this series. As for goaltending, Stankowski is really a bit of a question mark for me. This will be the most potent offence he has had to face so far this playoffs, so we will see how he does. Even if Rylan Toth is back, he doesn't really strike me as a dominant goalie that can really take over a game. Certainly there's no Landon Bow in net for Seattle this time around. Herringer will have to outplay Stankowski/Toth if the Rockets want to win IMO.
Regina over Lethbridge in 4: Sweep may be a bit of a bold prediction and I think Lethbridge could definitely steal one. But I see some similarities between this series and, oddly enough, Kelowna vs. Seattle in last years Western Conference Final. Lethbridge is going to be a tired, banged up group coming off back-to-back 7 game series and not a whole lot of rest against a really strong Pats team. Regina fought through some big time adversity coming back from down 3-1 to Swift Current and I think that will pay off big time through the next 2 series. I doubt Adam Brooks will be back unless this one goes 6 or 7 games, but obviously it's hard to tell.
Happy to see the Hurricanes doing so well in the "underdog" role this playoffs!
