March 16, 2017

IDAHO JUNIOR STEELHEADS HAVE BYE AS THORNE CUP PLAYOFFS BEGIN

As they continue to prepare for the upcoming 2016-2017 Thorne Cup playoffs, the Idaho Junior Steelheads are hoping to be able to re-peat a three-peat.

The Junior Steelheads won three consecutive WSHL championships in the years 2010-2013, and John Olver’s team is looking to make the current streak three years if they can first enter, then win, the finals tournament in Ogden April 12-16.

Each of the four WSHL divisions begins the playoffs this weekend.  The number one and two teams in each division have byes in the first round.  The three seed hosts the six seed in each group.  The four seed hosts the five seed, unless there are intervening circumstances. 

The Junior Steelheads won the Northwest Division by 20 points over Southern Oregon, who finished second with 70.  A much improved Butte team finished a close third with 66 points, followed not very closely by Vancouver in fourth with 43.

A vastly improved Tahoe Icemen team captured fifth place with 34 points, and the division’s newest team, the Bellingham Blazers, claimed the sixth spot by beating Seattle two of three last weekend to finish with 31 points to Seattle’s 28.

Idaho’s 20 point margin over Southern Oregon was by far the largest of any of the divisions between first and second place teams.  The ease with which the Junior Steelheads won the division might indicate a relatively easy path to the playoff championship and trip to Ogden, but Olver would caution against making any assumptions.  There is still work to be done.

“In looking to the playoffs, we don’t ever focus on the opponents.  That is not our approach.  We focus on areas we need to improve.  We identified some of those areas this weekend in the games against Ogden.

 “We’ll review videos this week.” Olver continued.   “We’ll have two weeks of practice to focus.”

The Junior Steelheads will have to wait until the first round action takes place this weekend to see who their opponent will be for the semi-finals March 24-26 at Manchester Ice.

The most likely opponent will be either Vancouver or Tahoe, each of which the Junior Steelheads swept 6-0 in their regular season series.

However, if Bellingham is able to upset Butte, then the Junior Steelheads would get Bellingham, and Southern Oregon would play the winner of Vancouver-Tahoe.  Butte defeated Bellingham in all six games the two played against each other, so the Blazers’ odds are long.

Idaho also defeated Bellingham all six games

In fact, the only loss the Junior Steelheads sustained to a fellow Northwest Division team was the overtime loss to Butte in McCall back on Sunday, October 23.

The other overtime, and all the regulation losses have come at the hands of teams from other divisions, and that is what would make the finals tournament in Ogden challenging.  The Junior Steelheads were shut out by both Oklahoma City and El Paso at the Shootout in Las Vegas in December, and lost in a shootout there to Long Beach.  They took overtime losses to Casper and Utah during the regular season while winning two games in each three-game series.

In the last month, Idaho has split the six games with Ogden, who gets an automatic berth in the finals as the host team.

It is the anticipation of facing the top tier teams which will drive the Junior Steelheads to take care of business during the two rounds of playoffs in McCall in March.  The Thorne Cup has resided in McCall for two years, and the Olver crew will have to fight hard to keep it here for a third

WSHL FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF PAIRINGS

NORTHWEST DIVISION

Idaho and (2) Southern Oregon idle.

Bellingham at (3) Butte

(4) Vancouver at (5) Tahoe      (exception to rule)

MOUNTAIN DIVISION

Ogden and (2) Colorado Eagles idle

(6) Superior at (3) Utah

(5) Cheyenne at (4) Casper

WESTERN DIVISION

Long Beach and (2) Valencia idle

(6) San Diego at (3) Ontario

(5) Fresno at (4) Las Vegas

MIDWEST DIVISION

El Paso and (2) Oklahoma City idle

(6) Dallas at (3) Wichita

(5) Tulsa at (4) Springfield

Submitted by Dick Dorfman  -  Jr. Steelheads Play-by-Play