The Victoria Royals (50-16-6), first in not only the Western Conference but the entire Western Hockey League, finished 17 wins better and 31 points ahead of the Western Conference eighth-place Spokane Chiefs (33-30-9).
But the playoffs are where you wipe the Etch A Sketch clean and start afresh. Everybody is 0-0 again.
Yet no matter how hard you swipe the wiper, you can always see the faint track lines of the previous sketch. The Royals are prohibitive favourites for the best-of-seven opening-round series which begins Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Chiefs scored 58 fewer goals than Victoria and allowed 79 more than the league-best defensive Royals, who are on a 13-game winning streak.
The third and fourth games are next Tuesday and Wednesday in Spokane. If required, Game 5 will be Friday, April 1, in Victoria. Game 6 would be Sunday, April 3, in Spokane, and Game 7 Tuesday, April 5, in Victoria.
The Chiefs are a mirror image of the Royals in terms of approach.
鈥淭hey are very well-coached [by Don Nachbaur], play a structured game and rely on hard work,鈥� said Royals coach Dave Lowry. 鈥淎nd they have beaten us a couple of times this season.鈥�
The teams split the season series 2-2, but that might be an irrelevant statistic because they have not played each other since Oct. 24.
This will be the second all-time meeting between the Royals and Chiefs in the playoffs. The first was in 2013-14, which was the Royals鈥� previous best regular season with 48 victories. Victoria swept Spokane 4-0 in the first round.
In the other WHL Western Conference opening series, the fading Kelowna Rockets (48-20-4) meet the rising Kamloops Blazers (38-25-9 and on a nine-game winning streak); the U.S. Division champion Seattle Thunderbirds (45-23-4) meet the enigmatic Prince George Cougars (36-31-5); and the Everett Silvertips (38-26-8) play the Portland Winterhawks (34-31-7). The Tri City Americans (35-34-3) and Vancouver Giants (23-40-9) missed the playoffs in the West.
