The Western Hockey League season is careening into the home stretch like a Kailer Yamamoto rush into the opposition zone.
That鈥檚 as good an analogy as any, especially with the Edmonton Oilers-prospect Yamamoto and the Spokane Chiefs coming into Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for a two-game set tonight and Wednesday.
The Chiefs (38-21-5) are on a five-game winning streak and look to be locked into a first-round playoff matchup with the Portland Winterhawks in the second-versus-third U.S. Division bracket, to rebound from the 2016-17 season in which Spokane missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. The Chiefs are trailing the Winterhawks by four points, with a game in hand, in the race for home-ice advantage in that looming first-round series.
Victoria (36-24-6), which snapped a four-game winless streak Saturday in Prince George, is three points ahead of the Vancouver Giants in their race for home-ice advantage in their potential first-round playoff series in the two-versus-three sa国际传媒 Division bracket. The Giants, 6-1 losers to Everett on Sunday, retain a game in hand on Victoria.
And what to make of the sa国际传媒 Division-leading Kelowna Rockets, who are four points ahead of Victoria, but have lost four consecutive games? With six games remaining for both Kelowna and Victoria, the division championship remains a possibility for the Royals.
鈥淓very team is jockeying for position, and every point matters, for seeding heading into the playoffs,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
So the return, in Prince George on Saturday, from injury by Chaz Reddekopp couldn鈥檛 have come at a better time for Victoria. The Los Angeles Kings-signed blue-liner, who had not played since Jan. 13, scored a goal against the Cougars upon his return.
鈥淲e want to enter the playoffs playing well,鈥� added Reddekopp, of the importance of the final six regular-season games.
The six-foot-five rearguard said he is ready for the stretch drive.
鈥淚 was anxious, with lots of emotion, but I felt good Saturday,鈥� said the native of West Kelowna.
It helped that it was an upper-body injury.
鈥淪o I was able to skate, condition and ride stationary bike,鈥� said Reddekopp.
鈥淭he timing was a little off but I felt good physically.鈥�
The Cougars, however, will miss the playoffs and don鈥檛 have players the calibre of Yamamoto, the hometown Spokane find, who began the season with nine games in the NHL with the Oilers, and who helped the U.S. win bronze at the 2018 world junior championship in Buffalo. Despite the NHL and world junior interruptions, Yamamoto still has 19 goals and 58 points in 35 games this season for the Chiefs.
鈥淸Yamamoto] is a dynamic player, who has nine games of NHL experience, and that really helps any player,鈥� said Reddekopp.
鈥淲e are going to have to finish off our checks against him and the other dangerous Spokane players.鈥�
Chief among the other Chiefs is defenceman Ty Smith, who is projected by Central Scouting for the top half of the first round of the 2018 NHL draft. Undersized at foot-foot-11, Smith is a mobile blue-liner in the mould of NHLer and Juan de Fuca minor hockey-product Tyson Barrie, and has 14 goals and 70 points this season for the Chiefs to show why he was taken first overall in the 2015 WHL bantam draft.
鈥淕ood players have a confidence about them and you definitely notice them,鈥� said Royals defenceman Scott Walford.
The third-round Montreal Canadiens draft pick includes Yamamoto and Smith in that class of athlete.
鈥淭hey are dangerous to play against and you have to finish your checks against players like that,鈥� said Walford, the defensive-oriented blue-liner, who scored his first goal of the season Saturday in Prince George.
