The Playoff Picture for California & Beyond!

Sorry about the lack of updates. With the holidays and school starting, I think I (and others) may have been content with just updating their various Twitter pages.

Speaking of the Tweety-Box:

As mentioned on @Ed_Kodiaks twitter: “Ala, StL, Edm, Sas, Sea, Hou, Que, Cal, Wsh, Ham, Van all battling for 8 Playoff positions... Been a great first #IceHL season”

Let’s take a closer look at that playoff picture with only 2 weeks left.

1 x- Alaska 14-3

2 y- St. Louis 13-4

3 Houston 11-6

4 Hamilton 9-8

5 x- Edmonton 13-4

6 Saskatoon 12-5

7 Seattle 11-6

8 California 10-7

9 Quebec 10-7

10 Washington 10-7

11 Vancouver 9-8

Only Alaska, St. Louis, and Edmonton have clinched a playoff spot. I believe Quebec has the tie-breaker over Saskatoon, so the Sharpshooters have not clinched quite yet. Only St. Louis has clinched their division due to their tie-breaker vs. Seattle.

I think it’s pretty safe to assume Saskatoon makes it in. I would think only one of Vancouver or Hamilton will make it based off of winning the Smith Division.

That leaves 5 teams (Houston, Seattle, California, Quebec & Washington) squaring off for 3 spots.

From the looks of it, the Wave’s destiny is in their own hands, and with a 4-game winning streak & a tie-breaker vs. Houston, there’s a good chance we can make the playoffs. Especially if Michael Grabner stays hot.

What do you think is going to happen in the IceHL playoff picture?

Update on Tuesday · Feb 22 · 2011 | 12:51 AM PST by Jon W | California Wave

Let's take a look at the updated standings going in to the last week of the IceHL regular season:

1 y- Alaska 15-3

2 y- St. Louis 14-4

3 California 11-7

4 y- Hamilton 10-8

5 x- Edmonton 14-4

6 x- Saskatoon 13-5

7 Quebec 11-7

8 Washington 11-7

9 Seattle 11-7

10 Houston 11-7

ELIMINATED

11 Vancouver 9-9

Alaska has clinched their division and the #1 spot. St. Louis, Edmonton and Saskatoon have clinched the #2, 5 & 6 spots, respectively. Hamilton has clinched their division and are currently the only team to have clinched a spot without also clinching a specific seed.

The Robbins division is really going down to the wire. Currently, there is a 3-way tie for the division lead between the Wave, Sentinels and Hellcats. California is technically leading the division based on head-to-head tie-breakers against the other two teams. This is a good spot for the Wave, because if we win, we're in.

If we lose, however, that could be a problem. California has the tie-breaker against every team in the hunt except for Quebec. Quebec plays Washington this week, and I believe Washington clinches a spot with a win regardless of other matchups. If Quebec loses, California would need both Seattle and Houston to lose to still make the playoffs. To make matters worse, Seattle is playing 2-16 Winnipeg this week, a very probable win for the Aviators.

Well, there's a very simple way to avoid this headache for the Wave: win. Let's go for our 6th straight win this week against Montreal (8-10) and push hard as we go in to the playoffs!