Just who is rooting for the Tips?

Published 12:52 pm Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Well, that was an interesting result last night. By all accounts Everett played very well in its 5-2 road victory over the WHL-leading Tri-City Americans. It was especially impressive considering the Tips were again missing three defensemen because of injury — Tyler Kieffer (upper body) joining Taylor Ellington (foot) and Chris de la Lande (leg) on the sidelines. With Paul Sohor returning to his MJHL team, that meant even the return of Mike Alexander from his shoulder injury couldn’t prevent the Tips from suiting up just five defensemen. Kudos to the Tips because being short at the back is all the more difficult on the road when the opposition has the last line change.

But what’s more interesting is how the result affects the playoff race. Tri-City now finds itself in a virtual dead heat with Spokane for first in the U.S. Division, Western Conference and the WHL as a whole (the Americans lead the Chiefs by four points, but Spokane has two games in hand), with Vancouver right in the mix for the conference and league titles. The difference between finishing first and second in the U.S. Division is huge. Finish first and you play one of two flailing teams — Chilliwack or Kamloops — in the first round of the playoffs. Finish second and you’re slotted into the No. 3 seed and thus stuck with one of Everett, Kelowna or Seattle. Both Everett and Seattle have been playing well down the stretch, while Kelowna will be bolstered by the impending return of offensive star Jamie Benn from injury.

What makes this even more interesting from an Everett standpoint is the Tips have a winning record against both the Americans and the Chiefs this season. Everett finished 5-3 against Spokane (both teams winning once in a shootout) and is 6-3 against Tri-City (Everett winning once in overtime and twice in a shootout) with one game remaining next Wednesday in Everett.

So that got me to thinking: Who are the Americans and Chiefs rooting for in the race for fourth, fifth and sixth?

I took a look at the schedules and found the following:

Tri-City vs. Everett — 3-3-1-2 (one game remaining)

Tri-City vs. Kelowna — 2-0-0-0 (two games remaining)

Tri-City vs. Seattle — 5-3-1-0

Spokane vs. Everett — 3-4-0-1

Spokane vs. Kelowna — 4-0-0-0

Spokane vs. Seattle — 6-2-0-0 (one game remaining)

So the Tips may have some closet fans, as it looks like neither Tri-City nor Spokane would particularly want Everett to finish sixth, thus mandating a first-round playoff matchup for whomever loses out on the division title.