The Spokane Chiefs: your 2007-08 WHL champions

Published 9:23 am Thursday, May 8, 2008

Well, that was quick.

And the Everett Silvertips now have some illustrious company.

Spokane rolled over Lethbridge in the WHL championship series, polishing off a sweep with a 4-1 victory last night.

The Chiefs were every bit as dominating of the Eastern Conference-champion Hurricanes as they were of the Tips in the first round. Spokane outscored Lethbridge 15-5 in the finals. The Chiefs outscored the Tips 16-6 in a first-round sweep.

Frankly, the ease with which Spokane dispatched Lethbridge surprises the heck out of me. Not so much that the Chiefs won, I figured they’d prevail in the series. However, Spokane just finished a grueling seven-game series against Tri-City in the Western Conference finals — with five of those going into overtime — while Lethbridge swept Calgary to claim the Eastern Conference. If nothing else, I figured Spokane’s fatigue and Lethbridge’s freshness would play at least some kind of role in the series. Obviously it didn’t.

In the end, I think this result illustrated just how much stronger the Western Conference, and the U.S. Division in particular, was than the Eastern Conference this season. In retrospect, the Spokane-Tri-City series was the true championship decider. And the more Spokane (and Tri-City and Seattle) accomplishes, the less disappointing Everett’s season appears.