Shots from the Point--Playoffs are almost here edition

From Drinnan:

G Drew Owsley of the Tri-City Americans, who missed the regular season’s last nine games with a concussion, has received medical clearance to return to action.
The Americans will wait until sometime Friday, perhaps just before game time, before revealing whether Owsley, a sophomore, or freshman Alex Pechurskiy will start in goal. 

Speaking of Drew Owsley, he was named to WHL Second All-Star team

From the Herald:

Tri-City defenseman Tyler Schmidt was suspended one game by the Western Hockey League for his clipping major and game misconduct Saturday against Spokane's Kyle Beach. The verdict came down Tuesday from league disciplinarian Rick Doerksen.

It is sounding like Spokane expects Beach back in time for Game One of their matchup against Portland.  Losing Schmidt for a game sucks, but it's only one game, time for Yuen, McIntosh, Sutherland and Co. to step up and shine.  The Herald has more:

The Americans fell out of the top 10 in the final week of the CHL poll. Tri-City, at the top of the honorable mention category, is ranked the equivalent of 11th. The Americans, who were 10th last week, were ranked as high as fourth during the season and were ranked for 20 of the 26 weeks. ... The Prince George Cougars will have the first pick in the April 29 bantam draft, followed by the five other non-playoff teams -- Edmonton, Lethbridge, Seattle, Regina and Prince Albert. Tri-City will pick 19th. 

Annie's blog reports:

Americans fan Jimmy Butcher, who surprised many with his rendition of the national anthem on Feb. 9 against Seattle, will again lend his golden pipes to the Americans on Friday when Tri-City opens their first-round playoff series against the Chilliwack Bruins.

From the Chilliwack Times

Bruins bench boss Marc Habscheid is too much of a hockey coach to admit that his Chilliwack Bruins squad has drawn the best possible opponent in its return to the Western Hockey League playoffs.

But an objective observer can't help notice that of the seven teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings, the Chilliwack Bruins have a winning record against just one: the Americans, against whom the Bruins won three of four games during the regular season.

Still, with Tri-City posting the conference's best record, Habscheid is playing the underdog card.

Alan Caldwell at Small Thoughts at Large has his playoff prediction:

#1 Tri-City vs #8 Chilliwack:

If you like to pick a big upset in the first round, this is the series you want to pick, I think. The Bruins were 3-1 against the Americans this year, and the Americans were much better in the first half of the season (.733 pre-trade deadline) than the second half (.586 since the deadline). I didn't give the Americans enough respect in the regular season predictions and got burned....do I dare do it again? I'm going to say.....no. I'll give the Bruins some respect too though, and say an upset would not surprise me. But I'm going with Americans in six.

Not gonna lie, I totally agree with him.  There is the potential for an upset, but not sure if the AMS will let that happen.  Gosh, I sure hope not.  The pre- and post-deadline stats are sickening to see right there.

The WHL has it's playoff preview up:

The Tri-City Americans and the Chilliwack Bruins meet up for their first WHL playoff series.

The Americans are making their seventh straight post-season appearance, and enter the playoffs as U.S. Division champs for a third straight season.  Having led the Western Conference standings for almost the entire season, the Ams survived a late-season charge by Everett to lock up the Conference’s top spot for a second time in three years.  Offensively, the Ams scored the most goals of any Western Conference team.  The Ams boast a deep group of forwards – seven of whom hit at least the 20-goal mark – and own the League’s second-ranked power play.  Brendan Shinnimin, Brooks Macek and Justin Feser all enjoyed career campaigns as sophomores while Johnny Lazo scored a career-best 39 goals.  However, the Americans’ attack struggled with just 11 goals in four games versus the Bruins this season.  Defensively, the Ams allowed the fourth-fewest number of goals of any WHL team.  Yet, an improvement on their 15^th-ranked penalty killing unit would enhance their chances of success. 
In goal, Drew Owsley performed magnificently for the Ams this season.  Having been injured down the stretch, the Ams are hoping he can be healthy for the start of the post-season.

 click here for the rest (the Chilliwack part)

"The journey is as important as the destination" says Bob Tory in this interview with Ian Furness of FSN (it won't let me embed it, so click on the link to see it).  Ass-pat to sister for sending it my way.

Alright, I have busy day today, Puck Daddy wants my input on NHL's apparel for women, I need to write up playoff preview for King5 Sports in Seattle, and SCOTTY WAZZ IS COMING TODAY!!  HUZZAH!!  (oh, and I have to do my job and stuff too)