All teams making tweaks ahead of looming playoff schedule

So rarely does the regular season properly convey the deep playoff runs some teams experience.

A team gets hot in round one, finds that piece that was missing all season, and carries that underdog title all the way to a championship game. Something like the Edmonton Oilers just last year. The key is round one though. Not two weeks prior to the close of a hectic regular season where middle-of-the-pack teams act as if they’re heading into a weekend bye instead of grinding it out against the conference best.

Even worse, the “conference best” are letting it happen.

Top dogs in Canada West have been chasing — and losing — to teams barely making it or snubbed from the post-season all together. It’s odd and gives little stock to ten point differences between vastly different teams.

The British Columbia Thunderbird’s 3-0 shutout over the Saskatchewan Huskies was just as unexpected as the Alberta Golden Bears’ overtime loss to the Manitoba Bisons two hours prior on February 7.

As unexpected as it was, it signalled the start of the Bison’s dangerously improved goaltending situation to keep the Huskies within one for the majority of this past weekend, in Saskatchewan.

The final nail in the coffin of this bizarre closing season was the Calgary Dino’s weekend sweep over the Thunderbirds on February 14 and 15 to make you wonder how they lost to the MacEwan Griffins just one week prior.

It’s hard to keep track of all the out of left field results and it’s harder to say why they keep happening.

Head coaches around Canada West are thinking the same thing we are.

Where did all the consistency go?

The Bears, Huskies, and Mount Royal Cougars were all you needed to watch in Canada West months prior, with Calgary adding a close game here or there.

Now, Mount Royal is at five wins, four shutouts, and is outscoring their opponents 34-3 since losing 4-0 to the Dinos at the Crowchild Classic.

The Dinos took up a three game win-streak for a shutout against the Thunderbirds at home, in a performance the Bears hope ends on February 21, as they came of a less desirable series split.

All this to say, it’s impossible to predict how any playoff series will go with 100 per cent confidence.

The Bears versus Dinos at home has quickly become the must watch series in round one, with the Bears taking the sweep earlier this season but with constant penalty trouble since.

Moreover, the crowd-pleasing first-round depends less on how hard the Dinos play and more on whether the Bears clean up their act and contribute over all lines. Even better if they stick with the 16 penalty minutes they took against the Bison’s in their final regular season weekend.

It’s a player thing, not a coaching thing. We’ll see what they do with what they know they need to change.

Projected lineup, save for an injury replacement here or there

Sam Popowhich makes a notable, but not permanent absence, from the Bears’ fourth line. There’s no update on Blake Gustafson’s seemingly long term timeline.