Tri-City Herald: Battle for home ice down to final week

By Annie Fowler | Tri-City Herald

The Tri-City Americans will play the Spokane Chiefs in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs, but what hasn’t been determined is who will have home-ice advantage for the best-of-7 series.

Each team has four games remaining in the regular season, including a key home-and-home series Friday (at Spokane) and Saturday (in Kennewick).

“It’s exciting,” said Tri-City veteran defenseman Drydn Dow of the last week of the season. “The last two games against Spokane are so important. With each game the adrenaline is pumping. They are all big games.”

The Americans (40-24-1-3) and Chiefs (41-25-2-0) are tied for fourth place in the Western Conference with 84 points. At present, the Chiefs hold the tie breaker with one more win than Tri-City.

“We’d like to have them all,” Americans coach Jim Hiller said of this week’s games. “We’re going after it, for sure.”

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