The 2024-25 Western Hockey League season and playoffs are down to the final four teams. After a round one victory against the Vancouver Giants in five games and a double overtime thriller in game six, the Spokane Chiefs took down the British Columbia Division champion Victoria Royals, earning their ticket to the Western Final.
The Western Conference Final will pit two U.S. Division foes against each other once again, as the Chiefs are set to battle against the Portland Winterhawks for a chance to go the WHL finals for the first time since 2019. It will not be an easy task, as Portland has had another remarkable season, defying odds and overcoming barriers to get to this point.
The Winterhawks are the defending Western Conference champions. They defeated the Prince George Cougars in six games last year to reach the WHL final, where they were swept by the Moose Jaw Warriors in four straight games. Portland once again downed Prince George in round one this year. They then defeated the top team in the entire league, the Everett Silvertips, to confirm their spot in the Western Final. The Winterhawks won both of their first two series in seven games each.
As the five seed, Portland was not given much of a chance, but they keep fighting and are preparing to face the two-seed Spokane Chiefs for a chance to return to the WHL Finals in back-to-back years. During the regular season, Spokane had a 4-2 record against Portland which included a perfect 3-0 record at home, but anything is possible in the postseason, so this series will be an interesting one to keep an eye on.
On the other side of the bracket, the Eastern Conference Final will be played between the top-seed Medicine Hat Tigers and the third-seeded Lethbridge Hurricanes. Medicine Hat defeated the Swift Current Broncos in five games and swept the Prince Albert Raiders. The Hurricanes defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings in five games and the Calgary Hitmen in seven games. Medicine Hat won the regular season series against Lethbridge, taking five of the eight matchups.
The first two games of the Western Final will be played at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena which is about 90 minutes north of Moscow. Games three through five will be at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The series will return to Spokane for games six and seven. As a best of seven series, games five through seven will only be played if necessary, and whoever is the first to four wins will take the title of Western Conference champion.
The Western Conference series will get going on Friday in Spokane at 7:05 p.m. and a 5:05 p.m. puck drop on Sunday. The next three games in Portland will be on Wednesday and Thursday, April 30 and May 1, at 7 p.m. both nights. Game five, if played, will be at 6 p.m. on May 3. Game six and seven, back in Spokane, will both be at 7:05 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, May 5 and May 6.
All WHL playoff games are free to stream on Victory Plus and the WHL Final will be exclusively on TSN. These are the final four teams battling for the opportunity to win the WHL and represent the league in the 2025 Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Quebec. Portland last went in 2013 and lost to Halifax in the final. Spokane went in 2008 and won it all against Kitchener.
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]