The Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades have both swept their first round opponents. Does the extended break typically help or hurt you in the playoffs? (File photo/paNOW staff)

By Trevor Redden

Redden on the Raiders

Redden on the Raiders: Is extended rest a benefit in the playoffs?

Mar 29, 2019 | 3:24 PM

Eight days off in the middle of playoffs is unexpected to say the least, but that’s the reality that the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades are facing after sweeping their respective first round opponents.

Every year during the postseason, the debate continues about what is more important; rest or momentum? In this case, it won’t matter either way as the Raiders and Blades are both idle for a week leading up to their round two matchup beginning next Friday.

Bigger picture, I looked back to see if there is a correlation between sweeps and playoff success [spoiler alert: every team with a sweep has won at least one playoff series].

Over the past 20 years, 75 per cent of WHL champions were able to sweep at least one round. Last year’s Swift Current Broncos were a major anomaly to this finding, as they set a record playing 26 of a possible 28 games on the way to a title.

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Of the 80 collective series wins by the past 20 WHL champions, 20 rounds have been sweeps.

The most efficient team of the past 20 years is the 2005-06 Vancouver Giants, who rolled through four rounds of playoffs in just 18 games. Their first two rounds went five games each, while the final two were completed in sweeps.

Again, there is no edge here between Prince Albert and Saskatoon as they both sit in the same boat, but a series sweep is typically a strong indicator of playoff success down the road.

Attendance woes? Not here

There has been some discussion regarding disappointing attendance figures across the WHL in the first round of playoffs so far.

If you watched the games from Red Deer you saw a lot of empty chairs in the Centrium as the Rebels drew an average of 3,910 fans per game in an arena that can seat over 7,000.

Leading the way in attendance through two home games are the Edmonton Oil Kings [6,031], Saskatoon Blades [5,608], and Calgary Hitmen [5,584]. At the other end of the spectrum are Tri-City [2,218], Medicine Hat [2,740], Moose Jaw [3,068], and Prince Albert [3,123].

Of course, comparing crowd sizes in different cities and different arenas can be an apples to oranges exercise, so I looked into what kind of support teams were getting relative to their population.

Major markets like Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, and Portland do not show well in this comparison due to their massive populations, nor should they be expected to because the local junior hockey teams fall down the list of entertainment destinations.

For the sake of this exercise, I’ve eliminated any team that plays in or near a major city of over 500,000 people. This discards Calgary, Edmonton, Everett, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and Vancouver.

That leaves us with Saskatoon [295,095], Prince Albert [42,673], Lethbridge [117,394], Victoria [367,770], Moose Jaw [43,000], Red Deer [99,832], Medicine Hat [63,260], Kamloops [103,811], and Tri-City [253,340].

It should come as no surprise that a couple small market teams in Saskatchewan lead the way in this metric as Prince Albert and Moose Jaw have seen crowds of more than 7 per cent of their surrounding population at their home games. The Raiders have the slight edge with 7.3 per cent to Moose Jaw’s 7.1 per cent.

For comparison, a gathering of 7.3 per cent of Calgary’s metro population would have 92,516 people in attendance. That would fill the Art Hauser Centre over 28 times!

There is a significant gap between Prince Albert and Moose Jaw and the next closest teams of Kamloops [4.8 per cent], Medicine Hat [4.3 per cent], and Red Deer [3.9 per cent].

Towards the other end are some of the larger cities that still fall under the 500,000 limit, including Tri-City [0.9 per cent], Victoria [1.2 per cent], and Saskatoon [1.9 per cent].

Much like my above proof that “teams who sweep other teams are typically good”, this doesn’t show us anything new or surprising, but it does illustrate the impressive support that the Raiders and Warriors have received in round one.

Around the league

Six of eight first-round series remain undecided heading into weekend action, so there is a lot of drama remaining around the league.

In the Eastern Conference, both ongoing series are tied at 2-2. Edmonton hosts Medicine Hat for game five Friday night before heading back down south on Sunday. Calgary is in Lethbridge Saturday night for a pivotal game five, then the teams return to the Saddledome on Sunday.

Out west, all four series are still in play. The top-seeded Vancouver Giants are knotted at 2-2 with Seattle heading into Friday’s game five in Langley. Victoria and Kamloops are back on the island for game five Saturday night with a 2-2 series tie. Everett and Spokane both have a 3-1 series lead heading home. The Silvertips host Tri-City and the Chiefs host Portland, with both game fives coming up Saturday night.

Have a great weekend!

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden