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Hamilton Jaguars - Lethbridge Mavericks 4-2

After having swept the Copper Cliff Braves, the Hamitlon Jaguars continued showing their teeth. This time second seeded Lethbridge Mavericks fell victim to the Jaguars prey for success.

Mavericks had a great year, I think they led their division pretty much from start to finish so I knew it would be a tough series, "GM Mike D'Ambrosio commented afterward. "I am really proud of the team effort. We had a couple of key injuries early in the series (Zibanejad, Weber, Jokinen) and the rest of the guys picked them up. Everyone is chipping in up and down the roster and that's what it's gonna take to keep putting W's on the board."

Playing away from home, the Jaguars showed no signs of rusty legs coming off a number of non-playing games. Playing away from home, the Jags came out the cage ready to bite and the team took a commanding 2-0 series lead winning both away games.

In game 1, a first period Brandon Saad goal was erased by three unanswered goals in the final two periods. Robin Lehner stood tall in net once again stopping 28 shots while the Jags outshot their opponents 37-29.

Lehner's goaltending was highlighted as one of the keys to success by GM D'Ambrosio earlier and the Swedish netminder made sure not to disappoint with another stellar performance in game two posting a ridiculous .978 save percentage worthy enough of the game's first star. It was not the only Swede to impress for the Jaguars as Gabriel Landeskog struck twice, including the game winner deep into the first overtime in a 2-1 victory.

" Lehner continues to stand on his head night after night and has probably been the biggest difference maker," D'Ambrosio said in honour of his netminders performance.

A 3-2 victory in Hamilton seemed to bring the spark back for the Mavericks but it was shortlived as the Jaguars rebounded with a convicing 5-1 victory in game 4  in which both Landeskog and Lehner came up big again.

With the series for grabs, the Jaguars had to postpone festivities as Lethbridge scored four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory in game 5 but eventually had to admit defeat in game 6 where Swedish combination of Landeskog, Zibanejad and Lehner were instrumental in the win that sealed a ticket to the Canadian Conference final.

The duo of Landeskog and Zibanejad have combined for a whopping 18 points so far this post season and Lehner remains on top of the goaltender leaderboard with a save% of .944 so far.

A tough task for the Ottawa Grinders to find a way to stop the Jags Super Swedes.

The Jaguars already have done their homework ahead of the Conference Final. "Grinders also have been strong all year and made some key moves at the deadline that make them really dangerous," knew D'Ambrosio. "They knocked out the Hitmen so you know they are dangerous and playing at a high level with a lot of physicality. We've got to stick to our game plan, continue to stay out of the box and look for contributions down to the last man. Of course goaltending will be a huge factor."

Asked about the strength of the Canadian Conference in comparison with the World Conference, D'Ambrosio was cautious to label themselves as favourites at this stage.

"I don't know about that. All of these teams are playing at an extremely high level. Tumba and Gander both have a lot of skilled and disciplined players along with two of the top goaltenders in the league. Should be a great series between them. For now we've got to focus on the Grinders and if we're lucky we'll get to worry about one of those teams."

Ottawa Grinders - Toronto Hitmen 4-2

Fifth seeded Ottawa Grinders continue to surprise media and fans and to a certain extent also their own GM.

"I'm quite surprised with how the Grinders have performed so far in these playoffs," said a jubilant Grinders' GM Scott Davies ."The production of our 3rd line (Marleau-Smith-Anisimov) has far and away exceeded the expected production. All three players are near the top of +/- in the playoffs so far, which has been a shocking development so far."

After a character victory over the Mississauga Knights, Ottawa find themeselves in the Canadian Conference finals after a convincing 4-2 series victory over the Conference top seed Toronto Hitmen.

"All the games versus the top seeded Hitmen were close and I think the Grinders were a bit lucky to squeak out the series. Remember - the Grinders were down 3 games to 2 in the first round, with Game 6 decided in overtime, so beating the mighty Hitmen in 6 games was very surprising," he admits. "Michael has been a great GM with the Hitmen for many, many seasons and I respect his abilities to put together great teams very much."

Both teams exchanged victories in the first two games of the series, before Ottawa took full advantage of playing in front of a frantic home crowd to couple of 4-2 victories to take a comfortable series lead.

In game three the team was trailing with just over 6 minutes left to play but three goals in 150 seconds of play turned the game around in the Grinders' favour.

The Grinders' resiliency showed again in game 4, where they managed to make the difference in the final period. With the score tied at 1 after two periods of play, Gustav Nyquist released a quick wrister to put his team in the lead at 7:26 in the third period. Their lead was extended when good-old Patrick Marleau showed playoff experience still matters. His might have lost in speed but his smartness allowed him to be in the right position to bury home a loose puck with less than seven minutes left to play. A late Connor Garland goal was mere consolation with less than a minute left to play int he game. Searching for a late equaliser, the Grinders had a 3-on-1 situation which was played to perfection to dash any hopes of a late comeback.

Four unanswerd goals in game 5 earned the Hitmen an extended lifeline but the Grinders were destined to clinch the series at home ice in game 6.

Artem Anisimiov, Nick Schmaltz and Zack Smith scored first period goals forcing the Hitmen to play catchup hockey all game long. Despite 25 shots on goals in the final two periods, only Anze Kopitar was able to find a way past Henrik Lundqvist who seemed rejuvenated in the series and now can look forward to an All-Swedish goaltender battle in the World Conference Final.

"Henrik has raised his game to date in the playoffs more than I expected. His regular season performance was below average so I'm pleasantly surprised with how well he's played so far," Davies said in anticipation of the game against Jaguars' Robin Lehner.

Despite Lundqvist's great post season performance, Davies is aware of the battle he and his team can expect when facing the Jaguars.

"Mike always puts great Jaguar teams into the playoffs, and I expect it will be a very tough matchup for the Grinders. The amount of skill his team has up front (Zibanejad, Duchene, Landeskog, Gaudreau etc...) is really impressive."

Asked about how he expects to stop the Jaguars, Davies was surprisingly frank. "I think for the Grinders to have a chance in this series, the Horvat-Voracek combo has to improve its production compared to the first 2 rounds...and I think that defensively we will have to try to slow down the Jaguars firepower by slowing the pace and limiting the numbers of shots on goal. Henrik Lundqvist also has to continue his recent excellent play in nets and match Robin Lehner shot for shot."

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