Football: Fan Committee Playoff Predictions CanWest

Continuing along with the playoff predictions, the Fan Committee makes their choices for the Canada West conference. It seems even after necessary discussion to sort out the playoff contenders the end result did not change, the two teams expected to end up battling for the Hardy Cup remain the same.

Click through for the fans' Canada West predictions.

QUARTERFINALS

Regina at Saskatchewan WINNER Saskatchewan.

The Huskies should be favourites heading into this game and not just because they claimed the top seed in the conference but because they just handily beat the Rams in the final week of the season as well. This was easily reflected in that the poll was unanimous in Saskatchewan’s favour. While the Huskies started rather inconsistently earlier on in the season the past few weeks have shown a crisp and focused squad on the field with an impressive and strong defensive unit. The Rams found out earlier in the week that there playoff lives had been saved which allowed them less time to prepare however having faced the same opponent the week before it is less of a task. While the excitement of getting knocked out then put back into the playoffs may work in Regina’s favour out the gates many believe that will not be enough to sustain them for the entire game.

Alberta at Calgary WINNER Calgary

Another unanimous poll in favour of the higher ranked home team, there is little doubt who the panel believes to play in the Hardy Cup Final. Calgary suffered their lone defeat at the hands of the top ranked Huskies in the first week of the season, in overtime. Since that point in time the Dinos have been building upon an impressive Offensive system, putting up big yardage and high scores. The final week they also handled their competition heading into this game, Alberta appeared to stumble a bit down the stretch however they were able to carve out a spot in the playoffs on their own. To prove the panel wrong, however, may require summoning all their strength and returning to the level of play seen earlier in the season by the Golden Bears. Whether that play diminished or the rest of the conference picked up their output – as they did face the top two seeds in the final weeks – is worth discussion. The Golden Bears did hand Saskatchewan their lone loss of the season so this is not a team to be taken lightly. The fans however do believe however that Calgary will find their way thru this quarterfinal match-up.

HARDY CUP

Saskatchewan at Calgary WINNER Calgary

There has been much debate throughout the season amongst the Fan Committee in regards to what the season opening contest between the Dinos and Huskies meant. Since Coach Blake Nill decided to go for a two-point convert in overtime and failed, leading to the Dinos defeat, many have not seen the loss as diminishing a loss as it could have been. It is for this reason that the Fan Committee is predicting an upset, Calgary avenging their lone defeat. The Dinos have been excelling on Offence however have also shown brief moments of slippages on Defence. Since the Huskies have been putting in strong outings on Defence this could be quite the battle. The poll was not as close as one might expect, each team received support but Calgary pulled away from the Huskies in the end. This reflects the belief that many across the country have in Coach Nill and the Dinos. The Huskies however are the top seed for a reason and playing at home will certainly not be ready to just roll over and allow Calgary to repeat as conference champions.

But the confidence of the panel does rest in Alberta and not the Prairies this season, as the Fan Committee believes the Calgary Dinos will come out on top as 2009 Hardy Cup Champions.