Beep…

…of course, in six days, when the cavalry arrives and people are going to be talking about these series as tossups… no one’s gonna remember how you got in.

Game 1 at Wilkes-Barre, April 20, 7:05 p.m. Hey, remember the playoffs?

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OK, so now that the evening is all but over, including this nasty little SOL for WBS against Syracuse… The big picture.

That game actually meant a lot for Syracuse, clinching the first tiebreaker in the Crunch’s quest for home ice. Two more points gained by them or lost by Winnipeg gives Syracuse the advantage in the first round.

Providence moved a little closer to avoiding Portland in the first round with this 4-2 win over Manchester, which clinched the season series. The P-Broons’ magic number to clinch third is four points, although a win for them or a loss of any kind for the Monarchs would be worth an extra point sliced off that number.

The West Division is still up in the air, and not just in that race for the four-spot I’ve been obsessing over (still one point for Iowa to clinch over Omaha), which is the last open playoff berth in the league. Milwaukee holds the division lead by two points, but Houston has a game in hand and would hold the wins tiebreaker if the teams tied in points. The other Ads have a home game against Chicago and finish at Grand Rapids; Houston hosts Omaha, then visits Chicago and Iowa. Peoria, meanwhile, has the slimmest mathematical chance at catching the Aeros for second, but the Rivermen need to win their last two and have Houston lose all three in regulation.

Everything else is locked in: All four spots in the East, the top two in the Atlantic, and a Grand Rapids-Toronto matchup in the North.

Michael Fornabaio