KENNEWICK, Wash. -- The Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs set a unique first round schedule already, though the seeds are not yet secure. No matter the seed, Spokane will host the first two games because of the Spokane Arena schedule with the NCAA women's tournament. Tri-City will host games 3-4 and potentially game 5, Spokane would host game 6, and the higher seed would host game 7.
"You know you're starting in their rink whether we have home-ice advantage or not. But you still have to be successful in the playoffs. Go in and win on the road. You really don't get in trouble in a playoff series until you lose a home game. So in the end, you've still got to play the games and you've got to be able to go head-to-head. You speculate on those things and you try to come up with something that's fair to both franchises in a difficult situation," said Bob Tory, Americans general manager and governor.
