Monday was a lazy day for Kruise Reddick.
The Tri-City Americans captain spent his only day off this week sleeping in, watching a bit of TV and playing a heated game of Monopoly with Carter Ashton, Brock Sutherland and Brendan Shinnimin.
"I'm yet to leave the house," Reddick said as dinner time approached. "Sleeping in and getting rest will come in handy."
Tri-City, which finished fourth in the Western Conference standings, will play Vancouver in the first round of the WHL playoffs, starting Friday at Toyota Center. Game 2 will be Saturday at Toyota Center, while Games 3 and 4 will be at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
If necessary, Games 5 and 7 would be at Toyota Center, while Game 6 would be at Pacific Coliseum.
Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at the Toyota Center box office.
For the Americans, home-ice advantage is key after going 27-8-0-1 at Toyota Center during the regular season.
"You ask any opposing team, they don't like coming to Toyota Center," Reddick said. "The fans are loud, and it is intimidating. Hopefully we can jump on them early, which will help."
The Americans, who were 3-1 against the Giants this season, beat Vancouver in six games last year to win their first Western Conference title in franchise history. But the teams are vastly different this year in terms of personnel.
"That's the good thing about junior hockey, it is different every year," Reddick said. "I'm sure there are a few players that remember us and have a bad taste in their mouth. Both teams will come out hard. It will be a great series to watch."
Both teams come into the series on a win streak.
Tri-City beat Chilliwack, Spokane and Seattle, while Vancouver beat Kelowna and Everett to finish ahead of Chilliwack by one point in the standings.
"We hit a rough patch and had some bad breaks," Reddick said of a rash of injuries that plagued the team for the better part of two months. "We wanted to go into the playoffs with momentum."
Women first: Spokane will play Chilliwack in the first round of the playoffs, but since the Women's NCAA tournament is at Spokane Arena this weekend, the series will start at Chilliwack on Friday and Saturday, then moved to Spokane for the next three games. The series will run 2-3-1-1.
Weekly honor: Prince Albert forward Mark McNeill was named WHL Player of the Week after picking up two goals and five assists to help the Raiders to a 3-0-0-0 record and a berth into the playoffs.
Blazers out: Kamloops will miss the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise's 30 years. The other time was 2005-06 when it finished 34-33-5.
Going pro: Garrett Mitchell of the Regina Pats will finish the season with the AHL's Hershey Bears. Mitchell, a sixth-round pick in the 2009 NHL draft, signed a contract with the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Lottery time: The WHL bantam draft lottery will be held Wednesday for the six teams that did not make the playoffs this season (number of lottery balls in parentheses) -- Calgary (6), Swift Current (5), Regina (4), Lethbridge (3), Seattle (2) and Kamloops (1). No matter what happens, Calgary will pick no less than second. For all of the scenarios, go to the WHL website at www.whl.ca.
