The Taipei Tigers and Taichung Lions closed out the 2007/2008 Chinese-Taipei Ice Hockey League (CIHL) regular season last week clinching the top spots.
The quarter-final round begins tomorrow and the winners will play in the semi-finals on Sunday.
The Tigers ended the season with 14 wins and six losses while the Lions picked up 12 wins and seven losses. Both teams will skip tomorrow’s quarter-final and move on to Sunday’s semi-final in anticipation of the finals to be held over a three-day period beginning May 23. All games will be played at the Taipei Arena.
The sixth-place Champion Bears will attempt to relive their former glory as last year’s playoff champions when they square off against the third-place Taipei Wolves. The game should prove a nail-biter as the Wolves lost out to the Bears in semi-final action last year. The game begins tomorrow night at 9:15pm.
On the same night beginning at 10:45pm, the Chiayi Sharks, who are seeded fourth and were the 2005-2006 playoff champs, will shoot off against the Taipei Rhaptors, seeded fifth.
The Kaohsiung Mustangs are still recovering from an end-of-regular-season 10-5 thrashing at the hands of the Sharks, while the Taipei Rhinos took their hits from the Sharks losing 4-2. The Mustangs and Rhinos finished the season last and have been cut from final play.
Tomorrow night’s winners will advance to the semi-final round and play the top-seeded teams on Sunday. Games begin at 7:45pm.
In its fourth year, the CIHL has seen the number of teams grow from four to eight. It is the only international hockey league in Taiwan with ex-pat and local players.
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