The Vancouver Giants are #7 in the West. The Portland Winterhawks sit in second place. So fire up the what if cannon and get ready for a playoff preview as these two teams face off at the Coliseum at 5pm tonight. Surprisingly, tonight marks the first time these two teams have squared off this season. Vancouver will no doubt be champing at the bit for this one, as the Hawks decimated the Giants by a combined score of 24–11 over their four games last year.

After splitting games in Victoria this weekend, the Winterhawks have just four wins in their last ten games — they were demoralized by back-to-back 7–2 losses to the Kelowna Rockets over the holidays. That said, in Nicolas Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand, they’ve got two of the top five scorers in the WHL, and are daaaaaaangerous when they get the engine running. Despite the recent slide, they’re tops in the US division, and fifth overall in the WHL.

More after the jump.

The Giants, for their part, have been one of the hottest teams in the country over the past 34 games. After a brutal 1–9 start to the season, they’re now seven games over .500 and sit just four points back of taking home ice advantage in the post season. On the strength of some solid team defense, Vancouver ended Kelowna’s remarkable 16-game win streak last week. With the addition of Dominik Volek they’re looking more confident up front as well.

Sunday’s game is the third in three nights for the Winterhawks, whereas the Giants had Saturday night off to prepare for the matchup.