It is down to the final eight in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

The second round of the postseason kicks off tonight, and the top-seeded Winnipeg Ice will be facing off against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Strathclair's own Conor Geekie says they're excited for the series ahead.

"Every team has some good players. For us, we've been doing a lot of scouting and watching a lot of video to try and improve our game every day. When we come to the rink, we work our tails off. We know we have some good players here as well."

Geekie finished the season with 77 points, which was fifth on the Ice this season. The first-round draft selection in the 2022 NHL Draft was one of seven players on Winnipeg to average over a point-per-game in the regular season. 

Geekie picked up three points in the Ice's first-round sweep against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

"I think it was a good series for us but Medicine Hat gave us a run for our money. Not saying we took them lightly but they came a long, long way from the start of the year. I give credit to them," Geekie continues. "We played well. We played hard. We tightened up our D-zone, and I wouldn't say we gave them much."

Winnipeg won the first two games at home 5-3 and 5-2. The Ice dominated Game 3, picking up a 7-2 victory, but the final game of the series was a competitive one.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy. The hardest game is the game to close it out," Geekie explains. "We went in and played our game. Losing Chucky (Zack Ostapchuk) early on in the game was kind of a tone-setter for us with how we have to play and how we have to work. I'm very proud of how we did it. We worked hard and gutted it out."

Closing out their first-round series in four games gave the Ice a great chance to get some extra rest. When they take to the rink for Game 1, the squad will have had nine days in-between games.

"It's well needed. Every playoffs, after every game, you see guys with ice packs or getting treated for stuff. It's one of those things that goes unnoticed, I think. When you see it in the NHL, anytime a team gets those rest days, it's huge. I think that was big for our team."

The Ice made it all the way to the league semi-final last year before being bounced in five games by the eventual champions, the Edmonton Oil Kings. With that being the case, Geekie believes they know what it'll take to make a deep playoff run again.

"Every time you move up a round, everything has to be better. It's a step up every round, and nothing is going to come easy. We're really emphasizing our D-zone and our neutral zone," says Geekie. "We know we have some good offensive players around here. So, we just try to play as tight in the D-zone as possible, and our offensive chances will come."

The Ice and Warriors will begin their best-of-seven series tonight in Winnipeg.

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