The first two rounds of the playoffs featured familiar adversaries for the Chicago Wolves. All combined, they played the Rockford IceHogs and Milwaukee Admirals a total of 26 times — 34% of their games — in the regular season.
The Stockton Heat are a different story entirely. The Wolves and Heat did not meet in the regular season and, in fact, shared no common opponents at all this year. While the Wolves cruised to the top of the Central Division, the Heat were busy dominating the Pacific, and in fact only relinquished their hold on the top spot in the league in their final game of the regular season, where a loss to the Bakersfield Condors caused the Heat to slip just below the Wolves in terms of points percentage.