10 WHL Things From Glen Erickson, Volume XXVII
Only a couple of weeks remaining and 33 games to play for teams to settle the field for the Western Hockey League playoffs. Here we go!
1 – Desperation – A few upsets this past week, which is not at all surprising. There are a few teams desperate for wins with their playoff lives or positioning in the standings on the line. Likely none bigger in my view than the two upset wins by the Red Deer Rebels over the Prince Albert Raiders. I suspect the Raiders have seen enough of Rebels goaltender Matt Kondro as well. Red Deer waltzed into the Art Hauser Centre last week, scored two late goals 13 seconds apart and escaped with a 4-3 win. In the return match at the Marchant Crane Centrium Saturday, the Rebels tallied three third period goals to hand the Raiders a 3-1 defeat. Kondro earned the win in each contest. Those two losses have likely cost Prince Albert a shot at the Scotty Munro Trophy, though the Raiders clinched the East Division title long ago. The Moose Jaw Warriors have to be shaking their heads at the Raiders inability to knock off the Rebels, even once. The Warriors are one point behind Red Deer for the eighth and final playoff berth in the eastern conference. The Rebels have a game in hand.
2 – Good Teams – A peak at the top ten teams in the overall standings shows a 37-point difference. Everett leads the way with 107 points, while Saskatoon occupies tenth place with 70 points. Last season, the difference at the end of the campaign was 22 points. I opined over Frescas at the golf course last summer with a few fellow DUB fans that I didn’t think there would be as many good teams in the league this season. The topic arose amid discussions about the impact of the exodus of so many good players to the NCAA, among other junior hockey things. This season, I think the best-of-the-best are a pretty obvious group. I see three or four upper echelon teams. Of course, there are just as many fanbases who would insist their favourite team deserves to be included as well. So, if in fact these folks are correct and I’m completely out to lunch, which team not a division leader do you think has the makings of a legitimate run for the Ed Chynoweth Trophy this post-season?
3 – Sensational Season – I’m fortunate to have kind of a ringside seat to watch defenceman Bryce Pickford light it up this season. The Montreal Canadiens prospect has scored 43 goals in 51 games. The most Pickford can play this season is 56 games and he could break the all-time record for goals scored by a rearguard. Larry Sacharuk scored 50 goals in 65 games for the Saskatoon Blades back in the early 1970’s, the WHL’s Rotary Dial era. Suffice to say that if Pickford had been able to stay in the Medicine Hat Tigers lineup more frequently this season, the record would not only have already likely been broken, but probably totally obliterated. In fact, assuming the Chauvin, Alberta native appears in each of the Tigers remaining games, the record will show he has missed 32 games over the past two regular seasons. As I’ve mentioned previously in this space, Medicine Hat is just a different kind of team with Pickford in the lineup. The power play in particular, goes from good to great. He is the kind of player opponents would prefer to avoid, especially during the post-season. Last spring, Pickford set a record for defenceman in the playoffs, scoring in eight consecutive games. To my knowledge, no defenceman has ever led the league in goals scored during the regular season and Pickford is on pace to do just that. Alas, if the best ability is availability, well, you know.
4 – Tragedy in Brandon – The players and coaching staff of the Medicine Hat Tigers have certainly endured some mighty unusual experiences together these past couple of seasons. During the final game of the regular season a year ago in Calgary, the team rode the fine play of goaltender Harrison Meneghin to a conference title clinching win over the Hitmen, only to find out afterward that during the contest, Meneghin’s father had passed away. Last week while in Brandon, enroute to its 6-3 win over the Wheaties, the Tigers bus driver, Donald Bihun, suffered a “medical emergency” and passed away. Boy, life sure happens, doesn’t it? The Brandon Sun’s legendary sportswriter Perry Bergson compiled an excellent piece that respectfully outlined the circumstances in Brandon and demonstrated clearly how close-knit teams in the league really are. You can give it a read by clicking right here.
5 – Too Little, Too Late – Remember the home-and-home doubleheader shortly after the trade deadline on January 10 and 11 between Wenatchee and Vancouver? The teams split the one-goal games, but the Giants lost two of the top players in the league to injury during the contests. There was some nastiness, and the DUB office levied a little supplemental discipline afterwards. Defenceman Ryan Lin finally returned to the lineup February 27 and forward Mathis Preston re-joined the team March 6. The Giants are 10 points out of a playoff spot with five games to play. Indeed, the fat lady has cleared her throat. Lin and Preston are a pair of the WHL’s top prospects for the 2026 NHL Draft. Take two players of this calibre from any lineup in the WHL for well over a month and that team’s fortunes would take an enormous jolt. One wonders if both players will return to the WHL next season.
6 – Everett Wins – It took awhile, but the Everett Silvertips finally got the better of the division rival Portland Winterhawks this season. Everett swept a weekend doubleheader, winning 5-2 on home ice and 4-2 in the Rose City. Prior to the back-to-back wins, Everett had dropped it three previous matches to Portland. With six game remaining, the 52-7-2-1 Silvertips lead the WHL standings with 107 points, good for a seven-point bulge on the Prince Albert Raiders. Everett has Portland on its docket one more time, along with a home and home against the BC Division leading Penticton Vees. Meanwhile, the Winterhawks are most certainly “in one”, a point ahead of Seattle for seventh place in the western conference and two points ahead of Victoria Royals. All six of the Winterhawks remaining games, three of which are at home, are against US Division rivals. Portland travels to Seattle this weekend and faces off against the T-Birds in Portland in its season finale March 21.
7 – NHL Trade Deadline – As I commented on the RP Show Friday, it sure seems the NHL trade deadline has become more and more anti-climactic in recent years. Whether it’s cap space or no-trade clauses, the lack of high volume or high impact moves must make life miserable at times for our national sports networks, who insist on presenting all-day coverage. I always like to see which WHL alumni are moved at the deadline and there were a few of note last week. The big fish, so to speak, was Brayden Schenn moving from St. Louis to the New York Islanders, a couple of days after his brother Luke, was sent to the Buffalo Sabres by the Winnipeg Jets. Both are Stanley Cup champions. The Dallas Stars acquired veteran defenceman Tyler Myers from the Vancouver Canucks, where he’ll join his former Kelowna Rockets teammate, Jamie Benn. And here’s a name from the past; Derrick Pouliot, who won a league title in 2013 with the Portland Winterhawks. A first-round pick by Pittsburgh, eighth overall at the 2012 NHL Draft, Pouliot has grinded out a career total of 228 NHL games. He’s on his way to Chicago from the New York Rangers. In another minor deal, Vancouver sent defenceman Jett Woo to the San Jose Sharks. He is the older brother of Medicine Hat Tigers veteran, Jonas Woo.
8 – Memory Lane – With the expansion Penticton Vees, atop the BC Division with a record of 41-13-4-4, I wondered what was happening the last time a WHL expansion team made a similar impact. It was over 20 years ago, the 2003-2004 season, when the Everett Silvertips burst into the DUB and almost qualified to play for the Memorial Cup. Here’s a nifty description of the Silvertips logo from an article in the November 22, 2002 edition of the Seattle Time; “A snarling, caramel-colored silvertip grizzly is clutching a hockey stick in its paws, revealing three long claws that are fashioned into an “E” for Everett. Team owner Bill Yuill and General Manager Doug Soetaert also unveiled the home and road uniforms that reflect the team colors: forest green, silver and white. The bottom hem of the sweater is adorned by a stand of evergreens against a silver mountain.” Indeed, the design has certainly stood the test of time! Everett became the WHL’s 20th team and was allowed five 20-year-old players during its inaugural season. In part, that enabled the team to compile a 35-27-8-2 record, tops in the U.S. Division. Forwards John Dahl (25-19; 44 points) and Riley Armstrong (18-26; 44) led the ‘Tips in scoring. Everett scored only 157 goals that season, the third fewest in the league. Head coach Kevin Constantine is often cited for having his charges employ a suffocating defensive style and the Silvertips allowed only 153 goals against. That was the second-best total in the league behind the Scotty Munro Trophy winners, the Kelowna Rockets at 47-21-4 under head coach, Marc Habscheid. The Rockets allowed an astounding total of, get this, 125 goals against in 72 games. Wow! Goaltenders Kelly Guard (13) and Derek Yeomans (1) combined for 14 shutouts. Guard appeared in 62 games, allowed 95 goals, compiled a record of 44-14-4, a 1.56 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. Perhaps an even more bizarre stat line was that of Kelowna’s leading scorer. Randal Gelech tallied 30 goals and 19 assists for 49 points in 71 games, three points ahead of Justin Keller. It was Keller who scored the Memorial Cup winning goal against Gatineau.
9 – Memory Lane, Part Deux – The Silvertips and Rockets met in the western conference final and the series went the distance. Kelowna had home ice advantage and a 3-1 lead after four games. Then, Everett pretty much shut the door and won three straight games, all in overtime, including game five (1-0), game six (2-1) and game seven (2-1). The teams scored 12 goals each during the series. In the WHL Championship Final, Everett took on the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers, but it was no contest. The Tigers swept the expansion Silvertips and outscored Everett, 14-3 in the four games. All told, Everett played 10 home games at the then new Everett Events Centre during the 2004 post-season. With capacity said to be 8,250 for hockey, the playoff run undoubtedly would have generated significant revenue for the expansion franchise. Kelowna, however, was the host team for the 2004 Memorial Cup, and the host committee took the event to another level. The Tigers, coincidentally under then head coach, Willie Desjardins, scored four goals in three round-robin games at the Memorial Cup, posting a 1-2 record. Medicine Hat dropped a 6-5 decision to the Gatineau Olympiques in the semi-final, in what was the highest scoring game at the tournament. The Rockets, which surrendered three goals in four games, were undefeated, and edged Gatineau in the Memorial Cup finale, 2-1. Coincidentally, the city of Kelowna will host the 2026 edition, while Everett and Medicine Hat are perhaps the top two teams in the DUB this season. One wonders if and how history might repeat itself this spring!
10 – Randoms – A very successful WHL general manager told me about a decade ago that, in his opinion, “players don’t try out anymore”. It was in response to my query about problem parents contributing to recruiting challenges junior hockey teams were beginning to experience. I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest these no movement clauses in NHL contracts kind of support the executive’s assertion. A generation of players these days don’t seem happy unless they’re telling you where they want to play. Maybe that really is a good thing? It’s just a different world…Two teams I hope meet in the WHL playoffs? Medicine Hat and Edmonton. They’ve slapped each other around on eight occasions this season, at home and away, each emerging with a 4-3-0-1 record. The Oil Kings have outscored the Tigers, 33-32. I look forward to the teams continuing to explore their mutual dislike…Still with the Oil Kings, the schedule-maker didn’t necessarily do them any favours this past weekend, as the top two teams in the eastern conference rolled into Rexall Place in Edmonton. The Oil Kings held serve Saturday, dispatching the Tigers 6-1, then in the early start Sunday, dropped a 4-3 decision to Prince Albert. One upside for Edmonton is the attendance, 8,230 on Saturday and 9,916 on Sunday. The Oil Kings loss to the Raiders enabled the Tigers to clinch the Central Division title for the second straight season…A pair of big wins for the Cougars in Prince George this weekend against the visiting Spokane Chiefs. The Cougars trail the Kelowna Rockets by one point for third place in the western conference but have a game in hand…The Regina Pats squandered a three-goal lead Sunday in its 4-3 loss in Calgary to the Hitmen, and gave up a valuable point in the standings. Calgary scored three times in the last nine minutes to square the contest, then won it 1:02 into overtime. At least the Pats earned a point from one of its games in hand on Red Deer and Moose Jaw as it looks to secure seventh place in the eastern conference. Did it sting at all that former Pats forward Julien Maze tallied the game winner for Calgary?…The University of Saskatchewan Huskies are the 2026 Canada West champions. The Dogs won four playoff games on the road to claim the title, knocking off UBC first, then Mount Royal University in Calgary this past weekend. Former Saskatoon Blades goalie Nolan Maier has been an absolute stud. The Huskies now travel to Halifax for the University Cup. That’s the USPORTS national championship. The Huskies have won it only once. Ever. That’s right. Once. In 1983. Indeed, it’s time!
Randoms 2 – Does Rowan Calvert enjoy playing the Moose Jaw Warriors? The Saskatoon Blades forward, who grew up in the Band City, has scored nine of his 30 goals against the Warriors; eight in the last three meetings between the division rivals…I opined a few weeks ago that Lane (119) and Ross Lambert (106) of the 1982-1983 edition of the Saskatoon Blades are probably the highest scoring, single season, brother act in WHL history with those 225 points combined. It doesn’t look like Markus and Liam Ruck of the Medicine Hat Tigers will catch the Lamberts. The Rucks are tied for the league-lead in scoring with 94 points and five games remaining…Are Kirby, Colton and Kale Dach related?…J.P Hurlburt of the Kamloops Blazers continues to lead all rookies in scoring with 38 goals and 54 assists for 92 points…Matias Vanhanen of the Everett Silvertips, also a rookie, leads all imports with 19 goals and 64 assists for 83 points…Luke Mistelbacher of the Brandon Wheat Kings leads all overage players with 40 goals and 40 assists…The WHL website indicates Penticton Vees goaltender Ethan McCallum is “inactive” on the page that includes goaltenders statistics. That doesn’t seem right? The Brandon-native has played in 31 games this season, 13 for the Saskatoon Blades and 18 with Vees. He played Saturday night in the Vees 5-3 win over Wenatchee…According to the WHL website, average attendance during the regular season last year was 4,174 through 748 games. With 33 games remaining this season, the average is 4,040.
(Glen Erickson is a freelance hockey writer based in Medicine Hat, AB)
