10 WHL Things, Volume VI
Photo: Spokane Sports
By Glen Erickson
1 – Rankings? What Rankings? – When the Western Hockey League season kicked off late last month, there were three teams ranked in the initial CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Medicine Hat Tigers (#1), Prince George Cougars (#7) and Kelowna Rockets (#10). To date, those three teams have compiled a record of 7-11-2-1. The Cougars are 4-2-2-1. Meanwhile, the Spokane Chiefs, Victoria Royals and Portland Winterhawks are off to fast starts at 6-1, with the best winning percentage so far at .857. With National Hockey League teams returning players to major junior, I’m curious to see what kind of trends emerge between now and mid-November, by the time the league schedule hits the quarter-pole.
2 – Clean Sheets – Spencer Michnik of the Victoria Royals will get credit for posting the first shutout of the 2024-2025 regular season. Saturday night at the Town Toyota Centre in Wenatchee, the 17-year-old Michnik blocked all 22 shots fired his way by the Wild as the Royals earned a 3-0 decision. Two days later, Michnik celebrated his 18th birthday. Then Wednesday, Harrison Meneghin and Dawson Cowan turned the trick. Meneghin, in his second start for Medicine Hat, stopped 24 shots in the Tigers 3-0 win at Co-Op Place over the Red Deer Rebels. According to the WHL website, just one-minute earlier, Cowan had put the cap on a 27-save shutout at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert as his Spokane Chiefs blanked the Raiders, 2-0. These are the first three shutouts of the season. During the 2023-2024 regular season, the 22 teams combined for a total of 54 shutouts.
3 – Shut The Door – A heckuva WHL debut on the weekend for goaltender Marek Schlenker. The Okotoks, Alberta native stopped 38 of 40 shots as his Portland Winterhawks knocked off the visiting Prince George Cougars, 3-2. Schlenker, selected by Portland at the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft in the eighth round, 170th overall, held his mates in the contest until Ryan Miller tallied the game winner at 19:57 of the third period. It may have been a nervy assignment for the 6’, 161-pound keeper, as many of the Cougars would have arrived at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum with memories of their playoff ouster at the hands of the Winterhawks last spring. If his surname appears at all familiar, the youngster is the son of former WHL referee, Chris Schlenker, who currently officiates in the NHL.
4 – Skinning the Cats – The Winterhawks made their 15-hour bus trip to Prince George well worth its while as they waltzed into BC’s Northern Capital and swept a mid-week doubleheader at the CN Centre. After a 5-4 overtime victory Tuesday, Portland overcame a 4-0 deficit with four goals in the final frame, then edged the Cougars 5-4 in a shootout. (Curiously, Schlenker didn’t even dress for either contest.) For Portland, that’s three wins in four nights over Prince George, using three different goaltenders – Ondrej Stebetak on Tuesday and Luke Brunen on Wednesday. But perhaps even more upsetting for the Cats, they’ve dropped four straight games on home ice to the Hawks, including the last three in extra time. Two of those losses came during the western conference final last season. Portland eliminated the Cougars in game six in double overtime.
5 – Four And Oh – Rather a tidy eastern road swing so far for the Everett Silvertips? With four wins in four starts, the Silvertips have actually won six straight games since an opening night loss. Everett needed overtime to edge the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades, then knocked off the Brandon Wheat Kings, 4-1. The Tips then walloped the Regina Pats 5-1 Wednesday night and will wind up their roadie this weekend along the TransCanada Highway with games in Moose Jaw and Swift Current. Landon Dupont, the 15-year-old rookie defenceman has not looked at all out of place. It’s an impressive start for the WHL’s most recent exceptional status player. Dupont is getting it done in opposition rinks, chipping in with four goals and three assists on the road trip through the east division. He leads the WHL with a plus-12 rating.
6 – He’s Baaaack – Great news for the Calgary Hitmen as the Ottawa Senators have returned defenseman Carter Yakemchuk to the WHL. Selected in the first round, seventh overall at the 2024 NHL Draft, Yakemchuk collected seven points in a handful of pre-season games with the Sens. At this point, it’s apparent Ottawa doesn’t want to burn a year on the entry level contract Yakemchuk signed in early August. “A very long, thoughtful process within the whole organization. We went back and forth on that a lot,” Senators head coach Travis Green said of the decision for Yakemchuk to return to the Calgary Hitmen. “We just felt to keep his progression going, what’s best for him as a player – stability for him as well – that it would be best if he went back for one more year of junior and played a big part of his team in Calgary.” I first watched Yakemchuk in Calgary at one the Hitmen games played at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex during the 2022-2023 season. He was the best player on the ice, scoring twice in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Saskatoon Blades. Since then, he’s just continued to get better and better. Yakemchuk, who checks in at 6’4 and 207 pounds, has roots in Fort McMurray, Alberta. He scored 30 goals and added 41 assists last season in 66 WHL games.
7 – Numbers Game – There’s a particular number made famous for many, many years in Medicine Hat. That is; 4,006. That’s the attendance figure the organization enjoyed pretty much every night at the Medicine Hat Arena for decades until the Tigers moved over to Co-Op Place for the 2015-2016 season. During its last season at the old barn, when WHL teams played a 72-game schedule, each of the Tigers 36 home games saw reported attendance of 4,006. Medicine Hat went 45-23-2-2 that season, before losing to the Calgary Hitmen in the second round. The next season, the Tigers averaged 4,248 per home game in their fancy new building, despite missing the playoffs. That’s the highest average for an entire regular season in the history of Co-Op Place. A quick scan at attendance figures reported on the WHL website confirms the Tigers have never reported a population of 4,006 on gameday at the new building. They came close on Saturday night, when 4,010 spectators watched the Tigers drop a 6-3 decision to the defending league champion Moose Jaw Warriors. Think for a moment that if just one foursome had stuck around at the Medicine Hat Country Club that afternoon for a 36-hole day…
8 – Inter-Divisional Play – The Vancouver Giants are the first B.C. Division team touring through Alberta this season, having dropped a game in Calgary before a win in Red Deer. By the time many of us push our chairs away from the table on Thanksgiving Monday, the Giants will have taken care of their business in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Edmonton, and will be on their way home to the friendly confines of the Langley Events Centre. Upon their arrival, they’ll ready for a visit from the Prince Albert Raiders, the first East Division team to travel through British Columbia. Within a couple of weeks, the Giants will also host the Saskatoon Blades and Moose Jaw Warriors. These inter-divisional games are always interesting, and for many players, it’s like a homecoming of sorts and many teams liken these extended road trips to kind of a galvanizing opportunity as well, rife with nifty team building events.
9 – It’s Official – I like to examine game sheets, particularly to get an idea of referee assignments. The WHL utilizes the four-man system, but it’s certainly not uncommon to occasionally see a three-man crew handle duties. There are a few veteran officials I watch, including Jeff Ingram from Langley, British Columbia. Ingram, who I was able to interview during the 2018 WHL Championship Final, worked a pair of games this past weekend, one in Medicine Hat (3-man) and the next day in Calgary (4-man). I have to believe Ingram is viewed as a mentor of sorts, a valued member of the WHL official’s fraternity. Last season, for the second time in his WHL career, he received the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as WHL Official of the Year. Ingram, who has represented the WHL at a ton of international hockey tournaments, received a milestone award in November of 2022 in recognition of working his 650th WHL game. I’ve reached out to the WHL office and director of officiating, Kevin Muench, hoping to chat about some of the officiating nuances and development opportunities the league experiences over the course of its 748-game schedule.
10 – RANDOMS – Nice to see meaningful NHL hockey again. Geez, what’s it been? About 12 weeks? The Edmonton Oilers absorbing an absolute thrashing and the Vancouver Canucks imploding, both on opening night on home ice, should have a couple of fanbases collectively frothing at the mouth. Wonder how talk radio conversations are going today…The Seattle Kraken named Jordan Eberle its team captain, bringing the total to eight NHL teams with a WHL grad wearing the “C”. That’s 25%…According to the WHL, a total of 127 former WHL players appeared on opening day rosters in the NHL…USports Men’s Hockey has been played in earnest for a couple of weeks now. Across Canada, university rosters are flooded with CHL players. This is the best kept secret in hockey. It’s fun to watch, and affordable, too…If you like to dig around online for WHL news, give the “RocketFan” webpage a look. If you can find the September 13 post by Kelowna Rockets play-by-play voice Regan Bartel, he’s included a nifty message to parents. It’s good stuff.
(Glen Erickson is a hockey writer based in Medicine Hat, AB)
