10 WHL Things, Volume XII

By Glen Erickson

1 – Schedule Makers – Gotta love it when certain games pop up on the schedule. It’s as if somebody had a fully functioning crystal ball. Something had to give Sunday in Kennewick, Washington. And it did! The Everett Silvertips, the top team in the Western Hockey League, entered the contest riding a seven-game winning streak, while the Tri City Americans had won eight straight. The two hottest teams in the league went at it and nothing was settled until late in overtime when Jake Sloan tallied on the power play to give the Amerks a 6-5 win. Tri City trailed 5-4 midway through the third frame when Sloan was credited with the tying goal after the puck glanced in off a Silvertips defender. Everett peppered Tri City goalie Lukas Matecha with 59 shots and each team scored once while shorthanded. Tri City improved to 10-3-1, while Everett, at 13-2-1, continues to lead the overall standings with 27 points. The U.S Division rivals do not play again this week until they renew acquaintances again in Kennewick on Friday

2 – Go Blades Go – The Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon Blades are off to a tough start on their road trip through the B.C. Division. The Blades did a terrific job early on this season keeping the puck out of their net, but the dam has perhaps begun to show signs of a leak. After a 7-6 loss in Langley to the Vancouver Giants, the Blades squandered a three-goal third period lead in Victoria to the Royals and gave up the extra point with a shootout loss, 5-4. At 10-3-1-1, it’s still a great start to the season for a team that graduated most of its core group at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign. The Blades will try to place a thumb in the dike Tuesday at the CN Centre in Prince George against the Cougars and forward Tyler Parr will look to extend his four-game goal-scoring streak. The Blades conclude their business in British Columbia with games in Kelowna and Kamloops on the weekend.

3 – An Oversight – I neglected to mention goaltender Reid Dyck of the Swift Current Broncos last week. (Who else did I miss?) The 20-year-old is another WHL veteran who has played over 100 games, appearing in #117 Friday, a 9-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders. Last season, Dyck backstopped the Broncos to the Central Division crown, posting a 25-7-2 record, 2.70 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. The Winkler, Manitoba native checks in at 6’4 and 197 pounds. The Boston Bruins drafted Dyck at the 2022 NHL Draft, 183^rd overall, but did not sign him to an entry level contract.

4 – Anatomy of Game Coverage – There was a time when it was pretty painful for a WHL fan having to wait for newspaper delivery. There was no WHL website with highlight packages. Typically, the highlights might show up the next evening during the suppertime newscast. Back in the day, local newspapers would assign a beat writer who would cover the on- and off-ice adventures for an entire season, if not longer. Gameday preview pieces were the norm, often accompanied by a player feature of some sort to try keep the team in the news and also to create some buzz. There was plenty of informative coverage. The old media wags had perhaps the best seat in the house for the good times, but also those times when a team’s success was rather hard to come by. The writers had a big responsibility, but these days, writing a game coverage story to deadline has almost become a thing of the past.

5 – Game Day – I enjoyed my experiences providing game coverage. Arrive early and more times than not, the home team treated scouts and media to dinner. (In some buildings these days, there might be…maybe…a pot of coffee.) Occasionally, the early arrival was due to an interview request with a member of the visiting team. Then, grab a copy of the game notes and any lineup changes in the press box and catch the pre-game warm up. Mind you, some teams today expect media to print the game notes before arriving at the rink – just download or cut and paste from a .pdf file. Some might call this progress? By puck drop, I’d have two or three lede’s in the works, pending the outcome of the game. “Working” the game consisted of just that; work, which meant sitting on my hands. That’s right. I wasn’t there to be a cheerleader. I was there to work. It was a job. After many years of this, it’s a weird feeling to sit in any rink these days as a fan. I just can’t bring myself to have a dog in any fight.

6 – Three Star Selections – It’s different in every building and it’s almost always contentious. Some teams include the media in the process, and others don’t even tell the fanbase who was involved in the process. My experience in Kelowna was pretty straightforward: a blank ballot was dropped over my shoulder with about six or seven minutes to play. Our selections were made that early! Certainly, the media choices were subject to change by the powers-that-be, especially if a player did something outstanding late in a game or in overtime. On occasion, it seemed our selections were altogether ignored, too. There will always be home team favouritism and almost an expectation of this from many fanbases. For example, a road team could come in and win 12-1 but suppose a 16-year-old rookie scored the home team’s only goal, his first in the league. Chances are, that player gets the nod as the third star. You know, gotta go with that “feel good” pick, eh? Personally, I’d do away with it entirely, although the process would certainly be conspicuous by its absence. And, every team and radio station these days attaches an advertising sponsor to the three-star selection. So yes, I’m stuck with it, as we all are. Queue the constant debate.

7 – World U-17 Challenge – The tournament is just getting started, so early coverage might be a little thin. But don’t despair, TSN will jump on this quickly as part of its working relationship with Hockey Canada. The teams have all settled in at Sarnia, Ontario for the 10-day event. A total of 14 WHL players are participating, with seven on each of the Canada RED and Canada WHITE rosters. Matt Anholt (Lethbridge) and Jeff Harvey (Saskatoon) are part of the Canada RED coaching staff, while Ryan McDonald (Prince Albert) is working with Canada WHITE. The six-team field also includes the United States, Finland, Sweden and Czechia. It’s a neat event, as the players look to establish themselves as future members for other international events as their junior careers progress. When I covered this event in 2019, the year it was shared between the cities of Swift Current and Medicine Hat, WHLers at the event were Logan Stankoven, Nolan Allan, Cole Sillinger, Matt Savoie, Dylan Guenther and Olen Zellweger skated for Canada. Where are they now? And for all you trivia buffs…which of these players has appeared in the most National Hockey League games so far? The Canada WHITE entry won the tourney last year, when Vancouver Giants forward Cameron Schmidt tallied the overtime winner in a 2-1 victory over the USA. The gold medal game is scheduled for Saturday.

8 – The Business Side – Word out of Kennewick, WA confirms the Americans have expanded their ownership group with the addition of Jon Sortland and Daryl Henry. Reports indicate Sortland will assume a majority share. This doesn’t appear to significantly impact the hockey operations but seems focused somewhat on a desire to enhance the organization’s sales and marketing efforts. Bob Tory will continue in his role as general manager and governor, while head coach Stu Barnes had this to say, “We have a resurgent team this season along with a deep prospect pool which hopefully will translate into winning seasons for our fans for several years to come. This is the right time to expand and reinvigorate our ownership group with the addition of Jon and Daryl.” Tory, Barnes and Olaf Kolzig retain their minority share, while Henry, who played over 200 WHL games in the early 1980’s, will also acquire a minority ownership stake. The Americans announced it has also signed a new six-year lease with the Toyota Centre.

9 – Division Leaders – We’re not quite at the quarter-pole in the regular season schedule, but the division leaders are the Silvertips, Cougars, Rebels and Blades. Does any of this surprise you? For me, it’s the two Eastern Conference leaders. As mentioned earlier, Saskatoon graduated some big pieces after last season, so I figured a bit of a downturn might result. I liked Swift Current to be a force in the East Division this season and after some early struggles, the Broncos have won seven of their last 10. Red Deer only has a one-point lead on the Medicine Hat Tigers and is two points ahead of Lethbridge. The difference so far is the Rebels are 4-1 against the Tigers this season. Red Deer gets its road trip through the U.S. Division started Friday in Wenatchee, so we’ll see what the Rebels have to offer against some of the top teams in the league.  

10 – RANDOMS – As my journey begins through a few “open carry” States, I’m looking forward to the vibe south of the border. Reality is, IMO, like most election results these days, half of the people will still be cheesed off! Other than the 40% surcharge I’ll pay every time I open my wallet, I love the American people. Always have. Should be interesting…Of the aforementioned ex-WHLers who played on Canadian entries at the 2019 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, Cole Sillinger has played in the most NHL games, a total of 231 for the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s not even close. Dylan Guenther is next, having played in 90 NHL games with Arizona/Utah…A fun-filled football frenzy across Canada Saturday. Love the Canadian Football League matchups; Argos at Alouettes. Roughriders at Blue Bombers. Thank goodness for SiriusXM Radio. The downside with Canada Talks, Channel 167, is having to listen to the home broadcasters. Go ‘Riders!…University of Regina Rams visiting Saskatoon to take on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday for the Hardy Cup. Who’d have thunk it possible? Go Dawgs!..The Okanagan Sun travel to Ontario to take on the St. Clair Saints in the Canadian Bowl Saturday. I enjoyed covering the Sun at the Apple Bowl for the Kelowna Daily Courier during my days in the Okanagan Valley. Go Sun! Bring your A-game!

(Glen Erickson is a hockey writer based in Medicine Hat, AB)