10 WHL Things, Volume XXXII

By Glen Erickson

We’ll have to bulk up a bit on the word count this week as we tie a bow on the 2024-2025 Western Hockey League regular season, then ready for the playoffs…and beyond! (Where’s Buzz Lightyear when we need him?) The entire league clipped along at a fever pitch through March, providing major junior hockey supporters with meaningful matchups down the stretch. Surprises? Probably not so much, but tremendously entertaining divisional rivalries, nonetheless. Proceed with caution!

1 – Road Trips, Western Style – Readers of a certain vintage will remember the great 1967 tune by The Who; I Can See for Miles. It’s a catchy refrain and might aptly describe an upcoming western conference road trip for the Portland Winterhawks and Prince George Cougars. It’s a rematch of last year’s conference final and the Cougars, by virtue of its fourth-place finish in the standings, will have home ice advantage for this first round series. Regardless, both teams will endure the 12.5-hour drive (plus time for pitstops and the border crossing) between the cities at least twice. It’s a monstrous road trip aboard modern-day versions of the old iron lung. Hence the 2-3-2 format. That’s a minimum of about 24 hours driving time for each team. I don’t see either of them sweeping the series and if it goes at least six games, that means even more roadwork! I wonder how many teams in the Ontario Hockey League spend that much time on the bus during an entire post-season? Spokane and Vancouver? Victoria and Tri City? Neither one is a short trek by any means. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Everett Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds play only 45 minutes apart. Mind you, given the traffic in the Pacific Northwest, on a bad day it’s a road trip that can become a two- to three-hour proposition.

2 – Road Trips, Eastern Style – The Eastern Conference series that pits the Brandon Wheat Kings against the Lethbridge Hurricanes will result in the longest travel times in the first round. It’s about 9.5 hours, plus pit stops, but the teams will stick to the 2-2-1-1-1 format. However, the Wheaties might get the boot from Westoba Place for a few days due to the annual Manitoba Winter Fair, so their home games could be played elsewhere. In the past, they’ve played in Virden, Manitoba. And perhaps it’s a just reward for finishing in first place, as the Medicine Hat Tigers will endure a comfortable two-hour commute to face off against the Swift Current Broncos. Of course, the Broncos have played the Tigers tough this season. Saskatoon and Calgary? Prince Albert and Edmonton? Neither one is a short roady. The boys will certainly be pounding the pavement!

3 – Talkin’ About Playoffs – Are you dialed in to the new Victory+ streaming service yet? Every WHL playoff game is available free of charge and the working relationship between the league and provider is set for next season, too. I hope the production and delivery of the games is as seamless as possible. Give the press release a look on the Dub’s website. An interesting tidbit in the release from the league office indicated that “classic games from the WHL archives” will be available. Can you think of one you’d love to watch again? For me, the WHL final series in the spring of 1984, game six, Pats and Blazers at the old Memorial Arena in Kamloops, though I’ll wager you can’t find an 8mm tape of the game and nobody in Regina would care to live through it again.

4 – Outside Looking In – Moose Jaw, Regina, Kelowna, Kamloops, Wenatchee and Red Deer will all miss the post season. The silver lining comes in form of a lottery draft pick in May at the 2025 WHL Draft. If I understand the lottery rules, only the Warriors, Pats and Rockets have a shot at the first overall pick, depending how the bingo balls fall. As it stands, Moose Jaw has the first overall pick, but that belongs to the Edmonton Oil Kings through a trade. Regina has its own pick and is second, while Kelowna is third and also has its own pick. Kamloops is fourth, but that pick was dealt to Everett. Wenatchee is penciled in fifth, but that pick belongs to Vancouver. At number six, Red Deer owns its pick.

5 – Goalies – A handful of goaltenders, among many, really earned their keep this season. Overager Max Hildebrand of the Prince Albert Raiders appeared in 55 games and played perhaps the best hockey of his WHL career during the second half of the season. He compiled a 33-16-5 record, 2.87 goals against average and .918 save percentage. Not surprisingly, Hildebrand led the league in minutes played, shots against and total saves. For my money, he is the Raiders MVP and perhaps worthy of the nod as the top goaltender the eastern conference this season. Another veteran keeper, Jackson Unger, appeared in 54 games, split between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Lethbridge Hurricanes. Upon arriving in Lethbridge via trade on December 3, Unger appeared in 33 of the ‘Canes 43 games, compiling a 22-7-2-1 record, 2.42 goals against average and .909 save percentage. He backstopped the Warriors to a league title last season. Other goalies to appear in 50 or more games are Dawson Cowan of the Spokane Chiefs, Josh Ravensbergen of the Prince George Cougars and Chase Wutzke of the Red Rebels. The league record for appearances in one season belongs to NHL hall of fame netminder Grant Fuhr, who played in 67 games for the Victoria Cougars during the 1980-81 season. Cowan led all goalies with 34 victories.

6 – McKenna Effect – This season and last, superstar Gavin McKenna has been the centre of attention in southeastern Alberta along the Trans Canada Highway. Indeed, “the draw”, if you will. McKenna has been a shining star, an incredibly skilled forward capable of dominating games offensively against players two or three years his senior. Through 133 regular season games, the now 17-year-old (he’ll celebrate his 18^th birthday in mid-December!) has scored 79 goals and added 165 assists. The consensus first overall pick at the 2026 NHL Draft, McKenna delivers pretty much every night out. But, the question begs asking; do attendance numbers demonstrate some kind of “McKenna Effect”? The largest reported attendance ever for a Tigers home game at Co-Op Place is 6,405. (More on that below!) This past weekend, even though it was reported as a sellout, attendance was pegged at 6,246 for the Tigers final regular season home game. According to the WHL website, the Tigers averaged 3,865 through 34 home games this season. It should be noted that based on 2023 statistics, the trading area surrounding the Gas City consists of about 80,000 people, and in my opinion, NHL buildings aside, Medicine Hat possesses what may very well be the top major junior hockey facility in the entire WHL. Co-Op Place, originally named Canalta Centre, began hosting Tigers games at the beginning of the 2015-2016 season. For those who watched McKenna game in and game out, they know they’ve witnessed some pure junior hockey genius.

7 – Bedard Effect – Rewind a couple of years and reflect on Connor Bedard’s final WHL season. As a member of the Pats, Bedard’s presence had a tremendous effect on attendance at the Brandt Centre in Regina. The facility is about the same size as Co-Op Place, though perhaps not quite as modern even after some nifty renovations. The trading area population in and around Regina was reported to be about 250,000 in 2021. Logically, the larger pool of junior hockey fans in the Queen City would have an impact at the gate, where the Pats averaged 4,501 per game and routinely drew over 5,400 fans during the second half of Bedard’s final WHL season. There were five sellouts, reported at 6,499 per game. In comparison, on a percentage basis given the vast difference in the size of the two markets, Medicine Hat fans show pretty darn good support. Curiously, this little fact just in…from the twilight zone: the largest attendance for a Tigers game in the history of Co-Op Place occurred on March 11, 2023, when 6,405 supporters showed up to watch the hosts entertain the Regina Pats, led by Connor Bedard.

8 – Movin’ On Up – The Penticton Vees will jump from tier two junior – or do we prefer Junior A – to join the WHL for the 2025-2026 season. Without getting too deeply into the “wherefore’s and hereto’s”, all parties involved have announced the league expansion process. Perhaps lost in much of the conjecture and speculation over the past few months, at least to some degree, was the involvement of Hockey Canada. The Vees organization and the entire BCHL walked away from Hockey Canada sanctioned programs a while back, so the national governing body was required to give its blessing to this expansion manoeuvre. It was probably a formality, but there have been some hurt feelings along the way. “The Penticton Vees will be bound by Hockey Canada’s existing player transfer regulations as well as WHL regulations”, said the press release. The city of Chilliwack is also in the mix, as a franchise application for the 2026-2027 season has been initiated. If you’re interested in a bit of a “who’s who” concerning the Penticton ownership group, a detailed and informative release is available on the WHL website.

9 – Details, Details, Details – The Vees will participate in an expansion draft on May 7, and also the 2025 WHL Draft. So, how will it all be dialed in for the Draft? Will the WHL expand the first round and award Penticton the 23^rd pick? Will the league leave the first round “as is”, then include Penticton in round two and onward? When the Everett Silvertips began play in the league for the 2003-2004 season, the team was allowed five 20-year-old players, so is this concept perhaps in the works again? Or, does the league just decide to expand the number of overage players across the board? Perhaps the league will expand the number of import players it allows? Why not make the player pool a large as possible? One would think these kinds of changes would require some consultation and agreement with the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

10 – RANDOMS – Andrew Cristall of the Spokane Chiefs won the scoring race with 48 goals and 84 assists, good for 132 points. Gavin McKenna was second with 128 points. He finished the season on a 40-game point-scoring streak. During the streak he scored 32 goals and 68 assists. Those 100 points alone would have been good for a sixth -place tie in the scoring race with Calgary’s Oliver Tulk, who coincidentally finished the season with a total of 32 goals and 68 assists…Did Teydon Trembecky just complete the quietest 88-point season we’ve ever seen? The trade deadline splash made by the Victoria Royals raised eyebrows across the WHL, but Trembecky’s offensive outburst may be the real second-half story from Vancouver Island. Coming off a 21-point campaign a year ago, the 19-year-old Sherwood Park-native tallied 46 goals and 42 assists this season. That would adequately define the phrase “breakout season”…If you’re at all curious about the short-term future of the WHL, cruise over to the league’s website and have a look at the quality of the top-20 rookies scorers. Indeed, the league and its fans are in for a treat…The playoff series I really want to see? Edmonton and Medicine Hat. If the stars align, it could happen in round two. Absolutely zero love lost after a rambunctious regular season. I suspect at this point the teams are a little shy on mutual respect…Daniel Hauser owns the WHL career record for regular season wins by a goaltender. Hauser has earned a total of 123 wins with Winnipeg (78), Wenatchee (23) and Calgary (22). It may well have become 124, but Hauser was banged up in the first period against Red Deer Saturday night and the Calgary victory was awarded to his fill-in, Anders Miller. Hauser also did not play in the season finale against the Medicine Hat Tigers. He bypassed former Saskatoon netminder Nolan Maier, who collected 122 wins, all as a member of the Blades. A look at the list of WHL goalies who have won at least 100 career games shows us that 19 Canadians and three Americans have accomplished the feat. Two of them – Cam Ward and Martin Jones – have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup…A tip of the chapeau to a trio of WHL officials. Referee Taylor Burzminski (Alberta) and linesman Mitchell Gibbs (B.C.) were part of the officiating team at the 2025 USPORTS Men’s Hockey Championship last week in Ottawa. On the women’s side in Elmira, Ontario, WHL official Alexandra Clarke (Saskatchewan) worked the national championship tournament…Round one in the WHL playoffs is historically not well-attended. There have been anomalies over the years, but the fever pitch doesn’t really kick in until the second and third rounds. Regardless, post-season revenue in a ticket revenue drive league is a big deal for every organization. Have you bought a ticket?

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