10 WHL Playoff Things From Glen Erickson, Volume XXX

Weekend 1 of the playoffs was enjoyable for Western Hockey league fans, methinks. There was crazy overtime, high energy, key injuries, occasional nastiness, boisterous crowds, an upset, and some fisticuffs. There’s more to come! Let’s go East to West this week:

1 – Triple O – Friday was a late night for play-by-play men Rob Mahon (Brandon) and Brad Curle (Calgary) Friday at the Saddledome where the Wheat Kings and Hitmen didn’t settle things in Game 1 until about 11:30pm. It was a scoreless tie until Ethan Moore ripped a shot past Wheaties netminder Filip Ruzicka early in the third overtime period as Calgary skated off with a 1-0 victory. The 18-year-old from Czechia made 64 saves on the night. Calgary goaler Eric Tu, 17, earned the victory with a 49-save shutout. Wow! And just to fascinate so many DUB fans, the teams combined for 11 goals Sunday in Calgary’s 6-5 overtime win. Moore tallied the game winner again and Julien Maze had six points! By the time this piece is posted, the teams will have likely completed the 10-plus-hours drive from Alberta to Manitoba where Games 3 & 4 go Tuesday and Thursday in Virden.

2 – Surprise – I didn’t see the Saskatoon Blades giving Edmonton such a tough time. Saskatoon edged the Oil Kings 3-2 Friday before the teams took Saturday off in Edmonton, perhaps to enjoy the Oilers/Ducks NHL game. Neither team seemed to be giving up much in the defending zone and when that’s the case, it tends to suggest both sides are playing some damn tough hockey. Then along came the four-goal flurry in the third period of game two Sunday afternoon. The Oil Kings went ahead 3-1, but the Blades scored twice in the last three minutes to send the contest to extra time. Ethan McKenzie scored late in the first overtime period, a power play tally that may have actually saved the Oil Kings season. Blades goaltender Evan Gardner now has a 5-4 career record in playoff games decided in overtime. The teams are deadlocked at a game apiece heading to SaskTel Centre for a couple of mid-week tilts. By the time the contest Wednesday comes to an end, it’ll mark a run of three games in four nights before the squads motor back to Edmonton for game five Friday.

3 – Gas City Woes – I’m sure the upstart Regina Pats have no idea what kind of a ruckus they created in southeastern Alberta by actually winning a game in Medicine Hat. There are those among the Tigers faithful who have absolutely lit their hair on fire since the Pats well-deserved 4-2 win on Saturday to even the series at a game apiece. Any road team will tell you they don’t mind winning ugly and on Saturday, the Pats delivered exactly the kind of desperate performance many Tigers fans didn’t see coming. Pats netminder Marek Schlenker was very good on the night, but his mates played very well in front of him. Can they sustain this for another week? Shots on goal were 23-20 in the Tigers favour, an uncharacteristically low number for Medicine Hat at Co-Op Place. I haven’t been able to locate the blocked shots stats. Medicine Hat played without veterans Cam Parr and Luke Cozens, both of whom take pressure off the top six forwards. Can the Pats sustain the kind of suffocating play that clearly frustrated the Tigers? Frankly, the defending league champs just have to be better. And they can be. They’ve proven it since September. I think the upside from the loss is another night of gate receipts for the organization at Co-Op Place.

4 – It’s A Business – Speaking of gate receipts, how about the turnstiles at the CN Centre in Prince George? A total of 11,402 fans for the first two games, a pair of wins by the Cougars over the Spokane Chiefs. High end defenceman Carson Carels was injured Friday in an awkward looking collision and did not play for PG Saturday. The Chiefs may have deserved a better fate in game two, a 3-2 loss, but Cougars goaltender Josh Ravensbergen stole the show. Down in the Okanagan Valley, both Penticton and Kelowna took care of business on home ice. The Vees survived a scare in game one, prevailing over Seattle in overtime, 3-2, before dispatching the Thunderbirds 4-1 Saturday. The Rockets knocked of the Blazers 3-1 and 5-1, but I think they can expect a real good push from the home side when they arrive at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops this week.

5 – The Champs – The conference winners did what was expected on home ice. Everett sent its supporters home happy, taking both games against Portland, outscoring the Winterhawks 8-1 and 4-1. A total of 11,650 patrons witnessed the carnage at Angel of the Winds Arena on the weekend, so I expect a raucous environment in Portland this week. Over in Prince Albert, I’m confident the Raiders would surely love to be able to accommodate more fans than the limit at the Art Hauser Centre. This is the time of year where the fanbase in Hockeytown North can make life miserable for the opposition. Prince Albert, the Eastern Conference champions, took care of the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-1 and 6-0.

6 – WHL Draft Lottery – The upside with the lottery approach is, to a large degree, the elimination of an organization’s penchant to tank in an effort to secure the first overall pick. And so it evolved last week that the draft lottery did in fact result in the team with the league’s worst record awarded the first overall pick at the 2026 WHL Draft. When the Wenatchee Wild’s logo appeared on the ping pong ball at WHL headquarters, I’m sure the powers-that-be with the Kelowna Rockets erupted in celebration. The Rockets acquired the Hurricanes 2026 first round pick at the trade deadline during the 2024-2025 season. That particular deal is worth re-visiting, as the trade tree will be growing until well into 2028. Wenatchee moved up two spots from fourth to second in the draft order. That was a bonus for the Vancouver Giants, who acquired the Wild’s pick back in 2023 in a deal with the then Winnipeg ICE. Vancouver still has its own first round pick and will select fourth overall as well. The silver lining for Wenatchee is it will pick third, thanks to a deal it made with the Swift Current Broncos in 2024. Remember Connor Geekie?

7 – The Trade Tree – On January 6, 2025, the Kelowna Rockets traded defenceman Caden Price (now signed by the Seattle Kraken) for defenceman Will Sharpe, the rights to goalie Harrison Boettiger, the ‘Canes 2026 first round pick and a 2025 fourth round pick. The tentacles of the deal will now reach into 2028. It’s a little tricky to track down who the Rockets chose with that fourth rounder. Boettiger signed with Kelowna and is now clearly its number one netminder. Sharpe was dealt to the Vancouver Giants at the trade deadline this season for overage forward Ty Halaburda and a couple of 2028 draft picks. With the Hurricanes finishing last in the 2025-2026 standings, Kelowna has also secured the first overall pick at the 2026 WHL Draft. Looks like a pretty good haul! Forwards Parker McMillan from Vancouver and Madden Daneault from Red Deer appear to be the top two prospects in the 2011 draft class. McMillan just completed his second year in the Yale Hockey Academy program. Daneault has two brothers. Easton (2008) played 67 games this past season for the Hurricanes and after next season is destined for Merrimack College where Ty Daneault (2004) just completed his third NCAA campaign.

8 – WHL Draft – Interesting twist for 2026 as the WHL will not hold a U.S. Priority Draft. In past years, WHL teams didn’t select U.S.-born players in the annual draft. (It used to be the WHL Bantam Draft, then just the WHL Draft, but now it’s the WHL Prospects Draft. The only thing missing is a corporate sponsor!) Basically, the league is just merging the two drafts. The first round goes May 6, with the remainder taking place May 7. The league office provided a release, which you can see on its website. There is a long list of States where WHL draft eligible players can reside. Give it a look when you can.

9 – Fun With Numbers – With props to the eminently self-absorbed Dr. Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory fame and his quality podcast, “Fun with Flags”, let’s talk DUB attendance. With 782 games officially in the books, average attendance worked out to 4,144 per game. According to the WHL website, last season through 748 games it was 4,174 per date. For the 2025-2026 campaign, the league added 34 more games to account for a 23^rd team, the Penticton Vees. The Vees drew an average of 3,446 per game at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Only five teams drew fewer fans on average per contest, including the usual suspects in a couple of the league’s smallest markets. A total of eight teams drew above the league average. The top five were Edmonton (7,645), Spokane (6,781), Everett (6,567) and Portland (5,161) and Kelowna (4,664). So, here’s some long-hand, very rudimentary math. Take the league average of 4,144 attending 34 games. That’s 140,896 seats filled. Assume an average of $25 per seat, though that number might be high. A team attracting the league average might potentially be generating $3,522,400 in ticket revenue…$103,600 per game. There are of course, a bunch of other variables and in a few markets, these numbers are just not attainable. It’s tough to get a handle on the expenses side but travel certainly brings with it significant costs. But it begs the question, is that really a lot of money? In some markets, it would be big coin. How would others see it? I dunno.

10 – Officiating – I suppose it will never end, the non-stop criticism of almost anything and everything that relates to referees and how they do their jobs. The chirp typically comes from those who have never put themselves in the very situation they purport to completely understand, and it’s prevalent from the broadcast booth, too. Just walk around the concourse at a hockey game between periods and listen for some of the commentary from some who wouldn’t know a byline from a clothesline. It’s embarrassing. I’ve always said that I never, ever, want to have to watch a game where the officials make as many mistakes as the players. I am keenly aware as to how it would look, because I have been the guy in black and white. I’ve worked exciting, entertaining, competitive, uneventful contests and also those exhausting matchups where I wasn’t entirely on my game. I completely understand the nauseating feeling associated with being out of position, unlike the mouthpieces in the stands whose only decision on the night is which butt cheek to rest on. I also entirely understand what it’s like to get caught in no man’s land, unable to avoid a collision or escape a puck on a shoot in. Taking a puck in the ass, or the ribs, is a jolt, and somehow seems amusing to fans. A little extra entertainment for your $25, eh? An official knows when they’re going to get drilled and the instinct is to turn away. An old buddy of mine used to say, TFB! Of course, I know every hockey fan thinks they know what this acronym means. But, they would be wrong, again. TFB? Turn. Face. Brace. The referees will always have my support, and I’ll voice that support whether applauding their excellence or acknowledging the dejection that comes along with a sub-par performance.

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