10 WHL Things By Glen Erickson, Volume X

If you happen to give this space your time periodically, thanks for stopping by. But just to clarify, you’re not going to see nightly game reports, nor am I going to delve too far into things like all the line combinations we might glean from game notes. Nope. It’ll be more random topics and some spit-balling, more historical Western Hockey League facts, figures and memories, along with other sporting world musings. Regarding current-day WHL players, I will not call out the youngsters. But my expectations of veteran WHLers are very, very high. I will wholeheartedly treat commentary about a 19-year-old with an NHL entry level contract and signing bonus in his back pocket differently than that of a 16-year-old rookie. Why? Because clearly, they are different. Here we go!

1. DUB Randoms – The Kamloops Blazers waltzed into Spokane last week and hammered the Chiefs, 8-2. Neither team scored in the third period. The Chiefs outshot the Blazers, 43-20 … And it’s over. Riley Boychuk was held off the scoresheet in the Raiders’ 2-1 victory in Lethbridge over the Hurricanes. That stopped his point scoring streak at 13 games, the second-longest in the WHL this season behind the 14-game heater produced by Prince George Cougars forward Kooper Gizowski … The Raiders dropped a 6-2 decision to the Tri City Americans in Kennewick, Washington Saturday, their first loss in regulation time this season. The Americans (8-7-1) are undefeated in four straight games, including three consecutive wins. After a dismal 1-5 start, Tri City is 7-2-1 in its last 10 games … Speaking of turnarounds, the Brandon Wheat Kings have compiled a 7-3 record in its last 10 games. Now 8-8-1, the Wheaties have begun to find the back of the net with some frequency, especially on the power play. Brandon leads the league at a clip of 40.4% efficiency. If there is a downside, its PK is third worst in the DUB … Still with the Wheaties, it did take awhile but it would appear the real Luke Mistelbacher has indeed arrived. The 20-year-old forward, who tallied 42 times last season as a member of the Swift Current Broncos, has been on a tear of late with 16 points in his last seven games. The Steinbach, Manitoba native has jumped back into the WHL scoring race, now fifth with 28 points. Teammate Jaxon Jacobson, with five goals and 27 assists is two points back of scoring leader J.P. Hulburt of the Kamloops Blazers … Defenceman Luke Vlooswyk played in his 100^th WHL game Wednesday. The Red Deer Rebels rearguard was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the fifth round, 157^th overall, at the 2025 NHL Draft…The Everett Silvertips (14-1-2) would appear to have a decision to make pertaining to its compliment of overage players. Newly acquired forward Rylan Gould played on the weekend, along with Zachary Schantz and Nolan Chastko. Does this mean defenceman Rylan Pearce is the odd man out? … My game of the week coming up? I like Edmonton (14-4-1-1) at Kamloops (8-7-2-2), Tuesday afternoon at the Sandman Centre. It’s the Oil Kings first game on its road trip through the BC Division and they are not entirely healthy. I’m still trying to figure out what the Blazers are all about, but this is a group with definite offensive skills … The Kelowna Rockets parted ways with Kanjyu Gojsic, sending the 17-year-old forward to and a draft pick to the Edmonton Oil Kings for a pair of draft picks. Gojsic, a speedster whose 19-year-old brother, Hiroki, remains on the Rockets roster, is likely to join the Oil Kings as they embark on their road trip through the BC Division next week. Edmonton visits Prospera Place in Kelowna November 19 … But the big deal of the day saw the Rockets acquire 20-year-old Shane Smith from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, along with 18-year-old import forward Vojtech Cihar. Going the other way are Kayden Longley, Grayson Bauer five future draft picks, two of them conditional and I winder if those might relate to whether or not Cihar, a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings at the 2025 NHL Draft, lands in Kelowna at some point this season from his professional league gig in Czechia. The Rockets host the Hurricanes at Prospera Place in Kelowna on Friday … Lynden Lakovic of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who leads the DUB with 17 goals, has managed a point in 11 straight games (12-6; 18), which is the longest active streak in the league. Portland Winterhawks forwards Ryan Miller (5-9; 14) is also on an 11-game heater … A total of 24 hat tricks in the DUB so far. Only Mistelbacher and Caden Brown of the Regina Pats have turned the trick twice … Spokane (9-9) has the best record in the DUB among teams that have yet to lose when leading after 40 minutes. The Chiefs are 8-0-0-0. The Prince George Cougars (11-7) are next at 6-0.
2. Home Team – I grew up in Saskatoon, yes, a Blades fan, and I continue to wait with diminishing patience for the organization to deliver its first WHL championship. It’s been excruciating, about 60 years and counting. So, don’t for one minute believe that I was ever an enthusiastic fan of the Medicine Hat Tigers. However, I now reside in the Gas City, and we absolutely love this gem of a city on the Prairies! So, yes, you will get a healthy dose of Tigers talk from time to time, but part of that also relates to just how dog-gone successful the organization has been over the years.
3. Statistics and Records – When one’s “games played” numbers are compiled and discussed it is common practice to reference only “regular season” games. It’s just the way it’s been done for years and years. That’s fine by me, relative to some statistical categories, but not “games played”. I don’t know for certain what the rationale is and I’m not sure I really care. I have to ask — is it fair to consider games in the post-season are often tougher games to play? While every game can be considered important, those in the post-season are typically more intense. It can be an elimination game. Or a championship game. There is so much at stake! Yet, people who are smarter than me don’t count these in the career games played calculations. Fair enough, I suppose, but I can live with being the contrarian.
4. The “400 Club” – How many WHLers have reached the 400 games played plateau? The WHL record book confirms the answer is “zero”. But my “400 Club” has five members. Top billing goes to Tri City Americans forward Justin Feser, who played a total of 414 career games between 2008 and 2013. That included 351 regular season contests and 63 during the playoffs. Feser proved the adage the best ability is availability. Or at least in part, durability? Next up is Glen Goodall, who is referred to in the record books as the all-time leader in career games played with 399. It’s an incredible accomplishment and Goodall, from Thompson, Manitoba, did play some games as a 14-year-old before the league rules were amended. For his career with the Seattle Thunderbirds between 1984 and 1990, he skated in a paltry total of 14 playoff games. By my count that’s a combined career total of 413 games. Rounding out my “400 Club” are Brad Moran (Calgary, 1996-2000; 357/52…409), Brandin Cote (Spokane, 1996-2002; 352/52..404). At this juncture, I have to ask; what do you notice about these four players? Indeed, they each played their entire careers with the same WHL organization. Number five on my list is Dwight Mullins (1982-1988; 353/49…402) split between the Lethbridge Broncos, Calgary Wranglers and Saskatoon Blades. Mullins (1983-Lethbridge) and Moran (1999-Calgary) played on teams that won a WHL Championship. The games they played in the Memorial Cup do not appear in their career totals. By the way, if perhaps I missed anybody, please chime in and send along the evidence.
5. Woo Who! – The whole career games discussions began when I was messing around the WHL website. I wondered how many career games Jonas Woo of the Medicine Hat Tigers has played, because he is the current leader among active WHL players in playoff games played. Frankly, he’s been in the league for so long I actually thought he was an overager this season! But he’ll celebrate his 19^th birthday November 19. He has already played in 58 post-season games: 34 with the Winnipeg ICE, six with the Wenatchee Wild and 18 with the Tigers. Viewing those search results dovetailed into a peak at how many games his older brother played in the DUB. Jett Woo, now 25, was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 2018 and last season was a member of the Calder Cup winning Abbottsford Canucks. He played in a total of 242 WHL regular season games and 30 in the playoffs for a total of 272, split between the Calgary Hitmen and Moose Jaw Warriors. Coincidentally this past weekend, Jonas played in his 214^th regular season game Friday when the Tigers dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to their division rival Edmonton Oil Kings. If you add his aforementioned playoff games total to his regular season total, the tilt against the Oil Kings was #272! I posted these details last Thursday morning on a Medicine Hat Tigers Facebook page and it drew plenty of attention. A couple hours later that day, I dropped by Tigers practice to chat with Jonas Woo, but he was absent, said to be at a dental appointment. Regardless, I think it’s a pretty cool achievement and the Woo brothers should be very proud! And by the way, between 1989 and 1991 their father, Larry Woo, played in 98 WHL games split between the Victoria Cougars and Swift Current Broncos.
6. The “Fraze” That Pays – Is it ever fun to connect with some of the good guys in the league. I spoke with Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer last week and each time I do, I wonder how this young man is not a head coach in the league yet. Regarding Woo, the coach didn’t mince words. “Yeah, I think the biggest thing about Jonas, he’s such a competitor,” Frazer said. “He wants to win so bad. He’s willing to do whatever it takes for the team. We’ve had him as a forward, on the penalty kill, we’ve had him on the bumper on the power play. I just think he’s kind of a throwback guy. He’s just a hockey player. He’s willing to play any position that helps the team. Just his competitive spirit, he brings it every day. And, you know, he’s a smaller guy, but the way he plays, he plays like he’s 6’5!” Medicine Hat acquired Woo from Wenatchee, which was formerly the Winnipeg ICE. “When you look at the trades we made two summers ago, we brought in Woo and (Bryce) Pickford,” Frazer said. “Both guys had tremendous playoff experience as 16-year-olds. Pickford (Seattle) won the championship and Woo (Winnipeg) was in the final against him. So, that was a big part of why we brought them in, that experience they went through as young guys. They’ve been on good teams. Obviously Woozy has a ton of playoff experience, and that definitely helped our group last season.” Through 12 games, Woo has scored 10 goals and eight assists while compiling a plus-14 rating. With 49 games remaining this season, if Woo stays healthy and then plays in the DUB next season as a 20-year-old, he projects to at least 390 career games played. A couple of good playoff runs, and he’ll join my “400 Club”!
7. Another Brother Act – This one caught my eye this past weekend when the Prince Albert Raiders rolled into Spokane Friday and knocked off the Chiefs, 5-2. The win improved Prince Albert’s record to 12-0-3. Alisher Sarkenov tallied the empty-netter for the Raiders. Through his first 10 WHL games, Sarkenov (6’, 172 pounds) has chipped in with four goals and eight assists and a plus-10 rating. Prince Albert selected Sarkenov in the second round, 107^th overall, at the 2025 CHL Import Draft. He’ll celebrate his 18^th birthday December 15. Meanwhile, Assanali Sarkenov chipped in with an assist for the Chiefs. The import skater, selected by Spokane in the first round, 20^th overall at the 2024 CHL Import Draft, emerged last season as a reliable forward, scoring 10 goals and 17 assists in 52 games last season. During the Chiefs long playoff run, Sarkenov (6’4, 198 pounds) scored nine times and added five assists. He played for his home country at the 2025 WJC. Undrafted by an NHL team, the 19-year-old earned a pretty good look at Colorado Avalanche rookie camp in September. Alisher and Assanili are from Astana, Kazakhstan. Indeed, the Sarkenov brothers are traveling a long and impressive, global, hockey road map.
8. Suspensions – According to the WHL, Swift Current Broncos head coach Dean DeSilva has been suspended “pending investigation of a matter related to the WHL Standards of Conduct during an on-ice practice”. Of course, people want to know what happened. As a guy who watched many a coach and phys-ed teacher back in the day exercise his authority in creative, vulgar and physical ways, I do wonder what a coach might say or do “these days” that would constitute a code of conduct breach? Hey, if it’s something utterly inappropriate or nefarious, then sure, rain hellfire. I’ll never advocate mistreating a player or fellow coach. So, a question here from the cheap seats; how is any coach expected to handle a player these days who might be dragging his ass through a drill or two? Does he boot the player off the ice, then listen to the chirp it’s not an effective solution because it takes away from time devoted to a player’s development? Or does he keep the butt-dragger on the ice, where his antics or disinterest can distract and hinder the development of the rest of the group? I dunno. It all seems so dicey these days. I’m confident we will not find out what happened, given modern day privacy issues, but for now it’s DeSilva’s reputation taking the hit, based on speculation. There’s nothing private about that, is there? There are so many people these days who rail on about privacy, yet they don’t seem to mind putting their lives on public display across social media platforms. I don’t know the answer. I’m not sure there ever will be an answer. But we have to trust the league to get it right.
9. Duncan MacPherson (1966-1989) – Many junior hockey fans, particularly those in my hometown of Saskatoon, will remember when the news hit us regarding the passing of former Blades defenceman, Duncan MacPherson. Drafted by the New York Islanders in the first round, 20^th overall, at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, MacPherson battled injuries throughout his brief pro career and eventually opted to give coaching a try in Scotland. En route to the gig, he took a bit of a tour through Europe and sadly, never arrived at his destination. Please give the documentary “Death on the Glacier” your time. It’s about 45 minutes long and you’ll have to navigate English subtitles. I also own a copy of the book chronicling the case, “Cold a Long Time – An Alpine Mystery” (2012) by John Leake. Duncan’s parents, Bob and Lynda who still reside in Saskatoon, have poured their hearts and souls into the pursuit of facts and justice, and I admire their dogged determination. It’s a riveting look at what may or may not have been an accidental death, and I cannot help but view Austrian authorities through rather a jaded lens. You’ll need to use the password “duncan” once you access the documentary via this link: https://vimeo.com/1097365754?share=copy

Randoms – Are you a CFL fan? Do you remember where you were November 29, 2009? It was my 47^th birthday and I celebrated in part by coughing up $400 to sit in Section G, Row 9, Seat 18 on the 35-yard line at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The losing team in the Grey Cup game that day never trailed in the contest while there was time on the play clock. Hence, the 112^th edition of the CFL’s championship game will have my undivided attention when the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes exchange pleasantries in Winnipeg on Sunday … Am I the only football fan wondering how the Roughriders were able to contain Lions defensive end, Matthieu Betts? He’s a load, a game-breaker, the regular season sack leader, but he was invisible for the most part, noticeable almost only when he cramped up in the game’s final minutes … If I remember correctly, Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander began his incredible winning streak in the CFL at Mosaic Stadium on a Friday night in August, 2023, the game Saskatchewan placekicker Brett Lauther whiffed on four or five field goal attempts. Alexander started that game in place of injured Cody Fajardo, who many in Riderville really wanted to watch as Montreal’s number one quarterback that night. Since then, Alexander has been superb and despite injuries, hasn’t lost a start. It is becoming apparent though, that each time out it seems his hat size increases. Regardless, the kid’s earned it … How about those University of Saskatchewan Huskies? For about three quarters Saturday in Saskatoon, they looked like a group that had no business vying for a Hardy Cup. Then, curiously, something odd happened to the University of Regina Rams. The switch flipped in this one and the Huskies prevailed 25-24 on a last-minute field goal. The Dawgs will now host the Queen’s University Gaels Saturday in the Mitchell Bowl. The winner will play in the Vanier Cup at Regina November 22 against the St. Mary’s Huskies or the University of Montreal Carabins. Will this be the year the Atlantic Conference rep comes across as even remotely competitive? As tough as it might be in the Queen City, the host committee in Regina has got to be rooting for the U of S and some semblance of local representation in the national championship game. The last time the Vanier Cup was played in Saskatchewan was November 25, 2006, when Laval beat Saskatchewan, 13-8 in a game where neither team scored a touchdown. The high temperature that day was -19C .… The Saskatoon Hilltops are Canadian Bowl champions again! It’s the organization’s 24^th national title, courtesy a 21-18 win over the Okanagan Sun from Kelowna … As I approached unconsciousness after watching three football games – one USports and two CFL – I viewed portions of an embarrassingly intolerable episode of Saturday Night Live. There was a reference to the mayor-elect of New York, and the crowd went absolutely nuts. Perhaps it was just an automatic reaction to the applause meter? But, even if that was the case, it’s entirely befuddling to me. Despite the presence of the incredibly talented Nikki Glaser as host, I have to ask, when did SNL stop being funny?

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