10 WHL Things By Glen Erickson, Volume XI

1. Divisional Standings – With every WHL team now past the quarter pole, at least 17 games into the regular season, the races for first place aren’t particularly close these days. In the Eastern Conference, Edmonton leads the way in the Central by 10 points, while Prince Albert leads the East by six points. In the Western Conference, Everett has a 13-point lead in the US. In the closest race for now, Prince George leads the BC by four points. The question begs, which teams will find a way to give these division leaders a run in the coming weeks. The Oil Kings and Silvertips are the top two teams in the standings right now. Are they legit frontrunners this season? They will only play once during the regular season, February 11 in Edmonton.
2. Game of the Week – Speaking of division leaders, the Oil Kings invade the CN Centre in Prince George Saturday to take on the Cougars. It will be the only meeting of the season between the teams. Edmonton plays at a very high pace but may not be completely healthy for this one. The Oil Kings can fill the net, leading the DUB with 106 goals through 23 games. For the Oil Kings, it will be the last of six road games against BC Division opponents over an 11-day period. For the Cougars, they are among the league’s best at keeping the puck out of their own net, surrendering 58 goals through 21 games. The tilt against Edmonton is their last of five home games in November.
3. Guys I Like – A couple of months into the current regular season and I’ve been watching a handful of veteran players. Part of my interest relates to how interested the Memorial Cup hosts might be when it comes time to tinker with its roster. The Kelowna Rockets have been busy of late, adding defenceman Peyton Kettles from Swift Current and overage forward Shane Smith from Lethbridge, while hoping Czech import forward Vojtech Cihar will join the team at some point this season. Speaking of Kettles, he’s pretty much done for the season after surgery on his shoulder in Pittsburgh. He appeared in three games with the Rockets after the trade. Gotta wonder if Kettles arrived in Kelowna with that bad wing? Could there be some fallout between the Broncos and Rockets? Moving on and examining rosters around the league, I wonder if the likes of Caden Brown (Regina Pats), Ashton Cumby (Seattle T-Birds), Roan Woodward (Victoria Royals), Terrell Goldsmith (Tri City Americans) or Aiden Ziprick (Moose Jaw Warriors) might see a change of address before the trade deadline?
4. Going, Going, Gone – Berkly Catton has played 13 games for the Seattle Kraken, which means the stars will really have to align for the Saskatoon native’s return to the current edition of the Spokane Chiefs. Had Catton returned this season to Spokane, entirely committed to the WHL, I’m confident the organization would have been busy building its roster with a league title in mind. The Chiefs are 10-10 through 20 games and really don’t seem to have hit their stride. I felt the Chiefs would be a legit contender to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup this season, but it doesn’t look that way at all at this point. Things can change, but this can be kind of a common theme for many major junior teams. I recall a few years ago after Saskatoon visited Medicine Hat on October 15, 2019, and dropped a 3-1 decision to the Tigers. I spoke with then head coach Mitch Love of the Blades about his team’s fortunes. “I think we’re one NHL player away from playing for a league championship,” Love said. That conversation took place while many onlookers wondered about the status of highly touted forward Kirby Dach. The Chicago Blackhawks never did return Dach to the Blades and that decision most certainly had an impact on roster building decisions by the organization. It would all become moot a couple of months later anyway, as Dach was lent to Team Canada for the 2020 WJC but did not play in the tournament after suffering a serious wrist injury in a pre-tournament game against Russia. Of course, everything else went to hell about four months later when almost everybody on the planet lost their marbles. Google it.
5. Coaching Milestone – A tip of the cap to Wenatchee Wild bench boss Don Nachbaur, who is now officially the all-time WHL leader in career games coached. His 1,412^th appearance behind the bench came Friday in Portland, where the Wild dropped a 6-3 decision to the Winterhawks. According to the WHL, his record is now 721-569-124. It was a busy and somewhat bizarre weekend for the Wild with three games in three nights. To clarify, it was Friday in Portland, Saturday at home to the Prince Albert Raiders, then back to Portland for an early start on Sunday. That’s plenty of road work, isn’t it? By the time this column hits the public domain, Nachbaur’s number will have reached 1,414 games, and counting.
6. Suspensions – I touched on it last week and upon review of the WHL’s release, I suppose I’m still a bit miffed. Not necessarily at the announcements and the decisions, just the severity. The fines are significant for junior hockey operators. I suppose the only way I can rationalize the $10K amounts is a desire to create a deterrent. Peter Anholt has enjoyed a storied career in the WHL and his contributions to successes on the business side are eminently impressive. Obviously, something about the Hurricanes 8-6 loss at home October 29 set him off and these days, if somebody in the room either doesn’t like a message or the way it’s delivered, they have toll-free access to anonymously lodge a complaint. For DeSilva, his stint in Swift Current was certainly short and I guess, perhaps not so sweet. That’s a couple coaches taken to task in recent years, and was there not an issue with a member of the Broncos training staff as well? I don’t need to know what specifically happened or what was said in these cases, though we do exist in a social media world where modern-day society doesn’t seem to mind grabbing on to anything it feels might be remotely salacious. What I do know is emotions run high in hockey circles. On the ice and off the ice. Always have. Always will. Suffice to say the actions this season in both cases were deemed serious enough by the league office to impart some heavy consequences. I’m sure that within the coaching ranks, people who want to know already do know exactly what occurred. What I also found interesting when Broncos’ general manager Chad Leslie spoke to the media regarding DeSilva’s eventual departure from the organization, he suggested he has already heard from some interested parties about the head coaching job in Swift Current. Seems like the vultures circle quickly? Sure, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but like I’ve said many times about the business of hockey, not everybody is everybody’s buddy.
7. Cherry versus Orr – I had the pleasure of working a handful of these annual glitter games back in the day when it was introduced to the hockey world as the Top Prospects Game. There was the 2008 edition in Edmonton when I felt Luke Schenn scored a beauty and was perhaps the best player on the ice. But all eyes before and after that contest were glued to Steven Stamkos and he probably could have been named player of the game after the warmup. In 2012, Kelowna hosted and that was a tricky deal with a few things out of everybody’s control. Injuries and illness affected the rosters and there were a handful of last-minute replacements. A few players from eastern Canada had played three games in three nights before embarking on cross-country travel, then the three-hour time zone difference became an adventure for many. There was a great bout that night, featuring Tom Wilson of the Plymouth Whalers and Dalton Thrower of the Saskatoon Blades. Two years later in Calgary, at the 2014 edition, the big name from the WHL was Leon Draisaitl. I recall another DUB representative, import defenceman Julius Honka of the Swift Current Broncos, taking a vicious high stick in the chops early in the third period that really opened him up. I most enjoyed the 2018 game in Vancouver, as I had an extra day to get organized and had a ring side seat for some of the fitness testing and drills. I met my two of my hockey heroes, Bobby Orr and Don Cherry. These were great events, highlighted frequently by Cherry and Orr taking the reins as celebrity coaches.
8. Time for a Change – The original format was in part, the brainchild of Brian Burke. But the powers that be orchestrated a change for last season at the 2024 Kubota CHL USA Prospects Challenge, with games in London and Oshawa. It’s become a Canada versus USA proposition now. The 2025 edition will be another celebration of sorts for major junior hockey aficionados and Alberta plays host this season. Game one goes Tuesday, November 25 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary and the next night, the teams will renew acquaintances at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. These are important hosting opportunities, especially for smaller market teams in the major junior hockey stratosphere, those with aspirations to host future Hockey Canada or international events in their communities. If they do a great job and demonstrate a willingness to make these events work, it can bode well for future opportunities.
9. Randoms – Jaxon Jacobson (7-28; 35), Luke Cozens 13-16; 29) and Logan Wormald (13-15; 28) are the only three players from the Eastern Conference  currently in the top ten in WHL scoring…Wormald, now 20, has played 259 regular season games and another 27 in the playoffs, all with the Lethbridge Hurricanes…When former WHLer Zdeno Chara was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last week, it got me thinking a bit more about import players. Chara played the 1996-97 season with the Prince George Cougars, appearing in 49 regular season games and another 15 in the playoffs. The first CHL Import Draft took place in 1992 and for the record, the Red Deer Rebels had the first selection. The Rebels chose Vaclav Slansky from what was then referred to as the Czech Republic. Over the years, including the 2025 edition, a total of 2,380 import players have been selected by CHL teams…Everett dealt with its surplus of overage players last week, sending defenceman Rylan Pearce to the Regina Pats in exchange for a 2028 fifth round draft pick. Pearce, a right-handed shooting rearguard, is from Martensville and has minor hockey roots in Saskatchewan…No word yet on the status of defenceman Harrison Brunicke. He’s stuck on nine games played with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Brunicke did not play in the Global Series, the two games against the Nashville Predators that took place in Sweden. I’m not sure he even made the trip with the Pens. Brunicke would certainly provide a boost if he returns to the Kamloops Blazers. Stay tuned…
10. Randoms II: After weekend play, Everett led the league standings with 37 points (17-2-2-1), one point ahead of Edmonton. The Silvertips are 12-0 on the road…Prince Albert (15-1-4) went 5-1 on its road trip through the US Division, including a 4-1 victory in Everett…In the aforementioned section about my interview with Mitch Love, here’s a nifty tidbit from that contest for those among us who enjoy scanning game sheets for the kind of useless information we find fascinating. The goaltending matchup that night? Mads Sogaard versus Nolan Meier, a couple guys who played some darn good hockey in the DUB…Saskatchewan Roughriders 25, Montreal Alouettes 17. Nice! How ‘bout them Riders!…What’s the over/under for attendance at the 2025 Vanier Cup in Regina this weekend? It’s Saskatchewan versus Montreal. Can’t make this stuff up…An outrageously debilitating federal budget was passed in the House of Commons Monday by a vote of 170-168. Boy, that’s a mandate, eh? Doh Canada…Your feelings don’t raise your value…Courage is contagious.

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