10 WHL Things From Glen Erickson, Volume XXV

I’m just gonna bounce around this week, much like RP did as he navigated the washboard grid roads back in the day around Milestone, Saskatchewan. Strap yourself in and hang on!

1 – Cutting A Swath – Grab a map of western Canada and look about as far east as you can. That’s right, something’s going on in Brandon. The Wheat Kings have won six straight games, good for a 7-3 record in its last 10 starts. The Penticton Vees and Edmonton Oil Kings found out what Brandon can muster these days, dropping 4-0 and 8-4 decisions respectively at Assiniboine Credit Union Place on Friday and Saturday. Next on the Wheaties docket is a Tuesday visit by the Prince George Cougars, the final of the six BC Division teams to play in Brandon this season. The Wheat Kings are 5-0 against teams from BC Division so far. Brandon can fill the net, now fifth in the league with 230 goals scored. The Wheaties play five of its last 11 games against teams that may not qualify for the post-season. Brandon, which has clinched a playoff berth, plays five of its last six games on the road.

2 – Okanagan Rivalry – The Kelowna Rockets swept a home and home set from the Kamloops Blazers on the weekend. The Rockets edged the Blazers 3-2 in overtime Friday at Kamloops, then won 4-2 on home ice Saturday. The Rockets, now 31-18-5-2 have not so quietly moved seven points ahead of the Blazers (25-20-7-5) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the western conference. Tij Iginla, who tallied his 100^th WHL goal Friday, added another pair Saturday. Iginla has scored eight times in his last four games. For Kamloops, the loss on home ice was its sixth straight overtime defeat at the Sandman Centre. The Okanagan Valley rivals meet twice more, renewing hostilities with a home-and-home set on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.

3 – Hockey Town North – The Prince Albert Raiders have had a pretty good February. At 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and winners of four straight, the Raiders clinched the East Division title on the weekend. Prince Albert is 44-8-5 for 93 points, a 24-point lead over the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Raiders have narrowed the gap on the league-leading Everett Silvertips, too, in the race for the Scotty Munro trophy. Personally, as a career critic, I really wish the Raiders had a veteran goaltender between the pipes. But, you gotta think the Art Hauser Centre will be bumpin’ these next few weeks! It’s a tough place to play. Is it worth say, half a goal per game? Combine an entertaining, upper echelon team with a tremendously supportive fanbase and might we see the return of some green, yellow and black milk crates in the near future?

4 – Tip of the Spear – While the league-leading Everett Silvertips appear to have run roughshod over its US Division rivals this season, there is an anomaly. The Silvertips, 47-7-2-1 for 97 points, have a 38-point lead over the second place Spokane Chiefs in the US Division standings. Everett has a combined record of 20-2 in games against Seattle, Spokane Tri City and Wenatchee. The ‘Tips play seven of its last 11 games against division rivals, including Wenatchee three times and Seattle once. But so far this season, Everett has dropped all three starts against the Portland Winterhawks, once in regulation, once in overtime and once in a shootout. The Winterhawks and Silvertips meet three times in March, twice in the Rose City. Portland, now 26-25-5-1, sits third in the US Division standings with 58 points. That’s good for seventh in the western conference.

5 – Go Blades Go – Excited to see the Saskatoon Blades honour, among others, Kelly Chase during its Legends Night, March 21 at SaskTel Centre. Chase played tough as nails during his NHL career, but also with the Blades during the late 1980’s. He has long been an inspirational, community-minded hockey figure through many charitable endeavors and most recently, you can give him a listen on his Ice Guardians podcast with Brett Hull and friends. I watched Chase deliver an emotional speech as a mature young 19-year-old during the team’s annual awards banquet at the old Sheraton Cavalier in Saskatoon after the Blades came up short against the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 1988 WHL playoffs. Chase appeared in 70 games that season for the Blades, collecting 55 points and 343 penalty minutes as the team won the Scotty Munro Trophy. Prior to the highly anticipated east division final that post-season against the defending Memorial Cup champion Medicine Hat Tigers, the Blades lost goaltender Tim Cheveldae to an ankle injury at practice. The team just wasn’t the same without the WHL’s first team all-star netminder and dropped four straight games to the playoff-hardened Tigers. To this day, I wonder if there is more to the story than what has surfaced? Maybe on a podcast?

6 – DUB Randoms – Calgary, 32-15-7-1, is the least penalized team in the league with a total of 491 minutes. Through February 21, the average is 682 per team. Seattle has the most with 874…The Hitmen are the top team in the DUB on the power play at 33.2% efficiency. The lowly Wenatchee Wild lead the league with the top penalty killing performance so far at 83% efficiency…Kelowna has scored 12 shorthanded goals, the most in the league. Medicine Hat and Seattle have scored 11 apiece…Edmonton, Portland and Wenatchee have surrendered the most shorties, 10 each…A total of 13 goalies have compiled a 2.98 goals against average, or better. Of the 13, seven are Canadians. Anders Miller of the Everett Silvertips leads the way at 2.21 GAA…Defenceman Bryce Pickford tallied the game winner in overtime Saturday on home ice against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Despite not playing between January 21 and February 19, he continues to lead all WHL rearguards with 34 goals, nine of them game winners…It didn’t take long for the league office to set the amount at $500 per team for a goalie fight. Josh Ravensbergen and Ethan McCallum went at it in the neutral zone for about five seconds in Penticton on Family Day during the Vees 3-0 victory over the Cougars. The game sheet suggests each goalie was handed a game misconduct, but it appears both finished the contest between the pipes.

7 – Where Are They Now – The 2020 WHL Draft was an interesting proposition, held a few weeks after the 2019-2020 season was cancelled. When the teams convened April 23, 2020, the Regina Pats selected Connor Bedard with the first pick. Behind the Pats, the Prince George Cougars and Moose Jaw Warriors selected a pair of teammates from the Saskatoon Contacts. Forward Riley Heidt, the second pick, went on to play 324 games for the Cougars, while Brayden Yager appeared in 321 games for the Warriors and later, the Lethbridge Hurricanes. It’s interesting how their careers have paralleled. Heidt collected 409 points in the DUB, regular season and playoffs combined, while Yager amassed a total of 396. Each was selected at the 2023 NHL Draft. Pittsburgh tabbed Yager in the first round with the 14^th pick, then later dealt him to the Winnipeg Jets. The Minnesota Wild selected Heidt in the second round, 64^th overall. Both players were members of their respective junior team leadership groups throughout their WHL careers. Both are playing in the American Hockey League this season, Heidt with the Iowa Wild and Yager with the Manitoba Moose. The Saskatoon Contacts have been a successful developmental program in Saskatchewan for decades.   

8 – Olympic Games, Women’s Hockey – I’ve watched most all of the gold medal games over the years, both at the Winter Olympic Games and the IIHF World Championships. I’ve never been enamoured with the quality of play. But at this level, it’s certainly competitive. I’d compare it to being about a step behind what I remember as midget AAA hockey. In fact, those are typically the kind of teams Hockey Canada has had the national team play in various exhibitions “not” against Team USA. I’m a nationalist, so any opportunity to watch Canadian hockey players thrive on the global stage is, I think, time well spent. The Canadians gave the USA everything they could handle in Italy, and it had the makings of a tremendous underdog story. Given the USA dominance in pre-tournament games against the Canadians and how it romped through the entirety of the Olympic Games, the finale could have emerged as Canada’s hockey version of, “do you believe in miracles?” But the record will show it was a 2-1 loss. Because, that’s what it was.

9 – Olympic Games, Men’s Hockey – It was the gold medal finale we were hoping for in these parts, but certainly not the outcome for many of us. Mind you, that was as good a hockey game as I’ve seen in ages! I’m thankful it was basically an NHL game to decide the Olympic gold medal. And I’m doubly thankful the powers-that-be saw fit to stack the on-ice officiating crew with NHL personnel. The way international poohbahs have run the show over the years, they might as well have gone with a two-man system, maybe have Franz Baader and Josef Kompalla suit up! Google it. Canada dominated territorial play after the USA opened the scoring, but this is certainly not the first time an outstanding goaltending performance anchored the winning team’s fortunes. This was a best-on-best performance that put on full display the attributes that really matter…speed, skill, physical play and emotion. My early wake up call Sunday morning was well worth it.

10 – Performances – A handful of WHL alumni earned silver medals as members of Team Canada. Among gold medalists, Matthew Tkachuk, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck played in the OHL, Trocheck for four seasons. Tkachuk won a Memorial Cup championship with the London Knights. Former Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones was named to the Team USA roster but was injured and did not participate…Love the real nice touch by the American players to include the Johnny Gaudreau jersey and his children…Is this the year defenceman Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets gets the Norris Trophy he deserves?…Brock Nelson’s family history at the Winter Olympics is incredible…What kind of reception will Connor Hellebuyck receive in Winnipeg?… Am I the only guy wondering why Connor McDavid had such a tough time controlling the puck? It seemed to behave like a tennis ball every time it touched his stick…Jordan Binnington was the right choice…Looks like comedian Bill Burr earned a silver medal. Or, was that Sam Bennett?…If Nathan McKinnon isn’t the best player in the world, I figure he makes the top three. But he, above all else, knows full well it’s the scoreboard that ultimately tells the only story that really matters…Gotta think Drew Doughty, Brad Marchand and Sidney Crosby have suited up for the last time on a Canadian Olympic team roster…How much of a difference does a healthy Sidney Crosby make in the finale?… I’m a history buff, so it’s not lost on me that the biggest international win in USA hockey history came on Sunday, 46 years to the day from what may very well now be considered its second most important international win…These international hockey tournaments really seem different without the presence of the Russians.

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