It finally happened. The Medicine Hat Tigers – who just three weeks ago seemed to have a safe lead in the Central Division – were caught by the Calgary Hitmen this past week. The two teams now stand tied in points on top of the division and the Hitmen have a game in hand.
It’s been a rough go of late for Medicine Hat, who are 2-8 in their last ten games. Two of those losses came last week against Calgary – who in contrast has won nine of ten. The Tigers had a chance to pull back ahead on Sunday but dropped a tough 5-1 decision in Edmonton. The Oil Kings were in control all night, scoring the first five goals of the game.
The Tigers are still dealing with injuries on their blue line and had to play the last three games without the league’s leading scorer in forward Trevor Cox. Cox was serving a three-game suspension so the Tigers will get him back moving forward.
It doesn’t get easier for Medicine Hat this week as they hit the road to take on Brandon on Wednesday. They have 12 games left in the season and seven are on the road and overall have a somewhat difficult path ahead. They do get to play Moose Jaw once and Saskatoon twice, but the rest of the teams on their schedule are playoff teams with winning records.
Calgary headed out on their Western Conference road swing this past weekend and got off to a good start. Friday night they erased a 3-1 Spokane lead to come back and win 4-3 in the third period on goals from Michael Zipp, Elliot Peterson, and Colby Hamsworth. The next night they scored seven goals on 55 shots as they blew out the struggling Tri-City Americans.
It gets a bit tougher for Calgary this week as they will face Seattle, Portland and Everett – the top three teams in the U.S. Division. After that they play six more games on their road trip, which includes a stop in Kelowna, before returning home on March 15 against Lethbridge. They have the tougher schedule of the two but are the team playing better hockey.
However the Central Division race ends up, it’s going to be a fun ride down the stretch.
Here’s what else is going on in the WHL:
Silvertips hanging on
Everett clinched a playoff spot Friday night when they lost to Tri City in a shootout, but they still have some work to do if they want to hold on to first place in the U.S. Division. They were dominated by Seattle on Saturday to the tune of 7-0 which allowed the Portland Winterhawks to pull to within three points of the Silvertips. Everett got some redemption when it held on to beat Lethbridge Sunday night, 5-4.
So Everett’s lead stands at five points at the moment but Portland has a game in hand. The Silvertips haven’t been terrible of late – going 5-2-0-3 in their last ten games but the teams behind them have been better and have gained some ground. Everett and Portland only have one more meeting this season and both have pretty even schedules to finish it out. Everett has Seattle two more times while Portland still has three with the Thunderbirds.
Speaking of the Thunderbirds, Seattle still may have something to say in this race. Now that they have Mathew Barzal and Shea Theodore back together they have played well – 7-2-0-1 in their last ten games. They have a tough schedule to go with the games against Everett and Portland as well as Calgary and one more match up with Kelowna. Can they get into one of the top two spots?
Tri-City injuries force local goalie into action
Things have been tough for the Tri City Americans of late. They’ve had a rash of injuries of late and are in danger of losing their hold on the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Those injuries forced them to look to a local kid to step in and play goal on Saturday. Eric Comrie was banged up in Tri-City’s game in Everett Friday night and with back up Evan Sarthou already out the team looked to local product Casey Kaiser to step in.
Taking on the Calgary Hitmen would prove to be a daunting task for the Richland, Wash., product who previously had played for the Tri-City Outlaws (NPHL) and the Seattle Totems (WSHL). The Hitmen didn’t take it easy on the emergency call up, firing 55 shots at him and potting seven goals. While Kaiser took the loss, he did make 48 saves, which is not a bad debut in the WHL.
Royals split with Kelowna
The Kelowna Rockets haven’t had much of a challenge in the B.C. Division this year and lead second place Victoria by 26 points. The two rivals squared off twice over the weekend and split the games in what has become an intense matchup over the past couple of seasons.
The Royals are a physical team and in their matchups with Kelowna have hit the less physical Rockets in an attempt to wear them down. Some in Kelowna will tell you the Royals cross the line with the hits but either way, it makes for a fun matchup to watch – skill versus brute force. Friday night the Royals looked like they were on the way to beating Kelowna but Josh Morrissey tied it midway through the third period and then Leon Draisaitl won it with 43 seconds left.
Saturday, Victoria played a disciplined game and beat Kelowna on the back of four, third-period scores. These two clubs seemed destined to meet in the second round of the playoffs and could make for an interesting series. The Royals were among the more active teams at the trade deadline – seemingly trying to keep pace with the moves Kelowna made. They can be a tough match up for anyone in the playoffs as they are hard to play against.
Certainly Kelowna would be favored against them – after all, Saturday’s win was the first in regulation for Victoria against Kelowna – but Victoria is not going to go away easy.
Player of the Week
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Portland Winterhawks: Bjorkstrand is making a strong case for player of the year in the WHL. He is averaging 1.78 points per game and this week lit the lamp four times to go along with four assists. He has an eight-game goal scoring streak going and goals in nine of his last 11 contests. Not too shabby.
2015 NHL Draft Tracker
Mathew Barzal, C, Seattle Thunderbirds: Mathew Barzal has been piling up points of late. In two Seattle wins this weekend he added seven assists and has quickly become the Thunderbirds second leading scorer, despite missing two months. He has 39 points in 31 games which is a 90-point pace.
Noah Juulsen, D, Everett Silvertips: Juulsen is one of the WHL’s top defenceman prospects but doesn’t get the hype of guys like Ivan Provorov. But Juulsen has good size, can play with a physical edge and has added 45 points from the Everett back end. He missed two of Everett’s three games this past weekend. They lost both of those but would win Sunday thanks to a big-third period Juulsen goal.
Jesse Gabrielle, LW, Regina Pats: Since being traded to the Pats, Gabrielle’s scoring has tailed off slightly. Some of that should be expected as the Pats are not the offensive juggernaut that Brandon is. Gabrielle has combined to score 19 goals this year and will be an attractive prospect this June. He’s shown some toughness and has the size to be a power forward in the NHL.