WHL blog: Rockets-Thunderbirds battle for West

Reid-Gardiner;-Prince-Albert-Raiders;-WHL

Reid Gardiner had a goal and two assists as Prince Albert toppled the Oil Kings. (Ben Nelms/Getty Images)

The Kelowna Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds both completed perfect weeks, setting up a huge early season Western Conference showdown between the two this week.

Seattle has won its past six contests while the Rockets come in with only one overtime loss in their past nine games. The two will clash Wednesday evening in Kelowna to try and claim Western Conference supremacy.

Kelowna is on top of the Conference with 35 points, four points better than Seattle but the Thunderbirds do have a game in hand. In other words, they are virtually deadlocked. The tale of the tape in this game is interesting as both have explosive scorers up and down their lineups, although Seattle has a slight advantage defensively. The Rockets are the highest scoring club in the league, averaging 4.3 goals per game, while Seattle will enter scoring 3.7 markers a contest. On the back end, the Thunderbirds have been stingier and only allow 2.6 goals while Kelowna’s young defense is giving up an even three goals per game.

Looking at the underlying stats found at CHLstats.com Seattle has an edge in possession. Their Estimated Fenwick Close is second best in the league at 54.68%, while the Rockets come in at just 48.95%.

There will be high-end NHL prospects all over the ice on Wednesday. Seattle’s Mathew Barzal has been lights out and is sixth in the league scoring race with 34 points. He’s joined by Keegan Kolesar and Ryan Gropp to form one of the strongest lines in the WHL. Defenceman Ethan Bear is quietly having a strong season on the Seattle blueline. He is third in D-man scoring and averaging a point-per-game with 24.

The Rockets are led by Tyson Baillie—second in league scoring—along with Nick Merkley and Dillon Dube. The trio are averaging over a point-per-game each and give the Rockets two good scoring lines. Kelowna has been playing without the injured Rourke Chartier, but still getting contributions from guys like Tomas Soustel who showed off some sick stick skills over the weekend.

The Rockets are young on the blueline but have promising looking players in Lucas Johansen, Cal Foote and Devante Stephens.

Seattle was 3-1 against Kelowna last year—including two wins in Kelowna—so the Rockets will be looking to exact some revenge.

Here are the rest of this week’s WHL musings:

Top-end injuries

It was rough week for some of the league’s top players. The junior hockey world held its collective breath on Tuesday when Brayden Point got hit by Prince Albert’s Brendan Guhle and did not return to the game. Moose Jaw head coach Tim Hunter described the injury as not a serious one, but Point did miss the Warriors’ next two games. That injury will be one to keep an eye on as Point is not only the WHL’s leading scorer but expected to be a key player for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship over the holidays.

Swift Current also saw its leading scorer, Jon Martin, go down with an injury after an open ice hit by Seattle’s Jared Hauf. Martin is currently third in the league scoring race with 37 points and missed one game for the Broncos but was back in action Saturday night in Kootenay.

East vs. West

Geography isn’t the only thing that separates the Eastern Conference from the Western Conference this season. The two also seem to play different styles of hockey: the East a more open and offensive game, the West more defensive.

Currently 12 of the top 20 scorers in the league play on Eastern Conference teams while four of the top five goalies—from a statistical standpoint—are in the West. The West features three teams—Victoria, Seattle, and Everett—that have allowed fewer than 60 goals so far. The East has no teams in that category.

So far the average Eastern Conference game is seeing 6.5 goals scored compared to 6.2 in the West.

WHL Player of the Week

Reid Gardiner, C, Prince Albert Raiders
Gardiner had a big week for Prince Albert, as the Raiders continue to be one of the best stories to the young season. He potted four goals and eight points in Prince Albert’s three wins for the Eastern Conference-leading, 15-5-2-0 Raiders.

2016 NHL Draft Eligible Spotlight

Simon Stransky, LW, Prince Albert Raiders
Czech import Stransky has been one of the many nice stories in Prince Albert this season. After a 12-goal rookie season last year, he’s already picked up 10 in 23 games to go with his 28 total points. He was on Central Scouting’s watch list to start the season and if he continues to be a point-per-game player, will see his draft stock continue to rise.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.