We’ve now seen about a month of WHL hockey and some teams are starting to emerge from the pack.
Contenders or pretenders?
The fact that teams like the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Kelowna Rockets are at or near the top of their respective conference standings should come as no surprise. But what about the Eastern Conference–leading Medicine Hat Tigers? Or the Everett Silvertips’ hold on the U.S. Division? Are these teams for real or will they regress?
The Tigers have only lost once this season and are second in the WHL in goals scored with 43. Nobody expected them to be terrible this year but to see them with a seven-point lead over the Calgary Hitmen is a bit of an early surprise. This past weekend saw them trounce the Victoria Royals 8–2 and go to Red Deer and handle the Rebels 5–1.
They’ve had good starts from Cole Sanford, who leads them in scoring, and had a four-point weekend. Chad Butcher leads in goals, adding three this weekend; he has now scored goals in his last five games. Perhaps the biggest reason for Medicine Hat’s early success is that they have allowed the fewest goals in the league with 14. Goalie Marek Langhamer has been spectacular to start with a goal against average of 1.68 and an impressive save percentage of .941.
Everett has yet to lose a game in regulation this year and leads the suddenly wide-open U.S. Division. Like Medicine Hat they are playing stingy defence and getting good goaltending from Austin Lotz. The question coming into the season was whether or not Everett could score enough goals to contend. They addressed that concern in part by trading for Nikita Scherbak and the Montreal Canadiens prospect has eight points in his four games with the team. Through seven games the Silvertips are averaging over four goals per game and with the defence and goaltending they have, maintaining that kind of offensive production will make them a very tough team to handle moving forward.
Early statement in the East?
There was only one game on the WHL schedule Sunday night but it was a good one. The Brandon Wheat Kings were in Calgary to take on a Hitmen squad that is off to a somewhat slow start. These are two teams that everyone expects to be battling it out for the East’s top spot as the season progresses.
After two evenly played periods the Hitmen took over in the third and scored three times to beat Brandon 6–2. Chase Lang led Calgary with two goals and the team got excellent goaltending from Mack Shields who made 28 saves in the win.
Memorial Cup for Red Deer
The WHL announced early in the week that the Red Deer Rebels have been selected to host the 2016 Memorial Cup. Red Deer beat out the Vancouver Giants for the honour and this will mark the first time the tournament has been held in Alberta since 1974.
After losing out on the bid, Vancouver owner Ron Toigo is turning his attention to the 2019 World Junior Championships.
Portland’s troubles continue
The decline of the Portland Winterhawks continued this week. They perennial power’s sluggish start got worse as they were blown out twice on the road and then lost a home game to Seattle in a shootout. Their record after 10 games stands at 1-7-0-2 and they have allowed 47 goals, which is a league worst.
Plus, they may be without Winnipeg Jets prospect Nic Petan for a while. Petan was on the wrong end of a huge hit by Seattle’s Evan Wardley in the first period Saturday night and did not return to the game. There has been no word yet as to the severity of his injury. Wardley was assessed a five-minute checking to the head major for the hit and will face a suspension.
Player of the week
Chase Lang, RW, Calgary Hitmen: Lang had a big week for Calgary as he poured in four goals—in his last three games he has five goals and eight points. The Minnesota Wild prospect now leads the Hitmen in scoring with seven goals and eleven points.
Runners up: Carson Stadnyk of the Everett Silvertips continued his hot start this past week with three goals and two assists as the Silvertips went 2-0. Chase Witala from the Prince George Cougars had a nice week as he scored twice and added three assists.
2015 NHL Draft tracker
Our weekly look at notable performances by the WHL’s top draft-eligible players.
Mathew Barzal, C, Seattle Thunderbirds: Barzal is starting to heat up for Seattle. He has a four-game scoring streak that has seen him pot three goals in his last three games. This past week he scored twice, added an assist and converted on a shootout attempt as Seattle won twice.
Jansen Harkins, C, Prince George Cougars: The centre is showing that he is a tremendous play maker. He picked up five assists this past week and is on pace to pick up 94 helpers on the year.
Noah Juulsen, D, Everett Silvertips: Everett’s hot start isn’t all about Scherbak. Juulsen has been solid and added three assists this week. He now has seven points and is plus-4 on the season.
Adam Musil, C, Red Deer Rebels: If you’re going to host the Memorial Cup you’ll need some good players. Musil is off to a solid start for Red Deer with three goals and seven points.
Bozon returns
The Kootenay Ice got some big news this week when the Montreal Canadiens returned forward Tim Bozon. Bozon’s story is well known as he fell ill to acute bacterial meningitis last year, an illness that nearly cost him his life. He is fully recovered now and will be a big boost for the struggling Ice.