Things have been trucking along at an even pace across the WHL, but what’s been the single biggest positive that Kraken fans can take from the junior leagues this year is that one Jagger Firkus of the Moose Jaw Warriors has been an absolute terror; currently in a heated battle for the crown of highest scoring WHL player with Prince George’s Riley Heidt and Zac Funk and keeping ahead by being the single most dangerous player in the league when given even a modicum of open ice, as he proved as recently as several hours ago.
In general, the Kraken prospects in the Dub have made for some truly impressive work, with the unfortunate exception of Tri-City, they’re on many of the teams to beat.
Anyway, let’s get caught up with the US side of the WHL, and any Kraken prospects who’ve been having some fun out there in Washington State!
1st in Division – Wenatchee Wild
- Record: 17-8-3
- Best Win: Absolutely dumptrucked the Winterhawks 8-3
- Worst Loss: Honestly, they’ve played even their losses pretty well, but losing to this year’s Vancouver Giants at any point is probably worth a reminder that you still gotta work to be good.
So last time we saw the Wild, they had hired Roy Summers of the San Diego Gulls, and it appears that Summers has had these kids on a rampage. It helps that Wenatchee is pretty talented, and is now gunning for Prince George’s lead in the WHL Western Conference; making it clear with a brutal 8-3 beatdown of the Winterhawks on Friday night. They’ll have to keep that kind of momentum going hard, because they’ve got a rematch with Portland tonight, and then Tri-City on Sunday; a team they’ve had a lot of issues with this year, and then they do it all again next weekend.
They’ll get plenty of practice in trying to get their first win against the Amerks over the next couple of weeks, if nothing else.
2nd in US Division: Everett Silvertips
- Record: 17-11-1
- Best Win: Saskatoon is really good, so dropping 6 on them is pretty good!
- Worst Loss: The T-Birds didn’t even have to do their patented comeback thing to beat you 4-1. That bites.
Fun fact, in the middle of making this roundup the Wild pulled ahead by a pair of points and forced me to re-write this. I’m sure that after the month they had; Everett would like a little respect put on their name. At home, they’ve turned Angel of the Winds Arena into a temple of doom for most opposing teams; currently on a 5-game winning streak when they get to stay at home. It’s been their road work that’s put them in question, specifically recent visits to Canada; Prince George is a tough battle this year so there’s forgiveness to be given there, and Swift Current/Medicine Hat is a pretty long bus ride so I can be a little nicer about that, but starting December with a loss to the Oil Kings? A team with 8 wins? That’s gotta sting.
It doesn’t get much better for the Tips, as they’ve got Jagger Firkus and the Moose Jaw Warriors coming up, as well as a home and home with the Vancouver Giants. The Giants games should be a get-right, but if they struggle there…we might have to have discussions.
I mean, not the kind of discussions we’re having about say, Seattle and Spokane, but discussions.
Kraken Prospect Update: Kaden Hammell’s injury hampered him a bit, but he’s still been doing okay; he’s got 6 points in 13 games. Not point-per-game, but solid for a defender who’s having to play catchup.
3rd in Division – Portland Winterhawks
- Record: 15-8-0
- Best Win: Until you do something worse to another team, Portland hanging 11 on Brandon was about as dominant a win as you can get and will probably stay there as the biggest W they take.
- Worst Loss: What do you mean you lost to the Oil Kings
Seriously, what is with these US teams dropping games to an absolute greasefire of a team in Edmonton?
Anyway, Portland is here primarily because of the curse of the schedule; They’ve played the 3rd least games of the season so far but have been an otherwise solid team sitting in the Top 10 in the league. They’re playing more than well enough to be in the top 5, but…well…schedule betrays you sometimes. Also they spent a lot of this last month rubberbanding between business as usual and fighting for their lives against a lot of their compatriots in the US Division; Everett, Spokane, and Wenatchee all got big wins off them in the past three weeks and that manifested as a 2 game losing streak coming into December, and they get the one-two punch of Wenatchee again and Prince George.
Sometimes life isn’t fair, but after that they get less good teams. Weathering the storm ought to be a easier than you might believe.
4th in Division – Tri-City Americans
- Record: 13-10-1
- Best Win: You might be savoring that Prince George win at the beginning of the season for awhile.
- Worst Loss: 3-0 to Kamloops, huh. You really let that happen this year?
The Amerks have had a weird November. They started the month winning pretty much every game by scoring four goals and sitting on it, dropped a game to Kamloops, then spent the middle part of the month struggling to hold leads, right up into the final couple of weeks, where they promptly got their ass punched off their bodies by Prince George, Saskatoon, and a resurgent Victoria in rapid succession. As such, it’s kind of hard to really get a bead on what they are. They’ve got Vancouver and Wenatchee this weekend, so they may have to continue this deeply annoying trend they’re on of being exactly .500 through their last 10 games.
Kraken Prospect Update: Lukas Dragicevic has had a decent season so far, but given his pedigree, it’s a little odd he’s not scoring as much as he otherwise would; he’s got 16 points in 23 games. Not bad, but definitely room for improvement.
They’ll start playing Spokane a little more often, so that might help. Speaking of which…
5th in Division – Spokane Chiefs
- Record: 10-11-2
- Best Win: This team absolutely beat the dogsnot out of the Royals….
- Worst Loss: …hot off the heels of getting shut out by Vancouver.
Inconsistency, thy name is Chiefs.
Spokane has had a hell of a time putting anything resembling a consistent effort together all season and November wasn’t any better. They’ve played close games, they’ve played low scoring affairs, but the biggest thing that’s caught them recently is that they’ve gotten shutout more than once, something that heralds an offense that is still getting it’s sea legs underneath them. They have talent, it’s just not at it’s full potential yet.
Still, that inconsistency will be tested as they face the Cougars and the Giants this weekend, and that will likely be a pair of tests they need to ace.
Last in Division – Seattle Thunderbirds
- Record: 10-10-2
- Best Win: Playing what had to be a banger of a game against Victoria in a 5-4 Win
- Worst Loss: 5-0 shutout to Tri-City. Rough.
Life has been extremely unkind to the T-Birds.
They’ve still played the fewest games of any team in the league, and they’re having a lot of trouble winning these games. November was one of the first months they actually had a full schedule, and their attempt to sit on three goal leads as opposed to trying to get them all in about 10 minutes of the third period has created extremely mixed results; only three wins through their last 10 games, and none of them terribly convincing beyond getting one over on one of their hated rivals; the Silvertips.
If there’s any solace to take from this, it’s that their schedule lightens up a bit with Kelowna, who’s about at the level of the Amerks, and Victoria, whom they’ve previously won against…but after that, it’s all US division squads until the 15th.
The T-Birds may have to start thinking of next year if this keeps up. Which stinks; they’ve gotten so dang close to Memorial Cup glory that this kind of rough start to their season is just brutal.
The Rest of the WHL
In the west, those Prince George Cougars are an absolute wagon, having gone 8-2-0 and mostly trucking along towards what will likely be their easy first couple of playoff rounds whenever they get to it. Wenatchee’s rise back into being a major competitor has made them a surprise contender, but as per usual the West still runs through Washington state. I will however, give a major shoutout to the Victoria Royals who got their act together in the intermediate time between these updates. Now, it’s Kamloops and Vancouver who are firmly the worst in the conference…which makes the losses seen today all the more baffling.
Meanwhile out eastward, Alberta spent so much time fighting each other for space that they forgot that Sasketchewan is still a major part of this league, and the Saskatoon Blades have made themselves a juggernaut in the time it took them to
The Roundup will likely return after the new year, but will likely be supplanted by World Juniors coverage once I get my act together on that. If Jagger Firkus ends up a member of Team Canada, we’ll keep a close eye on him!
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