Behold, a quick play:
Me: You know, I think a first-second of the month update on how the PNW Junior squads are doing in the WHL would be neat, y’know? Just a little update to keep local.
The WHL, smashing through my window, snorting the fattest rail you’ve ever seen and rapidly undoing their fly: OH WE’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO COVER. CHECK THIS OUT.
Me: oh no
FIN
—
So yeah. It’s been one hell of a first month for the WHL, and not in a good way. Kids with confirmed pasts of racial abuse have been getting captaincies, abusive coaches are getting a second shot and don’t appear sorry for what they did, and Wenatchee; newest team in the state, couldn’t even make it five days into camp before their coach got suspended.
Banner opening month, indeed.
It’s a damn shame because there’s often no reason for this. Bill Peters didn’t need a job that badly and certainly not after the dispicable behavior he showed to an otherwise decent player, The Wild didn’t need to hire a guy with a history of weird league-rule breaking behavior, and Kai Uchacz absolutely didn’t need a “C” and the incident that he was released from the T-Birds over will almost certainly hang over him like a dark miasma. We are all a little aware that teams of the pro or semi-pro variety like this will sell their soul to win, I think we’re at peace with that…it’s just depressing to see this one league, especially one that just entered an otherwise new market for itself, refusing to see the forest for the trees and avoid all of these completely unforced errors entirely.
It’s just so exhausting, man.
Anyway, let’s catch up with the Junior squads of the US Pacific Northwest after…approximately a weekend and change of games.
1st in US Division: Everett Silvertips
- Record: 3-1-0 in 4 games
- Best Win: Blanking Kamloops to the tune of 5-0
- Worst Loss: Coughing up a 4-1 loss to Spokane
The Silvertips currently tie with the Prince George Cougars for the conference lead after opening weekend; feasting on the “Coach is out for league crimes” Wild and “Life is pain” Victoria Royals before choking a bit on the Spokane Chiefs to break their clean slate. Kraken prospect Kaden Hammell has only just joined the team thanks to being cut late in Seattle, but in the two games he’s played he’s already got a goal and an assist!
Still lots of hockey to play, but for this weekend (and I guess this month), the ‘Tips have control of the crown.
Tied for 2nd: Threeway dance with Spokane, Portland, and Tri-City
- Record: 2-1-0 in 3 games across all three teams
- Best Win (Across all three): Gonna give it to Spokane for the 4-1 victory over Everett
- Worst Loss (Across all three): Tri-City got 9 dropped on them in Prince George to start the season. Woof.
An update just as the season starts can be severely misleading; the WHL is a tighter league than the rest of Canadian Junior (on average anyway), and as a result these three teams have bunched up together in the top half of the WHL’s Western Conference behind Everett and don’t seem terribly interested in giving it up.
Of the three, Tri-City might have the most dramatic swings of any of them; dropping their season opener in a mindboggling fashion, getting the win back the next night in dramatic fashion, and then letting the air out of Spokane’s tires in a 3-1 win. Spokane up to that point had actually played fairly normal games; close win over Kamloops, then spoiling Everett’s home opener. These two rivals will almost certainly be at each other’s throats all season and will likely make for some real fun. Kraken prospect Lukas Dragicevic has an assist in the one game he’s played for them so far.
Portland meanwhile, has been playing firewagon hockey from game one: two 6-5 end results in the same weekend (though 1-1 to show for it), and then absolutely crushed the Thunderbirds 6-1 on Saturday. Being able to do that kind of thing in a notoriously stingy WHL can be very useful, but I think the Winterhawks oughta be a little more careful from here on; some of these teams in-division and out of it can match that kind of insane pace.
5th: Wenatchee Wild
- Record: 1-3-1 in 5 games played
- Best Win: Well, they beat Portland once. That was pretty cool.
- Worst Loss: I was gonna put their Kelowna game here but they just finished up a 6-2 whuppin’ at the hands of the Vancouver Giants so that takes the cake.
It looks rough now, but I don’t honestly mind that the Wild are down here. For one thing, they are without a coach due to impropriety, and for another, they’re not nearly as bad as the record suggests; playing more than one single-goal game on their road to the current pit of misery they’re in. Still, it would behoove them to start winning some of those single-goal games, or the Wild’s first season in Wenatchee will probably have the stink of this coaching situation set in for good.
6th*: Seattle Thunderbirds
- Record: 1-1-0 in 2 Games Played
- Best Win and Loss don’t really matter right now due to number of games played
The T-Birds being down at 6th has an asterisk due to the very funny quirk in the schedule where they have played a grand total of two games. Granted, one of them was a blowout loss to the Winterhawks which should bring the Kent faithful’s piss to a good and steady boil, but otherwise they’ve been a victim of circumstance; Seattle’s only playing once a week until the end of this month while the rest of the division plays the typical junior schedule of 2 or 3 games a weekend; after which the pace picks up, but I imagine they’ll be doing a lot of scouting of the Conference while they wait.
After all, something’s gotta give in that three-way tie up top.
The Rest of the West and the WHL in general
The BC Division has been extremely uncompetitive so far, with Prince George and Kelowna doing the lion’s share of winning for the Canadian side of the border, and Victoria has been placed somewhere so deep in hell even the devil himself can’t find them or get them out. Seriously, their goal differential after 4 games is -16. Those poor kids out on that Island need HELP.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference, the Medicine Hat Tigers hold the Conference down but are badgered by the Lethbridge Hurricanes (gag me) and Brandon Wheat Kings.
We sincerely wish the opponents of the Hurricanes the very best of luck and may the next time we check in on this group; we no longer have to think about Lethbridge, AL ever again.
That’ll do it for the opening of the season in Junior. We’ll see you next month where hopefully we have something resembling good news for where the league’s headed, and a clearer picture of what the division’s outlook is.
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