The WHL has begun to metastatize now that teams have actually played games, but the local Junior league has done something unambiguously positive which is otherwise a much-needed win for the league in the wake of the tragic death of Adam Johnson.
They announced yesterday that Neck Protectors will be mandatory effective this Friday in the wake of Johnson’s death in Nottingham, England from a skate blade striking his neck in a freak accident. This makes the WHL the final league in the CHL to demand mandatory neck protection of some kind. It’s a little bizarre that this was not already a thing, but I suppose that many of the safety measures put in place by any league, not just the WHL or any of the myriad hockey leagues around the world, are built on the bones of very dead men. It’s a shame it took this tragedy to get it over the finish line, but any preventable serious injury or possible death can and should be prevented; no matter how unlikely it is for that kind of thing to happen.
Anyway, while the youngs get fitted for kevlar turtlenecks, let’s see how the State of Washington has handled more consistent action!
1st in US Division: Portland Winterhawks
- Record: 9-4-0
- Best Win: Dropping 11 on Brandon, Alberta. A 11-1 win over the Wheat Kings.
- Worst Loss: You seriously couldn’t summon two extra goals against Red Deer? Red Deer’s near the bottom of the league standings. A 2-1 loss to the Rebels? C’mon.
The Winterhawks are once again a powerhouse. Color me shocked.
Really the biggest part of their game so far has been spreading the wealth and letting early goaltending phenom Jan Špunar absolutely dominate opponents, with most losses suffered by the Oregonian player factory being very, very, very close (with the exception of the game against the Hitmen on the 29th. That was a bit off). They even capped off a huge statement win against Medicine Hat on Wednesday night in order to make abundantly clear that just because more eastern-based squads have begun to float to the WHL leaderboard, the US division isn’t to be overlooked. Portland gets it’s November schedule fully underway with a long road trip against a litany of Alberta and BC teams, then returns home on the 17th against the Prince Albert Raiders.
2nd in US Division: Everett Silvertips
- Record: 8-5-1
- Best Win: Crushing the Victoria Royals 8-1
- Worst Loss: Falling flat against Spokane at home with a 4-1 result
The Silvertips started a little slow, having to heave themselves through a couple of rough games to begin their season, but seem to be back on track after their game against the Victoria Royals on October 13th. One of their Achilles heels so far this season appears to be their own brethren in the division, as through the 9 games they’ve played against divisional opponents so far, they’ve only bested two of them. Maybe missing 5 skaters is starting to hurt them? Mercifully, their record away from the American side of the PNW seems more amenable, and an upcoming weekend in Alberta/Sasketchewan against Calgary, Medicine Hat, and Swift Current; at least two of the three being mediocre at the moment, ought to allow them to continue a winning streak they started against the Spokane Chiefs back on October 28th.
Kraken Prospects: Tragically, Kaden Hammell is one of their 5 skaters who is out. He’s out week-to-week due to an upper body injury. To this point he had 4 points in 8 games played, so hopefully he can get back out there soon.
3rd in Divison: Wenatchee Wild
- Record:
- Best Win:
- Worst Loss:
The fact that Wenatchee is even here at all is a goddamn miracle; given that they had to make a rapid turnaround in both firing their old head coach, Kevin Constantine, for impropriety, and hire a new one; Roy Summers of the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
Thankfully it seems whatever Summers’ is doing to motivate these kids seems to be working, as the Wild are currently on a 5-game winning streak starting back on October 20th against the Vancouver Giants, and features such quality wins on their schedule so far such as being a shocker for the WHL-leading Prince George Cougars, and snatching a victory from the Silvertips in an overtime win just recently on October 27th. That said, they are living high on a couple of major players; Japanese wunderkind Kenta Isogai, Albertan rising star Miles Cooper, Coyotes prospect Conor Geekie, and Nashville prospect Graham Sward, all of whom are keeping this team afloat as their very young roster tries to figure itself out. Mercifully, it looks like the Wild are in a good spot for right now, so long as they stay the course against two of the worst teams in the WHL right now this upcoming weekend; Victoria, and Vancouver, they’ll be just fine.
4th in Division: Tri-City Americans
- Record: 7-5-1
- Best Win: Being one of Prince George’s four losses all year has to feel pretty good; they got one over on them 6-4….
- Worst Loss: …Because starting the year getting punked out 9-0 by the Cougars still has to sting.
The Amerks are an unusual experience so far; able to keep up with some of the more explosive offenses in the conference but often unable to seal the deal. They’re trashing most of the cannon fodder as they come across them. It’s just a matter of getting that explosivity on their forecheck back on track…but they need to get that consistency down quick; they’ve given up 2 wins to Kamloops; a team with three wins on the year total, and have struggled with fellow US Division squads. The WHL playoff format is a little more generous than it is in the pros, but struggling against good teams is generally not considered a good indicator of future success once April rolls around.
Kraken Prospects: Lukas Dragicevic leads all defensemen in scoring on the Americans, with 6 points in 12 games! Good start, kid!
5th in Division: Seattle Thunderbirds
- Record: 7-4-0
- Best Win: Getting a 6-2 Result over the Oil Kings
- Worst Loss: Getting absolutely blanked by the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-0 never made anyone feel good, but I’m sure T-Birds fans would still rank the 6-1 loss against the Winterhawks as something of a raw wound still.
While some teams are trying their hardest with new players and new systems that need to be implemented, it really feels like the T-Birds are determined to actually kill it’s fanbase from stress alone.
The T-Birds seem content to mess around until the 3rd period, wherein they seemingly become an entirely different, much more dangerous team than the one that showed up in periods 1 and 2, and while it’s ensured their games are never boring, they have been caught unawares several times by teams more than willing to pile it on early. Seriously, I can’t think of a team in Canadian Junior right now playing with fire more often. Their current three game losing streak definitely feels like these birds have gotten their feathers singed by their insistence on leaving most of their scoring to the final frame, but if there’s any remedy for a struggling team right now, I can’t think of a better one than A) actually playing more games, they’ve played the least of any team in the division, and B) playing the Spokane Chiefs, who are the very definition of mercurial.
SPEAKING of which!
Last in Division: Spokane Chiefs
Record: 5-5-2
Best Win: Stomping out Kelowna 8-4
Worst Loss: It’s a tie between both of the losses to Victoria because right now Victoria is not great and they gave up two overtime losses to them on the same weekend. Who does that?
Nobody in the world is doing it like the Spokane Chiefs; a team almost designed to defy any sort of analysis or strategy at the moment, because anything of the sort is immediately wiped clean by the next game. Drop one? Win two. Win two? Lose bad; real bad. Grit out some close wins? Blow out loss the next weekend. It’s been the story of Spokane; chaos in it’s purest form, with no real reason to suggest it’s going to get better this weekend; facing their rivals in Tri-City and Seattle.
Given how Seattle and Spokane are playing so far, were I a local reporter I’d just print out whatever preview they have written and just eat it now. There’s no telling what the hell that game is going to look like.
The Rest of the WHL:
As per usual, the Prince George Cougars are once again the cream of the crop, and a number of the Albertan teams have rocketed up the standings to become early leaders of the league. The US division meanwhile has been hamstrung by chaos, weird scheduling, or are circling the top ten with hopes of getting into the top five. Of course, that’s just for the West.
In the East, it’s all been all Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, but the Warriors of Moose Jaw currently hold themselves to a higher standard. It helps that they happen to have Kraken prospect Jagger Firkus running an absolute show out there; tallying 29 points in 14 games for not just a commanding team lead, but also a tie for point-lead in the entire league. Truly, the Firkus Circus has yet to enter it’s main event.
Elsewhere, teams like Kelowna are keeping Kraken Prospect Caden Price plenty busy as their leading scorer on the backend, with 11 points in 8 games.
All the while…poor Kamloops may end up be in for a big CHL trade at some point, because this is a rough team that has only 3 wins, and given how badly they’ve been beaten throughout the league so far I don’t know if they’ll get a chance to do much winning beyond that. Red Deer isn’t much better. At least Victoria isn’t completely dead anymore.
We’ll see you next month for another WHL and local Kraken prospect update, where hopefully we’ll get a good look at what awaits our young squids, as well as the US Division at hand!