The WHL has its first playoff teams.
Two teams punched their postseason tickets over the weekend as the Kelowna Rockets and Brandon Wheat Kings assured themselves spots in the playoffs with six weeks still remaining in the regular season.
Kelowna, which has the league’s best record at 42-8-3-1, became the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Rockets, who are 8-0-0-1 in their past nine, have 88 points, meaning they can no longer be caught by Vancouver, which is in fourth place in the B.C. Division and ninth place in the Western Conference.
Brandon, which is right on Kelowna’s tail in the race for the Scotty Munro Trophy, is 41-9-3-2 and the first team to earn a postseason berth in the Eastern Conference. The Wheat Kings, who are 12-0-0-1 in their past 13, have 87 points, meaning they can no longer be caught by Moose Jaw, which is in fourth place in the East Division and in ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
Both Kelowna and Brandon are way out in front in both their division and conference races. Kelowna leads Everett by 16 points for first place in the Western Conference and leads Victoria by 24 points in the B.C. Division. Brandon leads Medicine Hat by 14 points in the Eastern Conference and leads Regina by 21 points in the East Division. Both teams will likely clinch their division and conference titles with weeks to spare.
The story is different in the U.S. and Central divisions, where the titles are still up for grabs.
In the U.S. Division, Everett is trying to hold off Portland. The Silvertips stretched their lead over the Winterhawks to six points with Sunday’s 4-3 overtime victory over Portland. Everett has played one game fewer than Portland.
In the Central Division, Medicine Hat suddenly finds itself having to worry about its lead. The Tigers had a double-digit lead atop the division for much of the season. However, the injury-plagued Tigers have lost four straight. Meanwhile, Calgary has been red hot, winning eight straight and blowing out its opponents in the process, winning those eight games by a combined score of 48-9. As a result Medicine Hat’s lead over the Hitmen has shrunk to six points with the teams having played an equal number of games.
Around the WHL
Moose Jaw retired the No. 28 in honor of former star Ryan Smyth. Smyth had 110 goals and 112 assists in 188 games with the Warriors from 1992-95 before embarking on an 18-year career as an NHL standout, largely with the Edmonton Oilers. … Brandon’s Rihards Burkarts was named the WHL Player of the Week. The 19-year-old forward had four goals and three assists as the Wheat Kings went 4-0. … Portland’s Oliver Bjorkstrand was named the WHL Player of the Month for January. The 19-year-old forward had 14 goals and 16 assists in 12 games. … Kamloops’ Connor Ingram was named the WHL Goaltender of the Month for January. The 17-year-old went 7-1-0-1 with a 2.30 goals against average and .929 save percentage.
Leaders
Points — Trevor Cox (Medicine Hat) 91; goals — Rourke Chartier (Kelowna) 44; assists — Cox 68; penalty minutes — Keegan Kanzig (Calgary) 132; wins — Jordan Papirny (Brandon) 34; goals against average — Taran Kozun (Seattle) 2.30; save percentage — Adin Hill (Portland) .924.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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