The WHL stretch run is in full stride and the playoff races are heating up. This is the time of year where the good teams separate themselves and leave the pretenders in their wake. One team that has turned it on at the right time are the Calgary Hitmen.
A popular pre-season pick to win the Eastern Conference, Calgary never never seemed to quite put it all together. Early on the Hitmen had to wait for Jake Virtanen to recover from a shoulder injury and then had to deal with a disgruntled player in Greg Chase. Virtanen healed, the team found a home for Chase in Victoria and finally the Hitmen are hitting the stride we all thought they would.
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Entering the weekend they have won six straight and are piling up the goals and playing stout defence. In their past three games, the Hitmen have recorded two shutouts and outscored their opponents 23-1 in wins against Vancouver, Prince Albert and Edmonton.
While the Hitmen still trail Medicine Hat by 10 points, they have jumped ahead of Red Deer for third in the conference.
Adam Tambellini has been scorching hot for the Hitmen. Over the six-game win streak, the New York Rangers draft pick struck for 11 goals and is now tied for the team lead in scoring at 63 points with 20-year-old Connor Rankin, who is turning in a career season. Calgary picked Rankin up last year from Tri City where he was perceived to have not lived up to his potential. He’s doing so now, and has given the Hitmen another offensive weapon.
The Hitmen also have a solid blueline led by Philadelphia Flyers prospect Travis Sanheim and his 47 points, along with promising 16-year-old rookie Jake Bean.
Calgary may not catch Medicine Hat but will be in the mix come playoff time. With the WHL has adopting a playoff format like the current NHL format in that the top three teams in each division get in with two wild cards, each division then becomes a bracket and the two teams that advance will meet for the conference final. So the two Central Division powers could be headed for a second-round battle. Let’s hope that’s the case because it would be some great hockey.
Here’s what else is noteworthy in the Dub:
Toothless Cougars
After a promising start to the season, with new ownership and new hope in tow, the Prince George Cougars have fallen hard. Losers of 12 straight, they find themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
The problem with the Cougars is on the back end, where they have allowed a league high 4.69 goals per game. They play with the least amount of discipline and lead the league with 1,035 penalty minutes—273 ahead of the next club. To compound that problem, they are the worst penalty killing team, allowing a league-high 78 power-play goals.
Things have fallen apart, but—thanks to a mediocre B.C. Division—they are somehow only four points out of a playoff spot.
Prince George’s new owners have done a good job improving the hockey environment and eventually they will put a winning team on the ice, but it’s going to take some time. They have a young team that has some talent up front. Jansen Harkins is a 2015 NHL Draft-eligible forward who is leading them in scoring and averaging more than a point-per-game. They have other promising young guns in forwards Brad Morrison and Jared Bethune.
The good news for Prince George is that they are chasing teams equally prone to losing in Kamloops and Vancouver. If the Cougars can find a way to keep the puck out of their own net they might be able to squeak into the playoffs, which would be a big step towards rebuilding the community’s excitement.
Battle for the U.S.
Remember when everybody was eager to write off the Portland Winterhawks? It wasn’t that long ago that they were at the bottom of the U.S. Division and there were debates about whether or not they should trade Oliver Bjorkstrand and Nic Petan to rebuild.
Thankfully for Winterhawks fans, coach and GM Jamie Kompon ignored all that noise and now Portland is back in the heat of the division race. Winners of their past eight, the Winterhawks are one point behind the Everett Silvertips for the division lead. The two clubs squared off this past weekend in Portland and the Winterhawks used four third-period goals to win going away 6-3.
And speaking of Bjorkstrand, he scored three times to go along with three assists for a huge six-point night in the win. Petan scored once and added four assists for a five-point performance. Probably a good thing that Portland held onto those guys.
Portland Winterhawks on Twitter
Working in Everett’s favour is that it has three games in hand on Portland. The Tips will make up two of those games this week before a rematch on Sunday at home. Will first place be on the line?
Rockets finding stride
There’s no need to worry any more about the Kelowna Rockets making all their pieces work together. After disposing of Everett twice the week before, Kelowna took to the road for a brief four-game swing through the Eastern Conference. The Rockets travelled to Red Deer, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Kootenay and came away with wins in three of the games, only losing to the Oil Kings in a shootout.
Leon Draisaitl continues to shine with 17 points in the seven games he’s played since returning to the WHL. He’s picked up points in all but two contests and appears to be as great as we all thought he would be.
With the weak B.C. Division and the new playoff format, the Rockets will have an easy path to the conference final, where they will meet a team from the U.S. Division that will have had to grind through some tough matchups. Needless to say, we can pretty much punch their ticket to the WHL final at this point.
Spokane scores!
Heading into Saturday’s game with Medicine Hat, the Spokane Chiefs were desperate for a goal. Just one goal—something they had only done once in their five previous contests as part of a seven-game skid. The Chiefs have been ravaged by injuries, which resulted in three straight shutouts.
When Liam Stewart found the net in the first period against the Tigers it broke a 223-minute scoreless drought and ignited the Chiefs to an improbable 4-3 shootout win. You have to wonder if they forgot what it felt like to celebrate.
Spokane Chiefs Live on Twitter
Player of the week
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Portland Winterhawks It’s hard to ignore a three-goal, six-point night, but that wasn’t all Bjorkstrand did. Over the weekend he totalled nine points in just two games to sky rocket up to third in the league scoring race. He trails Trevor Cox of the Medicine Hat Tigers by 15 points but has played 10 fewer games.
2015 NHL Draft Tracker
Mathew Barzal, C, Seattle Thunderbirds He failed to find the score sheet in his first five games back from injury, but he finally got on the board this weekend. It started with an impressive four-assist night on Friday, he added one more Saturday to give him five points in two games.
Paul Bittner, LW, Portland Winterhawks After an up and down start to the season, Bittner has turned it on. He managed 16 points over his first 23 games but has picked up 27 points in his last 24.
Ivan Provorov, D, Brandon Wheat Kings The impressive rookie continues to have a strong season. He added five more assists this weekend and leads WHL rookies and all D-men in scoring.