East Division recap

Late-bloomers honoured

Patience is a virtue — especially in junior hockey. adam_brooks

A pair of East Division teams were patient with young players who didn’t provide much in the way of early returns. This week, each earned honours: Regina’s Adam Brooks was named the WHL player of the month for November and Moose Jaw’s Jayden Halbgewachs is the CHL Player of the Week.

Brooks has come a long way since struggling to be productive while logging limited minutes in his first two seasons. He had 12 points in 55 games as a rookie and 11 points in 60 games as a 17-year-old. The third season was the charm as he scored 30 goals after John Paddock took  over the Pats head coaching gig. He followed that by scoring 120 points last year to win the scoring title.

Brooks, now 20, had four goals and 22 assists in 10 games in the month of November to win the league’s Player of the Month honours.

Halbgewachs was sent back to the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians for his 16-year-old season and had four goals and eight points in 59 games during his rookie WHL campaign. The speedy winger had been a first round pick of Kamloops and was a key piece in the trade that sent Joel Edmundson to the Blazers with Halbgewachs, defenceman Tyler Bell and a first round pick that became Jett Woo going the other way.

Halbgewachs began to live up to those expectations last season when he notched a 15 goals and 41 points and then took a huge step forward in the post-season, scoring nine goals in 10 games and collecting 15 points as the games got tougher.

The 19-year-old is becoming a household name around the league, even if it’s a hard name to pronounce. He was named the WHL player of the week on November 29 after picking up six goals and three assists in three games.

Pats swap defencemen

The Regina Pats (17-2-4-0) finished their six-game road trip with their first shutout of the season — Tyler Brown earning the honours in a 3-0 win over Kamloops — followed by a 3-2 overtime loss in Kelowna.

The Pats left Kelowna with more than a point as they picked up 1999-born defenceman Jonathan Smart from the Rockets for 19-year-old defenceman James Hilsendager and 17-year-old forward Erik Gardiner who is playing in the SJHL and has 10 goals in 14 games with Humboldt.

As one of three finalists to host the 2018 Memorial Cup, Smart makes the Pats veteran-laden blue line younger going forward.

Smart was taken in the first round, 22nd overall, in the 2014 bantam draft and has seven points in 24 games this season with the Rockets.

Another Pats defenceman, Sergey Zborovskiy, has been named to the Russian selection camp for the world juniors.

Road Warriors stay hot

After years of struggling on the road, the Moose Jaw Warriors (15-5-4-0) have become very tough to beat away from home. mooseJaw

The Warriors beat Calgary 5-4 at the Saddledome and came from behind to score five unanswered goals in a 5-2 win in Red Deer.

The Warriors are now 8-1-1-0 away from home this season. Their .850 winning percentage is second only to Medicine Hat in the league. Last season they were eighth in the WHL with a .528 winning percentage. That ended a streak of four straight seasons with a losing record on the road, including three straight where they were below .400 away from home.

That includes the 2011-12 season when the Warriors posted a 45-19-6-2 record overall and still managed to have a losing record on the road.

For the sixth straight week, the Warriors earned an honourable mention in the CHL top-10 rankings.

Broncos split pair

The Swift Current Broncos (14-8-2-4) split a pair of road games and are now tied with the Warriors for second in the East Division though the Warriors have four games in hand.

The Broncos lost 4-3 in Lethbridge and rebounded with a 4-3 win over Kootenay. Ryan Graham had two goals and an assist in the loss as he collected his ninth point in his third game with the Broncos before being held in check against the Ice.

Wheat Kings hit the coast

The Brandon Wheat Kings (13-9-3-0) began their eight-game road trip by dropping a 3-2 decision in Saskatoon.

Life on the west coast was treating them better as they began the B.C. Division portion of their trip with a 4-3 win over the Victoria Royals.

Nolan Patrick was named to Canada’s training camp roster for the world juniors, but the Wheat Kings captain remains shelved due to injury after playing five games so far this season.

Blades losing ground

The Saskatoon Blades (10-16-2-0) snapped their four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over Brandon as Logan Flodell made 31 saves.

The Blades then ran into the juggernaut that is the Medicine Hat Tigers and lost 8-2 at home before earning a point with a 4-3 loss in Red Deer in overtime. The Blades had a lead against the Tigers and the teams were even at 2-2 after a period before the Tigers chased Flodell and scored six unanswered goals.

princeAlbertRaiders slump hits nine games

Medicine Hat has won 10 straight games. On the other end of the scale is the Prince Albert Raiders (5-20-1-0) who dropped their ninth straight game and have now lost 13 of their last 14 games.

The Raiders lost 7-1 and 4-1 in a home and home with Medicine Hat before losing 5-1 in Lethbridge to conclude their two-game road trip.