‘Round the ‘DUB

(in an on-going feature we will use this space to bring you up to date on some of the news and notes from around the WHL)

The Western Hockey League opened their 2017-18 regular season Sept. 22 with eight games. The line combos as well as our own game tracker are now available on the site.

Today, the WHL announced their weekly award winners.

Kole Lind of the Kelowna Rockets is your Player of the Week. The Vancouver Canucks draft pick had three goals and five assists while helping the Rockets took a pair in a weekend series with the Kamloops Blazers.

Griffen Outhouse of the Victoria Royals was named Goaltender of the Week. Outhouse was 2-0-0-0 over the weekend as the Royals swept the home-and-home with the Giants. He posted a 1.07 goals against average and a .975 save percentage (77 saves on 79 shots).

The Calgary Hitmen acquired Ryely McKinstry from the Vancouver Giants today for a conditional draft pick. The defenseman has participated in 43 WHL games, scored three goals to go with three assists. He last played in the WHL in the 2015-16 season and missed all of last year. He was suiting up with the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL this year before the trade.

The Prince Albert Raiders elected Brad Toporowski as their new vice president in a meeting today. He replaces Dale McFee, who will stay on as a director. More can be found here: Raiders Elect new Vice-President

On Saturday, the Seattle Thunderbirds raised their WHL Championship banner. 6,104 fans filled the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. to witness the celebration. The T-birds would go on to win 4-3 over the visiting Tri-City Americans.

Brendan O’Reilly was the final overage player to be put on waivers by the Americans. It was announced today that he cleared waivers. The defenseman had played 153 WHL games, all with the Americans. The Calgary Hitmen, Rockets, Portland Winterhawks, Prince George Cougars, Thunderbirds and Swift Current Broncos all exceed the overage player limit. The deadline is Oct. 10.

Eight teams remain undefeated through the first weekend of the season; Moose Jaw and Red Deer (2-0) and Swift Current (1-0) in the East and Spokane, Kelowna and Victoria (2-0) along with Portland and Seattle (1-0) in the West. Swift Current is the next team to play from this group, as they head to Regina for a tilt with the Pats on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

We are now able to track stats like shots and faceoffs. James Malm of the Vancouver Giants is the early leader through two games. WHLStats is currently working on displaying these stats in the best way possible for you!

Another interesting feature over at WHLStatsPRO is the ability to track upcoming milestones. Two players are within one point of 100 on their career. Cal Foote of the Kelowna Rockets and Nolan Volcan of the Thunderbirds both sit at 99 total points. Kody McDonald of the George Cougars and Brendan De Jong have both played 199 career WHL games. Dylan Ferguson of the Blazers is just one game away from 50 career games. All these milestones and more can be found here:  Milestones.