Red, White and Blue Report: First half wrap

It seems like just yesterday that we dropped the puck on the 2016-17 WHL season but here we are at the holiday mid-season break.

There’s been a lot of good hockey played in the league, and especially in the U.S. Division where all five teams have winning records. How many other divisions can say that? None.

There is a debate to be had about whether or not the U.S. Division is the best division in the WHL but what isn’t up for debate is that the Everett Silvertips have been the best team in the division. Everett has a 12-point lead on second place Tri-City at the break, and even has four games in hand on the Americans.

You’ll also find U.S. Division players on the league’s leader boards. Everett’s Carter Hart has the lowest GAA in the league at 1.85, which is microscopic. Portland’s Cody Glass has been one of the offensive stars in the division as the Winterhawks’ center is fifth in the league scoring race with 50 points.

With this many good teams, the second half is setting up to be full of entertaining hockey. Before we can get to that however, here’s a look back at the first half for each team.

Everett Silvertips: 24-4-5-0

It’s becoming apparent that no matter what their roster looks like in the summer, the Silvertips are going to be better than expected. On paper it didn’t look like it was going to be a good year in Everett but an early trade with Spokane for over-aged import Dominic Zwerger started the turn. Zwerger has been as expected, with 37 points and gave the Silvertips a big scoring threat. But Everett is also getting it from other guys. Patrick Bajkov is having a break-out, career type year with a team-leading 44 points at the break. He only had 46 points all of last year and the boost in scoring is one of the big reasons the Silvertips are averaging 3.38 goals-per-game — up from 2.58 last year. You add that scoring to the best defensive club in the league, led on defense by Montreal Canadiens’ prospect Noah Juulsen and Hart in net, its no wonder the Silvertips are where they are in the standings.

Tri City Americans: 19-15-3-0

There may be no team in the U.S. Division who welcomed the break more than the Tri City Americans. After having a pretty solid first half, the Americans limped into the break, losers of four in a row. They are in second place but are going to have to come out of the gates after Christmas on fire if they want to hold on to it. Tri City ended the first half with two of the top special teams units in the league and one of its top goal scorers. Michael Rasumussen came out of the chute by scoring four goals on opening night and ended the first half with 23. Tri City can score and they tried to shore up their back end by picking up over-aged goalie Rylan Parenteau in a trade. He’s split time with Evan Sarthou but the Americans are still allowing the division’s second most goals per game. If they can get that tightened up, they will be a tough team to beat.

Portland Winterhawks: 19-16-1-0

With Mike Johnston back behind the Portland bench, the Winterhawks had a better half than a lot of pundits thought they would. The Winterhawks are young, can skate and played some entertaining hockey in the first half. The youth has showed as Portland has been one of the streakiest clubs in the league. After a strong start they hit the skids with a nine-game losing streak in October. They rebounded from that and went on another hot streak before hitting the break losers of two straight. Glass has been the star for the Winterhawks but speedsters Ryan Hughes (13-20-33) and Sklyer McKenzie (22-22-44) have provided a deadly attack. Stay out of the box when you play Portland, their 25.3 percentage on the power play has won them a ton of games so far. Goaltending was a big question coming into the season but Cole Kehler — picked up from Kamloops in the off season — has given the Winterhawks some stability in net.

Seattle Thunderbirds: 17-13-2-1

The defending division champs have had an up and down first half. Early on, they were trying to find their way and then the NHL started returning players. Ryan Gropp was first to return and was a surprise as he was a signed over-ager. A few weeks later the New York Islanders returned Mathew Barzal to the T-Birds. That return coincided with Columbus Blue Jacket prospect Keegan Kolesar’s return from injury. With those three in the lineup Seattle was 8-2-2-0. Barzal will be missed in December as he heads to the World Junior Championships, but Seattle could be a team to watch in the second half. Overage center Scott Eansor is having his finest WHL season to date. The Colorado native finished the first half with a career-high in goals and is scoring at over a point-per-game. Finnish import Sami Moilanen had a strong start to his career in the WHL over the first half. He ended up with 26 points to give Seattle some scoring depth.

Spokane Chiefs: 14-13-5-1

The young talent on the Chiefs roster showed its stuff in the first half. Kailer Yamamoto is having a huge draft-eligible season with 44 points but he’s not the only one. Jaret Anderson-Dolan should be climbing up draft boards after he put up 17 goals and 31 points. The Chiefs have not been able to get some consistency in their game and are allowing the most goals-per-game in the Division. They made a few goalie trades as the season started and have settled on the combination of Jayden Sittler and Dawson Weatherill. Spokane’s defense hasn’t been what they want it to be but former first-overall bantam pick Ty Smith has shown flashes. Just before the break Spokane picked up defenseman Nolan Reid from Saskatoon to try and bolster the blue line. Spokane is built for the next couple of years and could continue to struggle but they are no easy out. On any night they showed that when that youth clicks, they can beat anyone in the league.