Every WHL team’s first tweet

 

WHL

Fun fact: The radio show hosted by Kamloops Blazers play-by-play voice Jon Keen was the first-ever tweet by the WHL head office. This episode featured Jordan Weal, Alex Petrovic, Emerson Etem, Jeff Holick and Tyler Boldt. Weal, Petrovic, and Etem went on to the NHL in various capacities.

Brandon Wheat Kings

Fun fact: The Wheat Kings held the 18th overall pick and selected defenseman Eric Roy. He went on to play five seasons in Brandon, scoring 48 goals and adding 152 assists in 322 games. He then played four seasons split between the AHL and ECHL. Last season, he played for the Kindersley Senior Klippers of the SWHL.

Calgary Hitmen

Fun fact: Both players went on to play for Team Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships. Canada lost the Gold Medal game to the team from the United States of America. Brandon Kozun finished the tournament with three goals and four assists. Martin Jones played in two games, registering a win and a loss.

Edmonton Oil Kings

Fun fact: The Oil Kings were coming off a season in which they found themselves in the Eastern Conference basement, following a 16-43-4-9 season. They weren’t joking about an exciting upcoming season — the team had a 24 point improvement and made the playoffs.

Everett Silvertips

Fun fact: The Silvertips are the team with the oldest “first” tweet. They began their account on March 31, 2009. The team’s seventh season resulted in a first-round exit following a 27-36-7-2 record, good for fourth in the US Division. The team was ousted by the Tri-City Americans in the first round of that season’s playoffs.

Kamloops Blazers

Fun fact: Hockey teams rarely throw out suggestions of people to follow unless they are members of the team or staff. This tweet came from the 2009-10 season, one in which the Blazers went 32-33-2-5 including a 3-1 loss in Seattle on the date of this tweet.

Kelowna Rockets

Fun fact: The game ended 3-0 for the Rockets who were on their way to a 35-31-2-4 record and a trip to the second round of the WHL playoffs. Future NHLer Tyson Barrie scored all three goals for the Rockets and Adam Brown had a 26-save shutout of the division-leading Giants.

Lethbridge Hurricanes

Fun fact: This tweet came just days before puck drop on the 2010-11 season. September 15th of this year will mark 10 years of Lethbridge Hurricanes Twitter. The Canes Cast Twitter account went dormant on April 22, 2018, after acknowledging they would no longer be tweeting on January 9, 2018. The Hurricanes missed the playoffs in this season after posting a 23-36-5-8 record.

Medicine Hat Tigers

Fun fact: This was the first of four straight goals for the Tigers before the Prince George Cougars responded with three of their own. Medicine Hat went on to win 5-4 on its way to a 41-23-3-5 record. Hamilton finished second in team scoring in 2009-10 with 24 goals and 47 assists.

Moose Jaw Warriors

Fun fact: Moose Jaw went on to a 33-27-5-7 record during the 2009-10 season and lost in seven games to the Calgary Hitmen in the first round of the playoffs.

Portland Winterhawks

Fun fact: Just weeks after a tough season in which the team went 19-48-3-2, the Winterhawks started Twitter and Flickr accounts. Gaining themselves a little Twitter magic, Portland went on to a much better season in 2009-10 as the team jumped to a 44-25-2-1 record.

Prince Albert Raiders

Fun fact: The Raiders took the contest 3-2 as Igor Revenko scored the eventual game winner at 15:35 of the second period on the power play. Prince Albert just missed the playoffs after going 32-35-3-2, nine points behind the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Prince George Cougars

Fun fact: Prince George was the second-last team to adopt the social media platform, more than two years after the first teams. The Cougars used the platform to let local media outlets know that they were now tweeting. The team didn’t receive any Twitter magic as they went 24-46-0-2 the following season.

Red Deer Rebels

Fun fact: Now for something completely different, the Rebels’ Twitter was used to talk about the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. The Blue Jays did not win the game but their 27-17 record had them in first place in the AL East. Red Deer, meanwhile, went 39-28-0-5 in the season following its first tweet.

Regina Pats

Fun fact: Coming off a season in which the team went 27-39-1-5, the Pats were looking to get some season ticket packages sold at the low price of $199. The fans saw a modest seven-point increase in the team’s play in the 2009-10 season. Season tickets for the Pats in 2020-21 are $375-650 to see the first-ever exceptional status player in the WHL, Connor Bedard.

Saskatoon Blades

Fun fact: The season was great for the Blades as they won the East Division with a 49-18-3-2 record. The team was surprised by the seventh seed Lethbridge Hurricanes in Game 7 of its opening-round playoff series.

Seattle Thunderbirds

Fun fact: The Seattle Thunderbirds did things right with an official welcome to their twitter account. The team had just come off a season in which they went 35-32-1-4 and followed it up with a first-round playoff exit at the hands of Spokane Chiefs.

Swift Current Broncos

Fun fact: The Broncos were coming off a 42-28-1-1 season, good for third in the tough East Division. They were then ousted by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round of the playoffs in seven games. Hall of Fame weekend was to be attended by the 1989 Memorial Cup Champions.

Spokane Chiefs

Fun fact: The WHL regular season schedule was released and the Chiefs were excited to get things going. The Chiefs won each of the games in the tweet en route to a 45-22-3-2 record and a third-place finish in the tight US Division. Spokane was just two points behind the Tri-City Americans and Everett Silvertips for tops in the division. The team was then bounced from the playoffs by the Portland Winterhawks in a hard-fought first-round series that went to Game 7 overtime.

Tri-City Americans

Fun fact: Just five days prior to the 2010-11 WHL season, the Americans joined the social network. The team won four games out of the gate and went on to post 44 wins to go with 24 regulation losses, two overtime losses, and two shootout losses. Their 92 points were good for third in the US Division. The team was then knocked out in the second round of the playoffs in six games by the Spokane Chiefs.

Vancouver Giants

Fun fact: Despite scoring the first two goals of the game, the Giants fell 5-3 to the Tri-City Americans. The Giants were on their way to a BC Division title with a 41-25-3-3 record. The team made it to the Western Conference Final before bowing out in six games to the Tri-City Americans.

Victoria Royals

Fun fact: The 12th overall pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam draft became Joe Hicketts, one of the best defensemen in Royals history. In four seasons with the Royals, Hicketts scored 32 goals and added 141 assists. He went undrafted but made his way to the Detriot Red Wings organization. He has split the last three seasons between the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Red Wings. This is also the first tweet the team made since becoming the Royals after a move from Chilliwack

Winnipeg ICE

Fun fact: Shivers was the mascot for the Kootenay ICE before the team announced a move to Winnipeg on January 29, 2019. Their first season as the Winnipeg ICE ended with a 38-24-1-0 record before the season was cut short due to COVID-19.