Eastern Division, Insight

WHL East Division recap

Written by Matthew Gourlie on

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Leading up to the 2014 WHL trade deadline, the Regina Pats turned some heads by trading captain Kyle Burroughs, future league MVP Dryden Hunt, plus Morgan Klimchuk and Connor Gay while they were sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference. Those moves were made towards an eye to the future and adding young talent like Connor Hobbs and Jake Leschyshyn to build around Sam Steel.
That future appears to be now as the Pats have stormed out of the gates to open the season. Steel heads into the weekend as the WHL’s leading scorer with 19 points in eight games.
The Pats are the only team in the CHL who has yet to a lose a game in regulation which has allowed them to move into a tie for the East Division lead with the Swift Current Broncos while also having a pair of games in hand.
The East Division only has one team with a losing record, so let’s take a look back at the week that was in the hotly-contested East:

Pats enjoying near-perfect start

If the Lethbridge Hurricanes were planning on avenging last year’s post-season, that revenge is only going to have to be served colder.
The Pats (7-0-3-0) stunned the Central Division champions in five games last year in the opening round of the playoffs. This week, the Pats continued to have the Canes’ number, beating them 7-2 in Lethbridge and 6-1 in Regina.
The Pats opened the week with a 5-4 road win over Kootenay. Regina out-shot the Ice 57-23, but needed a Connor Hobbs overtime goal to take both points.
Swedish rookie Filip Ahl scored the game-winning goal in both meetings with the Canes. Ahl is second in rookie scoring with 13 points and teammate Nick Henry is third with 11 points.
Adam Brooks has notched eight points in four games since being returned to Regina. This week was the first time that the Pats had Brooks and Austin Wagner in the lineup at the same time.
Regina is now ranked No. 2 in the CHL’s top-10 rankings.
The Pats will hold their annual paint the rink pink, breast cancer awareness game Friday, Oct. 21 against the Spokane Chiefs.

Broncos off to good start on road

The Swift Current Broncos (8-3-0-1) had their four-game winning streak snapped Wednesday in Kamloops where they suffered a 5-4 loss. Still, it’s been a great B.C. road trip to date for the Broncos. They opened with a 5-1 win over Kelowna and then beat the WHL-leading Prince George Cougars 5-4 in overtime.
In their wins over the Rockets and Cougars, their power-play was a combined 5-for-6.
Against Prince George, Tyler Steenbergen’s second goal of the night was the OT-winner as the Broncos overcame a 4-2 third-period deficit.
Swift Current’s sensational Finnish forward Aleksi Heponiemi leads all WHL rookies in scoring with 14 points.
The Broncos moved into 10th play in the CHL’s top-10 after their strong start to their road trip.

Warriors keeping pace

The Moose Jaw Warriors (7-2-2-0) have won three straight games after they took two-of-three games in Alberta and returned home to beat Lethbridge 3-1 Wednesday.
The Warriors big guns have been getting the job done of late. Jayden Halbgewachs has nine goals on the season and Nikita Popugaev and Brett Howden each have eight. Those 25 goals account for well over half of the Warriors’ 42 goals scored this season.
Popugaev was the hero when he completed his first career hat trick with the overtime-winner in a 4-3 win over Calgary. The following night Tanner Jeannot was the OT hero when his goal gave the Warriors a 5-4 win over Edmonton. Jeannot’s two goals this season have both come in overtime.
The Warriors opened the week with a 6-4 loss in Red Deer. The two overtime wins salvaged a trip that saw the Warriors fail to hold leads in all three games.
In Edmonton, the Warriors led 4-2 with less than four minutes left and squandered the lead. They led 3-1 in Calgary and 3-2 in Red Deer in the second period each night before losing both leads.
Zach Sawchenko has started three straight games in goal for the Warriors and has won his last four starts.
Warriors head coach Tim Hunter has been named the WHL team’s bench boss for the CIBC Canada Russia Series next month.

Blades off to a winning start on B.C. trip.

The Saskatoon Blades (6-3-1-0) also got off to a winning start on their B.C. Division road trip. The Blades beat Kelowna 4-2 before being humbled in Victoria by a 9-3 score. The Blades rebounded with a 3-1 win in Vancouver.
Logan Flodell had the night off in Victoria and continued his strong play to start the season. The 19-year-old’s 1.67 goals-against-average remains the lowest in the league.
Brock Hamm went the distance in goal in Victoria despite the Blades falling into a 5-1 hole after 20 minutes.
Jesse Shynkaruk scored the game-winning goal in both wins this week and has four game-winners on the season for a share of the league lead with Swift Current’s Glenn Gawdin and Michael Rasmussen from Tri-City.
Shynkaruk had 10 goals in 64 games last season with Moose Jaw and has six in 10 games thus far with the Blades.
Mason McCarty scored twice in Vancouver and is also off to a fast start. The 19-year-old has seven goals to open the season after finishing with 18 a year ago in his first full season with the Blades after coming over from Red Deer.
The Blades will wrap up their road trip in Kamloops and Prince George on consecutive nights. They are in the midst of a stretch that sees them play seven of eight games away from home.

Raiders and Wheat Kings share spoils

It was a quiet week for the two teams in the bottom of the East Division standings. The Brandon Wheat Kings (3-3-2-0) and Prince Albert Raiders (3-5-1-0) played each other in a home-and-home series and each left with three points.
Brandon took a 3-2 overtime win at home and the Raiders returned the favour the next night with a 4-3 overtime win in Prince Albert.
The Wheat Kings were able to claim three out of four points despite missing captain Nolan Patrick for both games. Defenceman Kale Clague remains out with a lower-body injury sustained in an NHL training camp.
Though the Wheat Kings sit in fifth place in the East Division, the reigning league champions have played only eight games to date and still own a .500 record.
Tuesday the Raiders added six-foot-three centre Adam Kadlec from Prince George in exchange for winger Josh Maser and a sixth-round pick in the 2017 WHL draft. Both Maser and Kadlec are 1999-born players.
The Raiders also re-assigned goalie Curtis Meger to Estevan of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Ian Scott has made four straight starts in goal for the Raiders who have Nicholas Sanders as a back-up. Sanders was acquired as part of the trade that sent Rylan Parenteau to Tri-City last week.