Happy Friday for WHL

East Division teams to play in Regina bubble

The Pats celebrate at goal at the Brandt Centre in 2019.

When a provincial Premier gets in on a big announcement, you know it is a huge day for a major junior hockey circuit.

On Friday near the end of the lunch hour, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sent out a message on Twitter saying the WHL’s East Division has been granted approval to used Regina as a hub city for a shortened regular season starting on March 12.

Just two minutes after Moe sent out his tweet, the WHL sent out a tweet containing the release of the details regarding Regina becoming a hub city for the East Division.

The announcement was a big one for the major junior circuit as it now has plans approved to get three out of its four divisions back into action.

Back on March 12, 2020, the WHL paused its 2019-20 regular season before eventually cancelling the rest of the 2019-20 campaign due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world. The last games played by the league occurred on March 11, 2020.

The Central Division is set to begin regular season play on Feb. 26 with home-and-home series weekends involving the circuit’s five Alberta-based teams. The U.S. Division will begin play on March 19. Plans are still in the works to get the B.C. Division back into action.

Currently, the East Division is the only division that will use a bubble format. The East Division will contain the circuit’s five clubs based in Saskatchewan in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos along with the WHL’s two Manitoba-based squads in the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Ice.

The WHL has been cleared by the Government of Manitoba to allow the league to bring its two Manitoba-based clubs to the Regina bubble.

Each team is scheduled to play 24 regular season games.

All of the regular season games will be played at the Brandt Centre, which is the Pats home rink. The schedule for those games will be announced at a later date, and no spectators will be allowed.

Chase Wouters will make a final run with the Blades.

Practices will be held at the Co-operators Centre, which is connected to the Brandt Centre thanks to some above ground corridors on the Evraz Place grounds.

Teams will be housed at the dormitories on the grounds of the University of Regina and Luther College.

WHL players and staff from Saskatchewan and Manitoba based teams will begin self-quarantining on February 20 and will report to the WHL hub centre in Regina on Feb. 27. Players and staff will be required to undergo COVID-19 testing upon arrival followed by an additional quarantine period.

Following that quarantine period, players and staff will undergo a second COVID-19 test before being permitted to engage in any team activity.

WHL clubs will provide private PCR testing through DynaLIFE Medical Labs in order to ensure no additional strain is placed on public health. Players will be tested upon arrival to their WHL team and once again before engaging in any team activity.

The major junior circuit will implement an ongoing weekly private PCR testing strategy.

If a WHL squad has one or more players or staff test positive for COVID-19 at any point in the season, the team will be required to suspend its activities for a minimum of 14 days.

There will be enhanced screening for all WHL players, team staff and officials that will take place on a daily basis including regular temperature screenings as well as symptom monitoring through the WHL Athlete RMS Mobile Application.

Masks must be worn by all WHL players at all times except when they are participating on ice for games and practices.

WHL coaches will be required to wear masks at all times including while conducting practice and while behind the bench during games.

Overall, this announcement got ultra-passionate WHL fans in Saskatchewan and Manitoba all tingly feeling with excitement. Many are waiting to hear details on the new live streaming service the WHL said was coming for games.

Following that announcement, the WHL kept rolling out the feel good news on Friday. The circuit announced the Central Division’s schedule for the first two weeks of play.

Max Paddock and the Raiders are Regina bound.

The Feb. 26 games to open play in the Central Division is scheduled to see the Medicine Hat Tigers travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels, while the Lethbridge Hurricanes head to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings.

On Friday evening, the WHL announced it had conducted 245 COVID-19 tests on players and staff from the Central Division clubs from Feb. 6 to 12 and there were not positive test in that batch.

Of course, a wrench could still be thrown into any plans for games depending on how developments go on the COVID-19 front.

Still, Friday was a day players, staff and fans of the WHL’s East Division teams had been looking forward to for almost a year. At the moment, it really feels like game action will become a reality.

Rebels players living at rink is just too sweet, other notes

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The Red Deer Rebels made waves in the sporting world this week, when they revealed their players would live at their home arena during their shortened 2020-21 campaign.

On Tuesday, Greg Meachem, who has covered the Rebels for decades, wrote a piece for the club’s website detailing the plans to have the Rebels players live in the luxury suites at the Westerner Park Centrium.

The move was made in consultation with officials at Westerner Park, the City of Red Deer, suite holders, players and parents.

Rebels head coach, general manager and owner Brent Sutter thought having the players stay at the rink might be easier than living with billet families due to all the protocols WHL clubs have to follow playing in a world that is in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Their mental health is something that’s important to me,” said Sutter in Meachem’s piece. “I was concerned that the kids would have to be in their bedrooms at billet houses.

“If other people were in the house, they couldn’t be hanging around the house. They would have to be in their rooms. We have things set up on the (Centrium) concourse…. ping pong tables, basketball hoops, things like that.

“And, we’ve moved our gym equipment upstairs, because we can only have so many people in a room. We can’t put everyone in one room together. We have to use two or three dressing rooms.”

Since making that post on Tuesday on the Rebels website, many media outlets across Canada have done stories on the Rebels plans of having their players live at the Centrium. NBC Sports in the United States also did a piece on the living arrangements of the Rebels players.

Many of the Rebels billet families brought beds for the players to use, and the hockey club also received beds from others in the community.

The suites were all equipped with Wi-Fi, rooms were set up to allow players in school to work on their studies, and a few recreation rooms were built to allow players to watch television or movies.

Overall, the Rebels hit a homerun with this idea.

The Rebels players are now living at the rink, and you have to believe they will get a kick out of what is a unique experience at the moment.

·        If all goes well, Bob Ridley will call his 4,000^th game as the play-by-play voice of the Medicine Hat Tigers when they host the Red Deer Rebels on Feb. 27. At the moment, Ridley has called 3,998 Tigers games including action in the regular season, standings tiebreakers, WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament. No one in hockey has called more games as the play-by-play voice of one team as Ridley has.

·       On Thursday, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors announced they will play the rest of their home games at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The Raptors had been hoping to play part of their home schedule in Toronto, but the team decided to remain in the United States after Canada increased its COVID-19 protocols when it comes to entering the country.

·        The University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team and the Manitoba hockey community are grieving the sudden passing of Emily Middagh at age 22 on Sunday. Middagh, who is a Winnipeg, Man., product, played defence for the Cougars in the 2018-19 U Sports campaign. Middagh had mental health battles in her life, and she was often seen at the rink with her service dog, River, when she played with the Cougars. Carter Brooks of Game ON Hockey in Winnipeg wrote a heartfelt tribute piece on Middagh, which can be found by clicking right here.

·       You have to admire the fans that make up the WWE Universe. This week, they were able to uncover the identity of the online stalker that has been harassing WWE superstar Alexa Bliss and her fiancé, Ryan Cabrera. The issue with the stalker goes back to 2020, and authorities have been notified. On Thursday, Ringside News put together a story about the fans uncovering the stalker’s identity, which can be found by clicking right here. As of Thursday night, the last know Twitter account of the stalker had been removed by the social media platform.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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WHL’s East Division is the “Group of Death” in 2017-18

Warriors C Justin Almeida (#8) rushes against Raiders D Zack Hayes.

    You might heap criticism on the WHL’s playoff format, but you can’t deny spectators have witnessed some outstanding hockey when the six members of the WHL’s East Division have gone head-to-head in 2017-18.

    In World Cup soccer terms, the East Division comprised of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos became the circuit’s “Group of Death.” When the regular season concluded, all six of these clubs finished in the top seven of the 12 team Eastern Conference based on standings points.

Kale Clague had four assists for the Warriors in their Game 7 win.

    If any of these clubs were in any of the circuit’s other three divisions, they would likely have an easier path when it came to advancing and attempting to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. Instead, these clubs have been forced to battle tooth and nail against each other to make the post-season and advance.

    While it is unfortunate, the WHL’s playoff structure isn’t set up in a way that allows the potential for more East Division teams to be alive in later rounds. As a result, the drama that has been created among their clashes has been intriguing.

    The first club to be unduly shoved to the off-season in the “Group of Death” was the Blades, who posted a 35-33-3-1 record to finish with the seventh most points in the 12-team Eastern Conference.

Curtis Miske had a big playoffs for the Raiders.

    Due to their sixth place finish in the East Division, the Blades weren’t able to earn one of the two wildcard berths in the conference.

    They watched two clubs that finished with fewer standings points from the Eastern Conference’s Central Division in the Red Deer Rebels (27-32-10-3) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (33-33-6) go head-to-head for a berth in the second round, which was claimed by the Hurricanes in five games.

    Under the league’s hybrid format where you basically play through your division in playoffs, four clubs from the East Division were forced to go head-to-head in best-of-seven first round series. The Moose Jaw Warriors, who finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-15-2-3 record, took on the Prince Albert Raiders (32-27-9-4). The Swift Current Broncos, who finished second overall in the WHL with a 48-17-5-2 mark, faced the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats (40-25-6-1).

    Both of those series were ultimately decided in Game 7. The Warriors took out the Raiders 5-4 in a Game 7 on Tuesday in Moose Jaw. The Broncos downed the Pats 3-2 in a Game 7 on Monday in Swift Current.

    Those Game 7s will go down as all-time WHL playoff classics.

Brayden Burke netted the series winner for the Warriors.

    The series between the Warriors and Raiders was definitely the WHL at its best. Out of those seven games, four of them were decided by a single goal including two contests in overtime. The Raiders showed tremendous battle even when they fell behind in the series 3-1 before they managed to even the series up at 3-3.

    Overagers in captain Curtis Miske and Jordy Stallard had outstanding series. Miske topped the Raiders in playoff scoring with three goals and seven assists, while Stallard was second in team playoff scoring with three goals and five assists.

    Sophomore winger Cole Fonstad was the Raiders most noticeable forward collecting four goals, an assist and a plus-two rating in the set.

    The series had many turning points including a missed penalty shot by Miske in the third period of Game 7. With the teams tied 4-4 late in the third period of Game 7, a power-play snipe by winger Brayden Burke with 3:50 to play in the frame before 4,702 spectators at Mosaic Place delivered the Warriors to a 5-4 victory.

    Burke had a pair of assists to go with his goal in the deciding game and played arguably the best hockey of his WHL career in the series. The overager piled up six goals, eight assists and a plus-six rating over the seven games.

Glenn Gawdin scored the series winner for the Broncos.

    Star defenceman Kale Clague, who had been quiet on the offensive front, came through big for the Warriors in Games 7 with four assists to finish with a goal and six assists for the series.

    In Prince Albert, the Raiders battle helped renew enthusiasm for the team. With Curtis Hunt as general manager, Marc Habscheid as head coach, Dave Manson as associate coach and a good crop of potential returnees, the Raiders have a bright future.

    For the Warriors under head coach Tim Hunter, they became that much more battle tough as they move forward in the post-season. Throughout the campaign, the Moose Jaw side has shown a great maturity in staying even emotionally and professional. Those characteristics will aid the Warriors going forward.

Cameron Hebig had a strong series for the Pats against the Broncos.

    The Broncos and Pats also played through an intense series. The fans on both sides still had last year’s second round playoff encounter on their minds, where the Pats rallied from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in team history to pull out a 4-3 series win.

    After Game 2, this year’s series between the two clubs provided some big swings as far as the scoreboard was concerned. The Broncos claimed Game 3 by a 4-1 margin, and the Pats rebounded with a 6-3 victory in Game 4.

    In Game 5, the Broncos bounced back with a 5-2 victory only to see the Pats claim Game 6 by a 7-2 score to force the series to a Game 7.

    Before a sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators at the Credit Union i-Plex, the two sides played through an intense barnburner. Overage winger Cameron Hebig scored first for the Pats to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 6:07 mark of the first period.

Stuart Skinner made 36 saves in the Broncos win in Game 7.

    The Broncos responded with three straight goals to go up 3-1, and their big line of captain Glenn Gawdin, Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi combined to net two of those tallies. Steenbergen tied the game at 1-1 at the 11:14 mark of the first, while Gawdin put the Broncos up 3-1 at the 13:37 mark of the second. Gawdin completed a beauty passing play for his tally.

    Max Patterson tallied at the 7:45 mark of the second to round out Swift Current’s surge.

    Just when the Pats seemed to be in trouble, energetic forward Robbie Holmes scored with 4:08 to play in the second period to cut the Broncos lead to 3-2. The Pats came hard trying to find the equalizer in the third outshooting the Broncos 14-4 in the frame.

    Netminder Stuart Skinner made 36 saves to allow the Broncos to hold off the Pats and preserve the win.

Ty Lewis and the Wheat Kings eliminated the Medicine Hat Tigers.

    Now, the Warriors and Broncos will go at it in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, which begins with Game 1 on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw. While the playoffs should have been structured to have these clubs meet in a conference championship series, you can expect them to put on another must watch series that will be intriguing.

    The Wheat Kings did their part to hold up the East Division’s tough reputation taking out the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers, who were 36-28-8 in the regular season, in a best-of-seven first round series 4-2. Brandon travels to Lethbridge to begin the other best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at 7 p.m. local time at the Enmax Centre.

The Blades were the team out of the playoff picture in the “Group of Death.”

    While some observers will take shots at the Wheat Kings, who were 40-27-3-2 in the regular season, for settling into the Eastern Conference’s first wildcard spot to get an easier road to the conference championship series, they still had to win their series against the Tigers to add further proof of just how tough the East Division is this season.

    The “Group of Death” has delivered big value for the entertainment dollar in this WHL post-season and another interesting chapter is on tap when the Warriors and Broncos collide.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.