Central Division takes charge of Eastern Conference

Photo By Darren Steinke Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers plays against the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre earlier this season.

By Darren Steinke
Stanks On Sports

When it comes to the WHL’s Eastern Conference, the Central Division has the power.

Leading up to the WHL’s trade deadline on January 9, the Medicine Hat Tigers, Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Central Division basically got involved with an arms race. Now almost four weeks has passed since the trade deadline elapsed, and the Tigers, Hitmen and Hurricanes have asserted themselves as the class of the conference.

The Tigers lead the conference with a 33-15-2-1 mark sitting four points clear of the Hitmen (30-13-3-2) and seven points up on the Hurricanes (30-16-1-1). Medicine Hat had been riding a 12-game winning streak that came to an end on Saturday with a 4-3 loss after an 11-round tiebreaking shootout to the Thunderbirds in Seattle. That wrapped up a six game road trip through the U.S. Division for the Tigers.

During the road trip through the U.S. Division, the Tigers came away with some impressive victories. On January 24, they slipped past the Chiefs in Spokane 3-2. On January 29, they thumped the Silvertips in Everett 7-3, and last Friday, they hammered the Winterhawks in Portland 7-2.

On Tuesday, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna was named the WHL’s player of the month for January recording 26 points on seven goals and 19 assists in 11 games since returning from world juniors. That marked the second time this season McKenna was named a player of the month.

Tigers 20-year-old star netminder Harrison Meneghin took honours as the WHL’s goalie of the month for January. In January, Meneghin posted a 7-0 record with a 1.55 goals-against average, a .930 save percentage and one shutout.

Since the trade deadline passed, the Hitmen have been 8-2-0-1 and the Hurricanes have been 9-2. Both squads have fairly loaded rosters now.

The Hitmen are backed by Daniel Hauser in goal, and their skaters include the likes of Ben Kindel, Oliver Tulk, Connor Hvidston, Carter Yakemchuk, Carson Wetsch, Kalem Parker, Sawyer Mynio and Prince Albert product Tanner Howe.

The Hurricanes are powered by two players who were key in helping the Moose Jaw Warriors win the WHL championship last season in netminder Jackson Unger and centre Brayden Yager. Lethbridge’s roster includes world juniors defenceman Caden Price, Logan Wormald, Brayden Edwards, Noah Chadwick, Miguel Marques and Leo Braillard.

Along with the runs of the Tigers, Hitmen and Hurricanes, the Edmonton Oil Kings have the potential to be a factor when all is said and done sitting sixth overall in the conference at 26-19-1-2.

The fact the Central Division is the stronger division in the Eastern Conference has been a change up from the last decade. Since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the WHL has completed eight post-seasons and East Division teams have won the Eastern Conference title seven times and the league title on four occasions over that stretch.

The WHL title wins included the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2016, the Swift Current Broncos in 2018, the Prince Albert Raiders in 2019 and the Warriors last year. The post-seasons in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

While teams from the Central Division are having good runs, the Eastern Conference champion might still come again from the East Division. On an overall league front, the Raiders have been the under the radar team that is putting together a strong season.

The Raiders top the East Division and are fourth overall in the conference at 27-15-3-1. They have eight wins and one shootout loss over their last nine games.

Entering play on Tuesday, Raiders 20-year-old star netminder Max Hildebrand led the WHL with a .915 save percentage to go with a 23-9-3 record, a 3.05 goals against average and two shutouts. The skaters in front of him are turning into a fine group, where you can name drop anyone on the roster and pick out where they have made strong contributions.

The Saskatoon Blades (25-16-3-3), Wheat Kings (24-16-3-3) and Broncos (25-20-1-1) are still in the mix and can cause any team headaches in the post-season.

With that noted, the Tigers, Hitmen and Hurricanes have made their cases and at the moment are the favourites to take the conference and appear in the WHL final.

Rudolph name WHL rookie of the month, other notes

A sensational 12-game point streak helped Raiders 16-year-old defenceman Daxon Rudolph pick up WHL rookie of the month honours for January.

Rudolph was named the WHL’s rookie of the month for January on Tuesday. In the 13 games played in January, Rudolph recorded two goals and 13 assists for 15 points to go with a plus-15 rating. His 12-game point streak came in the first 12 contests of the month.

Rudolph, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 195 pounds, helped Canada White win gold at the U17 World Challenge in Sarnia, Ont., this past November. He was selected first overall by the Raiders in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. With that noted, what he has been able to do this season has been impressive as defencemen typically take longer to develop that forwards with all the responsibilities blue-liners shoulder.

On the season, Rudolph has appeared in 42 games for the Raiders collecting four goals and 22 assists for 26 points to go with a plus-10 rating.

Everett Silvertips defenceman Landon DuPont took WHL rookie of the month honours for two of the three previous times the award has been given out this season. DuPont is a 15-year-old who is the ninth player in the CHL and second from the WHL to be granted exceptional player status to play major junior hockey at his age.

DuPont leads the WHL in rookie scoring with 50 points coming off 12 goals and 38 assists to go with a plus-22 rating in 47 games.

  • The Silvertips had a mini-slump losing two of their last four games to go with a regulation win and an overtime win. They dropped a 7-3 decision to the Tigers on January 29 at home and fell again on home ice last Friday 10-3 against the Spokane Chiefs. In the WHL’s Weekly Report that came out on Tuesday, the Silvertips had seven players listed on their injured list.
  • Kamloops Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston sits tied with former Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid for fifth on the WHL’s career list for head coaching wins at 582. Clouston’s next chance to get his 583rd career win comes Friday when the Blazers host the Silvertips.
  • Tyson Jugnauth of the Winterhawks leads the WHL in defencemen scoring. In 46 games with the Winterhawks, Jugnauth has 66 points coming off 12 goals and 54 assists to go with a plus-nine rating.
  • Entering play on Tuesday, Dawson Cowan of the Chiefs led the WHL in goaltending victories at 25. Cowan has posted a 25-12 record, a 2.65 goals against average, a .910 save percentage and four shutouts in 38 games.
  • Former Blades netminder in 20-year-old Austin Elliott is 20-1 in 21 games with the OHL powerhouse London Knights this season. Elliott has also posted a 2.36 goals against average, a .913 save percentage and two shutouts with the Knights. Before Joining the Knights, Elliott played three games this season with the Blades posting a 3-0 record, a 2.33 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. The Blades released Elliott and he cleared WHL waivers allowing him to be picked up by the Knights.

Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 20 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.

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