For the WHL regular season, the final sprint is here and has just taken off from the starting line.

The Prince Albert Raiders sit in an exciting place having locked up first in the East Division with a 45-8-5-1 mark entering play Tuesday. They lead the Medicine Hat Tigers (42-9-5-3) by four points for top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Tigers lead the Edmonton Oil Kings (39-16-3-2) by nine points for first in the Central Division. Medicine Hat should take the Central Division title. The Tigers would need to lose seven of their last nine games in regulation to give the Oil Kings a chance at first in the Central Division.

Edmonton is pretty much out of the loop as far as the race goes for first in the Eastern Conference. The Raiders just need to win two more games to eliminate Edmonton from having a shot at first in the conference.

That means the Raiders and the Tigers will engage in a nine game sprint to see who takes top spot in the conference. Prince Albert with a four point lead in the standings and could go out and win just five of nine games to put Medicine Hat in a bind for getting top spot. In that scenario, the Tigers would need to win seven of their last nine games and get a point from an extra time loss to overtake the Raiders.

Prince Albert and Medicine Hat went into this last stretch in close to top form. Entering play on Tuesday the Raiders are 8-1-0-1 in their last 10 games, while the Tigers are 8-0-2 over their last 10 outings.

As the two clubs don’t have any head-to-head meetings remaining, it is conceivable both could win out the remaining games on their respective regular season schedules or win eight of their last nine contests. It is wise to expect both teams will have their foot on the gas.

The squad that tops the Eastern Conference in theory should have an easier path to reach the conference final. The squad that finishes second in the conference will likely have to face the Oil Kings in the second round.

Edmonton has enough firepower and resolve that could mean a second round series that goes seven games and a series that the Oil Kings can’t be counted out from winning. Players like Lukas Sawchyn, Miroslav Holinka, Carter Sotheran, Ethan MacKenzie, Landon Hanson and Gavin Hodnett can produce enough offence to put an opponent in trouble. If the Oil Kings can get import forward Max Curran back from a long term upper body injury, it would give their offence an extra boost.

Also, it feels like the Oil Kings netminders in veteran Ethan Simcoe, who turned 20-years-old on Monday, and 17-year-old rookie Parker Snell each have another gear. Some unfortunate foe might discover that in the post-season.

At the moment, the team that finishes second in the Eastern Conference might have to deal with a first round wildcard. Entering play Tuesday, the Regina Pats have won seven of their last nine games to sit comfortably in seventh place in the conference at 23-28-6-1.

The Pats are playing well enough that the top teams in the Eastern Conference have to be aware that they can be a real threat. The question about the Pats is are they a threat right now or are they still one season away from making noise in the WHL with a younger squad.

Regina had 10 games left on its regular season schedule entering play on Tuesday, but the schedule is really difficult. The Pats have to play both the Tigers and Raiders twice, the Brandon Wheat Kings twice and the Calgary Hitmen once.

If Regina goes through that stretch winning eight out of those 10 games, the Pats would make a statement that they will be trouble for anyone they face in the post-season right now. If they lose all seven of those remaining hard games on their schedule, that result would show the Pats might not be in the position to make noise in the post-season.

Regina faces a test in concluding the regular season to see how good their side really is. Remember, two of the Pats best players with the highest potentials in forwards Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue are playing half-time with the squad this season splitting time with Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA team. They will both be full-time regulars next season as 16-year-olds.

Still if the Pats look like they are going to come of age in the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign, it would be wise to avoid that potential coming of age story in the post-season.

With all that said, the biggest perk to finishing first in the Eastern Conference is having home ice advantage for potentially every round of the WHL Playoffs outside of the WHL Championship Series. The Raiders and Tigers have two of the top three home records this season, so the more they can play at home in the post-season the better it will be for each side.

Huskies back in Canada West final, other notes

An extra step didn’t seem to bother the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team in their U Sports post-season journey.

The Huskies finished third overall in the Canada West Conference regular season standings with a 19-7-1-1 mark meaning they had to play a Canada West quarter-final series and didn’t have a bye into a Canada West semifinal series. The Huskies swept their forever rivals the U of Alberta Golden Bears 2-0 at home in a quarter-final series. Last weekend, U of S traveled to Vancouver and swept the first place finishing University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a semifinal series.

The Huskies return to the Canada West Final to face the Mount Royal University Cougars in a rematch of last year’s conference championship battle. U of S took last year’s final claiming a 3-0 victory in a series-deciding Game 3 before a record home crowd of 3,013 spectators at Merlis Belsher Place.

The Cougars just edged the Huskies for second overall with a 20-6-1-1 mark and will host all three games of this year’s Canada West final at the Flames Community Arena in Calgary this coming Friday to Sunday. After completing the sweep of the Thunderbirds this past Saturday, the Huskies actually had to wait to see if they would host the Canada West title series.

The Cougars and U of Calgary Dinos played a series-deciding Game 3 in the other Canada West semifinal series this past Sunday. The Dinos led that contest 1-0 after the first period, but the Cougars rallied scoring single power-play goals in the second and third frames to pull out the 2-1 victory.

Raiders grad Landon Kosior has again had a big post-season for the Huskies posting one goal, five assists and a plus-three rating in four games. Prince Albert product Ethan Regnier has two goals and one assist for the Huskies and Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA grad Josh Pillar has one goal and two assists for the U of S.

Raiders grad Keaton Sorensen had the overtime winner that allowed the Huskies to take Game 2 of their quarter-final series with the Bears 3-2. The U of S roster also includes former Raiders captain Eric Johnston and defenceman Rhett Rhinehart, who started his WHL career with the Raiders.

The Huskies added netminder and Saskatoon Blades all-time great Nolan Maier to their roster after the Christmas break. Maier has gone the distance for the Huskies in the post-season posting a 4-0 record, a 1.20 goals against average, a .958 save percentage and one shutout.

Spencer Moe, who was a member of the Raiders 2019 WHL championship team, is playing out his final season of U Sports eligibility with the Cougars. Defenceman and Raiders grad Remy Aquilon is skating through his fourth season with the Mount Royal side and still has one season of U Sports eligibility remaining.

Both the Huskies and Cougars will play in the U Sports Men’s Hockey Championship Tournament – the University Cup. That elite-eight style tournament runs from March 19 to 22 in Halifax, N.S.

With that noted, you can expect the Huskies and Cougars will put on a classic in the Canada West final like they did a year ago.

• The Everett Silvertips have first place in the WHL’s Western Conference locked up sporting a 50-7-2-1 mark. The Silvertips need to win six of their last eight games to officially lock up a first place finish in the WHL’s overall standings.
• The Penticton Vees sit first in the B.C. Division with a 39-13-4-4 mark and are looking to increase their CHL record for most victories by a first year CHL team. They need to win three of their last eight games to lock up first place in the B.C. Division and second overall in the Western Conference.
• Entering play on Tuesday, Medicine Hat Tigers sophomore centre Markus Ruck led the WHL scoring racing with 88 points coming off 17 goals and 71 assists. Ruck’s assist total also leads the WHL.
• On Tuesday, the WHL announced Seattle Thunderbirds forward Antonio Martorana has been suspended four games after receiving a game misconduct for contravening the WHL Standards of Conduct specifically pertaining to respectful and inclusive behavior. The incident occurred this past Saturday at the end of the second period when the Thunderbirds fell at home 3-2 in overtime to the Silvertips. Martorana will receive additional education and support through the WHL Players First programs supplementing the mandated Respect in Hockey programming completed by all WHL players and personnel.
• On Saturday, the WHL came down on the Pats and Wheat Kings for the two clubs having an old school ending to their encounter on Friday in Brandon that the Wheat Kings won 4-1. That contest, which had been tame, ended with a line brawl that included a goalie fight between Pats netminder Taylor Tabashniuk and Wheat Kings puck stopper Filip Ruzicka. The Pats and Wheat Kings were both fined $1,000 for being involved in their second respective multiple fight contests of the season. Pats head coach Brad Herauf was suspended one game and fined $500. Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray was also suspended one game and fined $500.

Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 25 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.