It always seems that some rounds get completed earlier than others. Could the second round in the WHL go that way?
In the first round, most teams kept to the script, with the lower seeds ousted by top seeds and the middle seeds doing fairly well along the lines. The only one that seemed to flip was Saskatoon beating Edmonton in six games, to then face Prince Albert.
Here we are in the second round, and the series are seeing top teams run away with them for the most part. Everett has a 2-0 series lead on Kelowna, who hosts the Memorial Cup. After taking the first game 4-1, they took the second 4-2, with the games shifted to Kelowna for Tuesday and Wednesday. Prince George has been a buzzsaw through Penticton, the first a 4-1 triumph, followed by another basting, this time 6-2, with Penticton grabbing two late third-period goals to avoid the shutout.
Out East, the Prince Albert Raiders shut out the Saskatoon Blades 3-0, then took a 6-1 win the following night. Calgary came close to taking the game versus the Medicine Hat Tigers to overtime but eventually lost 3-2. The following night was a regulation loss, this time 4-3. With that, all the WHL series are 2-0, and all could theoretically wrap up before the end of next week.
Out East in the OHL, the Eastern Conference standings are 2-0, with both the Barrie Colts and Brantford Bulldogs on top. Brantford picked up a third win, though not like the previous two, when they had manhandled North Bay (8-1 and 4-1), taking a 3-2 win in double overtime. The Western Conference saw Windsor grab two wins at home, 4-2 and then 6-5, as they scored with one minute left in regulation, the last of three straight goals. Flint pulled their goaltender but couldn’t score, leaving them with a 2-0 deficit. Lastly, the Kitchener Rangers, who mortgaged the farm at the trade deadline, have the Sault Ste. Marie (Soo) Greyhounds, who went into Game 2 with a wild night. Kitchener took a 2-0 lead into the middle of the second, gave up a goal that tied it, only to see Kitchener take the lead again midway through the second. Soo scored three in a row, including a very early third-period goal on the power play. Three minutes later, the Rangers tied it, only to see an unassisted goal by Soo less than two minutes later to take the lead. The Rangers responded five minutes later to make it a 5-5 tie. Just past the midway mark, Kitchener took the lead again. Two successive empty-net goals made the final 8-5, with the Rangers getting a 2-0 series lead.
The QMJHL has Rouyn-Noranda, Chicoutimi, and Moncton all holding 2-0 leads, with the Newfoundland Regiment and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada tied at one apiece, with games only on Friday and Saturday, then resuming on Monday. Newfoundland and Blainville-Boisbriand will have three games every second day in Newfoundland due to the distance; the final two games will be on Armada home ice.
The Winterhawks saw their 143rd entrant play in the NHL, with Marek Alscher on the ice for nearly 20 minutes as he suited up for the Florida Panthers in a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. Marek was drafted by Florida in 2022 and, after playing three seasons with Portland and 1 1/2 with the Florida AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers, made his NHL debut this week.
Over the coming weeks, the top 50 players of all time will be released by the Canadian Hockey League. The CHL released its list of the top 50 players, with former Portland Winterhawks player and now Boston Bruins President Cam Neely ranked 43rd. Neely, who played from 1982-84, had his top year in 1982-83, when he scored a hat trick in the Memorial Cup Final, the first year the Cup had a host team, the Portland Winterhawks. Neely played 19 games for the Hawks before moving up to the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks. His trade to the Boston Bruins in 1986 was nothing short of a fire sale. Not only did the Canucks part with Neely, but they also gave up a first-round pick in 1987 for Barry Pederson. The Bruins used that first-round pick to draft another former Winterhawks player, Glen Wesley. Pederson lasted a couple of seasons in Vancouver before being shipped off to Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Neely had career-ending injuries but stayed in Massachusetts, where his #8 jersey was retired and often cited as one of the top 10 worst trade outcomes in NHL history.
An interesting quirk has come down through the pipeline of Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He is stating that the regular season itself will be extended by a week to reduce weekday games and, in a battle with the NCAA, may allow air travel at certain times of the season, primarily during the swings. Portland and Prince George in the West, and Brandon in the East, would benefit greatly from a reduction in the nearly 23-hour bus trip to play some of these games on what is referred to as “the swing.” The NCAA currently doesn’t restrict travel modes, and it may be another avenue to retain players in the CHL. If anything, these won’t be acknowledged or announced until close to the end of the Memorial Cup or when the regular season schedule is announced.
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