Around the Dub

Here's what's been happening around the Western Hockey League:

The early season races around the league are still fairly tight. Everett and Portland are tied for first, Spokane trails by 1, Tri-City by 2 and Seattle is 4 back. Kelowna leads Vancouver by a point in the BC DivisionKamloops is 3 back, followed by Victoria 5 back and Prince George 6 behind. In the Central, Edmonton's 13 points, which are best in the league, leads Medicine Hat by just 2 points, After that, Calgary trails by 4, Red Deer 5, Lethbridge 6 and Swift Current 9. In the East Division, Prince Albert's 12 points, second best in the league, leads Moose Jaw by 2, Saskatoon by 3, Winnipeg by 5, Brandon by 6 and Regina by 2.

Bryce Kindopp of Everett sits atop the scoring ladder. The winger has 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points in 6 games. Kindopp also has the most goals in the league with 8. Adam Beckman of Spokane and Ryder Korczak of Moose Jaw are tied for the league lead with 7 assists. Korczak's +10 is best in the WHL in plus/minus. Carson Denomie of Moose Jaw, Samuel Huo of Tri-City and Kindopp have each scored a league best 3 power play goals. Huo's 3 power play goals is also his season's goal scoring total so far. Jake Kustra of Swift Current tops the league with 25 penalty minutes.

Kyle Crnkovic of Saskatoon, Nino Kinder of Winnipeg, Josh Tarzwell of Red Deer, Riley Stotts of Calgary and Conner Roulette of Seattle have all registered hat tricks.

Nolan Maier of Saskatoon has appeared in all 8 of his team's games. That's tops in the league for appearances, as is his 430 minutes played. Bailey Brkin of Moose Jaw leads with 5 wins, Brkin and Boston Bilous of Prince Albert share the league lead with 2 shutouts each. David Tendeck of Vancouver leads the league in both goals against average and save percentage, at 1.00 and .961 respectively.

Portland's 2 home dates, both at the Moda Center, have attracted a total of 11,447, for a league best average of 5,724. Kamloops in 5 home dates, has drawn a league best 20, 400. That's an average of 4,080.

Transactions in the past week:
Brandon sent their 5th round bantam pick in 2020 and a conditional 6th round pick in 2022 to Tri-City for defenseman Dom Schmiemann. The Wheat Kings also sent Zach Wytinck to Regina for a 5th round pick in 2022.

There are 9 games in the Western Hockey League tonight, 10 games Saturday, 2 games Sunday, 1 game Monday and 3 games Tuesday. Have fun, go out and support your local team and take a friend, Or 2, or 3.