The WHL’s Road to Shawinigan
By Aaron Bell
The Tri-City Americans haven’t had much of a chance to think about the playoffs yet – let alone the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Shawinigan, Quebec – but the top team in the Western Hockey League likely will be soon.
The Americans have won six in a row and have claimed top spot in the WHL’s standings with 91 points with three weeks left to go in the regular season.
Their surge to the top of the standings has largely come from the incredible month that veteran forward Brendan Shinnimin, who piled up 41 points in the month of February.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Shinnimin told The Kamloops News earlier this week. “I’m just shooting the puck and its going in right now.”
Shinnimin scored 11 goals and 19 points in four wins last week and is among the WHL’s top goal scorers with 52 and has 117 points – good for an 11 point lead in the WHL scoring race.
“I’m just trying to play a pro style of game and everything is falling into place,” he said. “I’ve been looking to shoot a lot.”
The Americans are on top but the race for the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the top record in the regular season – and guaranteed home ice advantage throughout the playoffs – is still very much up for grabs.
In the Western Conference, the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks both have 90 points heading into this weekend’s games and trail Tri-City by just one point.
The Americans have a pair of games against Portland this weekend – on Friday at home and again on Sunday on the road. The Winterhawks have won 10 of their past 11 games to clinch a playoff berth and home ice advantage in the first round and have won their past three meetings against the Americans.
“We are in first place right now. It’s in our hands and we can’t ask for anything more than that right now,” overage winger Adam Hughesman told The Tri-City Herald. “To be honest, we have done a really good job every game keeping it in the moment.”
In the Eastern Conference, the Edmonton Oil Kings lead the way with 89 points while the Moose Jaw Warriors are close behind with 83.
There is also a tight group at the bottom of the Western Conference with the Victoria Royals, Seattle Thunderbirds, Everett Silvertips and Prince George Cougars all within six points of each other for the final two playoff spots.
The Royals swept a two-game set against Prince George last weekend to push the Cougars further out of the playoff picture.
“It’s very disappointing,” Cougars’ head coach Dean Clark told The Prince George Citizen. “We knew this was a weekend that was very, very important in regards to where we sat in the standings – to not have any success is not obviously what we need.
“We still have 11 games left here to get ourselves back, but when you have an opportunity to pass the teams you’re close to you’ve got to take advantage of it.”
In the Eastern Conference, the Brandon Wheat Kings have won six of their past seven games and have built up a 10-point cushion on the Red Deer Rebels for the final playoff spot.
