Three WHL teams represented in CHL's weekly Top 10
The Canadian Hockey League today announced the week 24 edition of the CHL Top-10 Rankings for the 2017-18 season.
The weekly rankings of the CHL’s Top-10 teams are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.
The Broncos retained the third spot in this week’s rankings as the top-ranked club from the Western Hockey League.
Friday, the Broncos saw their 11-game home winning streak come to an end in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Prince Albert Raiders, but they rebounded quickly to down the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings by a 3-1 score the following night.
During the month of February, forward Tyler Steenbergen (Arizona Coyotes) continued his strong play with 20 points (7G-13A) and a plus-15 rating in 12 games, second only on the team to WHL Player of the Month Glenn Gawdin (Calgary Flames).
Tuesday, Steenbergen was recognized for his season with a three-year, entry-level contract from the Coyotes. Up next for the powerhouse club from Speedy Creek is a date Wednesday, March 7 (7:00 p.m. CST) against the Calgary Hitmen.
The similarities between the Broncos and Moose Jaw Warriors continued to grow this week.
As the Warriors sit one point ahead of the Broncos in the standings, they sit one spot behind the Broncos for another week, occupying the fourth spot.
In their three games this week, the Warriors struck down the Kootenay ICE by a 5-2 final and the Saskatoon Blades by a 5-1 score, but took a 4-2 loss against the Brandon Wheat Kings in the middle of those two victories.
The Warriors also had an offensive talent signed to a three-year, entry-level contract by the Coyotes as the NHL club signed forward Brayden Burke last Thursday.
The Warriors will look to strengthen their lead in the Eastern Conference Wednesday, March 7 (7:00 p.m. CST) when the Lethbridge Hurricanes come to town to wrap up the regular season series between the two clubs.
Moving up one place this week to the eight spot were the Everett Silvertips, who continued to lead the Western Conference by a six-point margin.
Another three-game weekend for the Silvertips produced six points for the Silvertips as they beat the Kelowna Rockets 4-2, won 2-1 in overtime against the Seattle Thunderbirds and downed the Vancouver Giants by a 6-1 final.
With a 24-8-2-1 record at home, the Silvertips have been hot on the road recently as well, winning seven straight games when serving as the away side.
They’ll look to push that streak to eight games Saturday, March 10 (7:05 p.m. PST) when they face-off against the Seattle Thunderbirds for the final time in the regular season.
Making the cut as an honourable mention this week were the Portland Winterhawks, who continued to do their best to give the Silvertips a strong challenge for the U.S. Division and Western Conference leads.
Though they lost 5-4 in a shootout to open their week, they close it with three straight victories on the road, shutting out the Tri-City Americans 5-0, downing the Thunderbirds 7-4 and topping the Prince George Cougars 4-3 Tuesday night.
Their strong play led to a sweep of the weekly honours as Cody Glass (Vegas Golden Knights) was named the WHL On the Run Player of the Week while Shane Farkas picked up the WHL Goaltender of the Week and Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week awards.
The Winterhawks will look to push their undefeated in regulation streak to eight games when they wrap up their regular season series with the Cougars Wednesday, March 7 (7:00 p.m. PST) at the CN Centre.
