Go Hitmen

[Chaucer]

The WHL's central division was the best in all of hockey this year. Here's hoping the eastern conference will not be decided by two teams from the east division.

[Duct Tape]

The WHL's central division was the best in all of hockey this year. Here's hoping the eastern conference will not be decided by two teams from the east division.

By Best in all of hockey thats when you don't include the OHL Midwest Division correct?

WHL Central
176 Wins
405 Combined Points

OHL MidWest
211 Wins
423 Combined Points
Top 3 Regular Season Records League wide (London, Owen Sound, Kitchener)

Just thought i'd point that out.

Later

DT

[C.F]

The WHL's central division was the best in all of hockey this year. Here's hoping the eastern conference will not be decided by two teams from the east division.
I think it's quite obvious that you didn't look past the WHL when you made that comment.

[C.F]

While I admit the Knights are the best team in junior hockey through the regular season, you're on crack if you think any division is as good and full of depth as the WHL central.

Red Deer: Coach Brent Sutter, Dion Phaneuf (best player in the CHL), Colin Fraser, Mikko Kuuka, Roman Wick, Ty Morris etc. That team finished fourth.

Lethbridge: Aaron Sorochan in goal, Brent Seabrooke, the defending league scoring champ Tyler Redenbach, Kris Versteeg, John Lammers, John Filewich, Colton Yellow Horn etc. All that to be eliminated in the first round.

Calgary: Ladd, Getzlaf, Pushkarev and a blue line of HUGE d-men. Four NHL first round draft picks, and two WHL calibre coaches. Still alive

Medicine Hat: Defending league champs, MacArthur, Barker, Meyer, Nastiuk, Kris Russell, Steve Marr, Cody Blanshan, Roman Psurny etc. Elimintaed in the 2nd round.

Swift Current: Had a record CHL low 135 goals yet still had more points than two teams in the east division and won 22 games. Didn't make the playoffs.

The WHL central had 7 players from Canada's gold medal winning world junior team. That's as many as the OHL and QMJHL combined. While I'm sure the OHL midwest is stellar and full of talent, the WHL's central is without a doubt the best in hockey.
Am I on crack, or is there no team from the central in the ECF?

[C.F]

The Central does have depth that most divisions don't have, but Central all-star team wouldn't beat every other divisional all-star team.

The East didn't kill themselves anymore than Prince Albert did. Fact is the 2 teams that came out of the Central(aka the best), both lost to an Eastern team.

[thomasincanada]

While I admit the Knights are the best team in junior hockey through the regular season, you're on crack if you think any division is as good and full of depth as the WHL central.

Red Deer: Coach Brent Sutter, Dion Phaneuf (best player in the CHL), Colin Fraser, Mikko Kuuka, Roman Wick, Ty Morris etc. That team finished fourth.

Lethbridge: Aaron Sorochan in goal, Brent Seabrooke, the defending league scoring champ Tyler Redenbach, Kris Versteeg, John Lammers, John Filewich, Colton Yellow Horn etc. All that to be eliminated in the first round.

Calgary: Ladd, Getzlaf, Pushkarev and a blue line of HUGE d-men. Four NHL first round draft picks, and two WHL calibre coaches. Still alive

Medicine Hat: Defending league champs, MacArthur, Barker, Meyer, Nastiuk, Kris Russell, Steve Marr, Cody Blanshan, Roman Psurny etc. Elimintaed in the 2nd round.

Swift Current: Had a record CHL low 135 goals yet still had more points than two teams in the east division and won 22 games. Didn't make the playoffs.

The WHL central had 7 players from Canada's gold medal winning world junior team. That's as many as the OHL and QMJHL combined. While I'm sure the OHL midwest is stellar and full of talent, the WHL's central is without a doubt the best in hockey.

While I think you may be right on the division thing, the Canadian Junior Team selection process was pretty West biased due to the coach. Just my 2 cents.

Also, in mine and most others opinions the best player in the CHL and his team are still going strong and undefeated in quite a while. I'm not a fan of the Q or anything, but I think Crosby is definately the man right now.

Tom

[Chaucer]

Phaneuf, Fraser, MacArthur, Meyer, Getzlaf, Ladd, Seabrooke, Filewich, Yellow Horn, Nastiuk, Moir and that's just off the top of my head in the central. The east and the US have some good finesse but are nowhere near the well rounded and gritty central. The BC division had it's share of talent, but you can't argue the central was the strongest division. Gilbert Brule wouldn't have had half as many points if he played Red Deer/Hat/Calgary/Lethbridge/Swift eight times a year. Brandon had the benefit of five home games against US division teams this year. If Brandon played central teams as much as east teams, Stone/Fehr/Konsorada wouldn't have had as many points either.

[C.F]

Phaneuf, Fraser, MacArthur, Meyer, Getzlaf, Ladd, Seabrooke, Filewich, Yellow Horn, Nastiuk, Moir and that's just off the top of my head in the central. The east and the US have some good finesse but are nowhere near the well rounded and gritty central. The BC division had it's share of talent, but you can't argue the central was the strongest division. Gilbert Brule wouldn't have had half as many points if he played Red Deer/Hat/Calgary/Lethbridge/Swift eight times a year. Brandon had the benefit of five home games against US division teams this year. If Brandon played central teams as much as east teams, Stone/Fehr/Konsorada wouldn't have had as many points either.
And who's to say that so many talented Central players points would decrease in the BC division. You can't make those comparisons.

Thiis central argument has been beaten to death. I will leave at the fact that 2 eastern teams are in the ECF, and that can't be argued.

[thomasincanada]

You can say the Canadian team selection was biased, but can you argue the result? We went eight years of having a team evenly distributed throughout Canada and didn't win gold. Only when the stacked a team with westerners (and more specifically central division westerners) did we not only win gold but crush everyone else every game.

You may think Crosby is the best in the country, many people do. I only say Phaneuf is the best cause he won the CHL player of the year award for the 2nd straight year and was given that title by a panel of experts.

http://www.chl.ca/CHLNews0405/0301.html


First thing, you are mistaken about the CHL player of the year. Phaneuf didn't win it last year and he almost certainly won't win it this year. What he *did* win is the player of the year as voted by Prospects magazine. A nice award, to be sure, but not the CHL player of the year. See for yourself

http://www.chl.ca/CHLAwards/a_playeryear.html

I think the result of the tournament was because of Canada having a large number of talented players at this age level this year. Some years it's like that. There is little doubt in my mind that a team of strictly OHL & QMJHL players would have also won the tournament. Of course the team wouldn't be as good without the many good WHL players, but I believe that this particular year the CHL was just leagues above the rest of the world.

Tom

[thomasincanada]

My mistake on the Phaneuf award thing. Having seen more than 30 WHL games this year it is just my opinion that the central is the best. We can disagree, that's why there is chocolate and vanilla.

Actually, I wasn't even really disagreeing with you on the central thing. :)

Tom