2019 WHL season is here!

The WHL begins tomorrow as the best Junior Hockey teams will begin their new 68 game marathon which will decide the seeding that will decide the seeding for the WHL playoffs with the winner of that advancing to the Memorial Cup.

The Memorial Cup this year is in Halifax as it is the QMJHL's turn to host it. I am going to make an effort to follow the WHL this year. With the Canucks expected to place in the bottom third and the NHL Draft in Vancouver this year, it seems like a great time to get on the WHL banwagon.

Here are the four divisions:

Top 3 (East division)^[1]

Pos		GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Moose Jaw Warriors	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Swift Current Broncos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Regina Pats	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Top 3 (Central division)^[1]

Pos		GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Medicine Hat Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Lethbridge Hurricanes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Red Deer Rebels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Eastern conference wild card^[1]

Pos	Div	(Top 2 qualify for playoffs)	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	East	Brandon Wheat Kings '	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	East	Prince Albert Raiders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	East	Saskatoon Blades	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Cen.	Kootenay Ice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Cen.	Calgary Hitmen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Cen.	Edmonton Oil Kings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Top 3 (U.S. division)^[1]

Pos		GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Everett Silvertips	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Portland Winterhawks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Spokane Chiefs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Top 3 (B.C. division)^[1]

Pos		GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Kelowna Rockets	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Victoria Royals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Vancouver Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Western conference wild card^[1]

Pos	Div	(Top 2 qualify for playoffs)	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	GF	GA	Pts
1	U.S.	Tri-City Americans	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	U.S.	Seattle Thunderbirds	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	B.C.	Kamloops Blazers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	B.C.	Prince George Cougars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

I've been advocating for a WHL-Junior A merger before. Yes, the first year the gap might be a bit big but there is too much travel in the WHL it seems and a merger would create big rivalries and more away fans in other teams rinks which would help other things such as ticket sales.

This might be a long time away for it actually happen but I am interested to know why it's never been explored.

Junior Hockey should be about small town hockey but most of the teams in the WHL are big cities and I have a problem with that.

I'm going to be watching a WHL hockey game when I have a free night. Hoping for a great season with a competitive playoff race.

For a look at the current 2019 Mock Draft click the link.