MOOSE JAW — There have been weeks in the SportsCage Western Hockey League Eastern Conference Power Rankings where things have been exceptionally close, but Week 20 has outdone them all.
The Prince Albert Raiders find themselves holding down top spot by a single vote over the Medicine Hat Tigers, and only two points separate the teams in third to fifth place. Even further down in the rankings things are tight, with Moose Jaw and Regina each gaining places, again, by a single vote.
The Raiders (37-7-4-0) split a pair of games with the Saskatoon Blades this past week, falling 4-0 at home on Saturday before rebounding with a 3-1 win Sunday. That was good enough to hang on to first place over the Tigers (34-8-3-3), who had a single game last Saturday and defeated Lethbridge 8-4.
Moving into the second ‘tier’ of rankings, the Edmonton Oil Kings (32-11-3-2) hold a one-vote lead in third place over the Calgary Hitmen (26-13-6-1), who hold a one-point lead over the Brandon Wheat Kings (28-20-1-0) in fourth.
Former Power Rankings leader Edmonton has found themselves going through a ton of injuries and lost 5-2 to Calgary on Wednesday and 7-5 to Moose Jaw on Friday before getting back on track with a 6-3 win over Swift Current on Saturday.
Calgary suffered a blip on Friday with a 4-1 loss to Lethbridge, but rebounded on Tuesday with a 7-1 win over Saskatoon.
Brandon wrapped up their U.S. Division road swing with wins in two of three games, defeating Wenatchee 6-3 on Wednesday and Tri-City 7-1 on Friday before 4-0 to Spokane on Saturday to close out the trip.
The Moose Jaw Warriors (18-24-4-2) gained a single spot into sixth place thanks to a decent week in spite of their own spate of injuries, falling 3-2 to Regina in overtime on Sunday to go along with their win over Edmonton.
The Regina Pats also gained a spot into eighth (16-24-5-1) by virtue of their win over the Warriors and a 5-4-1-0 record in their last 10, with a 5-3 loss to Swift Current on Friday their only other game last week.
The Eastern Conference Power Rankings are compiled each week by a group of longtime WHL observers, taking into account recent play as well as the current standings. You can find them every Wednesday afternoon on SportsCage.com.
1 – Prince Albert –
2 – Medicine Hat –
3 – Edmonton –
4 – Calgary –
5 – Brandon –
6 – Moose Jaw +1
7 – Saskatoon -1
8 – Regina +1
9 – Red Deer -1
10 – Swift Current –
11 – Lethbridge –
