Western Conference Award Finalists/ Friday News and Links

The WHL announced the Western Conference award finalists yesterday and the Winterhawks had several representatives among them. Goalie Mac Carruth, Defenseman Seth Jones and Center Nic Petan were all named to the WHL Western Conference first team and Defensemen Troy Rutkowski and Tyler Wotherspoon, as well as, wingers Ty Rattie and Brendan Leipsic were named to the second team.

Carruth is the Western Conference's candidate for the Goaltender of the Year award and Jones was the candidate put forth for the Rookie of the Year award. They will be going up against Red Deer Goalie Patrik Bartosak and Prince Albert Forward Leon Draisitl respectively, who are the Eastern Conference nominations.

Portland has already received the Scotty Munro trophy for best record in the WHL and Leipsic and Petan tied for the Bob Clarke trophy for most points.

Travis Green

The one glaring omission from this list is Head Coach Travis Green. Green took over a team that had just lost it's Head Coach and General Manager for the year. The team, filled with 16-20 year olds could have collapsed, but instead set team and WHL records on their way to the best record in the league. How does Ryan Huska, the Kelowna Rockets Coach, receive the Western Conference nomination for Coach of the year instead? The obvious answer is that the WHL awards these nominations and would not want to acknowledge that their decision to suspend Mike Johnston for what they perceived as violating league rules, did not have the negative effect that they thought it would. Green instead stepped right in and helped steer a talented, but very young, team right through this adversity and has them sitting pretty heading into the playoffs.

The player of the year finalists will be announced April 18th.

Notes and Links:
-Ex-Winterhawk Cam Lanigan led the 7th seeded Medicine Hat Tigers to a surprising victory at 2nd seeded Saskatoon 4-1 in game 1 last night.
-The Washington Capitals sent a shot across the bow to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, setting a timeline for them to adjust their sweaters, as they look to similar to the Caps'.
-Nick Patterson's piece about what it would take for Everett to "perform a miracle."
-Article in the Columbian about the first round series with Everett.