The 1997–98 WHL season was the 32nd season of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The season featured eighteen teams and a 72-game season. The Portland Winter Hawks won both the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions and the President's Cup as playoff champions before going on to win the 1998 Memorial Cup, which was hosted by the Spokane Chiefs.
1997–98 WHL season | |
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League | Western Hockey League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Number of teams | 18 |
Regular season | |
Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy | Portland Winter Hawks (2) |
Season MVP | Sergei Varlamov (Swift Current Broncos) |
Top scorer | Sergei Varlamov (Swift Current Broncos) |
Playoffs | |
Playoffs MVP | Brent Belecki (Winter Hawks) |
Finals champions | Portland Winter Hawks (2) |
Runners-up | Brandon Wheat Kings |
WHL seasons | |
← 1996–97 1998–99 → |
1997–98 CHL season | |
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League | Canadian Hockey League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Number of teams | 51 |
OHL | |
QMJHL | |
WHL | |
Memorial Cup | |
Finals champions | Portland Winter Hawks (WHL) (2nd title) |
Runners-up | Guelph Storm (OHL) |
East Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
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xRegina Pats | 72 | 46 | 21 | 5 | 97 | 334 | 250 |
xSwift Current Broncos | 72 | 44 | 19 | 9 | 97 | 276 | 220 |
xBrandon Wheat Kings | 72 | 45 | 21 | 6 | 96 | 322 | 235 |
xSaskatoon Blades | 72 | 25 | 39 | 8 | 58 | 263 | 327 |
xMoose Jaw Warriors | 72 | 23 | 39 | 10 | 56 | 235 | 281 |
Prince Albert Raiders | 72 | 20 | 47 | 5 | 45 | 222 | 288 |
Central Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
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xCalgary Hitmen | 72 | 40 | 28 | 4 | 84 | 265 | 232 |
xLethbridge Hurricanes | 72 | 32 | 29 | 11 | 75 | 261 | 237 |
xRed Deer Rebels | 72 | 27 | 40 | 5 | 59 | 281 | 323 |
Edmonton Ice | 72 | 17 | 49 | 6 | 40 | 242 | 328 |
Medicine Hat Tigers | 72 | 16 | 50 | 6 | 38 | 188 | 340 |
West Division | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
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xPortland Winter Hawks | 72 | 53 | 14 | 5 | 111 | 342 | 203 |
xSpokane Chiefs | 72 | 45 | 23 | 4 | 94 | 288 | 235 |
xPrince George Cougars | 72 | 43 | 24 | 5 | 91 | 311 | 236 |
xKamloops Blazers | 72 | 37 | 32 | 3 | 77 | 234 | 253 |
xKelowna Rockets | 72 | 33 | 35 | 4 | 70 | 313 | 290 |
xSeattle Thunderbirds | 72 | 31 | 35 | 6 | 68 | 286 | 278 |
Tri-City Americans | 72 | 17 | 49 | 6 | 40 | 264 | 371 |
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes
Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
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Sergei Varlamov | Swift Current Broncos | 72 | 66 | 53 | 119 | 132 |
Cory Cyrenne | Brandon Wheat Kings | 72 | 47 | 71 | 118 | 28 |
Ronald Petrovicky | Regina Pats | 71 | 64 | 49 | 113 | 178 |
Shane Willis | Lethbridge Hurricanes | 64 | 58 | 54 | 112 | 73 |
Quinn Hancock | Prince George Cougars | 69 | 54 | 58 | 112 | 31 |
Shawn McNeil | Red Deer Rebels | 72 | 47 | 62 | 109 | 69 |
Mark Smith | Lethbridge Hurricanes | 70 | 42 | 67 | 109 | 206 |
Todd Robinson | Portland Winter Hawks | 71 | 35 | 74 | 109 | 55 |
Jason Deleurme | Kelowna Rockets | 72 | 51 | 52 | 103 | 47 |
Brad Moran | Calgary Hitmen | 72 | 53 | 49 | 102 | 64 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties ; GA = Goals against; SO = Total shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player | Team | GP | Min | W | L | T | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brent Belecki | Portland Winter Hawks | 51 | 3052 | 35 | 10 | 5 | 131 | 2 | .918 | 2.58 |
Terry Friesen | Swift Current Broncos | 44 | 2640 | 26 | 10 | 7 | 124 | 1 | .907 | 2.82 |
Scott Myers | Prince George Cougars | 48 | 2823 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 139 | 2 | .900 | 2.95 |
Alexandre Fomitchev | Calgary Hitmen | 60 | 3383 | 32 | 23 | 1 | 168 | 1 | .898 | 2.98 |
Ryan Hoople | Lethbridge/Regina | 58 | 3266 | 34 | 18 | 4 | 164 | 4 | .899 | 3.01 |
First round | Division Semi-Finals | Division Finals | WHL Championship | ||||||||||||||||
C1 | Calgary | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E4 | Saskatoon | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
C1 | Calgary | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E2 | Swift Current | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
E2 | Swift Current | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
C3 | Red Deer | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
C1 | Calgary | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Brandon | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E1 | Regina | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E5 | Moose Jaw | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
E1 | Regina | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Brandon | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Brandon | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
C2 | Lethbridge | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | Brandon | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
W1 | Portland | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
W1 | Portland | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
W6 | Seattle | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
W1 | Portland | bye | |||||||||||||||||
W1 | Portland | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
W2 | Spokane | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
W2 | Spokane | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
W5 | Kelowna | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
W2 | Spokane | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
W3 | Prince George | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
W3 | Prince George | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
W4 | Kamloops | 3 |
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Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eastern Conference | Western Conference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Portland vs. Brandon | |||
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Date | Away | Home | |
April 25 | Brandon 3 | 7 Portland | |
April 26 | Brandon 1 | 5 Portland | |
April 29 | Portland 7 | 2 Brandon | |
May 1 | Portland 4 | 3 Brandon | |
Portland wins series 4–0 |
On January 21, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 7–6 at Regina, Saskatchewan before a crowd of 6,050.
Preceded by | WHL seasons | Succeeded by |