New Life Giants

The Vancouver Giants hit the ice for the start of a new season under the guidance of head coach Lorne Molleken, Tyler Kuntz and Matt Erhart and enter a new era for the WHL.

As mentioned at the press conference by Ron Toigo stated when he introduced Lorne Molleken “we’re not doing this twice this year”.

Once Lorne was in place they secured the services of Tyler Kuntz from UBC and brought back goalie coach Paul Fricker, who owner Miller Goaltending – if you’re old enough to remember it?

Fifty years strong see’s lot’s of changes and as the league moves forward, they can only get stronger putting more talent in the NHL.

As the Giants kick-off the 2015-16 season, we know this is going to be a “new look” team from last season, with one question to ask at the start – what will they do with three goalies?

The Western Hockey League operates in western Canada and the Northwestern US, and is one of three leagues that make up the CHL.

This is the highest level of junior hockey in Canada classified as Tier One Junior Hockey and the teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup and the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup.

Teams in the WHL have won the Memorial Cup 19 times since the league became eligible to compete for the trophy.

Founded in 1966, as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League with seven western Canadian teams in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The league was renamed the Western Canadian Hockey League in 1967 prior to the current name which was put in place in 1978.

Depending on who you ask about the league, one person that can give you a “behind the scenes tour” is the legendary Punch McLean, the former coach of the New West Bruins.

We hear that the formation was the concept of Bill Hunter who intended to build a western league capable of competing with the top leagues in both Ontario and Quebec.

At first the league was considered to be an “outlaw league” by the CAHA, but was sanctioned as the top junior league in Western Canada when junior hockey was eventually reorganized in 1970.

The WHL is made up of 22 teams and are divided into two conferences of two divisions each.

The Eastern Conference comprises 12 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC.

The Western Conference is made up of ten teams from BC as well as Washington and Oregon.