Rink To The Books

Connection that works between the Western Hockey League and Canada West men’s hockey was front and center when the conference all-star and all-rookie teams were unveiled.

ahead of this weekend’s CW Final between Saskatchewan and Alberta.

It’s reported that 16 of the 18 combined all-stars and all-rookies are indeed graduate players of the WHL.

It’s also reported that the two players who never laced-up in Western Canada’s Junior circuit are players of the Ontario Hockey League.

All of the 16 WHL graduating players are utilizing their WHL Scholarship, which provides players with tuition, compulsory fees, and textbooks for each season played in the WHL.

The Canada West all-stars and all-rookies were selected by the conference’s eight head coaches, who also voted on the Canada West major awards, which to unveiled at 2 pm (MT) March 2.

WHL grads honored by Canada West were first team all-stars Jordon Cooke (Saskatchewan Huskies/Kelowna Rockets), Connor Rankin (Mount Royal Cougars/Calgary Hitmen), and Elgin Pearce of the Calgary Dino’s and Medicine Hat Tigers.

All three led their teams to the conference semi-finals with the Huskies advancing to CW Final this upcoming weekend.

It will also feature six all-stars when the Huskies and Alberta Golden Bears (combined) open their best-of-three series.