Patrick named WHL’s top coach
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/04/2025 (247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Victoria Royals head coach James Patrick has been awarded the Dunc McCallum memorial trophy as the Western Hockey League’s coach of the year.
In his first full season with the Royals, the team posted a 40-17-4-7 record, clinching the B.C. Division title for the second time in team history.
Patrick also won the award in 2022 after winning the Scotty Munro memorial trophy as regular-season champions with the Winnipeg Ice.
The award is named after the Brandonite who led the Wheat Kings from 1976 to 1981, winning a championship in 1979. The last Wheat Kings bench boss to win it was Bob Lowes in 1995-96.
The other nominees for the award were the Eastern Conference’s Willie Desjardins of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Dan DaSilva (Saskatoon Blades) and Bill Peters (Lethbridge Hurricanes) plus the Western Conference’s Brad Lauer (Spokane Chiefs) and Matt O’Dette (Seattle Thunderbirds).
The coach of the year award was voted upon by WHL general managers and members of the media.
The league also announced that Spokane general manager Matt Bardsley is the winner of the Lloyd Saunders memorial trophy as executive of the year. The other nominees from the Eastern Conference were Desjardins of Medicine Hat, Virden’s Garry Davidson (Calgary Hitmen) and Colin Priestner (Saskatoon Blades), while the other Western Conference nominees were Jake Heisinger (Victoria) and former Brandonite Mike Fraser (Everett Silvertips).
Bardsley, who is in his third season as GM in Spokane, acquired sniper Andrew Cristall from the Kelowna Rockets at the trade deadline. Crystal has two overtime winners in the playoffs and leads all scorers with 33 points in just 12 post-season games.
The award last went to a Wheat King when Kelly McCrimmon won it in 2014-15.
In other league news, Cristall was named player of the week for the fourth time this season when the Burnaby, B.C., led all skaters with five goals and four assists in three games to help the Chiefs beat the Royals to reach the Western Conference final.
Medicine Hat Tigers netminder Harrison Meneghin was named goaltender of the week for the second straight time and fourth time of the season when he won both his starts with a 1.69 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage to kick off the Eastern Conference final against his former club, the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The teams were in action last night in Game 3, which ended after deadline The top rookie is Spokane forward Assanali Sarkenov who had four goals and one assist in three games.
The Chiefs lead the Portland Winterhawks 2-0 in their Western Conference final series. Game 3 is tonight.
ICINGS: Former Calgary Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura of Winnipeg has committed to the Mount Royal Cougars. After Calgary dropped the veteran overage goalie earlier in the season, he finished up his junior career with the Penticton Vees in the BCHL. Penticton has since made the jump to the WHL.
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