1984 WCLH Playoffs

 

Round One

The playoffs are set the first place East Saskatoon Cats takes on fourth place West Medicine Hat Hawks, the second place East Fargo Owls takes on third place West Billings Trains, first place West Abbotsford Forest Kings face-off against fourth place East Swift Current Battalion, and lastly the second place West Lethbridge Cougars battles with third place East Portage la Prairie Magic.

1st East Saskatoon Cats vs. 4th West Medicine Hat Hawks

The Saskatoon Cats wasted no time taking down the Hawks by sweeping them in four games. The Hawks did poorly in the first two games in Saskatoon with two blowout losses (8-0 and 6-0), but they did score some goals in games three and four; it was not enough to win as the Cats won those last two games (5-1, 7-2) to move on to the second round thanks to Fred Adams who made 8 goals, 14 points within those four games. The Cats wins the series 4-0 

2nd East Fargo Owls vs. 3rd West Billings Trains

The Billings Trains went from losing the Jade Trophy finals a season ago to being swept in the first round by the Fargo Owls. The main reasons for the Trains' downfall are that Glen Sasakamoose got called up to the minors, Drew Eastwood got called up by the Saskatchewan Royals, and both David Lemay and Frank Colton are in IR. The Fargo Owls took advantage of this and won all four games. The Owls won the series 4-0.

1st West Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. 4th East Swift Current Battalion

Early in the season, the Battalion swept the Forest Kings in season series; in this playoff series, that role switched as the Forest Kings took them down; what really made this series was Eric Wilcox scored a hat-trick in game one and mocked the Forest Kings bench which was a wrong move, and the Forest Kings took over game one and the rest of the series big thanks to Ryan Wedgewood with scoring 14 out of 21 goals total in that series. The Forest Kings wins the series 4-0.

2nd West Lethbridge Cougars vs. 3rd East Portage la Prairie Magic

It was a historic series as the Portage la Prairie Magic pulled an upset over the Cougars in six games, but also the team’s first-ever series win thanks to rookie James McDougall scored a hat-trick in game three, along with another hat-trick in game four, and a hat-trick in game six becoming the second player in WCLH history to scored three hat-tricks in a series, the first was Hockey hall of Famer and former Brandon Buffalos star Lenny Gray during the pre-CIHA era. The Magic wins the series 4-2.

Round Two

1st East Saskatoon Cats vs. 3rd East Portage la Prairie Magic

With only three teams from the east and one from the west, the league reranked it overall. The Magic is one point behind the Forest Kings, so the Magic go face-to-face with the Cats. In speaking of, the Forest Kings are not happy with the reranked. Despite being in first place in the west, the Owls have 11 points more, which means the Owls have four home games while the Forest Kings got only three.

1st East Saskatoon Cats vs. 3rd East Portage la Prairie Magic

The Magic played as hard as they could, forcing overtime, but in the end, it took the Cats six games to win the series. Rookie goalie Harold Richmond held his ground in a big way, mainly because his first shutout happened in game six's triple overtime. The Cats wins the series 4-2.

1st West Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. 2nd East Fargo Owls

Both the Forest Kings and the Owls went head-to-head in hopes of heading back to the Jade trophy finals. It was a back-and-forth series until game seven, where Jon Hedberg and Jack Plaxton scored a hat-trick to tie the game to end the third period and headed in overtime. 5:12 left into overtime, and the Owls had a 5 on 3 power play when Aaron Boyer burst past the defence for a breakaway, and for the first time in his playoff career, he scored a goal and gave the Abbotsford Forest Kings a ticket to the Jade Trophy Finals for the third time in five years. The Forest Kings wins the series 4-3.

Jade Trophy Finals

Saskatoon Cats vs. Abbotsford Forest Kings

In game one, it was a hat-trick fest as the Forest Kings Jon Hedberg and Ryan Wedgewood pulled it off with their three goals, while the Cats Nathen Faulk and J.J. Orcas scored a hat-trick themselves also, as the third period closing to the end, out of nowhere Matthew Goodfellow of the Cats flick the puck over the head of Forest Kings Mike Lessard to break the tie and give the Cats a 7-6 win. Game two was a high-scoring game, just like game one, but no one got a hat-trick. Matthew Goodfellow did it again with a game-winner as the Cats took two games to none lead with the score of 8-7. After losing two games in Saskatoon, the Abbotsford Forest Kings are playing games on their home turf, and it shows with help from Jon Hedberg, Aaron Boyer, and Ryan Wedgewood, combine 5 goals and 10 points to win 6-2 to get back into the series. The Forest Kings goalie Mike Lessard plays like a brick wall in a successful shutout win over the Cats to even the series two a piece. Both the Forest Kings and the Cats went back and forth all the way to the end of the third period tied 5-5; in first overtime, the Cats were all over Mike Lessard, but he kept his ground all the way to the end of the first OT, 3:40 left in the second overtime Aaron Boyer got a breakaway and scored a goal to end game five with the score of 6-5 to give the Forest Kings one win away to win it all. The Forest Kings showed the Cats no mercy as Ryan Wedgewood scored a hat-trick to finish game six 5-2 to become the 1983-84 WCLH Jade Trophy Champions and going to Buffalo New York for the 1984 Valor Cup tournament. The Forest Kings wins the series 4-2.

1983-84 WCLH Season

The biggest news in the league was the Lethbridge Cougars had a great start in their first 25 games, all nothing but wins which they had a total of 90 wins (including 60 wins in 1982-83 and the last 15 games in 1981-82 seasons) until the Abbotsford Forest Kings broke that streak with a 3-2 game that shocked many hockey critics everywhere didn’t think that the Cougars would lose. The Cougars had a hard time as they only won 4 out of the last 25 games; many hope they can turn it around come playoffs.

League President James Name successfully banned Lite-Sonic pants from the league following the tragedy that ended Moose Jaw Wings Paul Phillips's career in the 1982-83 season. James Name also stated in the WCLH that white pants are banned, meaning that any team doing any rebranding in white is banned from recolouring pants.

After breaking the Cougar's winning streak, the Forest Kings got an excellent last 25 games of the season (18-5-2) to take first place in the West division. The Cougars battled the last 25 games in a rough way to finish Medicine Hat Hawks second. One point behind the Cougars is the Billings Trains. They had second place in the bag, but their last 10 games were very poor (1-8-1), and they finished third. In fourth place is the Medicine Hat Hawks, as they were almost on the outside of the playoffs spot, but the Hawks made some real key wins to finish the season in fourth place. Rounding off the West are Chilliwack Alpines taking fifth, Surrey River Dogs sixth, and in last place the Nanaimo Sharks.

After four years of missing the playoffs, the Saskatoon Cats are back in a big way. Led by Nathen Faulk's leadership, the Cats finished not just the East division but also the league with a big 80 points (38-8-4). It is their first time since the pre-CHIA history to ever finish at the top of the league; the last time they did it was in the 1970-71 season. Finishing second place was the Fargo Owls, which was an improvement from last season; however, they lost all of their four-game season series with the Cats. Many fear they could hurt them come playoffs, but the players have high hopes for a deep playoff run. The Portage la Prairie Magic takes third place but recently are in a heavy situation come playoff time; many fear that the Magic could be heading into rebuilding mode if they lose the first round for the fifth straight time, “we need to win the first round that is our goal, we can do this, we will work hard to win the first round.” Magic captain Zachary Natyshak said after team practice. Taking forth place the Swift Current Battalion, they had a bad hangover in the first 25 games, but they turn it around in the last 25 to get the last playoff spot and hope to head back to the Jade Trophy final like they did last season. Rounding off the East division are fifth-place Moose Jaw Wings, sixth-place Brandon Buffalos, and taking last place in both the East and the whole league are the Kenora Pioneers.