Of the west central Western Hockey League players we have followed this year, a majority of them are headed to the playoffs. 

Unfortunately for Kindersley's Logan Linklater and the Regina Pats they weren't able to sneak into the postseason with a three game stretch this past weekend, but he was able to be just one leg of an interesting weekend to follow for players from the area.

Linklater has made friends with budding star Connor Bedard who became the youngest player in league history to eclipse 50 goals, and then looking at Delisle's Jhett Larson, he made news this year by playing in the Red Deer Rebels top 6 and spending lots of time with the league's eventual leading scorer Arshdeep Bains, who made his own history as a player of South Asian descent.

via WHL.caScreengrab via WHL.ca

Rosetown's Vaughn Watterodt enjoyed his season with the Saskatoon Blades following a trade away from the team that drafted him in Kamloops, and outside of a year of tremendous growth, he was able to watch a homegrown player in Nolan Maier enter the all-time record books. 

The history maker Maier will have Watterodt and the Blades confident as they prepare for their first round playoff series in what would have represented a local matchup, had the Moose Jaw Warriors not traded away Eatonia's Cade Hayes earlier this season to the Spokane Chiefs.

Hayes and his team out west made the playoffs and will be facing off against the Kamloops Blazers, and Cade had a tremendous final game of the season with a pair of points, one of which you can watch below as he put it past the Victoria Royals goaltender.

Expect more coverage as local players progress through the WHL postseason that is set to begin on Thursday. 

Related Stories