FIVE MINUTE MAJOR CHL Top Ten and more.

It’s a new week in major junior hockey and the playoffs are in full swing. The WHL has announced its two All-Star teams which include NHL prospects and future draft picks. One of those players are Nashville Predators prospect Tanner Molendyk of the Medicine Hat Tigers. Another one is fellow Tigers star Gavin McKenna who has received awards at multiple points this season.

The Western Conference has Washington Capitals prospect Andrew Cristall, Buffalo Sabres prospect Scott Ratzlaff and Seattle Kraken prospects Tyson Jugnauth and Berkly Catton.

It was also announced Monday McKenna had received the WHL Player of the Month honor for the third time this season. He led all skaters with 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points in seven games while helping the Tigers go undefeated in March. He is projected to be a top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

McKenna closes out the regular season on a modern WHL record point streak. The Whitehorse, Yukon native has amassed 100 points (32G-68A) in 40 consecutive games. His impressive streak is the second-longest among all CHLers in the 21st century, second only to Alexander Radulov’s 50-game streak with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts in 2005-06.

Medicine Hat continued to make positive headlines with the WHL Player of the Week honor going to Tigers captain Ozzie Wiesblatt. In the team’s first round series against the Swift Current Broncos, he tallied five goals and an assist for six points to help the Tigers take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

On the goaltending side of things, the Victoria Royals’ Johnny Hicks received the WHL Goaltender of the Week honors for the first round of the playoffs. It’s the second time he’s won the award in 2024-25. He led all starting goaltenders with a 2-0-0 record, a 1.00 goals-against average, a .962 save percentage and a shutout in his WHL playoff debut. Once his time in Victoria is done he’ll head to Nashville, Tennessee to join Tennessee State University, a newer team in the NCAA hockey ranks.

While Catton and Cristall continue to make headlines for the Chiefs, the team also produced this week’s WHL Rookie of the Week. The 16-year-old scored three goals as the Chiefs won Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series against the Vancouver Giants.

One playoff series that has been particularly eye catching is the 1 vs. 8 battle in the west as the eight seed Seattle Thunderbirds won the first game and the third to grab a 2-1 lead going into Friday’s game four in Kent, Washington on the Thunderbirds’ home ice.

The 4 vs. 5 battle in the west has also been exciting as Portland led 2-1 going into Wednesday night’s game four in Portland. Game three saw Portland’s Alex Weiermair tally a hat trick in the team’s 6-3 victory.

A few other series haven’t been as competitive however as the Calgary Hitmen, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Victoria Royals all led their respective series either 2-0 or 3-0. The Hurricanes and Hitman had the chance to close out their respective series Wednesday night.