FIVE MINUTE MAJORS It’s a new week and with that comes a new CHL top 10 rankings, players of the week and other news.

This week saw the OHL’s London Knights fall to number two after the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats won seven games in a row. The winning streak is the longest active streak in the CHL. Staying in the QMJHL, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada made their debut in the top 10 at 10. Fellow QMJHL member and this year’s Memorial Cup host Rimouski Océanic checked in at three.

In the OHL in addition to London at two, the Kitchener Rangers checked in at seven and the Brantford Bulldogs at nine.

The WHL saw the Everett Silvertips slide in at four, Spokane Chiefs at five, Medicine Hat Tigers at six and the Calgary Hitmen at eight.

This week’s WHL Player of the Week came from the Victoria Royals with Teydon Trembecky. He’s had a stellar season and continued with four goals and one assist for five points and a +4 rating in two games.

On the goaltending side of things, for the second consecutive week Daniel Hauser of the Calgary Hitmen received the honor. He went 2-0-0-0 on the week without allowing a single goal. His four straight shutouts have set a new franchise record for consecutive clean sheets.

The WHL’s Rookie of the Week also came from the Eastern Conference in the form of the Red Deer Rebels’ Luke Vlooswyk. The 2025 NHL-Draft eligible blueliner led all first-year players with a goal and four assists for five points in two games.

It was announced Tuesday that Seattle Kraken prospect and Spokane Chiefs captain Berkly Catton has received WHL Player of the Month honors. It was the first time this season he received the award. He tallied 13 goals and 21 assists for 34 points in 13 games as Spokane went 10-1-1-1 in February.

Later in the day on Tuesday it was announced Savin Virk of the Tri-City Americans received WHL Rookie of the Month honors. He scored nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 11 games.

Last week it was announced that the Tigers and Kelowna Rockets would play two preseason games in Whitehorse, Yukon at Takhini Arena. The games will take place on Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. This preseason showcase will mark the first time WHL action will return to Whitehorse since Feb. 12, 2011.

With the playoffs nearing, many WHL teams are clinching spots going into Wednesday night’s slate of games. So far four teams in the Eastern Conference and five in the Western Conference have clinched. However, more teams like the Portland Winterhawks had the chance to clinch Wednesday night.

With the almost certain expansion of Penticton for the 2025-26 WHL season, it will give the league an odd number of teams, at least for one season. Now this may likely change for the 2026-27 season with the likely expansion of Chilliwack. But both of those teams would be in the Western Conference and likely in the BC Division, so realignment or at least a new playoff procedure would be necessary. So, that’s something to keep in mind for after this season.