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EsAmYk · 08-03-2021, 10:49 PM

Growing up as a hockey fan in Portland is hard. Sure I have the Winterhawks, but other than that, there are not many teams out here that can be watched. It is because of this reason that I decided to choose to dive into the Vancouver Whalers team. As the closest team, I feel as if I should know the team. I happened to get drafted onto the Nevada Battleborn, and it turns out that one of the staff members there used to be on the Whalers themselves, back in season 58. He gave me a little insight on the history of the team. Vancouver has had a somewhat successful tenure in the league, winning 11 championships in their time in the SMJHL. Their main rival is their British Columbia neighbor Kelowna Knights. The Knights, winning the championship last season, has one more than Vancouver's 11, however the Whalers are doing their best to tie them again. And, according to their GMs, They have the team to at least contest for this championship. I managed to get ahold of the 2 GMs for the team, Dexteria and Python, and I got the chance to interview them both about the team's performances so far this year. When asked where they thought they would be in the standings at the beginning of the year, they both said near the top of the table, and one of them even mentioned the Laurifer. Both of them were very confident that they were going to beat last years champions this year, especially since it happened to be their rival. Both of them are looking at making it to at least the Conference Finals, and its looking like a possibility with their 2-2 series tie against the Scarecrows at the time this article was written. I then asked about this years Whaler's standouts, and according to them, it was Makrus "The Tater" Jager, and Alexis Saint-Michel. It's easy to see why. With The Tater's 46 assists, and 27 goals, he led the league in points with 73, ahead of his teammate who had one less point, getting 35 assists and a league leading 38 goals. This was the power duo to be feared in the league. When asked about the rookies, both of them mentioned Conner Tanner's name. Dextaria had this to say about him: "Coming in as a two-way defenseman that focused more on the defense, I didn't expect 30 points and 255 hits. Tanner led our rookies in points when we had other rookies playing 2nd line time, which is surprising." Python also mentioned that Tanner, along with Landon Fischermann, were both the rookies they think are the most ready to be called up into the SHL. According to them, their locker room had been hyped for this season, with a large and active locker room with the occasional alumni hanging out with them. This vibe was led by none other than their captain, Sven Svechnikov. His presence in the locker room is what made him captain of the team. I then asked each GM to give me 3-5 words to describe their partner. "Dedicated, loyal, and chill." said Python. "Child but a great co" was Dexteria's response. As my "hometown" team, or the closest team to my hometown, I hope to always see Vancouver do well in the SMJHL. Good luck to them in the rest of the playoffs, and in future seasons as well.