3 WHL Players With 500 Or More PIM In A Season

The Western Hockey League (originally the WCHL) was formed in 1966-67 and is one of three major junior hockey leagues in Canada. Currently, there are 22 teams in the WHL, 17 in Canada and 5 in the United States. The trademark of the league is big players, toughness and defensive play. In the league’s history, three players have topped the 500 penalty minutes mark in a single season.

Brent Gogol – Billings Bighorns, Victoria Cougars

Gogol holds the WHL record for most PIM in a single season with 511 in 1977-78. It was Brent’s only full season in the WHL and he split it between the Billings Bighorns and Victoria Cougars. In the playoffs that year, Gogol played 20 games and added 95 more PIM as the Bighorns reached the finals before being swept by the New Westminster Bruins. The Bighorns are the current Tri-City Americans and the Cougars are now the Prince George Cougars. Gogol played 36 games in the league in 1976-77 with the Calgary Centennials and Victoria.

Although he was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in the ninth round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft, Brent never reached the big league. In 1978-79, he played just two games with Billings before going pro in the IHL with the Flint Generals and Milwaukee Admirals. Gogol finished second in the IHL with 441 penalty minutes, behind Mark Toffolo who sat 557 in 78 games with the Saginaw Gears.

Mel Hewitt – Saskatoon Blades, Calgary Wranglers

That same year, 1977-78, Mel Hewitt sat 508 minutes in the sin bin while splitting his season between the Saskatoon Blades and Calgary Wranglers. The Blades are hosting the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup and the Wranglers are the present day Lethbridge Hurricanes. It was Hewitt’s fourth of four years in the WHL.

Mel was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft, 92^nd overall. Hewitt never saw action in the NHL but was leader of the bad boys in the minors for a few years out of junior. In 1979-80, he led the IHL with 504 PIM in 68 games with the Saginaw Gears.

The following season, he moved to the AHL and led that league with 304 penalty minutes over 68 games with the New Brunswick Hawks. 1981-82 would mark the last year the Hawks played in the AHL before moving to St. Catherines to become the Saints. Hewitt played the full season with the club but his time spent in the box was drastically reduced to 119 minutes. The Orval Tessier coached Hawks won the Calder Cup championship with a four games to one victory over the Binghamton Whalers in the final series.

Kerry Toporowski – Spokane Chiefs

The last WHL player to top 500 penalty minutes, Toporowski sat 505 in 1990-91 with the Spokane Chiefs. It was his second of two years with the Chiefs and he led the WHL both seasons.

Kerry was a fourth round pick of the San Jose Sharks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, 67^th overall. He never played in the NHL but was a part of deal that sent Doug Wilson to San Jose from the Chicago Blackhawks in 1991. Toporowski played minor pro from 1991-92 to 2003-04 in the IHL, AHL, ECHL, UHL and Russia’s Super League. In 2000-01, he led the UHL in penalty minutes with 413 as a member of the Quad City Mallards.

U.S. Invasion At The Memorial Cup

Canadian Hockey League teams have been based in the United States of America as early as 1976-77 when the Portland Winterhawks were relocated to Portland, Oregon from Edmonton, Alberta. Three times since, American teams have won the Memorial Cup as CHL champions. On four occasions, U.S. cities have hosted the tournament. Portland hosted in 1983 and 1986 while Seattle, Washington hosted in 1992 and Spokane, Washington hosted in 1998.

It might be called the Canadian Hockey League but teams based in the United States have participated since the Edmonton Oil Kings became the Portland Winter Hawks at the start of the 1976-77 WHL season. The CHL is made up of three leagues across Canada, the WHL, OHL and QMJHL).

Currently, there are three teams from the Ontario Hockey League based in the U.S. (Erie Otters, Plymouth Whalers, Saginaw Spirit) and five teams from the Western Hockey League (Everett Silvertips, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans). The Lewiston Maineiacs were the only U.S. team in the QMJHL and they were relocated back to Canada for the 2011-12 season.

Since Portland entered the league in 1976, on just three occasions have American teams been crowned Memorial Cup champions. Only twice has an American team has made an unsuccessful appearance in the final game and six U.S. franchises have gone to the tournament. The Winterhawks reached the final in 2013 before falling to the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL.

In 1983, the Portland Winterhawks beat the Oshawa Generals 8-3 on home ice in the Memorial Cup final to win their first. The Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP was handed out to Alfie Turcotte of the Winterhawks. Turcotte went on to play 112 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals. Future NHLers Ray Ferraro and Cam Neely led Portland offensively. In fact, the two were part of a group of six players on the team to reach the 100 point plateau. Read more about that excitingly offensive team here: 1982-83 Portland Winterhawks.

In 1991, the tournament was held in Quebec City and the Spokane Chiefs were the victor with a 5-1 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the final. The Stafford Smythe Trophy went to Pat Falloon of Spokane. Falloon was the second overall pick of the San Jose Sharks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft and played 575 NHL regular season games with the Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Falloon holds a bit of San Jose Sharks trivia as the player with the most points in a rookie season for the National Hockey League club. Trevor Kidd and Ray Whitney were team leaders for Spokane while NHL veteran Bryan Maxwell was the bench boss.

Portland returned to championship form in 1998 as the Winterhawks edged the OHL’s Guelph Storm 4-3 in overtime in the final that was hosted by the Spokane Chiefs in Spokane, Washington. The Smythe Trophy went to the goaltender on the losing team, Chris Madden. Portland was led by NHLers Marian Hossa and Brenden Morrow. The team was coached by Brent Peterson, another NHL veteran.

The latest U.S. teams to qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament before Portland’s 2013 loss to Halifax were the Lewiston Maineiacs and Plymouth Whalers in 2007. Despite the 50/50 odds, neither team made it to the final. The 1995 Detroit Junior Red Wings are the only other American team to make it to the final and lose. The Erie Otters and Seattle Thunderbirds are the only other U.S. based teams to qualify for the tournament. Erie went in 2002, while Seattle participated back in 1992 as the host city.