Despite finishing first overall with 55 wins and 113 points,
having five players with more than 100 points and a superstar coaching staff
with Ken Hitchcock as head coach and Don Hay as
assistant, the Kamloops Blazers could not get past the WHL semi-finals in
1986-87. Kamloops fell to the Portland Winterhawks, who in turn would fall to
the Medicine Hat Tigers in the finals.
That disappointment has been all but forgotten after the
Blazers marched to three Memorial Cup victories in the 1990’s. What does remain
in the Western Hockey League history books is the scoring records etched by
Blazers star Rob Brown.
Rob Brown – Kamloops Blazers
Brown totalled 212 points on 76 goals and 136 assists. The
points and assists remain as WHL single season records today. Just three years
before, Ray Ferraro of the Brandon Wheat Kings set an unreachable record for
goals in a season with 108.
It was Brown’s last of four seasons in the WHL. The
Pittsburgh Penguins drafted him in the fourth round of the 1986 NHL Entry
Draft, 67th overall. In just his second season in the NHL, 1988-89,
Brown reached the pinnacle of his NHL career playing alongside Mario Lemieux.
Rob scored 49 goals and totalled 115 points playing just 68 games.
Craig Endean – Seattle Thunderbirds/Regina Pats
Craig Endean finished second to Brown with 146 points. He
split his season between the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Regina Pats. Endean’s
season was a bit of cheat, appearing in 76 games when the league played a 72
game schedule. 1986-87 was his fourth of five seasons in the WHL. The Winnipeg
Jets drafted him in the fifth round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. The only
two NHL games he would play were with Winnipeg at the start of the 1986-87
season while still a junior.
Len Nielson – Regina Pats
Len Nielson capped his five year WHL career finishing third
with 136 points as a member of the Regina Pats. Undrafted, Nielson played just
two years of pro hockey, split between minor pro in North America and Finland.
Joe Sakic – Swift Current Broncos
In his first full season in the WHL, Joe Sakic finished
fourth with 133 points on 60 goals and 73 assists over 72 games with the Swift
Current Broncos. The following year, his last in the league, Sakic led the WHL
with 160 points while only appearing in 64 games.
Sakic was the 15th overall pick at the 1987 NHL
Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques. Of course, Joe went on to a Hockey Hall of
Fame NHL career spanning from 1988-89 to 2008-09. He played for solely for the
Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise, appearing in 1,378 regular season games
and contributing 1,641 points.
Theo Fleury – Moose Jaw Warriors
Another very familiar name in the hockey world followed
Sakic in fifth place. Theoren Fleury was in his third of four seasons with the
Moose Jaw Warriors. He scored 61 goals and assisted on 68 more for 129 points.
The following season, he also totalled 160 points but had two few goals than
Sakic.
Despite being 5’6” and a lowly eighth round pick of the
Calgary Flames in 1987, Fleury went on to a stellar NHL career. Between 1988-89
and 2002-03, Theo played 1,084 regular season games and totalled 1,088 points.
He scored 455 goals over that period and was a 51 goal scorer with the Flames
in 1990-91. Along with Calgary, Fleury also played for the Colorado Avalanche,
New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks.
