Rockets Number One in Final BMO Bank of Montreal Rankings of Season
The Kelowna Rockets are ranked as the number one team in the final BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings of the season. The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s top ten teams is created by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.
The Rockets, who won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the Western Hockey League’s regular season champions, finished the 2002-03 regular season with a won-lost-tied-overtime lost record of 51-14-6-1 to capture their first ever WHL regular season title. Kelowna appeared in the BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings in 16 of the 23 weeks and was ranked as the top team three times this season, including three of the last four weeks. The Rockets finished the 2002-03 season by winning five in a row and last week Kelowna posted wins over the Kamloops Blazers and the Vancouver Giants as they scored 17 goals and allowed just three goals in the three wins. The Rockets, who set new franchise records for wins, 51, and points, 109, will open their first round playoff best of seven series against Vancouver in Kelowna on March 22.
The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are ranked number two in the final BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings of the season. The Drakkar clinched their first ever Jean Rougeau Trophy, as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s regular season champions, on the weekend and by finishing in first place in the Frank Dilio Conference they will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Baie-Comeau has won eight of their last ten games and in play last week they defeated the Quebec Remparts by a 5-3 score on March 15 in front of a crowd of 15,002 at the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec. On Sunday the Drakkar recorded a 4-2 win in Chicoutimi over the Sagueneens. Baie-Comeau will close out its 2002-03 regular season schedule on Tuesday when they host Chicoutimi.
The number three team in the final BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings of the season is the Kitchener Rangers. The Rangers, who won their first Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s regular season champions since the 1988-89 season, finished the season with a record of 46-14-5-3. Kitchener finished the season with 100 points, six fewer than the club record that was set in the 1983-84 season. The Rangers will meet the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in a best of seven first round playoff series that will start in Kitchener on Friday, March 21.
The top spot in the weekly rankings was held by seven different teams this season. Joining the Rockets in the number one spot this season were the Red Deer Rebels, Ottawa 67's, Brandon Wheat Kings, Sarnia Sting, Val-d’Or Foreurs and the Kootenay Ice. Twenty-four teams made an appearance in the BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings this season with only two teams, the Rebels and the Wheat Kings, appearing in all 23 rankings. All of this season’s weekly rankings can be found at www.staging.chl.ca.
Listed below is this week’s BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings.
Rank Team GP W L T OTL Last Week Weeks in Rankings
1 Kelowna Rockets 72 51 14 6 1 1 16
2 Baie-Comeau Drakkar 71 49 14 6 2 3 17
3 Kitchener Rangers 68 46 14 5 3 4 16
4 Red Deer Rebels 72 50 17 3 2 2 23
5 Ottawa 67's 68 44 14 7 3 5 22
6 Halifax Mooseheads 71 44 15 9 3 6 15
7 Plymouth Whalers 68 43 14 9 2 7 17
8 Brandon Wheat Kings 72 43 17 9 3 8 23
9 Sarnia Sting 68 41 19 7 1 9 19
10 Acadie-Bathurst Titan 71 43 21 4 3 10 16
