The 1995–96 WHL season was the 30th season of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

(WHL), featuring seventeen teams and a 72-game regular season. The Brandon Wheat Kings won the franchise's fourth Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for posting the best regular season record, and followed this up in the playoffs by securing their second President's Cup as league champions, their first since 1978–79. The Calgary Hitmen joined the WHL as its seventeenth franchise, and the first to be located in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

since the Calgary Wranglers in 1987. The Tacoma Rockets relocated to

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and became the Kelowna Rockets.

League notes

*Following the addition of the Calgary Hitmen and the relocation of the Rockets to Kelowna, the WHL divided into three divisions: The East and Central Divisions formed the Eastern Conference, consisting of five teams per division. The West Division was made up of the seven B.C. and U.S.-based teams. *The playoff format was changed so that the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference and the top six in the West Division qualified. The 14 playoff qualifiers all played best-of-seven series in the first round. The East semifinals were best-of-seven affairs, while the highest remaining seed in the West earned a bye. The remaining two West teams played a best-of-five series. Conference and League final series remained best-of-seven. * The Spokane Chiefs became the first team in WHL history to win a seven-game playoff series after being down 3 games to 0, against the Portland Winter Hawks in the first round of the West Division playoffs.

Regular season

Final standings

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes''

1996 WHL Playoffs

All-Star game

On January 23, the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 10–7 at

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is a city in British Columbia, Canada, situated at the confluence of the Fraser River, Fraser and Nechako River, Nechako rivers. The city itself has a population of 76,708; the metro census agglomeration has a population of 89,490 ...

before a crowd of 5,992.

Awards

All-Star Teams

References

* 2005–06 WHL Guide {{DEFAULTSORT:1995-96 WHL season Western Hockey League seasons WHL WHL