The 1996–97 WHL season was the 31st 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 eighteen teams and a 72-game regular season. The

Lethbridge Hurricanes The Lethbridge Hurricanes are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Lethbridge, Alberta. The Hurricanes play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference, and play their home games at the VisitLethbridge.com Are ...

won both the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions and the President's Cup as playoff champions, both for the first time in team history. The Hurricanes went on to finish as runners-up at the 1997 Memorial Cup tournament. The

Edmonton Ice The Edmonton Ice were a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta. A Western Hockey League expansion team established in 1996, the team played only two seasons from 1996 to 1998 before relocating to Cranbrook, British Columbi ...

joined the WHL as its eighteenth team, and the first to call

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

home since the second iteration of the Oil Kings left the city in 1979.

League notes

*The addition of the Edmonton Ice to the Central Division precipitated a realignment for the Swift Current Broncos, who moved to the East Division.

Regular season

Final standings

Scoring leaders

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

Goaltending leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties ; GA = Goals against; SO = Total shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average''

1997 WHL Playoffs

*Top eight teams in the Eastern Conference (East and Central divisions) qualified for playoffs *Top six teams in the Western Conference (division) qualified for the playoffs

Conference Quarterfinals

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

WHL Championship

All-Star game

On January 22, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 7–5 at

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

before a WHL record crowd of 10,455.

WHL awards

All-Star Teams

References

* 2005–06 WHL Guide {{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 WHL season Western Hockey League seasons WHL WHL