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

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major 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 h ...

(WHL). Seventeen teams completed a 72-game season. The

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. They are members of the Western Hockey League (WHL) since joining the league in the 1967–68 season. Previously, they played in the Manitoba Junior Hocke ...

won the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

League notes

*The

Calgary Hitmen The Calgary Hitmen are a major junior ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Hitmen play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League (WHL). They play their home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Bret "The Hitman" ...

joined the WHL as its 17th franchise, playing in the Central division. *The Tacoma Rockets relocated to

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

to become the

Kelowna Rockets The Kelowna Rockets are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The Rockets play in the Western Hockey League (WHL), out of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). They play their home games at Prospera Place. The R ...

. *The WHL divided into three divisions: The East and Central divisions formed the Eastern Conference, and consisted 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 were best of seven.

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 the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

before a crowd of 5,992.

Awards

All-Star Teams

References

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