There were more hat tricks recorded in the months of September and October this season than last.
The WHL season is less than a month and a half old, but one emerging trend is an increase in hat tricks. Through September and October, there have been 22 recorded hat tricks, which is an increase of five compared to last year. Here is a look at the first 150 games from this season and who has been making the hats rain down on the ice all across the league.
When diving into the data this year, there are some trends that stick out. First off, unsurprisingly, is that Prince George Cougars players were on fire to start the season. Three of the four hat tricks in September were scored by Cougars players, with Viliam Kmec, Zac Funk and Terik Parascak each recording their first career hat tricks. In total, they accounted for four of the 22 hat tricks that occurred over September and October, which was the most by any team in the WHL.
Another trend that happened this year but not last is players scoring hat tricks in the same game. So far, this has happened twice. First was when the Cougars played host to the Tri-City Americans in September, followed by the Portland Winterhawks, who achieved the same feat when the Brandon Wheat Kings were in town in mid-October. To show the contrast to last season, it took until Feb. 26 or 620 games in for the first double hat trick to occur, with the second coming a few nights later during league game number 626. The double hat trick trend will be something to check back on after 300 games to see if it continues or was a by-product of players having hot starts to the season.
The last trend which stayed the same from last season is that there were more hat tricks by Western Conference players than Eastern. This was actually a little surprising, considering that the Eastern Conference had more teams and Connor Bedard in 2022-23, but the West found a way. Here is a breakdown of the hat tricks this year and last by division.
While the US division did see an increase, the biggest bump was the BC division, which added three extra hat tricks. While Prince George has played a significant role, one of the main reasons for the increase is that four of the five teams have players with hat tricks this season, compared to two in 2022-23. The question now is, will the US be able to maintain this lead for the rest of the season, or will the BC division find a way to be crowned hat trick kings of the WHL?
While the season is still young, it is a great sign that players are producing hat tricks at a high rate. Not only are they memorable moments, but it indicates an uptick in scoring. With over 550 more games to be played this season, fans may need to start packing extra headwear to games in anticipation of yet another hat trick.