Tri-City Americans Wotherspoon, Välimäki and Geekie earn Western Conference accolades

Tri-City Americans defensemen Parker Wotherspoon and Juuso Välimäki, and forward Morgan Geekie were named to the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference All-Star second team Wednesday.

“It’s exciting to get to share it with a couple of guys on the team,” Wotherspoon said of the honor. “ I’m excited for them. It’s a first for me. Four years here, it’s nice to get a little appreciation.”

Wotherspoon, a draft pick of the New York Islanders, was third in team scoring this season with 10 goals and 66 points, and had a plus-15 rating. Välimäki was fourth in scoring with 19 goals and 61 points

Geekie led the Americans with 35 goals, 90 points and a plus-22 rating over 72 regular-season games. He was one of five Americans to play in all 72 games.

“It’s definitely an honor to be selected, especially with the Western Conference we have,” Geekie said.

Rounding out the second team are goalie Connor Ingram of Kamloops and forwards Kole Lind of Kelowna and Kailer Yamamoto of Spokane.

The Western Conference first team included goalie Carter Hart of Everett, defensemen Ethan Bear of Seattle and Noah Juulsen of Everett, and forwards Mathew Barzal of Seattle, Matthew Phillips of Victoria and Cody Glass of Portland.

Barzal is a finalist for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy, along with Sam Steel of the Regina Pats, who won the regular-season scoring title with 50 goals and 131 points.

Portland’s Mike Johnston is a finalist for Coach of the Year, along with John Paddock of the Regina Pats, who won the Scotty Munro Trophy for the best record in the WHL at 52-12-7-1 (112 points).

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Tri-City Americans Wotherspoon, Välimäki and Geekie earn Western Conference accolades."