The San Jose Sharks are in the process of one of the most amazing stretches to start a season in WCHL history. After 24 games, the Sharks sport a 22-1-1 record with their only blemishes coming to the middling Oilers and a shootout loss to Nashville. Zach Parise and his linemate Dany Heatley are continuing their hot starts and sit in 5th and 7th respectively in league scoring. Scoring 6 or more goals seven times so far, the Sharks are nearly doubling their opponent's in every game. A recent poll of a few WCHL GM's suggests that there is some jealousy league-wide about the Sharks' season so far, as most GMs are suggesting this team will be unable to win more than 34 out of their final 58 games, which would be needed to top 120 points. With the Sharks currently on pace for 153 points, it's pretty safe to say you can pencil the Sharks into the post-season perhaps earlier than any other team in WCHL history.

At the other end, the Ottawa Senators have announced they'll be wearing bright orange jerseys from now on to better reflect their new defensive "pylon" system. Doug Weight might be the worst 1st line centre in the league with only 6 points, and one can't help but feel bad for Antti Miettinen who seems to be the only player who actually shows up to each game. With only two wins so far this season, it's fairly safe to argue that the Sens are gunning for that top pick in the Tavares/Hedman/Duchene lottery.

Elsewhere in the league, Marian Gaborik of the Calgary Flames has created some space between himself and Dallas' Alex Ovechkin for the scoring lead. Gaborik's 140 point pace will be tough to maintain, especially for a player that is notoriously made of glass, but there's no doubt he's making a case for himself as a potential WCHL MVP.

Finally, in what has perhaps become the weirdest phenomenon in the league, empty net goals have become virtually non-existent. Only twice in 371 games has there been an ENG. On first glance, one would assume that goalies aren't being pulled in the last minute, but that's actually not the case. The best guess seems to be that the goalies may be tying fishing line across the posts to prevent goals while no one else is looking...

Here's this week's Power Rankings:

The second edition of the Season 12 Power Rankings sees a lot of movement as every team moves beyond the 10 game mark of the season. Moving up the ladder, Dallas jumped 12 spots by reeling off 5 straight wins including an 8-0 thumping of the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs. Going the other way, the biggest drop belongs to the New Jersey Devils who fell 12 spots due to 5 losses in 6 games after starting the season 6-0.

Toronto has been the league's stat-padder so far as they've been shutout 5 times already, and have losses of 10-0, 8-0, 8-0 7-0 and 5-0. Two of those big losses came at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins who also have a 10-0 tally over Florida that has helped vault them to a league leading 4.55 goals per game.

Surprisingly, there is a 4 way tie at the top of the scoring race, with two Canucks (Datsyuk and Alfredsson) an Av (Ericksson) and a Flame (Gaborik) all stuck on 18 points. The surprising part isn't that these players are at the top, as they're all big names, but rather none represent a team in the top 5 of this week's Power Rankings.

Here are the second edition of the Power Rankings for Season 12:

The first week of the season saw some huge blowouts with Pittsburgh embarrassing Florida 10-1, Calgary avenging an opening game loss to their provincial rivals in Edmonton with a 8-1 thrashing of the Oilers and in Vancouver, the Canucks crushed the Red Wings 7-1 on home ice. In all, teams managed to score 5 or more goals 32 times in the first 60 games of the season, and though it's incredibly early, San Jose's Eric Staal and Zach Parise are on pace for 180 points each. Is this the start of a new high-scoring era in the WCHL?

Here are the opening set of Power Rankings for Season 12:

With the trade deadline days away, this Power Ranking is a reflection of the teams making a big move for the playoffs. Pittsburgh maintains its top spot and some familiar names sit close to the top. The race in the West is heating up and based on these rankings it looks like Chicago and Edmonton might be in the drivers seat. This is the final Power Ranking of the regular season and the next Power Ranking will be a playoff preview.

The 6th Edition of Season 11's Power Rankings sees another team from Pennsylvania at the top and some other teams who are coming on strong with final pushes just in time for the playoff race. With the trade deadline around the corner, the big swings in the power rankings might force some GMs to give a second thought about whether they're buyers or sellers over the next few weeks.