Statistically, the MJHL has been owned this season by the Swan Valley Stampeders and Portage Terriers. Those are the two teams that are atop the league heading into this weekend. As far as individual points go, the MJHL has been dominated by Swan River's and former Parkland Ranger Josh Tripp.
The 20-year-old is having a dominating season for the Stampeders. A by far career year. He's got 54 points already through 34 games. That's 12 points more than Matt Osadick, who also plays on Josh's line.
"It's honestly a pretty awesome feeling, it's already my best ever junior season, and it's just half over," said Tripp. "It's even better that I get to do it at home. It's just a great feeling."
For as long as Josh can remember, playing for the Stampeders was a dream of his. The Tripp family has been season ticket holders since the Stampeders' inaugural campaign in the 1999-2000 season. 19 years later, Tripp is living his dream. It just so happens that it comes during one of the best Stampeders' seasons in franchise history.
"Playing at home is the biggest reason I decided to stay here, and wanted to come back when I wasn't here," said Tripp. "It's a great feeling to play in front of my family and friends. It's been extra fun this year with all the success we're having as a team."
"I've always put up a decent amount of numbers and I knew I wanted to bump that up this year," said Tripp, who had a previous career-high of 47 points with Swan Valley in the 2015-16 season. "I'm off to a good start here. I didn't think I would be this hot early, but I'm super happy about it."
Not only is Josh turning out to be a superstar on the ice, but he's a celebrity off the ice in the valley, and that's something he's enjoying. "Anytime someone sees me outside, they'll come and say hey and sort of talk about the season,"
Of course, this isn't the first season that Josh has played with his hometown team. Besides that 47 point season back a few years ago, Josh also played for the team last season. Sandwiched in between that was a 70-game stint with the Corpus Christi Ice Rays of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). The 20-year-old left-winger returned to the NAHL to start this season with Jamestown. He played one game for them before coming back home, and the rest has turned out to be history.
Josh has a firm grip on the MJHL scoring race. That's something he hopes he can finish out in his final junior hockey season, but most of all, he just wants the Stampeders' to win games.
"My expectation is just to keep up the pace I have going on right now," said Tripp. "I just want to help this team win games every time out. Obviously putting up 100 points and winning the scoring title is in my sight, but I just want this team to win. That's the most important thing.
Josh and the Stampeders' play 27 more regular season games. Right now, Josh is averaging 1.59 points per game. If he keeps up with the pace he's on right now, Tripp would record just under 43 more points through the end of the regular season. That total would have him at 96, based on where he's at now. The last person to record more than that in an MJHL season with Jeremey Leipsic. He had 100 in the 2016-17 season and he won the scoring title. Dexter Kuczek led the league last year with 92 points.
Those 54 points have come in a bunch of wins for the team. Swan Valley is 22-6-3-2 and that's good enough for second in the MJHL. They're one point behind the Portage Terriers, a team they beat at the MJHL Showcase earlier this week.
"We're playing really well and It's really exciting to be a part of this group," added Tripp. "We just came off a big win against Portage and that was huge for us. We're looking to make a big push here and make even more noise."
"I want to bring a Championship to Swan River, this community deserves it," he added. "Hopefully we can keep it up and make something special happen."
Josh and the team welcome the Steinbach Pistons to town on Saturday. The two play a heavyweight two-game series.
