2002–03 WHL season

The 2002–03 WHL season was the 37th season of the Western Hockey League. Nineteen teams completed a 72-game season. The Kelowna Rockets won both the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the league's best regular season team and the President's Cup as playoff champion, both for the first time. The Rockets thus earned a berth in the 2003 Memorial Cup tournament.

Regular season

Eastern Conference

Central Division	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
x Red Deer Rebels	72	50	17	3	2	105	271	160
x Swift Current Broncos	72	38	24	7	3	86	240	215
x Medicine Hat Tigers	72	29	34	2	7	67	278	314
x Calgary Hitmen	72	27	36	7	2	63	240	260
Lethbridge Hurricanes	72	28	39	2	3	61	236	303

Western Conference

U.S. Division	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
x Seattle Thunderbirds	72	44	22	3	3	94	280	224
x Spokane Chiefs	72	26	36	6	4	62	216	261
x Portland Winter Hawks	72	19	40	8	5	51	192	243
Tri-City Americans	72	20	44	3	5	47	240	335

Prince George crosses over into U.S. Division playoffs

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Erik Christensen	Kamloops Blazers	67	54	54	108	60
Jesse Schultz	Kelowna Rockets	72	53	51	104	47
Jeremy Jackson	Lethbridge Hurricanes	65	44	58	102	83
Matt Ellison	Red Deer Rebels	72	40	56	96	80
Chris St. Jaques	Medicine Hat Tigers	70	31	65	96	78
Brooks Laich	Seattle Thunderbirds	60	41	53	94	65
Jeremy Williams	Swift Current Broncos	72	41	52	93	117
Dylan Stanley	Tri-City Americans	72	34	59	93	60
David Bararuk	Moose Jaw Warriors	66	29	64	93	44
Nigel Dawes	Kootenay Ice	72	47	45	92	54

Goaltending leaders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties ; GA = Goals against; SO = Total shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Kelly Guard	Kelowna Rockets	53	3018	39	10	3	97	6	.911	1.93
Geoff McIntosh	Brandon Wheat Kings	23	1337	12	6	4	46	2	.914	2.06
Cam Ward	Red Deer Rebels	57	3367	40	13	2	118	5	.920	2.10
Jeff Glass	Kootenay Ice	35	1884	15	16	2	77	4	.909	2.45
Blake Grenier	Moose Jaw Warriors	41	2356	23	8	8	100	5	.911	2.55

All-Star game

All-Star festivities included a round robin between all-star squads from the three CHL leagues. On November 12, the WHL Eastern All-Stars defeated the Quebec [Major Junior Hockey League|QMJHL] Lebel All-Stars 5–2 at Hull, Quebec before a crowd of 2,194. Then, on November 19, the WHL Western All-Stars defeated the OHL Eastern All-Stars 7–3 at Vancouver, British Columbia before a crowd of 7,046. With the victories, the WHL won the Hershey Cup as champion of the round robin format all-star tournament.

All-Star teams

source: Western Hockey League press release

2003 Bantam draft

#	Player	Nationality	WHL Team
1	Jonathan Toews		Tri-City Americans
2	Ben Maxwell		Kootenay Ice
3	Zach Hamill		Everett Silvertips
4	Ryan de Pape		Prince Albert Raiders
5	Sasha Golin		Portland Winter Hawks
6	Tyler Swystun		Prince George Cougars
7	Jason Reese		Vancouver Giants
8	Michael Reich		Spokane Chiefs
9	Keegan Dansereau		Calgary Hitmen
10	Trevor Glass		Medicine Hat Tigers
11	Logan Pyett		Regina Pats
12	Todd Panchyson		Kootenay Ice
13	Victor Bartley		Kamloops Blazers
14	Justin McCrae		Saskatoon Blades
15	Brennan Wray		Moose Jaw Warriors
16	Kyle Bortis		Swift Current Broncos
17	George Holloway		Seattle Thunderbirds
18	Mike Cann		Brandon Wheat Kings
19	Matthew Cline		Red Deer Rebels
20	Craig Cuthbert		Kelowna Rockets