Last WHL title win came in 1993, last
Memorial Cup win in 1989
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| Sam Steel (#23) topped the WHL in scoring this past regular season. |
So how has it been since a Saskatchewan-based team last won
a WHL or CHL championship?
On both fronts, Brian Mulroney was still the prime minister
of Canada when each of those events last happened. The Swift Current Broncos
are the last Saskatchewan-based team to win a WHL title when they claimed a
best-of-seven league championship series 4-3 over the Portland Winterhawks in
May of 1993.
The Broncos are also the last Saskatchewan-based team to win
the Memorial Cup. At the 1989 Memorial Cup tournament in Saskatoon, Tim Tisdale
scored the winner in overtime to lift the Broncos, who were that season’s WHL
champs, to a 4-3 victory over the host Blades in the event’s title game on May
13.
Before that Swift Current victory, the previous
Saskatchewan-based club that won the WHL title and Memorial Cup was the rough
and tumble Prince Albert Raiders in 1985.
Mulroney served as Canada’s prime minster from Sept. 17,
1984 to June 25, 1993.
To say Saskatchewan has endured lengthy drought in winning a
WHL or CHL championship is definitely an understatement.
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| Tyler Steenbergen charges up ice for the Broncos. |
That head-to-head series matchup means there will be a
Saskatchewan-based team in the Eastern Conference championship series. The
Broncos last made the WHL’s Eastern Conference final back in 2001, when they
fell in six games to that year’s eventual Memorial Cup champion Red Deer
Rebels. The Pats last visit to the Eastern Conference final was 1993, when they
were swept 4-0 by the Broncos.
On paper, both the Pats and Broncos have the potential to
end the WHL and CHL title droughts for Saskatchewan.
The Pats, who last won the Memorial Cup in 1974, finished
first in the WHL with a 52-12-7-1 mark and topped the final CHL Top 10 rankings
list that came out on March 22. This marks the third straight year Regina has
advanced to the second round of the WHL post-season, and optimism has run high
all season this Pats squad can make a playoff breakthrough.
Going back to the regular season, the Pats enter their series
with the Broncos having won 12 games in a row, which included a first round
four-game playoff sweep of the Calgary Hitmen. Regina has it all on offence,
defence and in goal. They have six players that have averaged at least a point
a game this season and have scored over 30 goals.
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| Captain Adam Brooks cuts to the front of the goal for the Pats. |
Veteran Tyler Brown had a solid regular season playing goal
for the Pats posting a 33-8-6 record, a 2.64 goals against average, a .911 save
percentage and five shutouts.
The Pats also won seven of their eight head-to-head regular season
meetings with the Broncos.
The Broncos for their part were no push overs this season.
Swift Current posted a solid 39-23-4-6 record in the regular season to finish
third in the WHL’s East Division. The Broncos first round best-of-seven series with
the Moose Jaw Warriors went the distance, and the Broncos claimed Game 7 on Monday
in Moose Jaw by a count of 3-2.
Swift Current’s first two forward lines are as good as you
will find anywhere in the WHL. Tyler Steenbergen topped the Broncos in scoring
with 51 goals and 39 assists. Finnish product Aleksi Heponiemi was second in
team scoring with 28 goals and 58 assists. Overage forward Ryley Lindgren also
had a solid campaign recording 27 goals and 47 assists.
Russian product Artyom Minulin controlled the back end
recording eight goals, 42 assists and a plus-28 rating in the plus-minus
department in 70 regular season games.
Swift Current’s biggest wildcard was the fact they acquired
overage goaltender Jordan Papirny from the Brandon Wheat Kings on the WHL’s
traded deadline day back on Jan. 10.
In regular season duties split between the
Broncos and Wheat Kings, Papirny posted a 21-18-3 record, a 3.21 goals against
average and a .907 save percentage.
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| Jordan Papirny (#33) has been spectacular in goal for the Broncos. |
In the seven-game series, Papirny posted a
2.02 goals against average, a .947 save percentage and picked up one shutout. During an impressive WHL post-season career, Papirny has appeared in 56 playoff
games posting a 37-19 record, a 2.77 goals against average, a .916 save
percentage and two shutouts.
The Pats and Broncos should put on a very entertaining
series. The series winner has a good chance of going all the way, but there are
no guarantees.
There are still six other strong clubs remaining in the WHL
playoffs, so there is still a long road to travel in trying to capture a league
championship. As far as the Memorial Cup tournament goes that runs May 19 to 28
in Windsor, Ont., a WHL club has only managed to come out on top once in the
last eight of those events.
Still, it would be nice to see the Saskatchewan’s major
junior droughts come to an end.
Back in the Express with a Blades look ahead
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| Blades D Evan Fiala and GM Colin Priestner hang out. |
I interviewed Saskatoon Blades general manager Colin
Priestner regarding his outlook for the upcoming campaign that starts in
September. The Blades are preparing for the WHL Bantam Draft, which is set for
May 4 in Calgary.
They are also going to have to make some decisions on the
overage front. The Blades could potentially return six overagers to training
camp next season, but will work to cut down to the league limit of three. The
potential returnees include goaltenders Logan Flodell and Brock Hamm,
defenceman Evan Fiala and forwards Mason McCarty, Cameron Hebig and Braylon
Shmyr.
My Express story can be found right here.
If you have any comments
you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to
stankssports@gmail.com.
