Hurricanes wildcard in chase to host 2020 Memorial Cup

The Hurricanes are in the mix to host the 2020 Memorial Cup.

    It appears a team from the WHL’s Western Conference might not be a lock to host the Memorial Cup in 2020.

    For the longest time, a common consensus among those that follow the WHL was that a club from the Western Conference would host the Memorial Cup tournament when the circuit’s turn came up in 2020. The last four times the WHL has hosted the CHL championship tournament it was held by a club from the Eastern Conference.

    Brandon hosted in 2010, Saskatoon in 2013, Red Deer in 2016 and Regina hosted the 100^th Memorial Cup this past May.

    Vancouver was the last Western Conference centre from the WHL to hold the Memorial Cup back in 2007, when the host Giants downed the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 in the event’s title game.

    WHL teams had until May 31 to express interesting in bidding to be the host club for the 2020 Memorial Cup. The Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and Victoria Royals were expected to file letters of intent, and they all did.

    Each of those clubs had made it known for a while that they would be in the chase to host the Memorial Cup.

    The Lethbridge Hurricanes also filed a letter of intent to express their interest to bid on the 2020 Memorial Cup.

Dylan Cozens (#24) is expected to be a big star for the Hurricanes.

    That development came out of the blue, because there was no noise at all coming out of Lethbridge that the Hurricanes were thinking about hosting the CHL’s championship tournament.

    No announcements have been made by the WHL to make any of this official. That is likely due to the fact that team executives are trying to squeeze in vacation and down time with this year’s Memorial Cup wrapping up on May 27.

    The four teams that were interested in bidding on the 2020 Memorial Cup were revealed by Bruce Hamilton, who is the Rockets general manager, president and owner and chairman of the WHL board of Governors, on a radio station in Kelowna.

    Lethbridge is slated to host the U Sports national men’s hockey championship – the University Cup – from March 14 to 17 in 2019 with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns as the host team.

    If the Hurricanes host the 2020 Memorial Cup, it would mark another major milestone in the WHL club’s resurgence.

    Lethbridge missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons from 2009-10 to 2014-15. After the Hurricanes went 12-55-2-3 in the 2013-14 season, it seemed a death watch was surrounding the team. The Hurricanes existence in Lethbridge was called into question at times.

    Lethbridge was not a prime destination in the WHL, and it seemed like players that were there couldn’t wait to leave.

In two seasons, Calen Addison has become a star offensive defenceman.

    Things started to change when the Hurricanes hired Peter Anholt as the club’s assistant general manager before the start of the 2014-15 campaign. The veteran coach and hockey executive became the team’s head coach and general manager halfway through that campaign.

    Before the start of the 2015-16 season, he stepped back as head coach and made the inspired move to hire Brent Kisio for that role.

    The Hurricanes took off and topped the Central Division in 2015-16 with a 46-24-1-1 record before being eliminated in the first round of the WHL playoffs.

    In 2016-17, the Hurricanes posted a 44-21-4-3 mark to sit seventh overall in the league. They won two seven game series in the playoffs to advance to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series falling to the Regina Pats in six games.

    During a reloading campaign this past season, the Hurricanes returned to the playoffs with a 33-33-6 record. In the post-season, the Hurricanes took out the Red Deer Rebels in five games in the first round and the Brandon Wheat Kings in five games in the second round to return to the Eastern Conference Championship series.

    Lethbridge put up a big fight in the Eastern Conference Championship series falling in six games to the eventual WHL champion Swift Current Broncos.

Jadon Joseph could be a Hurricanes overager in 2019-20.

    While the Hurricanes have outstanding people in the front office and coaching ranks, they are projecting to have a potentially strong roster in the 2019-20 season.

    Centres Dylan Cozens and Logan Barlage have come off strong 16-year-old rookie seasons, and they would be in their 18-year-old campaigns in 2019-20. They both could be established WHL stars in their 18-year-old seasons.

    Forwards Owen Blocker and Keltie Jeri-Leon had sound 17-year-old campaigns, and both could potentially be 19-year-old standouts in 2019-20.

    Calen Addison had a spectacular 17-year-old sophomore campaign as an offensive defenceman piling up 11 goals and 54 assists in 68 regular season games. He would be in his 19-year-old season in 2019-20 campaign.

    The Hurricanes had a pair of towering rearguards in Nolan Jones, who stands 6-foot-2, and Alex Cotton, who stands 6-feet, appear in a handful of regular season games in their 16-year-old campaigns. They could potentially be part of the core of a strong defensive unit in the 2019-20 campaign.

    Lethbridge has an outside chance of having current captain Jordy Bellerive, who has a signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and skilled centre Jadon Joseph back for the 2019-20 campaign as overagers.

    In 2019-20, the Hurricanes could potentially have a mainly built through the draft type team that could win its way to the Memorial Cup, which would give them huge consideration in being the host team for that tournament.

Captain Jordy Bellerive is a potential overager for 2019-20.

    Fans have flocked back in droves to the Hurricanes home rink in the 4,093 seat Enmax Centre. When the Hurricanes took down the Wheat Kings 3-0 in a Game 5 second round series clinching win on April 13, they managed to pack 5,249 spectators into the Enmax Centre after standing room tickets were counted up.

    If you attended the 2016 Memorial Cup in Red Deer, a number of locals there said they were high on attending the CHL championship tournament, if Lethbridge or Medicine Hat ever played host to it.

    The two front runners from the Western Conference have to be the Rockets and Royals. Kelowna has been an elite WHL franchise for about the last 18 years and last hosted the Memorial Cup in 2004.

    The Royals have a sound organization as well, while the Blazers have the potential to get in that mix but are going through some organizational changes.

    Originally, it appeared Kelowna and Victoria would put forward the strongest cases to host the 2020 Memorial Cup. With Lethbridge in the mix, that is no longer the case.

    The WHL board of governors looks to have a good problem on their hands in ultimately determining which centre will host the 2020 Memorial Cup.

Cooke departs Huskies to play pro in France

Netminder Jordon Cooke has signed a professional contract to play in France.

    It appears the Jordon Cooke era has come to an end for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team.

    On Wednesday when he turned 25-years-old, it was announced via the MacBeth Report that Cooke has signed a one-year contract to play goal professionally with Rapaces de Gap in the Ligue Magnus in France. Last season with the Huskies, Cooke appeared in 23 regular season games posting a 16-7 record, a 2.29 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and three shutouts.

    The Leduc, Alta., product suffered a knee injury in the Huskies first playoff game on Feb. 22, which knocked him out of action for the rest of the post-season.

    During his career with the Huskies that spanned four seasons from 2014 to 2018, Cooke appeared in 86 regular season games posting a 59-25-2 record, a 2.38 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and 10 shutouts.

Jordon Cooke (#32) enjoys a win with Collin Shirley (#11).

    He sits second all-time on the Huskies career list for regular season wins (59) and saves (2,358).

Cooke was the U Sports goaltender of the year and a U Sports first team all-Canadian in 2015-16 and 2016-17. This past season, Cooke was the Canada West goaltender of the year, a Canada West first team all-star and a second team U Sports all-Canadian.

    Before joining the Huskies, Cooke played four seasons in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets from 2010 to 2014. He appeared in 149 regular season games posting a 92-34-12 record, a 2.54 goals against average, a .915 save percentage and nine shutouts.

    He was the CHL goaltender of the year in the 2013-14 campaign.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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