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| Jackson Unger raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup on May 15. |
That has been the mantra or catch phrase for the Moose Jaw Warriors through the WHL Playoffs and now heading into the Memorial Cup tournament, which crowns a CHL champion. The phrase references the fact that the Warriors of the current day are trying to do something no other Warriors team has done.
Heading into the 2024 post-season, no Warriors team had ever won a WHL championship. The closest any Warriors team came was back in the 2006 WHL Playoffs when the Warriors won the Eastern Conference Championship Series. They were then swept away by the Vancouver Giants 4-0 in the WHL Championship Series.
Taking on the storied Portland Winterhawks in this year’s WHL final, the Warriors captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions sweeping away the Winterhawks 4-0. They capped the sweep winning Game 4 of the set 4-2 on May 15 before a packed crowd of 4,732 spectators in their home rink the Moose Jaw Events Centre, which is best known as “The Hangar.”
The Warriors and their fans basked in the moment of capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup with captain Denton Mateychuk being named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. The WHL title win and the fact a Warriors player was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs were firsts in the history of the franchise.
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| Denton Mateychuk was the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. |
The Warriors arrived in Saginaw, Michigan, late Wednesday night and had their first practice at the DOW Event Centre on Thursday before beginning play in the CHL championship tournament. The Warriors open the event on Friday taking on the host Saginaw Spirit from the OHL at the DOW Event Centre (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). The contest will be a battle between two clubs who are both making their first appearance at the event.
Moose Jaw is also the next team up that will try to break the WHL’s drought at the CHL championship tournament. The Edmonton Oil Kings were the last team from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup, and that victory came back in 2014. Edmonton captured the WHL and CHL titles that year playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with the Oil Kings 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in June of 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.
In the championship game of the 2014 Memorial Cup tournament played in London, Ont., on May 25 of that year, the WHL champion Oil Kings downed the OHL champion Guelph Storm 6-3. It has been 10 years since a WHL team last captured the Memorial Cup.
Again for the Warriors, their catch phrase fits – “Why not us.”
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| Matthew Savoie is one of the Warriors top forwards. |
Moose Jaw marched through the WHL Playoffs posting a 16-4 record. The Warriors’ biggest test was a tough Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Saskatoon Blades, who finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 50-13-2-3 mark.
The series went seven games with six contests being decided in overtime, and it is being viewed as the best post-season series to ever take place in the history of the WHL. On May 7, the Warriors took the deciding Game 7 at the SaskTel Centre by a 3-2 final score in overtime with winger Lynden Lakovic netting the winner 36 seconds into the extra session.
The Warriors can play four solid forward lines and deploy three sound defensive pairings.
The Moose Jaw side is best known for hitting the ice with some big star players in Mateychuk, WHL player of the year Jagger Firkus, homegrown product Atley Calvert, Brayden Yager and Matthew Savoie. They have had numerous other forwards step up in big moments like Lakovic, Brayden Schuurman, Ethan Semeniuk, Rilen Kovacevic, Pavel McKenzie, Owen Berge and Ethan Hughes.
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| Lucas Brenton has been solid on the blue-line for the Warriors. |
In goal, Jackson Unger has grown into become a championship caliber netminder.
The Warriors also have strong guidance behind their bench from head coach Mark O’Leary and his staff.
The Spirit are going to provide a tough first test. They finished second overall in the OHL with a 50-16-1-1 record, and they were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Saginaw fell in the OHL Western Conference Championship Series 4-2 to the eventual league champion London Knights.
Saginaw’s best known player is centre Michael Misa, who turned 17-years-old in February. Misa was granted to exceptional status to play in the OHL full time as a 15-year-old. In his sophomore campaign in 2023-24, Misa played in 67 regular season games recording 29 goals and 46 assists to go with a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.
Defenceman Zayne Parekh led all CHL blue-liners in scoring in the regular season with 96 points coming off 33 goals and 63 assists to go with a plus-39 rating. Parekh turned 18-years-old in February and is eligible for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, which will be held June 28 and 29 at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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| Brayden Yager pictured with family, friends and the Ed Chynoweth Cup. |
The Warriors are in a situation where they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If they ultimately capture the Memorial Cup, they will spark the biggest celebration Moose Jaw has ever seen.
As the team’s current catch phrase goes, “Why not us.”
Knights favourites to take CHL title, other
notes
Since the start of the 2003-04 campaign, the Knights have been top franchises in all of the CHL having topped the OHL’s regular season standings seven times, capturing the OHL championship five times and winning the Memorial Cup as CHL champions twice. The Knights won the Memorial Cup on the OHL champions and host team in 2005 and again as the OHL champions when the CHL championship tournament was hosted in Red Deer, Alta.
In the 2023-24 regular season, the Knights topped the OHL standings with a 50-14-1-3 record and were ranked second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. They marched through the OHL playoffs with a 16-2 mark.
Left-winger Denver Barkey led the Knights in regular season scoring with 102 points coming off 35 goals and 67 assists to go with a plus-45 rating in the plus-minus department. He turned 19-years-old in April and has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Right-winger Easton Cowan, who turned 19-years-old last Monday, finished second in team scoring in the regular season with 96 points coming off 34 goals and 62 assists to go with a plus-38 rating. Cowan, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, put up his regular season totals for the Knights in 54 games.
Sam Dickinson topped all Knights players in defencemen scoring in the regular season with 70 points coming off 18 goals and 52 assists to go with a plus-56 rating. Dickinson is skating through his 17-year-old sophomore season.
The Knights have gotten strong play in goal from overage netminder and hometown product Michael Simpson. In 48 regular season games, Simpson has posted a 34-10-2 record, a 2.61 goals against average, a .905 save percentage and four shutouts.
Last year, Simpson backstopped the Peterborough Petes to an OHL championship. He was traded to the Knights on September 26, 2023.
The Knights open the Memorial Cup tournament at the DOW Events Centre in Saginaw, Michigan, taking on the QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs on Saturday (2 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). The Voltigeurs finished second overall in the QMJHL in the regular season with a 48-14-5-1 mark and were rated eighth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. They marched through the QMJHL Playoffs with a 16-3 record.
The last time the Knights were in the Memorial Cup in 2016 in Red Deer they claimed the championship game in dramatic fashion. They trailed the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2-1 in the third period until centre Christian Dvorak scored with 4:11 remaining in the frame to force a 2-2 tie and overtime.
In overtime, winger Matthew Tkachuk scored the winner to deliver the Knights to a 3-2 victory. Time will tell of London has that type of dramatics in store for this year’s tournament.
- For the time ever, the three league champions vying to capture the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions captured their major junior circuits sweeping their respective championship series. The Drummondville Voltigeurs swept the QMJHL Championship Series, the London Knights pulled out the brooms to take the OHL Championship Series and the Moose Jaw Warriors had the brooms in hand to sweep the WHL Championship Series.
- When the Moose Jaw Warriors won their first WHL championship, I was happy for a lot of people I know in Moose Jaw who have either worked for the team, covered the team or cheered for the team. The list includes in no particular order Kelly Remple, Randy Palmer, Bill Harris, Jason Hawley, James Gallo, Marc Smith, Todd Ripplinger, Jason Ripplinger and Olivia Howe.
- Teams from the QMJHL have won the Memorial Cup the last four times it has been contested. At last year’s Memorial Cup tournament hosted in Kamloops, the QMJHL Quebec Remparts won the Memorial Cup led by then head coach and general manager Patrick Roy.
- On Wednesday, Portland Winterhawks star defenceman Luca Cagnoni signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The 19-year-old blue-liner was selected by the Sharks in the fourth round and 123rd overall in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. Cagnoni led all WHL defenceman in scoring in the 2023-24 regular season with 90 points coming off 18 goals and 72 assists to go with a plus-47 rating in the plus-minus department in 65 games.
- On Thursday, the Calgary Hitmen announced that Paul McFarland as the team’s new head coach. McFarland spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. On March 26, the Hitmen announced they would not be renewing the contracts of then head coach Steve Hamilton and assistant coaches Trent Cassan and Don MacGillivray. The Hitmen failed to qualify for the post-season finishing ninth overall in the Eastern Conference with a 28-31-8-1 mark.
- On May 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Saskatchewan Roughriders long snapper Jorgen Hus becoming the honourary chair of the Complex’s “Sharing Sport Together” campaign. That piece can be found by clicking right here. I crafted a piece on the WWCFL’s Saskatoon Valkyries becoming an institution in Saskatoon. That piece can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that showed business picking up for the sports of baseball, football and softball. That post can be found by clicking right here.
- On May 15, I was back in the pages of the Prince Albert Daily Herald with a column on the Prince Albert Raiders’ work in the WHL Prospects Draft and the U.S. Priority Draft. The piece can be found by clicking 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.
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