Thundersbirds are WHL’s best Memorial Cup hope since 2014

Kyle Crnkovic had a hat trick for the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

If the Seattle Thunderbirds aren’t able to win the Memorial Cup, the WHL as a league might have to look into what supernatural forces it has to appease to be able to capture major junior hockey’s biggest prize.

When it comes to winning the storied trophy that is given to the CHL champion, the WHL as a league still seems to be haunted by the “Curse of the Drop.”

For the superstitious types, that event took place on May 25, 2008 after the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs downed the host Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the Memorial Cup tournament’s championship game. It marked the second time the Chiefs captured the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

After winning the title in 2008, Chiefs captain Chris Bruton accepted the Memorial Cup. Bruton turned and was going to give the Memorial Cup to defenceman Trevor Glass. Glass, who was in his 19-year-old season at the time, was with the Medicine Hat Tigers the previous campaign when they won the WHL title and fell 3-1 in the Memorial Cup championship game to the host Vancouver Giants.

As Bruton reached out to hand the Memorial Cup to Glass, the trophy separated at the neck and fell to the ice to the shock of spectators in Kitchener, Ont.

Since that Chiefs win, only one WHL club has won the Memorial Cup coming with an Edmonton Oil Kings victory in 2014. Edmonton was 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.

The WHL is currently in its longest drought as a league of not being able to win the Memorial Cup spanning six seasons from 2015 to 2019 and 2022. The Memorial Cup tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Nolan Allan had a goal for Seattle on Saturday.

The current drought saw WHL championship winning teams go on a stretch of losing 14 straight contests at the Memorial Cup tournament. That streak came to an end on June 22, 2022, when the Oil Kings downed the host Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 in overtime in Saint John, N.B., as part of round robin play.

This year’s Thunderbirds WHL title winning squad is the deepest team from the western major junior circuit that has appeared in the Memorial Cup since the Oil Kings winner in 2014.

On Saturday, the Thunderbirds hit the ice at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C., for their first action at this year’s Memorial Cup in round robin play. During that contest, the Thunderbirds showed off a microcosm of their positive traits that should serve them well in pursuit of a first CHL title in franchise history.

The Thunderbirds downed the OHL champion Peterborough Petes 6-3 in a clash that was tighter than the final score would suggest.

Peterborough skated out of the first period with a 1-0 lead off a breakaway goal by left-winger J.R. Avon. The Thunderbirds showed poise and didn’t panic. Just 39 seconds into the second, Seattle captain Lucas Ciona potted home a loose puck in the crease of the Peterborough net to even the score at 1-1.

With 4:07 remaining in the second, Petes centre Owen Beck scored a beauty on an end-to-end rush to put the OHL champions up 2-1. The Thunderbirds answered back 52 seconds later when 21-year-old star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic blew home a shot to the top left corner of the Peterborough net to even the score at 2-2.

After a tighter checking opening 40 minutes, the Thunderbirds blew the game wide open in the third. Crnkovic netted his second of the contest and star defenceman Nolan Allan potted a marker 82 seconds after that tally to give the Thunderbirds a 4-2 edge.

Lucas Ciona had a goal for Seattle on Saturday.

Allan, who has a signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, is relied on for his sound work defensively. He has offensive skill and showed it off sniping home a bad angle shot low in the Peterborough zone between the legs of Petes netminder Michael Simpson.

Petes 20-year-old right-winger Avery Hayes scored on the power play with 6:04 remaining in the third to cut the Seattle lead to 4-3. The Thunderbirds sealed victory with centre Jordan Gustafson scoring with 3:15 remaining in the third and Crnkovic picking up an empty-net tally to complete his hat trick with 1:34 remaining in the third to round out the 6-3 Seattle win.

Thomas Milic stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Simpson turned away 34-of-39 shots to take the setback in net for the Petes.

At the moment, the Thunderbirds are skating through their best campaign in team history. They topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record.

The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records. In the WHL Playoffs, the Thunderbird proceeded to win the league title posting a 16-3 mark.

After falling to the Oil Kings in six games in the best-of-seven WHL final in 2022, the Thunderbirds additions via the trade route included Crnkovic, Allan, Brad Lambert, Dylan Guenther, Luke Prokop and Colton Dach. Seattle general manager Bil La Forge pushed all the chips to the centre of the table to win right now.

Dylan Guenther was a big trade pick up for the Thunderbirds.

The trade additions bolstered a Seattle side that returned 15 players this season who were on the club’s playoff roster in 2022. Some of the key returnees included Milic, Ciona, Gustafson, Jared Davidson, Reid Schaefer, Nico Myatovic, Kevin Korchinski and Jeremy Hanzel. Seattle also benefitted from Gracyn Sawchyn putting up a pile of points as a rookie.

Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette and the coaches on his staff were able to bring this group together creating a team in Seattle that can play any style of hockey you want to play. With all that noted, the Thunderbirds are still going to have to earn everything they get at the Memorial Cup.

The QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts opened the Memorial Cup in impressive fashion downing the host Kamloops Blazers 8-3 on Friday. The Remparts have put together their own impressive campaign finishing first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Hockey legend Patrick Roy is the Remparts head coach and general manager. He is an icon in the province of Quebec being tabbed with the nickname “Saint Patrick.”

Roy is as ultra-competitive a person you will find, and his teams are always well prepared for opposing clubs. It is speculated this will be the 57-year-old’s last ride with the Remparts before he departs for a potential head coaching position in the NHL. That might give the Remparts another emotional edge to win the Memorial Cup.

On top of that, the Petes and Blazers could bounce back and still be factors in how the Memorial Cup plays out. Those clubs will meet Sunday at 3 p.m. local time at the Sandman Centre. The Thunderbirds and Remparts will go at on Monday at 6 p.m. local time at the Sandman Centre.

The Blazers could be the WHL club that ends that circuit’s Memorial Cup drought.

Kevin Korchinski has been a mainstay on defence for Seattle.

Still with the way things look at the moment, the Thunderbirds are the WHL’s best bet for capturing the top prize in major junior hockey.

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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Thunderbirds undeniably WHL’s best team in 2022-23

The Thunderbirds celebrate a goal in January.

The Seattle Thunderbirds are the WHL’s best team in 2022-23.

They had the best team on paper, and it translated to having the best team on the ice long before they won the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The fact they won the Ed Chynoweth Cup to become WHL champions on Friday just added a final stamp of approval.

Of course, the Kamloops Blazers will still have a chance to cast doubt about whether the Thunderbirds truly are the best in the WHL. The Blazers host the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion, and that event will start this coming Friday and runs through to June 4 at the Sandman Centre.

Seattle and Kamloops met in the WHL’s Western Conference Championship Series and the Thunderbirds took that best-of-seven set 4-2. If the Blazers win the Memorial Cup, they will be one of those asterisks CHL champions, because they weren’t able to win their league championship on their way to capturing major junior hockey’s biggest prize.

Still, the reason the Thunderbirds won the WHL championship was due to the fact they had the deepest team on the circuit. That allowed them to beat the Blazers in the Western Conference final for a second straight year before taking out the Winnipeg Ice in the league championship series in five games. The Ice had topped the WHL’s regular season standings in each of the past two seasons.

The seeds of the Thunderbirds run to winning the WHL title in 2022-23 were planted during the 2021-22 campaign. In 2021-22, the Thunderbirds finished seventh overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-18-4-2 record.

Thomas Milic is the Thunderbirds star netminder.

They advanced to the WHL Championship Series falling in six games to the Edmonton Oil Kings. During that post-season run, the Thunderbirds won six straight contests where they faced elimination from the WHL Playoffs.

After falling in the WHL final in 2021-22, the Thunderbirds went all in for the 2022-23 campaign. The obvious difference between this season and last season has been the load up.

Seattle traded multiple young players, prospects and draft selections in order to add star players that would put them over the top. After falling to the Oil Kings in the 2022 WHL final, the Thunderbirds additions via the trade route included Brad Lambert, Dylan Guenther, Luke Prokop, Nolan Allan, Kyle Crnkovic and Colton Dach.

Guenther and Prokop were key figures in helping the Oil Kings capture the WHL crown in 2021-22. The experience they had added to the experience the Thunderbirds gained in their post-season run in 2022.

Seattle returned 15 players this season who were on the club’s playoff roster in 2022. Included among the key returnees from the 2022 post-season run was netminder Thomas Milic. Milic backstopped Canada to a gold medal finish at world juniors this past January and was named the WHL playoff MVP as the Thunderbirds claimed the Ed Chynoweth Cup this past Friday.

Brad Lambert has scored key goals for the Thunderbirds.

Other key returnees included Jared Davidson, Jordan Gustafson, Reid Schaefer, Lucas Ciona, Kevin Korchinski and Jeremy Hanzel.

The returnees guaranteed the Thunderbirds would have a good shot at a top five finish in the WHL’s overall standings. Seattle also benefited from Nico Myatovic having a breakout year as a returnee and Gracyn Sawchyn putting up a pile of points as a rookie.

Credit has to be given to Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge and his scouting staff for knowing who they should add to the core mix of players they already had. La Forge was named the winner of the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the WHL executive of the year for 2022-23.

La Forge and his scouting staff knew they couldn’t just add players who could statistically put up points. They looked to add players who where good character guys that could put up points that would be automatically welcomed in by the existing players.

One of the first players the Thunderbirds acquired was Crnkovic from the Saskatoon Blades back on August 30, 2022. During his 19-year-old season with the Blades in 2021-22, Crnkovic was an assistant captain who appeared in all of the team’s 68 regular season games recording 39 goals and 55 assists for 94 points.

Off the ice, Crnkovic was known as one of the Blades best ambassadors in the community. You would be hard pressed to find someone that disliked Crnkovic, and it was pretty safe to assume he would be accepted into the Thunderbirds dressing room.

Jared Davidson is a key member of the Thunderbirds core group.

Lambert, Guenther, Prokop, Allan and Dach are all high character guys too. Dach is a power forward who likes to be an agitator. When he is in your dressing room, you think he is the greatest teammate ever, but when he is an opponent, you wish you could run him over with a semi truck.

Prokop is known as the first WHL and CHL player to come out as gay. As he is signed by the NHL’s Nashville Predators, Prokop also became the first active player with an NHL contract to come out as gay.

After making his coming out announcement on July 19, 2021, you could tell Prokop was more comfortable in his own skin. Since that announcement, he has played the best hockey of his career and continues to steadily improve.

Prokop is arguably one of the best all-around defencemen in the WHL. He can play a physical game, a smart game, put up points or skate for massive minutes to ensure the defensive end is always under control. On top of that, Prokop has been popular with his teammate in every stop he has made in his hockey career.

Lambert and Guenther are talents who are NHL ready right now. Lambert spent the first half of the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, who are an affiliate of the NHL’ Winnipeg Jets. His WHL rights were traded by the Blades to the Thunderbirds, and Jets elected to assign Lambert to a Seattle side projected to make a long post-season run.

Dylan Guenther has won two straight WHL titles.

Guenther spent the first half of the 2022-23 campaign with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. After the Oil Kings traded his NHL rights to the Thunderbirds, the Coyotes assigned Guenther to the Seattle said anticipating he would be part of another long playoff run.

During the post-season, both Lambert and Guenther have played with heart skating with the Thunderbirds. They could probably get away with going through the motions, but they have shown they are driven to win championships in the post-season.

Allan focuses on perfecting his craft of being a defensive-defenceman. He has a signed NHL contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and knows he needs to be a good defensive-defenceman to have a long NHL career.

Still, Allan has skill offensively and can play multiple roles on the back end. He was the captain of the Prince Albert Raiders due to his ability to lead by example, and Seattle gave up a tonne of assets making a blockbuster deal with the Raiders on November 16, 2022 to get Allan.

Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette and the coaches on his staff were able to bring this group together creating a team in Seattle that can play any style of hockey you want to play.

Kevin Korchinski is one of Seattle’s star veteran defencemen.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

While it is easy to talk about the Thunderbirds headline grabbers that came via the trade route, the career members of the team are still able to shine. That was seen when the Thunderbirds locked up the WHL Championship Series with a 3-1 victory over the Ice in Game 5 this past Friday before a sellout crowd of 6,202 spectators at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

Milic, who is a career member of the Thunderbirds and turned 20-years-old in April, made 30 saves to pick up the win in goal in that contest. Seattle’s first two goals came from centre Sam Popowich, who turns 20-years-old on Sunday, at even strength and Myatovic, who is 18-years-old on a penalty shot. Both Popowich and Myatovic have played their entire WHL careers with the Thunderbirds.

Crnkovic sealed the win with an empty-net goal with Guenther picking up an assist on that tally.

Kyle Crnkovic skates with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Going into this year’s Memorial Cup, the Thunderbirds are the WHL’s strongest representative at that event since the circuit’s last Memorial Cup winner in the Oil Kings from 2014. The Thunderbirds are stronger than their WHL title winning team from the 2016-17 campaign that featured Mathew Barzal and Ethan Bear as stars.

The Thunderbirds are the best in the WHL. Soon, we will see if they are the best in the entire CHL.

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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