Thunderbirds on the clock to end WHL’s Memorial Cup woes

Colton Dach scored a key goal in the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Will the Seattle Thunderbirds end the WHL’s drought when it comes to winning the Memorial Cup?

That will be the burning question for WHL followers when the Thunderbirds take the ice in the title game of the CHL’s championship tournament. They will go up against the QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts on Sunday at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C., at 4 p.m. local time. The winner claims junior hockey’s most prestigious trophy in the Memorial Cup.

On paper, this has the makings to be a heavyweight tilt that produces a classic of a championship game. Both the Thunderbirds and Remparts have been two of the CHL’s top clubs throughout the 2022-23 campaign.

The Thunderbirds topped the WHL’s 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.

The Remparts finished 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. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Remparts proceeded to win the league crown posting a 16-2 mark.

In the round robin game held this past Monday between the two sides at the Memorial Cup tournament, the Remparts slipped past the Thunderbirds 3-1, but Seattle held a 36-22 edge in shots on goal. Both teams posted identical 2-1 records in the round robin portion of the event, and the Remparts were given first place and a bye to the event’s championship game due to the head-to-head victory over the Thunderbirds.

Brad Lambert scored Seattle’s first goal in the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Seattle downed the OHL champion Peterborough Petes 4-1 in a semifinal contest on Friday to advance to the tournament’s championship game. With the win over the Petes, the Thunderbirds were officially put “on the clock” to try and end the WHL’s drought when it comes to winning the Memorial Cup.

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.

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.

Clubs from the WHL became eligible to play for the Memorial Cup on a regular basis in the 1970-71 campaign. If the Thunderbirds lose in the CHL’s title game on Sunday, the WHL’s drought will grow to seven seasons creating a new distinction for the drought.

Since the WHL first hit the ice as a circuit for the 1966-67 campaign, the longest it has gone without a Memorial Cup win is seven seasons. That drought included years the WHL wasn’t eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup as the circuit was originally viewed as an “outlaw league” by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association that governed the game in Canada at that time.

The WHL didn’t have any Memorial Cup victories in its first seven seasons of existence, and that winless run came to an end when the Regina Pats won storied trophy for the third time in team history to conclude the 1973-74 campaign.

Kyle Crnkovic scored Seattle’s third goal on Friday.

For a moment, the possibility existed that there wouldn’t be a WHL team in this year’s championship game at the Memorial Cup tournament. On Thursday, the Petes met the host Blazers in a standings tiebreaking game as both teams were 1-2 in round robin play.

Despite not winning the WHL title, the Blazers had a fairly stellar campaign in 2022-23. They finished second overall in the Western Conference and third overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-13-4-3 mark. The B.C. Division champions were rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

The Blazers won their first eight straight games in the WHL Playoffs to advance to the Western Conference Championship Series. They fell in six games in that set to the Thunderbirds.

The Petes were the Cinderella team of CHL’s post-season. They finish 10^th in the overall OHL regular season standings with a 35-29-2-2 record. Despite being an afterthought when the post-season began, the Petes proceeded to win the OHL title posting a 16-7 record in the OHL Playoffs.

In the round robin portion of the Memorial Cup tournament, the Blazers pummeled the Petes 10-2 on May 28. The Blazers held a 4-1 lead early in the second period of Thursday’s tiebreaking game and appeared to be set to cruise to victory.

The Petes caught fired and evened the score 4-4 by the end of the second period. The contest ultimately went to overtime and Petes 19-year-old left-winger J.R. Avon scored the winner at the 10:54 mark of extra time to give the Petes a 5-4 victory.

Going into Friday’s semifinal between the Petes and Thunderbirds, one had to wonder if the Petes were going to see their Cinderella run through to getting their hands on the Memorial Cup. Unfortunately for the Petes, the fact that they were playing their fifth game in seven days caught up with them on the fatigue front.

Thomas Milic made 27 saves in Seattle’s Memorial Cup semifinal win.

The Petes looked fatigued in that clash, but they stayed in the game thanks to a spectacular effort by their star netminder in Michael Simpson. Simpson kept the Thunderbirds off the scoreboard until being beaten by star Seattle centre Brad Lambert with 4:28 remaining in the second period. Lambert’s tally gave the Thunderbirds a 1-0 edge.

Power forward Colton Dach scored 88 seconds into the third to push the Thunderbirds lead out to 2-0. The Petes responded 73 seconds later with a goal from left-winger Brennan Othmann to cut the Seattle lead to 2-1.

Seattle put the contest away with a goal by star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic just before the midway point of the frame and an empty-net tally from standout left-winger Nico Myatovic to round out the 4-1 win. 

Star netminder Thomas Milic made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds, while Simpson turned away 43-of-46 shots in the campaign ending setback for the Petes.

Unfortunately for the loaded up Thunderbirds, they could be running into a buzzsaw with the Remparts, whose level of play might be raised by their own emotional motivation. The Memorial Cup title game could be the last ride with the Remparts for “Saint Patrick.”

Hockey legend Patrick Roy, who is the Remparts head coach and general manager, is involved in speculation with regards to NHL head coaching vacancies. The Remparts players could be motivated to see the 57-year-old Roy departs on an ultimate high note.

The Remparts starting star netminder William Rousseau has been solid during the tournament stopping 87-of-95 shots for a .916 save percentage and a 2.93 goals against average.

Nico Myatovic scored an empty-net goal on Friday night.

You can expect the Thunderbirds will give their best to try and win their first Memorial Cup title in team history. If they fall in the CHL’s title game on Sunday, one has to wonder how far the WHL’s Memorial Cup drought will go.

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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De La Gorgendiere thankful for time with Blades

Graduating captain played entire WHL career in Saskatoon

Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#5) enjoys a goal with his teammates.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere never imagined how important the Saskatoon Blades would be when it came to being there for the ups and downs of the late teenage years of his life.

Way back in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, the Blades selected De La Gorgendiere in the first round and fifth overall. In late May of 2017, the Langley, B.C., product took part in an introductory press conference along with good friend Kyle Crnkovic, who is currently playing with the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds at the Memorial Cup tournament in Kamloops, B.C.

A short time after the Blades drafted De La Gorgendiere, the reliable defenceman found out his mother, Marla Meginbir, had been diagnosed with cancer. She would pass away on November 12, 2019 at age 51, when De La Gorgendiere was skating through his 17-year-old sophomore season with the club. 

With the support of the Blades he had though that time, De La Gorgendiere couldn’t imagine playing for another WHL team.

“I’m going to be really thankful and happy,” said De La Gorgendiere about playing his entire WHL career with the Blades. “I wouldn’t be here without the Priestner family (and Blades owners) drafting me at 15-years-old and not really knowing what to expect.

“My first year, it was a really big learning experience for me. They’ve been awesome to me. This past year was awesome.”

De La Gorgendiere missed the tail end of the Blades abbreviated season in 2020-21 when they were playing in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had gripped the world. During his first campaign as the team’s captain in 2021-22, De La Gorgendiere missed the last part of the regular season and the entire WHL Playoffs due to season ending shoulder surgery.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, right, at his first Blades presser in 2017.

In his 20-year-old campaign this past season, De La Gorgendiere appeared in 65 regular season contests with the Blades posting 12 goals, 53 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department. He skated in all of the Blades 18 post-season games posting three goals, 14 assists and a minus-two rating.

De La Gorgendiere helped the Blades post a 48-15-4-1 regular season record to finish fourth overall in the WHL and 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time in 29 years where they got swept by the Winnipeg Ice.

In a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 before rallying to take the best-of-seven set 4-3. The Blades became the third team in the history of the WHL to comeback after being down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series to take the set 4-3. 

They joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the three clubs to pull off that comeback.

During the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the Blades eliminated 17-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in an exciting seven-game series. The Blades drew over 10,000 fans for the first three home games of that series and a sellout crowd of 14,768 spectators to the SaskTel Centre for their 4-1 victory in Game 7.

Overall, De La Gorgendiere found this past season to be his most enjoyable campaign with the Blades.

“It was probably the most fun I’ve had just with our group we’ve had and how tight we are off the ice,” said De La Gorgendiere, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 184 pounds. “I think that has big correlation to our play on the ice there.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere spent his whole WHL career with the Blades.

“Playing in front of sold out rinks was pretty cool, especially when there is 15,000 people cheering for your team. The fans were awesome for us this playoff run.”

De La Gorgendiere’s WHL career came to an end on May 3, when the Blades dropped a 3-2 decision to the Ice in Winnipeg’s Game 4 Eastern Conference Championship Series win at the SaskTel Centre. After the Blades saluted their fans while being saluted themselves by their faithful, De La Gorgendiere was the final Saskatoon player to step off the ice.

Before coming off the ice, he first gave a stick to some friends in the crowd. De La Gorgendiere then reflected on all the good memories he collected playing for the team before stepping off the ice to depart for the dressing room. He also felt sad at the same time knowing his time playing for the Blades had come to an end.

The star rearguard was also happy to think about how far the team had come during his time with the club. When he joined the Blades, they were going through a stretch of missing the post-season for five straight campaigns.

That drought came in an end in De La Gorgendiere’s rookie year in 2018-19 finishing fourth overall in the league with a 45-15-8 mark. This past season, the Blades had their longest post-season run since making the WHL final in 1994, when they fell in seven games to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

“It is pretty cool,” said De La Gorgendiere about seeing the Blades progress during his time with the squad. “I think being part of that culture change around our organization and a lot of change that happened throughout those years.

“I’m fortunate enough to stick around through it all, so I’ve kind of seen it. I’m so fortunate to be around here. I tried and did my best for this team and this organization and helped with my leadership qualities I guess.”

Aidan De La Gorgendiere was the Blades captain the past two seasons.

The now 21-year-old earned the respect of players and coaches around the WHL during his playing career. Ice head coach James Patrick, who played 1,280 career regular season games in the NHL as a defenceman from 1983 to 2004, would like to see De La Gorgendiere play in the professional ranks. The two talked in the handshake line for a short visit after the Ice eliminated the Blades.

“For me, certainly in the last two years he was one of the best defencemen in the league,” said Patrick. “I’d put him up in the top two or three D.

“Every game we played them over the last couple of years he was a handful for us. He was a guy who played 30 minutes a night. He could join as a fourth man.

“He is as mobile a D as there is on the blue-line. I told him what an outstanding career he has had here. I told him I know he can play at the next level, and I hope he gets that opportunity.”

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said that De La Gorgendiere did a tonne for getting the Blades to where they are today.

“What a job at building a culture, because it is not just the coaches,” said Sonne, who was named the WHL’s coach of the year for this past season. “The players have to want that too.

“Sometimes, they don’t, and there is the push back. He steered the ship. When we left the room, he steered the ship in terms of fitness culture, in terms of how we do business, in terms of how we act, how we work in practice.

“Incredible leader. I’m very, very proud of him. He has a very long pro career coming.”

De La Gorgendiere is still exploring what his future options are in continuing his playing career. He added that one of the biggest honours he received in his time in Saskatoon was being named the captain of the Blades.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#5) hugs Tanner Molendyk.

During his first three seasons with the Blades, De La Gorgendiere watched how Chase Wouters carried himself as captain of the team. The two became good friends, and once De La Gorgendiere became captain, he would contact Wouters to talk about various variables about the leadership role.

Overall, De Le Gorgendiere wanted to carry on the outstanding work Wouters put in as the Blades captain. De La Gorgendiere was proud to be the captain of the Blades.

“It means a lot to me,” said De La Gorgendiere. “I pride myself in being a good teammate and a good person and trying to be a leader for our team.

“Young guys coming in, I try and welcome them and make them feel comfortable. I’d say I pride myself in wearing this letter. I’m just happy I could be that guy for this team.”

DaSilva inks extension with Blades, named associate coach

Dan DaSilva, back row centre, checks out action from the Blades’ bench.

Dan DaSilva will be back with the Saskatoon Blades as part of the team’s coaching staff.

On Wednesday, the club announced DaSilva, who is from Saskatoon, signed a two-year extension with the team and has been promoted from assistant coach to associate coach. DaSilva, who is 38-years-old, joined the Blades before the start of the 2021-22 campaign and has helped the club post an 86-41-7-2 over the past two seasons.

Last season with DaSilva on a staff led by head coach Brennan Sonne, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the post-season, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time in 29 seasons falling in a sweep to the Winnipeg Ice.

In an Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Blades fell behind the Red Deer Rebels 3-0 before rallying to take the series 4-3. With that rally, the Blades became the third team in the history of the WHL to rally from behind down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series before coming back to take the set 4-3. They joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the three clubs to pull off that comeback.

“I’m very happy to be coming back for another two years,” said DaSilva in a release. “I’d like to thank the Priestner family and (associate general manager) Steve Hildebrand for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.

“The organization has been unbelievable to me and my family over the past two years, and so it was an easy decision to return for two more. I look forward to getting back to work with the coaching staff and players later this summer. We have a great group, and I see big things happening over the next two seasons.”

A graduate of the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team, DaSilva played right wing for three seasons from 2002 to 2005 with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks appearing in 200 WHL regular season contests piling up 76 goals and 75 assists for 151 points. He moved on to play professionally for 15 seasons from 2005 to 2020 with various clubs in North America and Europe.

“Since day one, Dan has been a leader with his care and passion for the players,” said Sonne in a release. “His positivity within the coaches’ office and in the dressing room is infectious, and his growth as a coach has been exponential.

“The best coaches are those that are simultaneously good people and (have) good hockey minds, and when you already have one within your organization, you do your utmost to retain them.”

DaSilva rejoins Sonne’s staff that features assistant coach Wacey Rabbit, goaltending coach Jeff Harvey, assistant coach Jerome Engele and video coach Braeden Dahl.

Blades deal Roulette to Chiefs

Conner Roulette in action for the Blades in the WHL Playoffs.

Conner Roulette will be finishing up his WHL career with a team other than the Saskatoon Blades.

On Wednesday, the Blades dealt the 20-year-old standout right-winger to the Spokane Chiefs for a second round selection in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and a third pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft. The Blades acquired Roulette in a trade on August 30, 2022 with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

In the 2022-23 campaign, Roulette appeared in 60 regular season games with the Blades recording 24 goals, 39 assists and a plus-19 rating in the plus-minus department. He picked up another three goals and four assists in the Blades 18 games played in the 2023 WHL Playoffs.

In 191 career WHL regular season games played with the Thunderbirds and Blades, Roulette has posted 73 goals, 107 assists and a plus-59 rating. Roulette was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round and 111^th overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

“We would like to thank Conner for a great season with us,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner in a release. “He was a great player on the ice and his leadership with Indigenous youth in our city will have a lasting impact.”

With having dealt Roulette to the Chiefs, the Blades now have six players who could return this coming season to compete for three 20-year-old sports. Defencemen Charlie Wright and Spencer Shugrue along with forwards Jayden Wiens, Trevor Wong, Justin Lies and Jake Chiasson are the players that could potentially be battling for the Blades three 20-year-old spots. Chiasson has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

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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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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Thunderbirds perch on WHL mountaintop as champs

Seattle captures second league title in team history

The Thunderbirds are WHL champs. (Photo courtesy Seattle Thunderbirds)

The unsung heroes sealed the WHL championship celebration for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds got goals from 19-year-old checking centre Sam Popowich and standout 18-year-old left-winger Nico Myatovic to skate away with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Ice in Game 5 of the WHL Championship Series before a sellout crowd of 6,202 at the Accesso ShoWare Centre in Kent, Wash.

With the win, the Thunderbirds claimed the best-of-seven series with the Ice 4-1 and captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions for the second time in team history. The Thunderbirds won their first WHL title in 2017 in an era where Mathew Barzal and Ethan Bear starred for the team.

In 2017, Seattle captured the WHL title with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 of the championship series in Regina against the host Pats courtesy of Alexander True’s winner to take that series 4-2. On Friday, the Thunderbirds won the league title in front of a raucous home crowd that stood and saluted the team as the final seconds of the third period ticked away.

While the Thunderbirds got key goals from Popowich and Myatovic in Game 5, one of their best known heroes in netminder Thomas Milic came through with another big performance. He made 30 saves in Friday’s victory. On top of making key stops, Milic seemed to have the Ice’s best player off balance as they started to look hesitant and seemed to be second guessing some of their shot choices.

On top of backstopping the Thunderbirds to a league championship, Milic was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. Milic was the only goalie the Thunderbirds used in their 19 post-season games, and he posted a 16-3 record, a 1.95 goals against average, a .933 save percentage and one shutout.

Lucas Ciona, left, gets the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

The Coquitlam, B.C., product had to assert himself early in Friday’s contest. Early in the first period, Ice right-winger Owen Pederson, who turned 21-years-old in March, was turned away on a close in opportunity thanks to a right pad save by Milic. Later in the first period, Milic stopped Ice star centre Matthew Savoie on a dangerous scoring opportunity from the right faceoff circle on a Winnipeg power-play chance.

The Thunderbirds got a boost on Friday returning standout centre Jordan Gustafson, who turned 19-years-old in January, to their lineup. During the Thunderbirds six-game Western Conference Championship Series win over the Kamloops Blazers, it is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for offensive-defenceman Jeremy Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of that set claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3 on April 30.

The Thunderbirds healthy scratched 19-year-old forward Ashton McNelly to make room for Gustafson.

The Ice were without 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 on April 22 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Late in the first period, Gustafson had a big chance to open the game’s scoring when he found himself on a breakaway. He snapped a shot that got past Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser but rang it off the post of the Winnipeg net. The puck landed in front of the goal-line of the Winnipeg net before it was swept away by Hauser.

Thomas Milic, left, is named MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

At the conclusion of the first period, the contest was scoreless with the Ice holding an 11-9 edge in shots on goal. The contest remained scoreless until there was 6:45 remaining in the second period, when Popowich broke the ice for the Thunderbirds.

Standing in front of the Winnipeg net, Popowich gave the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead tipping home a shot taken from the right point by Hanzel. That tally was Popowich’s second post-season goal to go with five assists appearing in all of the Thunderbirds 19 games in the WHL Playoffs. Popowich, who is in his third full season with Seattle, appeared in all of the Thunderbirds 68 regular season contests recording nine goal, 14 assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department.

At the 2:27 mark of the third, Myatovic forced the Ice into an error he was ultimately able to cash in on. Myatovic had a breakaway on the Winnipeg net, but he was chopped down by diving Ice defenceman Graham Sward. The officials award Myatovic a penalty shot.

On the penalty shot, Myatovic put a deke on Hauser going forehand to backhand to forehand before snapping a shot into the Winnipeg net to give the host side a 2-0 advantage. Skating through his third season with the Thunderbirds, Myatovic had a breakout campaign appearing in all of his club’s 68 regular season contests recording career highs in goals (30), assists (30), points (60) and plus-minus (plus-43).

The Prince George, B.C., product’s production was a bit more quiet as he skated in all his squad’s 19 post-season games recording four goals, three assists, seven points and a plus-eight rating.

Thunderbirds fans cheer on their team.

The Ice didn’t go away. At the 5:02 mark of the third, hard working left-winger Evan Friesen snapped a midrange shot home through a screen to cut the Thunderbirds advantage to 2-1.

With 4:20 remaining in the third, the Ice had a huge chance to get the equalizer, when Thunderbirds captain Lucas Ciona was given a minor penalty for boarding. Due to good work by the Thunderbirds penalty killers and the Ice players second guessing shot opportunities, the Winnipeg side wasn’t able to manufacture any good scoring chances with that opportunity with the man advantage.

After that penalty was killed, the Ice pulled Hauser with 1:52 remaining in the third for an extra attacker. With 66 seconds remaining in the third, Thunderbirds star right-winger Dylan Guenther got a pass to star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic to send Crnkovic in alone on the empty Winnipeg net. Crnkovic put home the empty-net goal to seal the Thunderbirds 3-1 victory.

Hauser turned away 35-of-37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice.  

The WHL final between the Ice and Thunderbirds was expected to be a heavyweight tilt.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

Daniel Hauser contemplates the Ice’s loss in the WHL final.

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.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams and seven players who participated in the last world juniors. Winnipeg’s roster contained eight players who have been drafted by NHL teams and one player who participated in the last world juniors.

Winnipeg won the opening game of the series, before Seattle roared back with four straight victories. Heading into the WHL Championship Series, the Ice hadn’t lost more than two in a row at any part of the 2022-23 campaign.

Last season, Seattle fell in six games in the WHL final to the Edmonton Oil Kings, while the Ice fell in five games to the Oil Kings in the Eastern Conference Championship Series.

Now, the Thunderbirds will head to the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup runs from May 26 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C.

The Blazers, who are the tournament hosts, open the event hosting the QMJHL champion on Friday, May 26 at 6 p.m. local time. The Thunderbirds will take on the OHL champion on Saturday, May 27 at 3 p.m. local time.

The QMJHL and OHL championship series are still in progress. The Quebec Remparts lead the Halifax Mooseheads 3-2 in the QMJHL final, and the Peterborough Petes lead the London Knights 3-2 in the OHL final.

The Thunderbirds will undoubtedly get rest before turning their attention towards the Memorial Cup tournament.

Thomas Milic skates with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

No matter what happens there, they will never forget their WHL title clinching win and the celebration that followed with their home fans on what turned out to be magical night for the host side at the Accesso ShoWare Center.

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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Fly Thunderbirds fly

Seattle storms past Ice 6-3 in Game 3 of WHL final

The Thunderbirds celebrated scoring six goals on Tuesday.

It was a great night to cheer for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

On Tuesday night, the Thunderbirds created numerous reasons for the 5,505 spectators in attendance at their home rink in the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., to cheer. Just 25 seconds into Game 3 of the WHL Championship Series, star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic scored to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead.

After the Ice evened the score 1-1 a short time later, the Thunderbirds surged ahead 4-1 scoring three times in a span of 45 seconds starting at the 13:24 mark of the opening frame. The Thunderbirds rode the momentum of that surge to a 6-3 victory.

With their second straight win in the series, the Thunderbirds take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set against the Ice. Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time at the Access ShoWare Center.

The definite final score in favour of the Thunderbirds came as a bit of a surprise as the first two games of the series played at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg were tight battles. The Ice took Game 1 this past Friday 3-2, while the Thunderbirds claimed Game 2 this past Saturday 4-2.

On Tuesday, the Thunderbirds came out looking to play a track meet rush up and down the ice type of contest that usually favours the Ice. Shortly after the opening faceoff, Thunderbirds offensive-defenceman Jeremy Hanzel passed the puck from deep in his own zone to Crnkovic at centre ice to start a rush into the Winnipeg zone.

Crnkovic passed the puck over to linemate and Seattle captain Lucas Ciona, and the two forwards found themselves on a two-one-one break into the offensive zone. Ciona made a backhand pass to Crnkovic, who was rushing down the left side of the Winnipeg net, and Crnkovic fired home the puck to the top left corner of the Winnipeg goal to give the hosts a 1-0 edge 25 seconds into the contest.

The Thunderbirds faithful at the Accesso ShoWare Center were raucous after Crnkovic’s goal. Just 62 seconds later, the Ice took all of the air out of the building.

Jeremy Hanzel had a two goals and an assist on Tuesday.

Thunderbirds defenceman Bryce Pickford was controlling the puck just inside his own blue-line, but he had it stolen off him by Ice star centre Conor Geekie. Geekie broke in on the left side of the Seattle goal along with linemate Carson Latimer on a two against the goalie break.

Geekie put a pass across the front of the Seattle net to Latimer at the right side of the goal. Latimer tapped the puck into an open cage to even the score at 1-1.

Following Latimer’s goal, the Ice applied all sorts of pressure in the Seattle zone looking to go ahead on the scoreboard. That pressure included a breakaway chance by Ice star centre Matthew Savoie, but he was turned away by Thunderbirds star netminder Thomas Milic.

At the 13:24 mark of the opening frame, momentum proceeded to swing in the Thunderbirds favour in a big way. With Seattle working on the power play, Hanzel skated the puck to the top of the left faceoff circle and blew a shot home to the top left corner of the Winnipeg net through a screen to give the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead.

Just 23 seconds later, the Thunderbirds pushed their lead out to 3-1. Thunderbirds left-winger Reid Schaefer had the puck at the left side boards in his one zone and he hit linemate in star centre Brad Lambert skating down the right wing with a long stretch pass just before the Winnipeg blue-line.

Lambert blew past Ice star defenceman Ben Zloty, cut across the front of the Winnipeg net and put home a backhand shot to give the host side a two-goal edge.

The Thunderbirds capped the surge scoring on a beauty transition rush 22 seconds later that was finished by a goal from star 20-year-old centre Jared Davidson. 

Davidson received a backhand pass at the left side of the Winnipeg net from linemate Nico Myatovic and snapped a shot past the glove hand of Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser to give the host side a 4-1 edge. The tally was the 11^th goal of the post-season for Davidson.

Zach Benson had a goal and an assist for the Ice on Tuesday.

The noise at the Accesso ShoWare Center was deafening after Davidson’s tally. The Ice called a timeout after Davidson’s goal in order to regroup. When the first period came to an end, Winnipeg held a 14-10 edge in shots on goal but trailed 4-1 on the scoreboard.

The Thunderbirds were intent on not allowing the Ice to get back into the contest over the final 40 minutes. At the 8:09 mark of the second, Seattle scored for the second time on the power play to go up 5-1.

Thunderbirds star right-winger Dylan Guenther collected the rebound of a Lambert shot at the left side of the Winnipeg net and popped home his 15^th tally of the post-season to give Seattle a four-goal advantage.

At the 13:42 mark of the second, Ice star right-winger Zach Benson scored with the two sides playing four-versus-four due to off-setting penalties to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 5-2. Benson tapped home a puck at the left side of the Seattle goal converting a beauty set up pass from Savoie.

With 1:35 remaining in the second, Hanzel blasted home a midrange shot to push the Thunderbirds advantage out to 6-2 completing a personal three-point night with two goals and one assist.

The Ice pulled Hauser for the start of the third period. He turned away 16-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Ice. Mason Beaupit walled off all 11 shots he faced playing the entire third frame.

Winnipeg rounded out the game’s scoring with a power-play goal coming with 7:48 remaining in the third. Ice centre Zack Ostapchuk tapped home a sweet backdoor setup from Benson at the left side of the Seattle net to close out the 6-3 final outcome.

Milic stopped 35 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds.

Colton Dach had a pair of assists for the Thunderbirds on Tuesday.

Crnkovic, Lambert and Guenther each had an assist to go with their respective goals. Thunderbirds power forward Colton Dach had a pair of assists on Tuesday. Benson had a two-point night for the Ice with one goal and one assist.

The WHL final between the Ice and Thunderbirds is expected to be a heavyweight tilt.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

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.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams and seven players who participated in the last world juniors. Winnipeg’s roster contained eight players who have been drafted by NHL teams and one player who participated in the last world juniors.

Each side has played the first three games of the WHL final with one notable absence each due to injury.

The Thunderbirds were without standout centre Jordan Gustafson, who turned 19-years-old in January. During the Thunderbirds six-game Western Conference Championship Series win over the Kamloops Blazers, it is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of that set claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3.

The Ice were without 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist for Seattle on Tuesday.

Tuesday night ended up being a great one for the Thunderbirds and their fans. You can expect the Ice won’t dwell on that contest and make a big push back in Game 4. This WHL final should have a few more twists and turns before the Ed Chynoweth Cup is ultimately presented to the series winner.

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 repeat as Western Conference champs

WHL final to start at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg

Kyle Crnkovic had the winning goal for Seattle on Monday.

It feels like it has been WHL championship or bust for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Last year, the Thunderbirds posted a 44-18-4-2 record to sit fourth in the WHL’s Western Conference during the regular season. In playoffs, they advanced to the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series falling in six games to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

When it came to making the WHL final, Seattle was expected to be in the mix but wasn’t a favourite to get that far. During that 2022 post-season run, the Thunderbirds won six straight contests where they faced elimination.

Seattle came into this season as one of the favourites to make and win the WHL final. That favourite status only increased as they made numerous trades to load up with older high end players until trading action was halted at the WHL trade deadline on January 10.

On Monday, the Thunderbirds took another step toward getting their hands on the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions for the first time since the days of Mathew Barzal, Ethan Bear, Keegan Kolesar, Alexander True and Scott Eansor in 2017.

Taking on the host Kamloops Blazers before 5,364 spectators at the Sandman Centre, the current Thunderbirds erased a 1-0 first period deficit to post a solid 4-2 victory in Game 6 of the WHL Western Conference Championship Series. With the win, the Thunderbirds win the best-of-seven set 4-2.

For the second straight year, they will play in the WHL final. This year’s WHL Championship Series will feature the two top teams in the 2022-23 regular season standings in the Thunderbirds and Winnipeg Ice.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

Jared Davidson scored his 10th goal of the current post-season.

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.

On Monday, the Ice in conjunction with the WHL and True North Sports and Entertainment announced the Ice’s home games for the WHL final will be played at the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg as opposed to the Wayne Fleming Arena on the University of Manitoba campus. The Canada Life Centre is home to the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, and both those clubs have been eliminated from their respective league post-seasons.

Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Canada Life Centre and Game 2 will follow on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the same venue.

With the loss on Monday, the Blazers run through the WHL Playoffs comes to an end, but their season will go on as they host the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup runs from May 26 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre, and the Blazers open the event hosting the QMJHL champion on May 26 at 6 p.m. local time.

The Blazers finished second overall in the WHL’s Western Conference and third overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-13-4-3 mark. The B.C. Division champions were rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

The series between the Thunderbirds and Blazers was expected to be a heavyweight title, and it didn’t disappoint going to six games. Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams, while Kamloops has nine NHL drafted players on its roster. The Thunderbirds have seven players who participated in the last world juniors, and the Blazers have three players who took part in this past world juniors.

Sawyer Mynio scored a positive-bounce goal for Seattle.

As for Monday’s Game 6 clash, the Thunderbirds came out with all sorts of momentum outshooting the Blazers 13-5 in the first period. Blazers star goaltender Dylan Ernst made a number of stellar saves to keep the Thunderbirds off the scoreboard.

Despite play being in their own zone for most of the opening 20 minutes, the Blazers actually opened the game’s scoring. With 4:03 remaining in the first, Blazers right-winger Dylan Sydor wired home a midrange shot from the front of the Seattle net to the top right corner of the goal to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The final 40 minutes was much more evenly played, and it was over that stretch where the Thunderbirds offence broke through on the scoreboard. At the 4:46 mark of the second, Thunderbirds star 20-year-old star centre Jared Davidson blew home his 10^th goal of the post-season from the middle of the left faceoff circle to even the score at 1-1. From that point, Ernst and Thunderbirds star netminder Thomas Milic slammed the door for the rest of the second frame.

The contest remained tied 1-1 until the Thunderbirds got a positive bounce at the 5:33 mark of the third. Thunderbirds sophomore defenceman Sawyer Mynio, who is a Kamloops product, took a knuckleball shot from the right side boards just above the faceoff circle that deflected off the arm of Blazers import defenceman Aapo Sarell into the Kamloops goal to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.

Right at the 10-minute mark of the third, the Thunderbirds pushed their advantage out to 3-1 thanks to the work of a pair of Seattle stars. Davidson was cycling behind the Kamloops net with the puck, came out on the right side of the goal and passed the puck across the face of the net to left-winger Kyle Crnkovic at the left post.

Crnkovic, who turned 21-years-old in February, made a backdoor tap into an empty cage to give the Thunderbirds their two-goal edge. Right after Crnkovic’s goal, the Blazers called a timeout in order to regroup.

The Blazers came with a big push back after the timeout. The host side got a break when Thunderbirds star defenceman Nolan Allan was given a hooking penalty with 2:33 remaining in the third.

Jeremy Hanzel has been strong in the post-season for Seattle.

Kamloops pulled Ernst for an extra attacker for a six-versus-four skaters advantage on the power play. The Blazers scored a beauty tick-tack-toe goal off a rush on that power play to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 3-2 with 1:43 remaining in the third.

Star 20-year-old centre Ryan Hofer bought the puck up centre ice and passed it to the left wing to star left-winger Daylan Kuefler. Kuefler passed the puck across the face of the Seattle net to star right-winger Matthew Seminoff on the right wing, and Seminoff covered the backdoor feed to pull the Blazers to within one goal of drawing even on the scoreboard. The tally was Seminoff’s 10th goal of the post-season.

The Thunderbirds snuffed out the potential rally, when 19-year-old standout left-winger Reid Schaefer scored an empty net goal with a shot from deep in his own zone with 38.1 seconds remaining in the third to round out the 4-2 final score.

Milic made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Ernst turned away 39-of-42 shots to take the setback in net for the Blazers.

The Thunderbirds were without standout centre Jordan Gustafson for a fourth straight game. It is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for Jeremy Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of the series claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3. The Blazers were without defenceman Ryan Michael.

The Seattle side won’t get to enjoy the series win over the Blazers for long. The Thunderbirds have three off days before opening the WHL final against the Ice in Winnipeg on Friday.

In those three days off, the Thunderbirds will travel to the Manitoba capital. The Ice will have enjoyed eight off days since sweeping the Saskatoon Blades in the Eastern Conference Championship Series before hosting Game 1 of the WHL final.

Reid Schaefer had a long distance empty-net goal on Monday.

With that noted, winning the WHL title was a goal of both the Thunderbirds and the Ice at the start of the campaign. Now, they will play for a prize that only one can win.

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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