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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Ice hold off Thunderbirds 3-2 in Game 1 of WHL final

Latimer ultimately gets winner for Winnipeg

Carson Latimer, right, celebrates his winning goal for the Ice.

WINNIPEG, Man. - Carson Latimer is hot when it comes to pitching in on winning goals for the Winnipeg Ice.

In the opening game of the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series played on Friday at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Latimer scored at the 7:02 mark of the second period to give the Ice 3-0 lead to the delight of the 5,531 spectators in attendance. After a power play had just expired, Ice star left-winger Owen Pederson had the puck behind the Seattle net and centred a pass to Latimer, who was just off to the right of the Thunderbirds net.

Latimer wired home his second tally of the post-season to give the Ice their 3-0 advantage. That tally proved to be a critical goal as the Thunderbirds mounted a furious rally in the third period, but the Ice ultimately held on for a 3-2 victory.

The Ice celebrate a second period goal from Carson Latimer (#22).

“It always feels good to contribute and help the team out,” said Latimer, whose Ice host Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. local time at the Canada Life Centre. “I’m happy that I was able to do that.

“At the same time, I think what a great play by Pete (Pederson) behind the net. It is everyone out there that makes it happen.”

Latimer was acquired by the Ice in a trade with the Prince Albert Raiders on December 31, 2022 in order to bolster the depth of the Winnipeg side. With the Ice, Latimer doesn’t play in a top-six forward role like he did with the Raiders, but he is contributing for Winnipeg at key times in an unsung hero role in the post-season.

Reid Schaefer scored 28 seconds into the third for Seattle.

When the Ice swept the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series, Latimer assisted on Briley Wood’s series winning goal in the Ice’s 3-2 victory in Game 4 of that set on May 3 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

“We have a deep group,” said Latimer, who had 14 goals and 26 assists in 53 combined regular season games with the Raiders and Ice in 2022-23. “There are a lot of talented hockey players (on the Ice).

“When I’m out there, I’m just trying to do the best I can and just support everyone when I am not. Being able to contribute feels good. It is something I want to continue to do.”

Connor McClennon had the first Ice goal on Friday.

While the Ice looked like they were going to cruise to victory after Latimer scored, things looked like they were going to come unraveled for the host side in the third period. Just 28 seconds into the third, Thunderbirds star right-winger Dylan Guenther fired a shot from the right side boards in the Winnipeg zone that was deflected home by standout left-winger Reid Schaefer to cut the Ice lead to 3-1.

“Obviously, it was not the start we wanted in the first and second,” said Schaefer. “We really keyed on to a big start in the third.

“Getting that goal, I think it was a real team booster. It gave us a little bit of life. We just continued to play hard, and we knew it wasn’t over.”

Kevin Korchinski scored for the Thunderbirds on Friday.

The Thunderbirds pulled star netminder Thomas Milic for an extra attacker with about 2:40 remaining in the third. With 1:42 left in the third, Thunderbirds star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic had the puck down low by the right post of the Winnipeg goal. He passed the puck across the face of the net that was tapped home by Thunderbirds star offensive-defenceman Kevin Korchinski to cut the Ice advantage to 3-2.

Just seconds after Korchinski’s goal after pulling Milic once again, Thunderbirds star 20-year-old centre Jared Davidson wired a shot off the crossbar of the Winnipeg goal. A short time after that chance, Thunderbirds star right-winger Dylan Guenther drove hard to the Winnipeg goal pushing Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser and the puck into the Winnipeg cage with 51.2 seconds remaining in the third. The officials immediately waved off the tally.

Evan Friesen scored for the second Ice goal on Friday.

The Thunderbirds had about three other near misses during scrambles around the Winnipeg net in the final 51.2 seconds of the third but were unable to find the equalizer.

For the most part, Ice head coach James Patrick, whose club had eight days off after eliminating the Blades, was satisfied with Friday’s outing.

“I like the way we started,” said Patrick. “Coming off the eight days off, you always wonder about it.

“I liked a lot of things we did. There are still some areas we have to clean up. Probably the last three-and-a-half minutes there, that was a bit of a concern, but outside of that, there was a lot of good tonight.”

Owen Pederson had a pair of assists for the Ice on Friday.

The Ice broke through on the scoreboard working on the power play at the 9:13 mark of the first period when star 20-year-old right-winger Connor McClennon wired home a shot from the right faceoff dot to give the host side a 1-0 lead. The tally was McClennon’s 14^th goal of the post-season to go with the 46 markers he had in the regular season.

“Anytime you get the first goal it is huge,” said McClennon. “We kind of I guess fed off that.”

McClennon’s tally got the crowd engaged in the contest, and the Wainwright, Alta., product said his side could feel that energy on the ice. In the WHL final, the Ice were able to move their home games to the Canada Life Centre that is the home of the NHL’s Winnipeg  Jets and can seat over 16,000 after playing their home dates previous to the WHL title series at the Wayne Fleming Arena that seats over 1,700 on the University of Manitoba campus.

Kyle Crnkovic set up a late third period goal for Seattle.

“It was super exciting to get to play in this building,” said McClennon. “I think we kind of fed off the crowd early.

“It was huge to get that first goal and get the 3-0 lead. They kind of helped us all night long.”

With 4:38 remaining in the opening frame, the Ice pushed their edge out to 2-0. Pederson fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Milic but the rebound came out to the left side of the net to left-winger Evan Friesen. Friesen potted the puck into an empty cage to give the hosts their two-goal edge.

That set the stage for Latimer to score in the second and for Schaefer and Korchinski to reply in the third.

Daniel Hauser made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Ice.

Hauser stopped 27 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice. Milic turned away 25 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds.

“It wasn’t our best game,” said Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette. “We were slow out of the gates.

“We probably got better as the game went on. I thought they executed well and cashed in on their chances in the first part of the game. That was the difference.

“We got going as the game went on, and it wasn’t enough in the end.”

A part of the 5,531 fans that came out to support the Ice on Friday.

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.

The Seattle coaches direct their players during a timeout.

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 started the WHL final with one notable absence each due to injury.

The Thunderbirds were without standout centre Jordan Gustafson. 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 Jeremy Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of that set claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3.

Zach Benson jets up ice for the Ice.

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.

While the Ice took the first round in their league championship battle with the Thunderbirds, Lucas Ciona, who is the captain of the Seattle side, said his squad is looking forward to being reset for Game 2 on Saturday.

“We’re still confident,” said Ciona. “It is disappointing not getting the first one right off the start.

“We had a solid third period, and we just build off of that and create life for us. The first goal Reido (Reid Schaefer) and you get Kevin’s (Korchinski’s) goal you just create more life. Coming in tomorrow, we know we can play like that and continue that.

The Ice celebrate their win on Friday.

“We are adjusting really well right now. It is just coming in tomorrow fired up and ready to 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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