Why mess with a good thing?
After back-to-back Ed Chynoweth Cup championships decided between the Portland Winterhawks and Edmonton Oil Kings, the two combatants will once again determine the league championship and Western Hockey League representative at the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
The Winterhawks claimed their unprecedented fourth straight Western Conference crown with a convincing 4-1 series win over the regular season champion Kelowna Rockets. Portland lost the first game and after two close games, the Winterhawks closed out the series with a combined 12-4 goal differential in the final two contests.
The Oil Kings captured their third-consecutive Eastern Conference title with a 4-1 series victory over Medicine Hat on Saturday. Edmonton’s motto after winning the championship in 2012, then losing it to Portland last spring, is “take it back.”
This is the first time since the original Oil Kings franchise faced the former Flin Flon Bombers from 1969-1971 that two teams meet in three consecutive finals. Flin Flon won the first two with the Oil Kings prevailing in 1971.
Edmonton won the only game between the two this season 5-4 in a shootout on home ice in December. Despite that, neither team will need much of a scouting report for their annual championship series opponent.
“I think both teams are familiar with each other through those playoffs,” Portland head coach and general manager Mike Johnston told the Oregonian’s Molly Blue. “We don’t see each other much during the season.”
The Oil Kings are playing with heavy hearts. Former teammate Kristians Pelss, who helped the Oil Kings defeat the Winterhawks in 2012, died in the summer after jumping into a river in his native Latvia.
“We know he’s looking down on us,” Oil Kings forward Curtis Lazar told the Edmonton Journal. “Every time I stand there on the blue line I’m thinking about him. I play for him. That’s why we have that motto ‘Play for Pelss.’
“It sort of exemplifies that you can’t take anything for granted. Every time we step onto the ice, it’s an honour and a privilege to be out there. You have to make the most of it.”
Mitch Moroz, who formed a special bond with Pelss as both were Oilers prospects, has his jersey hanging in his room. As they were presented with the Eastern Conference championship on Saturday, Moroz held Pelss’s jersey and looked to the rafters.
The series kicks off on Saturday in Portland.
FUCALE SITS, MOOSE WIN
Count that as an unusual headline coming out of the Maritimes’s biggest city.
After struggling big time in the semifinal series’s first three games against Val-d’Or which included allowing three goals on his first four shots in Game 3, the Mooseheads turned to Kevin Darveau in Game 4. Anthony Mantha made it rain hard hats after his hat trick goal on Darveau in Game 3.
Darveau stopped the bleeding in Game 3 long enough for the Mooseheads to rally and avoid falling behind 3-0 in the series with an overtime win, then stopped 31-of-35 shots in a Game 4 win to tie the series.
Fucale got the nod on Saturday for Game 5 back at the Metro Centre and helped lead the Mooseheads to another victory. Needless to say, things weren’t looking good down 3-0 early in Game 3 with a 2-0 series hole.
“He’s always been good for us and I think he deserves that,” Mooseheads head coach Dominique Ducharme explained to the Chronicle Herald’s Willy Palov before Game 5. “His teammates gave him time with the win; to practise and to get ready for tomorrow. He’s always been doing a great job for us. He’s won some big games for this team so there was no question for us that Zach is going to be the guy to take us all the way.”
Rookie forward Maxime Fortier scored the overtime winner in the fifth game, but it didn’t come without controversy.
“The guys are really pissed because they think it was a hand pass,” Val-d’Or head coach Mario Durocher told Palov.
The Mooseheads can now win the series in Val-d’Or on Monday.
GUELPH, NORTH BAY MEET IN OHL FINAL
The Ontario Hockey League’s conference finals ended much more quickly than most would have anticipated.
The North Bay Battalion, who once trailed 3-1 to Niagara in the first round, completed the sweep over the East’s top-seed Oshawa Generals. The Battalion, who moved to North Bay from Brampton last summer, have faced their fair share of adversity this season. Their season began with nine road games, and even their pre-season games were played on the road in Temiscaming, Que., which held the nearest 200-by-85 foot rink.
At one point, they had just two healthy defencemen early in the season and were using forwards to fill out the defence. Now they’re off to their first league championship series since 2009. Head coach Stan Butler kidded he hoped his team hadn’t spoiled their new fans. Matt MacLeod called it a “Cinderella story.”
As they were against the Generals, the Battalion will resume their role as underdogs. The Guelph Storm took one game more to knock off Connor McDavid’s Erie Otters, who finished with the second-most points behind Guelph this season.
The Storm are firing on every cylinder right now to the point where they’re drawing comparisons to the last most dominant OHL team, the 2010 Windsor Spitfires. They won’t be taking the Battalion lightly.
The OHL finals begin on Thursday.
– Last year it was the “Brawl near Montreal.” This year, the shots are coming in post-game press conferences between the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Armada head coach J-F Houle took a shot at the Drakkar’s captain, while Drakkar bench boss Eric Veilleux lamented a perceived favourable media partnership for the Armada. The best part yet should come on Tuesday, when the Armada and Drakkar meet in a seventh game for the right to advance to the league finals.
– Aaron Ekblad checked off one of his goals last week when he was named the recipient of the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Defenceman.
– The sale of the Prince George Cougars and Regina Pats is almost finalized. The WHL board of governors will convene for a meeting on Wednesday to vote on both transactions. A two-thirds majority vote is needed for both to go through.
– Team Canada captured the bronze medal at the recently completed under-18 tournament in Finland.
– Should the Edmonton Oilers, holders of the third pick in this summer’s NHL draft, just trade the pick to the New York Islanders for the prospect they so dearly wanted to draft two years ago? They happen to know Griffin Reinhart well.
– Just how successful have the Oil Kings been under head coach Derek Laxdal?
– Once upon a time, it was a tough draw for the Greyhounds to attract top talent to Sault Ste. Marie. Now they’re finding players who want to play for them.