By Derek Harper
It’s a new week in major junior hockey and the Memorial Cup is headed toward the bracket end of the tournament. This season, the league exiting early before bracket end of the tournament is the QMJHL as the Drummondville Voltigeurs failed to secure the needed wins to further proceed. This leaves the host Saginaw Spirit, OHL Champion, and likely Memorial Cup favorite London Knights and the WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors.
Wednesday night, the Knights were set to take on fellow OHL foe and host Saginaw Spirit. With the way things have gone you have to think we could possibly see a rematch in the Memorial Cup championship game. It’d also be a rematch of this season’s OHL Western Conference Championship series as the Knights eliminated the Spirit in six games.
At the same time and at a different level, the Surrey Eagles claimed the BCHL title and are set to take on the Alberta Division champion, Brooks Bandits. While that may be the Junior-A level, it brings a question into play with how things are for the BCHL right now. Sure, the BCHL is independent and not tied to Hockey Canada like the major junior leagues are. However, if it were ever possible, with the high level of play in the BCHL, could we possibly ever see a challenge even if exhibition between the Memorial Cup champion or at least the WHL champion and the BCHL champion.
The talent level at this point between the two levels is nearly identical. The only thing keeping them apart, aside from the governing body, is the route players go after their time in their respective circuit. Players at the Junior-A level choose that route so they can have NCAA eligibility while players at the major junior level choose that route as they’re focused on going professional.
There are talks about the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) working on a deal with the NCAA to where players would have eligibility there once their finish up their time in the CHL. Is it likely the CHL and BCHL will ever compete against each other, even in an exhibition contest? No. But it’s a fun thought to think about with how talent is these days.
In the WHL we’ve already seen another trade happen as the Portland Winterhawks look to figure out their 20-year-old situation. In a deal with the Eastern Conference’s Edmonton Oil Kings, the Winterhawks sent defenseman Josh Mori to the Oil Kings on Tuesday. In exchange, the Oil Kings sent a 2025 third round pick to Portland.
That’s the challenge with junior hockey and teams that build up a veteran core for deep playoff runs. Despite that, some teams like Portland have shown that they can be successful despite running into the overage challenge from time to time.
It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for teams like Saginaw who built up to be this year’s Memorial Cup host and Portland who built up a veteran core for a run at the title this season.
It’s an exciting time in major junior hockey and the future is bright for teams across the board.
Stephen Heisler 