Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663
Who will join the Wheat Kings at the Mem Cup?
4/26/2010 at 12:58 PM
With the Wheat Kings now out of the WHL playoffs, they're forced to sit and wait while the WHL, OHL and QMJHL representatives at the Memorial Cup are determined.
In the WHL, the Tri-City Americans finished off the Vanouver Giants to set up a Tri City-Calgary final. As the front page eBrandon poll would indicate, Wheat King fans are likely to have mixed feelings on which of these teams they'd rather see. On one hand, Tri-City lists a whopping TEN Manitoba-born players on their roster which could make for an interesting dynamic at Westman Place when they play their games. On the other hand, I'm sure the Wheat Kings would like another crack at the Calgary Hitmen.
In the OHL, the firepower-laden Windsor Spitfires fought back from 3-0 series deficit to earn a birth in the OHL finals opposite the Barrie Colts. The defending Memorial Cup champion Spitfires are loaded with four players from Canada's World Junior team and another from the USA. The Colts are no slouches themselves, featuring World Jr players Stefan Della Rovere and Alex Pietrangelo. I expect this series to be an all-out battle, the winner of which will have to be considered one of the favourites in Brandon in May. The Wheat Kings will open up the Memorial Cup on Friday, May 14th against the winner of this series.
In the QMJHL, Moncton is waiting for the conclusion of the Victoriaville-St. John series to find out who they'll play in the league final. I don't know a whole lot about the Q teams, but the most familiar player on Moncton to Western Manitobans is likely World Junior forward Gabriel Bourque. They also have a young defenceman by the name of Brandon Gormley that you'll hear more from in the coming years. Gormley was the only 17 year old defenceman at Canada's World Jr evaluation camp. The 6th seeded Victoriaville were not expected to get this far. They've been led in the playoffs by 19 year old forward Philip-Michael Devos. Top-seeded St. John have been led in the playoffs by forward Michael Kirkpatrick.
If you had the choice, which teams would like like to see round out the Memorial Cup? Which teams realistically do you think we'll see?