Dancing With Other Leagues | Memorial Cup Round Robin Preview

THE WHL CHAMPIONS LOOK TO WIN THE MEMORIAL CUP FOR THE WEST FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2014

Photo Credit Evan Morud

To quote former Silvertip broadcaster Mike Benton - “oh, how sweet it is”! The last week has just been spent basking in the fact that the Everett Silvertips are WHL Champions for the first time in Franchise history. A dominating season where they were inarguably the best team in the league wire-to-wire from Game 1 to Game 86.

And yet - the way they dominated all season was surprising. Their top end talent was well-known, but they suffered a lot of injuries and dealt with players at World Juniors and U17s. It was their depth that really came through all year. Nolan Chastko netting the game winning shootout goal in game one, and the goal to ice it in the Championship? That was probably not on your bingo card; but the Tips had contributions from everyone this year and that depth was critical to outlasting their opponents during the playoffs.

But the beauty that comes with winning the League Title is that this is NOT the end-of-season recap article; nay, the Silvertips have at least three more games left (and hopefully more).

Instead - the Silvertips will get to play in the Memorial Cup - what is considered the hardest feat to win in all of hockey.

A quick breakdown of how the Memorial Cup works. All four teams (three league winners and the host) will play each other once in the round robin phase. The last place team after the round robin is eliminated, and the second and third place teams play a semi-final to see who faces the #1 team in the finals.

Let’s take a detailed look at Everett’s three opponents they’ll face (in order) during the Round Robin portion of the Memorial Cup. In each - I’ll give you a robust summary of: their regular season and postseason, along with information about their starting goalie, top players, and what to watch for from each team. This is by far the longest article of the season - and if you want to go into this weekends games knowing who and what to look for in each of the Tips opponents - this is handcrafted just for you:

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