Kelowna faces Brandon in WHL Championship
Monday May 4, 2015
The Kelowna Rockets and the Brandon Wheat Kings have been on a collision course all year long, and now they’ll settle the season long debate of who is the best in the West in the WHL Championship for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
The Rockets capped off a 4-2 series victory over Portland with a come from behind 8-4 victory on Sunday to be named Western Conference Champions. The Rockets keep the Winterhawks out of the WHL Finals for the first time in four years while advancing to their first Championship Series since 2009.
Rockets forwards Leon Draisaitl, Tyson Baillie and draft eligible centreman Nick Merkley have powered the offense in the postseason while blueliner Madison Bowey has seven goals, nine assists and 16 points in 15 games from the back end.
The Rockets got past the Tri-City Americans in four games and the Victoria Royals in a five game series before their recent elimination of Portland.
Kelowna will be tasked with facing the Brandon Wheat Kings who won the Scotty Munro Trophy as the WHL’s best team during the regular season with a record of 53-11-4-4.
The Wheat Kings defeated the Calgary Hitmen in five games to be crowned Eastern Conference Champions after also taking five game series victories over the reigning WHL Champion Edmonton Oil Kings and the Regina Pats.
New Jersey Devils prospect John Quenneville leads Brandon in playoff scoring with 10 goals, nine assists and 19 points in 15 games. He’s followed closely by Florida Panthers draftee Jayce Hawryluk who has 18 points in 12 contests.
The Wheat Kings boast a strong blueline, one that includes overage veteran Eric Roy patrolling the back end with draft eligible prospects Ivan Provorov and Ryan Pilon who both competed in the 2015 BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in January.
Nineteen year-old goaltender Jordan Papirny leads all WHL goaltenders with a 2.17 goals against-average and a .932 save percentage in 15 playoff contests.
Brandon makes their first trip to the WHL Finals since 2005, a series they lost in five games to these same Kelowna Rockets who featured current day NHL talent in defenceman Shea Weber and winger Blake Comeau.
The ‘Wheaties’ made their most recent MasterCard Memorial Cup appearance in 2010 when the city of Brandon hosted the national championship as the hometown team lost in the Finals to Taylor Hall and the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.
The winner of the WHL Championship will compete in the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup that gets underway on May 21 in Quebec City, QC.