Memorial Cup champions have more than just colour in common
The Canadian Hockey League has had many players of colour compete from coast-to-coast including stars who later made their mark at the next level.
Alumni like Jarome Iginla (Kamloops Blazers), Kevin Weekes (Ottawa 67’s), and Donald Brashear (Verdun College-Francais) are among the former NHL greats that helped carry the torch into the new millennium for today’s stars like Anthony Duclair (Quebec Remparts), P.K Subban (Belleville Bulls), and Seth Jones (Portland Winterhawks) who will soon welcome the next wave like World Junior gold medalists Quinton Byfield (Sudbury Wolves) and Akil Thomas (Peterborough Petes).
In celebration of Black History Month here’s a closer look at a small collection of CHL champions of colour representing all three leagues whose Memorial Cup titles were captured in three different decades – coincidentally in 10-year increments from 1997 to 2007 and 2017 – all on home ice.
1997 – Hull Olympiques – Peter Worrell
Worrell played three seasons for the Olympiques where he won two QMJHL titles in 1995 and in 1997. The latter led to a Memorial Cup championship win on home ice with coach Claude Julien and franchise greats like Pavel Rosa and Martin Menard defeating the Lethbridge Hurricanes by a 5-1 score. Worrell’s QMJHL career totaled 181 regular season games where he produced 131 points and an astounding 1,202 penalty minutes. The Pierrefonds, Quebec, native was a seventh round pick by the Florida Panthers in the 1995 NHL Draft and would play in 391 NHL games before retiring following his 2003-04 season with the Colorado Avalanche.
2007 – Vancouver Giants – Evander Kane & Kenndal McArdle
A year after winning the 2006 WHL title, the Giants suffered a heartbreaking double overtime loss in Game 7 of the 2007 final against the Medicine Hat Tigers that would deny them back-to-back Ed Chynoweth Cup victories. They would get a shot of redemption on home ice with the Memorial Cup on the line delivering a 3-1 win over the Tigers to win their first national championship with a team that included legendary coach Don Hay and MVP Milan Lucic. At the time, Kane was just a 15-year-old call up who played five playoff games and twice in the tournament before his two full seasons with the Giants where he amassed 138 points in 134 games and was a fourth overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. He made the immediate jump to the next level suiting up for the Atlanta Thrashers and later the Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, and now San Jose Sharks where he recently eclipsed 700 games and could challenge for 500 career points next season. McArdle joined the Giants midway through his fourth and final WHL season after playing for the Moose Jaw Warriors. The first round pick in the 2005 NHL Draft collected 203 points in 261 career WHL games before a seven year professional career that included 42 NHL games over four seasons.
2017 – Windsor Spitfires – Jeremiah Addison, Jalen Chatfield, Cole Purboo
The Spitfires pulled off the improbable championship story in 2017 on home ice skating to a 4-0 record in tournament competition despite an early first round playoff exit and over 40 days off between games. The Rocky Thompson led crew backed by hometown hero Michael DiPietro between-the-pipes and prize NHL Draft prospect Gabriel Vilardi up front beat the OHL champion Erie Otters, twice, in round robin play and in the final to earn the franchise’s third national banner in nine years. Addison elevated his game under the spotlight scoring a hat-trick in the first encounter with the Otters capping a five-year career that included 309 OHL games and 179 points. He served as co-captain alongside Chatfield who played three seasons in Windsor collecting 86 points in 189 games and helped anchor a strong defensive unit with the likes of Mikhail Sergachev and Logan Stanley. Purboo, a rookie at the time, is now finishing his fourth career season with the Spitfires where he’s only missed three games and just produced his third straight 20 goal campaign. Addison is now attending St. Francis Xavier University and playing for the X-Men after a brief pro stint, while Chatfield is in the midst of his third pro season with the Utica Comets who are the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.
Iginla also won a Memorial Cup on home ice with the 1995 Blazers, followed, concidentally, 10 years later by goaltender Gerald Coleman of the London Knights.