2014 Memorial Cup Memories
As part of the Canadian Hockey League’s Memorial Cup Memories series between May 25 and June 21, CHL on Sportsnet talent including RJ Broadhead, Sam Cosentino, and Rob Faulds will recall some of their most memorable moments from tournaments over the last decade, and we’ll recap the highlights to help set the stage for 10 championship game rebroadcasts on CHL.ca.
The 2014 Memorial Cup was a long time coming for the Edmonton Oil Kings who claimed CHL supremacy for the first time in modern franchise history and finally reached the summit in their third straight season as a WHL power.
En route to the championship, the Oil Kings dominated in regular season action, finishing with 103 points to secure their third consecutive division title. Edmonton then turned the tide in the WHL playoffs, putting together an impressive 16-5 record that culminated with a seven-game series victory over the defending champion Portland Winterhawks, upsetting the same squad that had eliminated Edmonton in the final a year prior. It was actually the third straight championship series between the two clubs with the Oil Kings also winning in seven games back in 2012 before being eliminated in the tiebreaker game on the national stage.
This time around, the Oil Kings again played to a 1-2 round-robin showing, however it was enough to earn a semi-final opportunity where they would face the Val-d’Or Foreurs. Their first meeting was a double overtime result in favour of the QMJHL champions, and with a berth in the finals on the line, the clubs put together another classic. It lasted more than 102 minutes until Curtis Lazar ended what remains the longest game in Memorial Cup history.
The Oil Kings closed out the championship final with a decisive 6-3 victory over the OHL champion Guelph Storm who had wrapped up the round-robin portion with a perfect 3-0 showing that saw the squad outscore its opponents by an impressive 11-goal margin. Played before a London crowd, the Oil Kings secured the first major junior title for the City of Champions since 1966, and the first for a WHL club since the Spokane Chiefs back in 2008.
Phoenix Coyotes first-round draft pick Henrik Samuelsson, a hulking forward who put up a formidable 95-point season, continued his offensive wizardry in the Memorial Cup final with a five point performance and finished as the tournament’s top scorer with eight points across five outings.
Beyond Samuelsson, two other Oil Kings were presented with accolades including industrious forward Edgars Kulda who was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the tournament’s most valuable player after he recorded seven points in five games – including a three-point effort in the championship final – while Lazar, an Ottawa Senators prospect at the time, was also recognized for his sportsmanlike play with the George Parsons Trophy.
Quick Hits
Tournament Scores:
May 16 – Val’d-Or 1 vs. London 0
May 17 – Guelph 5 vs. Edmonton 2
May 18 – London 2 vs. Edmonton 5
May 19 – Guelph 6 vs. Val’d-Or 3
May 20 – Edmonton 3 vs. Val’d-Or 4 (2OT)
May 21 – London 2 vs. Guelph 7
May 23 (Semi-Final) – Edmonton 4 vs. Val’d-Or 3 (3OT)
May 25 (Final) – Edmonton 6 vs. Guelph 3
Awards:
Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (MVP) – Edgars Kulda, Edmonton
Ed Chynoweth Trophy (Leading Scorer) – Henrik Samuelsson, Edmonton
George Parsons Trophy (Most Sportsmanlike) – Curtis Lazar, Edmonton
Hap Emms Memorial Trophy (Top Goaltender) – Antoine Bibeau, Val-d’Or
All-Stars:
Forwards: Edgars Kulda (Edmonton), Kerby Rychel (Guelph), Henrik Samuelsson (Edmonton)
Defence: Cody Corbett (Edmonton), Matt Finn (Guelph)
Goaltender: Antoine Bibeau (Val-d’Or)
NHL Alumni:
Edmonton Oil Kings
G – Tristan Jarry
D – Griffin Reinhart
D – Ashton Sautner
F – Curtis Lazar
F – Henrik Samuelsson
Guelph Storm
D – Ben Harpur
F – Justin Auger
F – Tyler Bertuzzi
F – Jason Dickinson
F – Robby Fabbri
F – Scott Kosmachuk
F – Brock McGinn
F – Zack Mitchell
F – Kerby Rychel
London Knights
G – Anthony Stolarz
D – Brady Austin
D – Dakota Mermis
D – Nikita Zadorov
F – Josh Anderson
F – Max Domi
F – Christian Dvorak
F – Bo Horvat
F – Mitch Marner
F – Michael McCarron
F – Gemel Smith
F – Chris Tierney
Val-d’Or Foreurs
G – Antoine Bibeau
D – Ryan Graves
F – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
F – Julien Gauthier
F – Samuel Henley
F – Anthony Mantha
F – Anthony Richard
Relive the action between the Oil Kings and Storm on Saturday’s rebroadcast streaming live at 7 p.m. ET on CHL.ca.