Manitoba edges Alberta to win first ever WHL Cup
Manitoba 6 Alberta 5 (SO)
Call it a classic Cinderella scenario.
Pegged as an underdog heading into the WHL Cup tournament, Team Manitoba lived up to that billing with an 0-2 start to the event featuring the top 2008-born players in western Canada, the vast majority of whom were selected in this year’s WHL Prospects Draft.
Then the worm turned, as the Manitoba crew bucked the odds and rattled off three straight wins, including Sunday’s 6-5 gold medal shootout conquest of Team Alberta.
Thanks to a 53-save performance from netminder Peyton Shore, a Red Deer Rebels draft selection, and back-to-back shootout goals from Everett Silvertips pick Brek Liske, the current edition captured the first ever WHL Cup title for Manitoba.
“It feels phenomenal considering it was our first time winning this,” said Shore, the six-foot-one stopper who plays with the Rink Academy U17 prep team in his hometown of Winnipeg. “Considering where we started, the team stuck together the entire time, bent but never broke. It was awesome.”
Manitoba opened the four-team, five-day event with a 4-2 loss to Alberta, then fell 7-2 to BC. The crew from the bison province closed out round-robin play by edging Saskatchewan, then raised eyebrows with a seemingly 3-2 semifinal upset of BC.
Upset? Clearly not.
“We challenged them, we kind of rallied around each other,” said Manitoba head coach Alex Mandolidis. “We stuck with our process and the guys found a way. They bought in, they believed in each other and believed in the coaches.
“It was awesome. It’s an awesome feeling.”
Alberta struck first in the see-saw championship contest as Patrick Sopiarz (Prince George Cougars) scored just two minutes in, but Manitoba replied five minutes later when Koy Funk (Calgary Hitmen) buried a rebound.
Caelan Joudrey (Wenatchee Wild) restored Alberta’s lead at the nine-minute mark, but Carson Carels (Prince George Cougars) responded for Manitoba before the period was out, beating netminder Ryley Budd (Saskatoon Blades) during a power play.
Alberta forward Cruz Pavao (Tri-City Americans) tallied a mere 56 seconds into the second period, but Manitoba battled back with a goal from undrafted forward Aiden Jacobson at 11:28, and grabbed a 4-3 lead just under four minutes later as Carter Haney (Regina Pats) scored on a redirect.
Carels notched his second of the game early in the third period for a 5-3 Manitoba lead, but Alberta refused to give in and pulled even on goals by Jordan Duguay (Portland Winterhawks) and Sopiarz, who beat Shore with a quick release from the left circle at 16:58.
Sopiarz’s second of the afternoon forced overtime but neither team was able to cash in during the 10-minute, three-on-three session in which Alberta held an 8-4 advantage in shorts but couldn’t beat Shore, who denied Joudrey on a breakaway and then robbed Pavao seconds later.
Shore then stopped five of six Alberta shooters in the shootout — played under international rules that allow more than one attempt by the same player — leaving Liske to come through with the tying and winning markers.
“He came up huge, some point blank stops against a high powered offence, even yesterday against BC (in which Shore stopped 30 shots),” said Mandolidis. “We had depth at that position so it makes the coach look good when you can pick either one or the other. I’m very happy for him.”
Shore simply refused to allow a sixth puck to get past him in overtime.
“Obviously I was doing my best, I wanted to win at all costs,” said Shore, who has yet to sign with the Rebels but could be offered a contract in short order. “I just gave it my all and was happy that we came out on top.
“It’s kind of a storybook ending and we can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Shore attended the Rebels rookie camp in September at the Centrium and was thrilled to post the memorable win in the same facility.
“It was awesome being able to perform in this barn,” he said.
The calibre of play in the tournament was more than impressive, considering the players are one year removed from the bantam ranks.
“It’s incredible,” said Mandolidis. “They’re elite athletes. These are the guys who are going to be playing in the world juniors, in the NHL. How quick they can make adjustments, how well trained they are . . . it’s fun to work with.
“Sometimes you forget they’re only 15 because of the maturity they have and how they buy into things and how they make adjustments on the fly and are open to coaching.
“It’s a credit to them really, they’re the ones who go out and compete and execute, which makes our job a lot easier.”
The fact he was at the helm of the first Manitoba team to win the WHL Cup title didn’t escape the head coach.
“We’ve had the deck stacked against us a bit because of population, players,” said Mandolidis, the GM/head coach of the Winnipeg Blues of the MJHL. “This one is definitely going to be one to remember.
“In a tournament like this with great players and coaches, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Budd stopped 29 shots for Alberta.
Saskatchewan 6 BC 2
Dayne Beuker (Lethbridge Hurricanes) and Carson Deichert (Moose Jaw Warriors) each scored twice to lead Saskatchewan past BC in the bronze medal game earlier in the day.
Red Deer Rebels first-round draft pick Beckett Hamilton and Jonah Sivertson (Prince Albert Raiders) also tallied for the winners, who got a 26-save performance from undrafted Jackson Dunn.
Liam Ruck (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Joe Iginla (Edmonton Oil Kings) tallied for BC. Ashton Thornton, undrafted, made 29 saves in a losing cause.
(Photos by Taylor Lachance/WHL)
