2023 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien begins Friday in Winnipeg

Winnipeg, Man. – The 2023 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien begins Friday, May 12 in Winnipeg, featuring the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy winners and WHL Eastern Conference Champion Winnipeg ICE and, for the second consecutive year, the WHL Western Conference Champion Seattle Thunderbirds.

The 2023 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien opens Friday Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, thanks to True North Sports + Entertainment. The ICE will host Games 1 and 2 of the 54th WHL Championship, before the series shifts across the border to the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., for Games 3, 4 and 5. If necessary, the WHL Championship Series will conclude with Games 6 and 7 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

The ICE and Thunderbirds will challenge for a berth into the 103rd edition of the Memorial Cup presented by Kia, scheduled for May 26 to June 4 in Kamloops, B.C.

Games 1 and 2 of the WHL Championship Series will be available exclusively on WHL Live on CHL TV. Beginning with Game 3 and carrying through Game 7, TSN will provide national broadcast coverage of the WHL Championship Series.

The 2023 WHL Championship Series is presented by the WHL’s newest partner, Nutrien.

Nutrien and the WHL represent a natural fit, with Nutrien’s global headquarters located in Saskatoon, Sask., and other corporate offices in Calgary, Alta., and Regina, Sask., along with Nutrien’s extensive retail branches and Nitrogen and Potash operations found throughout Western Canadian provinces and the Pacific Northwest United States. Like the WHL, Nutrien strives to be a meaningful partner in the communities where its employees live and work.

This marks the first time in WHL history the Winnipeg ICE and Seattle Thunderbirds will meet in the WHL Championship Series.

The ICE last appeared in the WHL Championship Series in 2011, defeating the Portland Winterhawks to claim the franchise’s third WHL Championship (2011, 2002, 2000).

Seattle advanced to Game 6 of the 2022 WHL Championship Series, falling to the Edmonton Oil Kings. In 2017, the Thunderbirds won the WHL Championship Series for the first time in franchise history. Ths came one year after suffering defeat at the hands of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2016 WHL Championship Series.

2023 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien – Game Schedule

* = if necessary

The 2023 WHL Championship Series presented by Nutrien will begin Friday, May 12 at 7 p.m. CT as the Winnipeg ICE host the Seattle Thunderbirds. The winner of the best-of-seven series will advance to the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia in Kamloops, B.C., which is scheduled for Friday, May 26 through Sunday, June 4.

Games 1 and 2 of the WHL Championship Series are available exclusively on WHL Live on CHL TV. Games 3 through 7 of the WHL Championship Series will be broadcast nationally by TSN. Check local listings for up-to-date television schedules.