Memorial Cup Top Scorers: Steel, Draisaitl, Benn headline WHL winners of Ed Chynoweth Trophy

The 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Dow is scheduled for Thursday, May 23 through Sunday, June 2 in Saginaw, Mich. Hosted by the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, the 2024 Memorial Cup will feature the WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors, OHL Champion London Knights, and QMJHL Champion Drummondville Voltigeurs.

In the lead up to the 2024 Memorial Cup, we’re taking a look back through tournament history to highlight key performances and events with prominent WHL connections.

---

Since 1996, the Canadian Hockey League has presented the Ed Chynoweth Trophy to the leading scorer of the Memorial Cup. Chynoweth was the longtime President and Commissioner of the Western Hockey League, as well as a key founder of the CHL. He served as CHL President from 1975 through 1996 and was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders’ category as recognition for his role as an architect for major junior hockey in Canada.

No player has won the Ed Chynoweth Trophy twice, but a number of prominent WHL alumni have etched their names into the Memorial Cup history books with their scoring prowess.

When the Regina Pats hosted the centennial edition of the Memorial Cup in 2018, it was captain Sam Steel who enjoyed a record-worthy tournament, tallying 13 points (2G-11A) in five games.

Steel, a product of Sherwood Park, Alta., and a former first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, tied a Memorial Cup record for assists in a single game when he registered five helpers in a 6-5 win over the Swift Current Broncos on May 23, 2018. Steel and the Pats advanced to the final game of the Memorial Cup before falling to the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan by a 3-0 score.

The 2018 Memorial Cup marked the final junior games of Steel’s decorated WHL career as he graduated to the NHL with the Ducks the following season. Over four WHL seasons, the 5-foot-11, 183-pound centre man earned the Bobby Clarke Trophy as WHL Top Scorer as well as the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Year (2016-17).

In 2015, German product Leon Draisaitl was the talk of the hockey world. After starting the 2014-15 campaign with the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl was assigned to the WHL where he was traded from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Kelowna Rockets prior to the 2015 WHL Trade Deadline. From there, the native of Cologne went on to lead the Memorial Cup in scoring, registering seven points (4G-3A) in five games as the Rockets came up short, losing in overtime to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals.

Draisaitl’s success in the WHL and at the Memorial Cup helped launch him to NHL stardom with the Oilers. Since 2015, Draisaitl has won numerous NHL awards including the Art Ross Trophy (Top Scorer), Hart Trophy (MVP), and Ted Lindsay Award (MVP as voted by the NHLPA).

The 2014 Memorial Cup marked a special win for the Edmonton Oil Kings, led by power forward Henrik Samuelsson.

Collecting eight points in five games, the product of Pittsburgh, Penn., was quick to remember his friend Kristians Pelss, a popular teammate who had tragically passed away as a result of a diving accident in Latvia in June 2013.

Samuelsson was a force during the Memorial Cup Final, posting five points (2G-3A) in a 6-3 win over the OHL’s Guelph Storm.

The 2009 Memorial Cup scoring title belongs to former Kelowna Rockets star Jamie Benn.

A late bloomer whose junior hockey stint began in Junior B, Benn was in his second season in the WHL when he guided the Rockets to a WHL Championship and Memorial Cup berth.

The product of Victoria, B.C., led the Memorial Cup tournament in scoring with nine points but the Rockets came up short, falling to the Windsor Spitfires in the final game.

Benn’s WHL career and Memorial Cup experience helped mould him into an NHL force. He led the NHL in scoring during the 2014-15 season, winning the Art Ross Trophy, and followed up by earning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2015-16. He also helped Canada win an Olympic gold medal in 2014.

CHL Ed Chynoweth Trophy Winners from the WHL
2023 – Logan Stankoven, Kamloops Blazers (4 GP, 2-7–9 points)
2018 – Sam Steel, Regina Pats (5 GP, 2-11–13 points)
2015 – Leon Draisaitl, Kelowna Rockets (5 GP, 4-3–7 points)
2014 – Henrik Samuelsson, Edmonton Oil Kings (5 GP, 4-4–8 points)
2009 – Jamie Benn, Kelowna Rockets (4 GP, 5-4–9 points)
2007 – Michal Repik, Vancouver Giants (5 GP, 3-4–7 points)
2006 – Gilbert Brule, Vancouver Giants (5 GP, 6-6–12 points)
1998 – Andrej Podkonicky, Portland Winterhawks (4 GP, 7-4–11 points)