Royal Bank Cup Quest Intensifies:

This was in the BC Hockey Now Magazine:

Royal Bank Cup Quest Intensifies

Thursday, April 14, 2011

By Mark Janzen

In this year’s rendition of the Canadian Junior Hockey League playoffs, life has been awfully short for the minnows.

In 2010/11, the big fish are doing all the chomping and, in doing so, it’s becoming quite clear there will be no free spaces on this year’s bingo card at the RBC Cup in Camrose, Alta.

Across the 10 leagues in Canada, the Cinderella story has been all but non-existent. While the LHJAAAQ’s Valleyfield Braves and the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks made lengthy playoff runs from positions of relative underdogs, their hopes for a league title were dashed as they each lost in their respective league finals in five games.

But for Junior A hockey fans, while upsets can certainly provide a latitude for extra intrigue, the way things have shaped up thus far, it looks like the rest of this year’s playoffs will be a best on best beauty.

In the BCHL, the Vernon Vipers knocked off the Powell River Kings in the championship final for the second year in a row and now is one Doyle Cup victory away from returning to the RBC Cup for a chance to go for the three-peat. Led by Dylan Walchuk and Patrick McGillis offensively, with 15 and 14 points respectively, and goalie Kirby Halcrow the Vipers sent the Kings packing in four straight.

In Alberta, the Spruce Grove Saints were simply cut above the rest. In the regular season, the Saints lost only 10 games total and in the playoffs they lost only one. The Saints sunk the Camrose Kodiaks in five games in the final and will now take on Vernon for the right to represent the Pacific a the RBC Cup. Goalie Vincenzo Marozzi helped lead the Saints between the pipes as he posted a 1.46 GAA in the playoffs, which is the second lowest in AJHL playoff history. In 2006, Camrose’s David Thompson had a 1.23 GAA.

In the SJHL, La Ronge and Yorkton went the distance in the final with Games 3, 4, 5 and 6 all ending with 4-3 scores. La Ronge, which represented the West in last year’s RBC Cup for the first time ever were looking to duplicate that feat after what was a dominant regular season in which they had a league best record of 42-14-0-2.

In Manitoba, the Portage Terriers were the best team in the regular season and then just rolled that momentum right through the MJHL playoffs. After losing the first game to Selkirk in the final, the Terriers won the next four, outscoring the Steelers 16-6, and will face either Yorkton or La Ronge for a berth in the RBC Cup, something they haven’t earned since 2005.

Like so many of this year’s playoffs, the SIJHL’s top team in the regular season, the Wisconsin Wilderness, playing in its first season as a full member of the SIJHL, was far and away the top team in the playoffs. Wisconsin only lost two games en route to the league title, which included a sweep of Dryden in the final. Austin Adduono led the Wilderness with 16 points in 12 games.

In the NOJHL, the Soo Eagles got a bit of a scare from Sudbury when the Wolves won Games 3 and 4 to tie the series 2-2 but after that Soo won the next two games by a combined 10-1 to win the series 4-2.

In the OJHL, the Wellington Dukes had a 3-1 series lead and, after an 81 poitn regular season – second best in the OJHL – were one win away from a league championship. Wellington’s Sean Rudy and Joe Zarbo had 25 and 26 points respectively in 19 games to lead the Dukes.

The two best teams in the regular season, Pembroke and Cornwall, did exactly what was expected in getting to the CCHL final. Through the first four games of the final, it was tied 2-2 as both teams maintained serve by winning their home games.

In Quebec, Valleyfield’s upstart playoff run ended in the final when they met College Francais Longueuil and were dispatched in five games. After losing the first game 5-3, Longueuil won the next four as Maxime Charette and Yannick Geoffrey continued to lead the way, finishing the league playoffs with 34 and 32 points respectively.

In the MHL, after the Summerside Western Capitals beat Woodstock in a seven game league semifinal series, the road to the Maritime title seemingly got easier. Summerside beat the Weeks Crushers in four straight and did so by outscoring them 24-12.