The Edmonton Oil Kings won the WHL championship last night over Portland in a game 7. This series is far more interesting than a boxscore would lead you to believe. Let me explain.
Junior league hockey isn't exactly designed to see a franchise become a dynasty. It's basically high school to junior college aged players who leave after 4-5 seasons for either professional hockey or college. Like the NHL, junior league teams hold a draft each season giving the worst teams the highest picks. Players can also be acquired through trades which is a common way for the better teams to consistently stay good. Portland and Edmonton deserve a whole new level of respect.
This finals appearance was the 4th straight for Portland. As a four year player for Portland you could have spent your entire junior league career playing every season in the finals. That's unlikely to occur again. Or this as well. This was the third straight year that Portland played Edmonton in the finals. Some things are hard to explain. Two very good teams with a lot of promising future professionals.
As I did with the OHL winners I will post the final stats for Edmonton with some notes. However there is no way I can go without mentioning at least a few things about Portland. They had the top five leading scorers in the playoffs. They had two of the better defensive prospects coming out of junior hockey who were both top ten NHL picks in Matthew Dumba (Minnesota) and Derrick Pouliot (Pittsburgh). Both are sure fire NHL solid players. Nic Petan (Winnipeg) finished second in the league in scoring. And there are many others who could have an NHL career.
Now the winners.
REGULAR SEASON
PLAYOFFS
We can start at the top. I enjoy the Samuelsson clan a lot more than I did papa Ulf. Henrik is a first round pick of Phoenix. You always have my attention when you can put up over 90 points and 90 penalty minutes. And 51 more in the playoffs. Dang. He has size at 6'3 and skill to become a very solid forward in the NHL. I'm very interested to see how his career plays out.
We move down a spot to Curtis Lazar who put up 41 goals in 58 games. Like Samuelsson he was a first round pick in the draft going to Ottawa and is currently ranked as their best prospect. Lazar should have no issues finding his way to the NHL whether it is next season or in a few years should he come back next season to the WHL.
Drop down to the third leading scorer to find Mitchell Moroz. Moroz is an interesting player and one I find within reason to put on the list. That's because this 32nd overall pick was taken by the Edmonton Oilers. Whether his offensive abilities can translate into the pro environment is yet to be seen. He had more goals this season than all his other seasons combined. But what he does have is a size and toughness the Oilers have been lacking with many of their forwards. He easily lead the team in penalty minutes and is never afraid of body contact. If he can continue to work on his offense he might look good alongside the other young stars. He is currently rated the Oilers 4th best prospect.
Last but not least we jump down to the captain. The Reinhart's just might become the next impressive hockey family. Griffin is the second of the group. His numbers won't jump out at you but his play will. He was taken 4th overall by the Islanders and is considered one of the best prospects in hockey. He also has the size at 6'4 to fit quickly into an NHL position should the Islanders decide to take that route. Otherwise he looks to kick off his career next season in the AHL.
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