Mark Guggenberger can‘t speak a lick of French. Neither can Tyler Myers. That might be a problem later this week.
For the fourth time in seven years, the Kelowna Rockets will play in the Memorial Cup, with this year‘s edition taking place in Quebec. On Saturday night, the Rockets booked their eastbound ticket by defeating the Calgary Hitmen 3-2, in overtime, in Game 6 of the Western Hockey League championship series.
With the win, Kelowna claimed the best-of-seven affair, 4-2, and will represent the WHL at the national championship tournament in Rimouski that runs May 15-24. The Rockets also earned trips to the Memorial Cup in 2003 and 2005 as league champions, and 2004 as tournament hosts. The Rockets won the 2004 event, going 4-0.
Guggenberger wasn‘t in Kelowna, or even playing in the league, when the Rockets won junior hockey‘s holy grail that year. This year, though, he was a key component in helping Kelowna knock off the WHL‘s top team. On Saturday night, he made 24 saves.
Another key player was Myers, Kelowna‘s towering 6-foot-8 defenceman who was named the WHL‘s playoff MVP.
“Can I speak any French? Not that I know of,” a smiling Guggenberger said as the Rockets celebrated on the ice after Tyson Barrie scored the game-winning goal at 8:13 of overtime. “I think I might have to go buy a (English-to-French) dictionary. But, honestly, this feels great.
“It‘s really a dream come true,” continued the 20-year-old from Minnesota. “All the teams play for this and we‘re fortunate enough to get it this year.”
Myers knows a little bit of French: Where‘s the toilet?
“That‘s what I always used to try to get out of class,” said a near-breathless Myers, who was a workhorse on Saturday night. “This is unbelievable, but we still have more games to play.”
Colin Long and Lucas Bloodoff also scored for Kelowna, which trailed 1-0 after the first period but led 2-1 after two. Bostjan Golicic, who opened Saturday‘s scoring, and Joel Broda, late in the third, replied for Calgary before a loud and standing-room only crowd of 6,383. Martin Jones turned aside 47 shots for the Hitmen, who were outplayed, especially physically, as the game wore on.
Prior to Saturday night, of the nine times the WHL championship has been played for this decade, the Ed Chynoweth Cup had only been won on home ice twice (Kootenay Ice, 2002; Medicine Hat Tigers, 2007).
“This is unbelievable . . . I‘m so proud of the kids,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. “These guys worked so hard, and a lot of people said they could never do it. They were all over our club at Christmas time, and I‘m very proud of what our guys were able to do.
“This is simply unbelievable.”
In overtime, Barrie ended the series on the power play, as he snuck in from the point and converted a back-door pass from Jamie Benn. The shot was Kelowna‘s 50th of the night on Jones. Top of Page
