'It still doesn't feel real': Kitchener completes dominant run with Memorial Cup championship
KELOWNA, BC – It really started to sink in when Christian Humphreys scored into the empty net with 1:37 remaining, giving the Kitchener Rangers a 6-2 lead in the Memorial Cup Championship game.
“When we scored the empty-netter,” Rangers coach Jussi Ahokas said. “That’s when you knew that we’re gonna win this.”
“That’s when you kind of start to let yourself believe and you start to feel it,” Rangers goalie Christian Kirsch said. “It still doesn’t feel real, but whatever this feeling is, that’s when it started.”
For Kitchener general manager Mike McKenzie, it was the Rangers’ goal song that told him he could exhale.
“I actually missed it. I was in the bathroom because I couldn’t go during the intermission because of how long the line was,” McKenzie said. “So with like three minutes left (in the game), I ran to the bathroom, and while I was in there I heard a goal was scored, and then I heard our goal song, and I knew we were going to win.”
While members of the Rangers didn’t take anything for granted, Sunday's victory against the Everett Silvertips felt more like a coronation for a team that’s dominated the past two months than a hockey game.
Kitchener went 20-2 in the postseason between the OHL Playoffs and Memorial Cup, ending the season with a 10-game winning streak. In the Memorial Cup, the Rangers outscored opponents 20-6 and never trailed, becoming the first team to go a perfect 4-0 in the Memorial Cup since the 2017 Windsor Spitfires.
In fact, while there was still a third period to go, when Kitchener scored to make it 3-1with 4:34 remaining in the second period, a wrister by Jared Woolley, it felt like a foregone conclusion the Rangers would be hoisting the Memorial Cup – no team in the CHL this season was more comfortable, or efficient, at playing with the lead than Kitchener.
It’s part of the culture the Rangers have developed these past few seasons under Ahokas, who became the first European head coach to win the Memorial Coach. Rangers hockey became defined by a rigid, smart structure defensively, with a green light for creativity once the puck enters the offensive zone.
“You get to frustrate teams. I think that’s part of the game, and then when you create, when they make a mistake, it kind of adds to it,” Rangers defenceman and captain Cameron Reid said before the championship game. “As a team, I think we’ve always built on that.”
With four days between games, an earned luxury of a perfect round robin, and Everett playing twice in that span, the Rangers were well prepared to frustrate the Silvertips. Everett actually attacked well through the neutral zone, but struggled to penetrate a Kitchener defence clogged lanes and was comfortable conceding outside shots against Kirsch.
“They make my life easy,” Kirsch said. “Sure, there are times that I bail them out, but they let me read and react well. It’s fun to play behind this group.”
It was a fun third period overall for Kitchener.
The Rangers pushed their lead to 5-1 with back-to-back power play goals by Jack Pridham and tournament MVP Sam O’Reilly within a span of 37 seconds, negating any potential momentum Everett could have gained when Carter Bear scored a couple of minutes later.
“The power play went out and delivered there,” Wooley said, who has now won back-to-back Memorial Cups. “That moment right there, I think, really turns it into a spot where it feels close to real.”
And then there was the final buzzer, the gloves and sticks tossed skyward, the trophy presentation to Reid, and the Gatorade bath – lemon-lime flavour – soaking Ahokas.
“Honestly, is this real?” Luke Ellinas said. “You’ve worked so hard. This team has talked about this all year, and now it happens, and I can’t really describe it.”
It is real. The Rangers have won the Memorial Cup, their third in franchise history, and first in 23 years.
And instead of the normal 15-minute celebration that Ahokas prescribes for his team, this one is going to last for a while.