The Memorial Cup is Coming Home

Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL Images

The story of the 2013-14 Edmonton Oil Kings will have a far happier ending than either the 2011-12 or the 2012-13 seasons, as the Oil Kings won the Memorial Cup today, beating Guelph 6-3.  If you remember, the 2011-12 season saw the Oil Kings win the WHL championship, but were defeated by host team and eventual winner Shawinigan in the tie-breaker game that year.  2012-13 saw the Oil Kings lose in the WHL Finals to Portland, a team that they would see in all three WHL championship years.  This year, they not only took the Ed Chynoweth Trophy back from Portland, but they overcame a rough start to the Memorial Cup tournament, a 6-2 loss to Guelph and a double-OT loss to Val D'Or sandwiched a win against host team London to beat Val D'Or in triple-OT in what is now the longest game in the tournament before avenging the earlier defeat to Guelph in a 6-3 win.

With the win, the Oil Kings will be bringing back the Memorial Cup to the WHL for the first time since Spokane did it in 2008.