Ron Valentine is profiling the 10 teams that will compete for the Centennial Cup in Oakville from May 9-19.
BY RON VALENTINE
The first team to qualify – aside from the host Oakville Blades – for the Centennial Cup national Jr. A Championship was the CALGARY CANUCKS from the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The Canucks will play their first game at the tournament on Day 1, May 9, against the champs from the OJHL, either the Collingwood Blues or the Trenton Golden Hawks.
Calgary Coach Brad Moran is happy to be on the way to the Cup: ” We had a great playoffs with all the players contributing. We were firing on all cylinders for sure with different players stepping up each game. The standings were tight in the regular season (a difference of four wins between the top four clubs) and we split our games with the first-place finishers, the Whitecourt Wolverines, so we liked our chances in the playoffs.”
“The rest between now and the start of the finals will allow us to work on where we need to improve as well as to keep up our physical conditioning. We are relatively healthy so we will continue our workouts and concentrate on being ready.”
The Canucks are well aware of the larger dimensions of the main rink at Sixteen Miles Sports Sports Complex in Oakville, the coach confirmed.
“We are a puck-moving team, strong in possession, we have the ability to create turnovers but we are always continuing to learn. The players will be ready, we are used to a larger rink but we will be getting in some practices on Olympic-sized surfaces in the area. It’s a different game on the big ice with understanding pressure points, where to be on power plays etc.”
The Canucks play at the 2,000-seat Ken Bracko arena in the Max Bell Centre in the Radisson Heights area of Calgary.
During their 57-game regular season in the 11-team Canalta Seeds AJHL, the Canucks ended up in third spot with 65 points, one behind the Lloydminster Bobcats and eight below the first place finishers, the Whitecourt Wolverines. The club posted 31 wins, 23 losses, one overtime and two shootout losses. Of those 31 victories four came in overtime and four more in the shootout. Their power play success rate was a middle of the pack 17.7% but they ranked second in penalty killing at 83.2%. The club ranked third-highest in penalty minutes with 1,165 and had a 20 win, 7 losses record in their home rink.
In the Inter Pipeline playoffs first round, the Canucks beat the Grand Prairie Storm in six games taking the final contest 5-4 in overtime on a goal from blueliner EASTON HEWSON. Round 2 saw the Canucks top the Drumheller Dragons 4-1 winning Game 5 at home 3-2 and in round three they got past the Wolverines in four straight with GAVIN GARLAND getting the winner midway through the third period. They outscored the opposition 58-39 while playing .800 hockey. Their PP improved to 25.5% while they were 86.2% on the PK.
In the regular season, team captain BOWDEN SINGLETON, a member of the 2022 AJHL all-rookie team, led the way with 67 points including a team-leading 46 assists. The leading goalscorer was TY HIPKIN with 25.
In net, former OJHLer (Mississauga Chargers and Collingwood Blues) JULIAN MOLINARO made 45 appearances, ending with a 2.60 goals against average and a save percentage of .916. The Mississauga resident posted six shutouts. Molinaro, who was at the 2023 Centennial Cup with Collingwood, committed to NCAA Division I Northern Michigan Friday.
In the playoffs, Hipkin and Garland finished with 18 points, 9 goals and 9 assists. JULIAN GERVAIS ended the post season with 17 and Singleton had 15 points. Top-scoring defenceman was CHRIS KOBELKA with 1 goal and 12 points. Molinaro had a 2.56 GAA. The Canucks were victorious in 12 of their 15 games played.
The other Ontario-born player on the squad is Gervais from Windsor, who made eight appearances in last season’s playoffs for the Trenton Golden Hawks following a callup from the Jr. B Chatham Maroons. His younger brother Sebastien plays for the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.
It is a relatively young club with just six 2003-born players on the roster.
MORAN started with the Canucks in the 2018-19 as assistant coach and was promoted in November of that season to head coach, adding the general manager title the following season. Brad played junior hockey for the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen starting in 1995, where he was captain in his fifth and final season. Brad played in the NHL for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks as well as over 550 games for the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch, Manitoba Moose and Oklahoma Barons followed by stints in Sweden, Finland, Austria before ending his professional playing career in Nottingham, England where he captained the Panthers in 2016-17. Assistant coaches are Mike Glawson and Mat Robinson.
“We have a good bunch of character guys and several leaders, like Hipkin, Gervais, Garland, Gervais, Hewson and our captain, Singleton,” Moran told the OJHL. “These players are game breakers. It was great to see our goalie Molinaro get the commitment. He came here with the right attitude in his last year and has just run with it. Everyone is eager to show what they can do on the national stage.”
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