The 2022-23 Seattle Thunderbirds may have come one win shy of their ultimate goal, but make no mistake, this is the best team in franchise history, the gold standard by which all other T-Birds teams will be measured. They set records, both individually and as a team. They got further than any previous team in club annals.
No disrespect, but the Memorial Cup can be a huge buzz kill if you get there but don't win it. No team that wins it's league championship should be made to feel like failures by not winning that storied trophy. The Thunderbirds are WHL Champions, the Peterborough Petes are OHL Champions. Losing at the Memorial Cup unnecessarily rubs too much of the luster off of that accomplishment for both teams.
Opinions on this will vary but the Memorial Cup isn't the hardest trophy to win in Junior hockey. It might in fact, be the easiest. It takes sixteen wins over the course of two months of gruelling playoffs, with lots of travel, to win the Chynoweth Cup. You have to beat four very good opponents four times. It can take as few as three wins over ten days while playing at the same venue to win the Memorial Cup. You could lose to a team 5-0 in the round robin and then beat them 2-1 in overtime in the final and be a Memorial Cup winner. You can win three games and win the tournament. You can win three games and lose the tournament.
The Memorial Cup is prestigious. It has over one hundred years of history, but to me the Memorial Cup tournament is more of a celebration than a coronation. It's a ten day hockey festival with concerts and other events around the games. It's a chance to gather with fans of the three CHL leagues and share your common interest. It's a way to honor three CHL champions while showcasing a CHL city. Do you want to win it? Of course you do. But not winning it shouldn't be a gut punch.
Does this seem like sour grapes because the Thunderbirds came up short of hoisting that trophy? Maybe it does. But I've now been to two Memorial Cups, attending or watching every game, and I've never felt like it's a playoff to determine a CHL Champion. It just doesn't have the same intensity as a best of seven playoff series. It just feels more like a reward for winning your league title. Like, "Hey, you just won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, what are you going to do next?" And you respond, "I'm going to Kamloops!" or "I'm going to Saginaw to meet up with a couple of thousand friends!"
Having said all that, I still want the Thunderbirds to win the damn thing!
I saw a Thunderbirds fan tweet out that Jared Davidson should be remembered as an all-time T-Birds great. A lot of times we say things in the moment, then we give it some time to offer a better analysis and reassess our original thought.
Here's what I think. After the game Sunday against Quebec, Davidson sat for the longest time outside the T-Birds room. His ankle was heavily taped. he had suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in the WHL playoffs. He literally played most of the postseason on one good leg.
Eventually he went inside the room and showered. When he came back out he grabbed his jersey and pulled it back on. He got on the bus and rode the six hours back to the accesso ShoWare Center with that #29 jersey on his back. When he left the rink in the wee hours of Monday morning, he was still wearing it. He just didn't want to take it off, knowing that when he did, it would be for the last time.
Being a Thunderbird meant something to him. It was five years of his life. He was an undrafted training camp invite who got better and better with each passing season, even the two shortened Covid years. He lost at least 50 games due to the pandemic. His career numbers would be so much more if not for that. But it isn't just the goals and the assists, it was the face off wins, the penalty kills. It was the puck battles won. It was the leadership and the dedication.
When you talk about all-time greats in franchise history, you start with the Marleau's, the Barzal's and the Goodall's, but there is definitely room on that list for Jared Davidson.
The Thunderbirds will say goodbye to, at a minimum, eight players from this record-setting roster. They'll also say goodbye to their Director of Player Personnel. Cal Filson has basically been the Thunderbids top scout for the past decade. His fingerprints are all over the rosters of Seattle's two WHL Championship teams. In late May he accepted a position as a scout with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.
What I appreciate about Cal is his enthusiasm for his job. He loves to talk about the young players he helped bring into the organization. He's honest in his assessment but he'll be their number one booster. We'll continue to cross paths but he will be sorely missed. I hope he gives the Blackhawks a good scouting report on that Bedard kid!
No comments:
Post a Comment