And then there were four.
As the NHL playoffs enter the third round, four teams remain in the hunt for the Stanley Cup including the Edmonton Oilers who are facing the Dallas Stars in the best-of-seven Western Conference final while the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Florida Panthers in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final.
And while the Oilers are the lone Canadian team remaining after the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs were both knocked out in the second round, how about the Saskatchewan connections left in the hunt for the Cup?
Not only are they the lone Canadian team remaining, but the Edmonton Oilers have the most connections to Saskatchewan among the four teams remaining.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner, an Edmonton product, backstopped the Swift Current Broncos to a WHL championship and Memorial Cup appearance in 2018, which was in Regina.
Before becoming one of the NHL’s elite forwards, Leon Draisaitl played two seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders, which included a 104-point season in 2013-14.
And behind the bench, head coach Kris Knoblauch hails from Imperial, Sask. while assistant coach Glen Gulutzan is from Hudson Bay.
Dallas Stars
While the Dallas Stars just beat the Winnipeg Jets — who have plenty of Saskatchewan connections — there’s a forward on the Stars’ roster who is plenty familiar in these parts.
Former Regina Pats captain Sam Steel — who played for the Pats from 2013 to 2018 — is having a solid playoff run with Dallas this year.
The Sherwood Park, Alta. product — in his second season with the Stars after starting his NHL career with the Anaheim Ducks before a stint with the Minnesota Wild — had six points through the first two rounds while playing nearly 14 minutes per night.
After putting up 338 points in 258 career games with the Pats, Steel — the second overall pick in the 2013 WHL draft — ranks 10th overall among Pats all-time scorers.
The Stars also have a Regina connection on the back end as defenceman Mathew Dumba, who hasn’t played in this year’s postseason, was born in the Queen City before growing up in Calgary.
Carolina Hurricanes
While Seth Jarvis and Logan Stankoven are among the 65 players from the WHL to compete in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, there are no players on Carolina’s roster who played for a Saskatchewan-based team although depth forward Tyson Jost was once property of the Regina Pats although he never played for the team.
Behind the bench, head coach Rod Brind’Amour played for the Notre Dame Hounds under-18 AAA squad in 1986-87 before suiting up for the Junior A Hounds in 1987-88.
Florida Panthers
You’d be hard-pressed to find too many Saskatchewan connections in the Florida Panthers organization.
In fact, forward Sam Reinhart, a West Vancouver, B.C. product who played for the WHL’s Kootenay Ice, is the only player on Florida’s roster from Western Canada.
However, here’s a unique one we had to dig for. Florida’s assistant video coach John Congemi’s dad, also John Congemi, was a quarterback in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts (1987-90), Ottawa Rough Riders (1991) before going back to the Argonauts in 1992.
In 1993, according to the May 26th edition of the Miami Herald, Congemi was reportedly “close to leaving” the Arena Football League’s Miami Hooters to join the Saskatchewan Roughriders, with Congemi receiving a roster exemption to remain property of the Hooters.
Congemi never played a game with the Green and White that season, but he did return to the CFL in 1994 with the Baltimore Stallions.
In the American Hockey League, eight teams remained in the hunt for the Calder Cup entering this week with a few Saskatchewan connections.
Shaunovan, Sask. product Kole Lind and the Texas Stars are still in contention as they are facing the Milwaukee Admirals featuring Yorkton native Turner Ottenbreit and former Prince Albert Raiders forward Ozzy Weisblatt. The Admirals’ roster also features forward Joakim Kemell, who was once property of the Regina Pats after being the team’s first-round CHL import draft pick in 2021.
Defenceman Kale Clague, who played part of the 2017-18 season with the Moose Jaw Warriors, is still in the mix with the Rochester Americans as they take on the Laval Rocket while the former Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Jett Woo and former Saskatoon Blades forward Chase Wouters and the Abbotsford Canucks take on the Colorado Eagles.
And in the fourth series, the Hershey Bears, featuring Ochapowace Nation product Ethan Bear and head coach Todd Nelson, who hails from Prince Albert, are taking on the Charlotte Checkers.
In the East Coast Hockey League, four teams remain in the Kelly Cup playoffs.
In the Eastern Conference final, the Trois-Rivières Lions feature a couple of Saskatchewan connections as former Regina Pats captain Logan Nijhoff and St. Brieux. Sask. product Cory Thomas, who played for the SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers, are going up against the Florida Everblades with former Swift Current Broncos forward Andrew Fyten.
In the Western Conference final, the Kansas City Mavericks, featuring Yorkton product Jackson Berezowski and former Saskatoon Blades defenceman Charlie Wright, are facing the Toledo Walleye, who don’t appear to have any Saskatchewan connections.
The Medicine Hat Tigers are Western Hockey League champions.
And while there are no Saskatchewan-born players on the roster, Medicine Hat’s head coach Willie Desjardins hails from Climax, Sask.
Desjardins — who became the third winningest coach in WHL playoff history with 84 wins this year — guided the Tigers to a 16-2 playoff run capped off by a 4-2 victory in Game 5 of the WHL championship over the Spokane Chiefs to give Medicine Hat its first title since 2007.
The Tigers will now represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup from May 23 to June 1 in Rimouski, Que. Against the host Rimouski Oceanic, the Quebec-Maritimes champion Moncton Wildcats and the Ontario Champion London Knights.
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