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Braeden Cootes’ season wrapped up Friday night.
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Everett has made the playoffs every season since they joined the WHL in 2003-04, but this is their first league championship. They advanced to the league finals in their expansion campaign and then again in 2017-18
They’ll join the host Kelowna Rockets, the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers and either the Moncton Wildcats or the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the four-team Memorial Cup national tournament starting May 22 in Kelowna. Chicoutimi carries a 3-2 series lead on Moncton in the QMJHL finals into a Game 6 Sunday in Chicoutimi.
Everett (57-8-2-1) had the WHL’s best regular season record. They went 16-2 in the playoffs. Prince Albert (52-10-5-1) had the WHL’s second-best regular season mark this season.
Cootes was first star of Game 1 of the finals in Everett after recording a goal and an assist in a 4-2 Prince Albert win. The Silvertips took the next four games of the set, including the final three in Prince Albert. The Raiders were 7-4 at home in the playoffs overall and after going 26-4-3-1 there during the regular season.
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Braeden Cootes poses with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks with the 15th overall pick during the first round of the NHL Draft in Los Angeles. Photo by Bruce Bennett /Getty Images
Cootes, 19, a right-shot centre who was the Canucks’ first-round pick (No. 15 overall) in last summer’s NHL Draft, had an assist Friday and finished the playoffs with seven goals and 23 points in 20 games. Prince Albert acquired him from the Seattle Thunderbirds at January trade deadline in a blockbuster.
He had 24 goals and 63 points in 45 regular season games split between Seattle and Prince Albert.
It’s been a long and winding season for Cootes. He made Vancouver out of training camp — becoming the first 18-year-old to stick with the club since Petr Nedved in 1990-91 — and played three games before being reassigned to Seattle. He left the Thunderbirds in December to play with the Canadian world junior team in Minnesota, and was traded to Prince Albert upon his return.
The Canucks will have two prospects in the Memorial Cup in Kitchener winger Gabriel Chiarot (2025 sixth rounder) and Kelowna defenceman Parker Alcos (2024 sixth rounder).
Kelowna has been idle since April 17, when the lost in the second round to Everett in five games. The Rockets (38-21-6-3) had the league’s seventh-best record in the regular season. They’re looking to become the third host team to win the Memorial Cup in the past five years.
The WHL hasn’t won a Memorial Cup since the Edmonton Oil Kings took the title in 2014. Kelowna won as hosts in 2004.
@SteveEwen
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