Kitchener Rangers gonna be tuff to beat

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

1 Kitchener Rangers 40 32 5 1 2 67 0.838 191 105 0-1-0-0 9-1-0-0 815

Whoever comes out of the WHL will have a really hard time to win the Memorial Cup. Kitchener is host so they get an automatic advantage plus they are Dam good. They also just acquired Steve Mason (MVP World under 20's) so they are now even better. Makes you think the WHL championship will have to be pretty special for the team that wins it because from thereon it looks bleak.

[dondo]

sad thing is... is that they have a red-hot rookie who has a 22-2-1 record and they got Mason (why? - what was the point?) --- these shifty trades by the O and the Q are just moving pawns around the board. It seems they don't care about the players at all, its all about the sound bite or news. This trade doesn't make their team better it could in fact make their team worse as it could very well create serious problems in the dressing room.

The O champs that I saw last year here for the Mem Cup were embarrassing how poor a team they were, one-dimensional and defensively bereft. I suspect that unlike the dub for the most part that league parity in the O is absent, and that there are two or three really top teams and a whole bunch of fair to middling teams.

[canes77]

TWo years ago, the two finalists were from the host league QMJHL...last year they were both from the hosting WHL....so this year, it looks like Kitchener will pay the other OHL team in the final if the trend continues... vci11

I, for one, think the WHL plays a more complete (and better) game but who knows if it's luck or playing in a more familiar arena/province that is causing this trend to happen.

I definately agree MH and Van deserved to be the finalists last yr, but two years ago, Van could have easily beat the other teams. Maybe just the way the puck bounces I guess...

[old_time_hockey]

Well in a way the WHL office put the Giants behind the 8-Ball in the 2006 Memorial Cup. The other 2 leagues had switch to the new obstruction calls when the NHL made the switch. Where as the WHL didn't. So being on the other side of the country is one thing. But then you have to re-learn some rules. That is tough.