Memorial Cup Primer: Silvertips face fellow CHL champs, host Rockets
Published 8:59 am Friday, May 22, 2026
Got any more room in the trophy case?
That’s the question the Everett Silvertips hope will be asked of them on May 31. After capturing the Scotty Munro Trophy and Ed Chynoweth Cup in the WHL regular season and playoffs, respectively, Everett will have the opportunity to win the biggest prize in major junior hockey over the course of the next week.
The 106th Memorial Cup kicks off at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia on Friday, and the Silvertips play their first game on Saturday.
The annual round-robin tournament pits the champions of the WHL, Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) as well as the host team against each other.
The top-performing team in the round-robin gets an automatic berth in the Memorial Cup Championship, while the second- and third-place teams will compete in a semifinal to determine the opponent.
This year, the host Kelowna Rockets welcome the WHL champion Silvertips, the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers and the QMJHL champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Below is what you need to know about each team standing in Everett’s path:
Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
After a dominant regular season in ‘the Q,’ during which they led the league in goals for (321) and had the fewest goals against (150), Chicoutimi went 16-4 through the postseason en route to the Gilles-Courteau Trophy.
Leading the way offensively was Maxim Massé. The 20-year-old forward totaled 51 goals and 51 assists in 63 games to lead the entire league in scoring, and he won the Michel-Brière Trophy as QMJHL MVP.
Massé remained the Saguenéens’ leading scorer in the playoffs with 24 points in 20 games, and the Anaheim Ducks prospect headlines a group with six other NHL prospects and two more ranked in NHL Central Scouting for the 2026 Draft.
Leading the team’s stout defensive corps is Alex Huang, who scored 19 points in 20 playoff games. Also included is Seattle Kraken prospect Alexis Bernier, who just signed his entry-level contract on Tuesday.
Seattle selected Bernier in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft, and the 19-year-old defenseman scored four goals and three points in 20 playoff games.
Just like the Silvertips with Anders Miller (.932 save percentage, 1.91 goals-against average), Chicoutimi’s goaltending will be a strength. Lucas Beckman’s 1.98 GAA led the QMJHL Playoff field, and his .918 save percentage ranked third.
That said, Beckman got tested by the Moncton Wildcats’ high-octane offense in the QMJHL Championship, allowing three or more goals in four of the six games, which included six conceded goals in Game 5 on May 15 before stopping 23 of 24 shots in the decisive 5-1 victory in Game 6 on May 17.
The Saguenéens boast a strong power play, which scored nearly a third of the time in the playoffs (31.8%). Huang led the league with nine power-play assists in the playoffs, and both Émile Guité (5) and Emmanuel Vermette (4) ranked in the top five in power-play goals.
Everett will open its round-robin slate against Chicoutimi on Saturday.
Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Just like Everett did in the WHL, the Rangers cruised through their path in the OHL playoffs with 16 wins and only two losses. A little puck luck was involved, as Kitchener won all five playoff games that went to overtime – including two in the OHL Championship series – but if anything, that proves the team’s mettle in tight, high-stakes games.
With 12 NHL draft picks and three more in NHL Central Scouting rankings for the 2026 Draft, the Rangers possess significant high-end talent.
Sam O’Reilly, a 2024 NHL first-rounder, jumped from a point-per-game player with the London Knights to scoring 1.54 points per game following a midseason trade to Kitchener. After totaling 29 goals and 71 points in 56 games, O’Reilly received the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s most outstanding player. He continued to produce in the postseason, scoring 28 points in 18 games to finish second in OHL playoff scoring and receive the Wayne Gretzky “99” Award as OHL Playoff MVP.
Jack Pridham led the team in scoring during the regular season, ranking fifth in the OHL with 90 points (46 goals, 44 assists), and captain Cameron Reid led the back end with 56 points in 57 games.
Beyond its individual producers, Kitchener’s special teams played a big role in its postseason success. In addition to scoring at 30% clip on the power play, the Rangers nearly scored as many short-handed goals (6) as they allowed on their penalty kill (7), which had an 88.7% success rate.
By comparison, albeit not exactly apples-to-apples, the Silvertips went 27.7% on the power play and 83.8% on the penalty kill during the WHL Playoffs, so the special teams battle between the two will be intriguing to watch in their matchup.
Everett will face Kitchener on Monday in its second round-robin game.
Kelowna Rockets (host)
The Silvertips are already familiar with the Rockets, as Everett dispatched its fellow WHL Western Conference opponent in five games during the second round of the playoffs. Since its elimination on April 17, Kelowna has spent the past month preparing to take on the best the CHL has to offer.
The Silvertips dominated their entire path to the Ed Chynoweth Cup, but the Rockets arguably provided the toughest test. It’s a low bar, but Kelowna overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime to avoid a sweep in Game 4, and took Everett to overtime in Game 5 as well.
That said, the Silvertips still found ways to turn the Rockets’ strengths into non-factors. Tij Iginla, the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to the Utah Mammoth, led Kelowna with 41 goals and 90 points in just 48 games during the regular season. However, Everett held him without a point in four out of five playoff games.
Harrison Boettiger is NHL Central Scouting’s 10th-ranked North American goaltender for the 2026 Draft, and he posted a .934 save percentage and 2.00 goal-against average in four games against Kamloops during the first round, but his numbers tanked to .877 and 4.38 in parts of four games against Everett in the second round.
That’s not to say the results of the second round will dictate what happens in their lone round-robin matchup or any ensuing semifinal/final game. In fact, while a single playoff series is a small sample size, the Memorial Cup will be an even smaller one. The Silvertips may have proven to be a superior team, but the Rockets have the talent to win any given matchup.
In addition to Iginla, Kelowna boasts seven other NHL draft picks in the lineup. Los Angeles Kings prospect Vojtech Cihar led the team with 13 points in nine playoff games, and San Jose Sharks prospect Carson Wetsch finished second in scoring behind Iginla during the regular season with 72 points (22 goals, 50 assists).
Among the non-NHL picks, 21-year-old defenseman Mazden Leslie scored just over a point-per-game during the regular season with 68 in 67 games. Fellow overager Ty Halaburda finished fifth on the team in scoring with 64 points in 72 games, but his season ended with an injury he sustained on a hit from Everett forward Jaxsin Vaughan, who was subsequently suspended for Games 3 and 4 of the second-round series.
