Silvertips win franchise’s first WHL Championship in Game 5 blowout

Published 11:00 pm Friday, May 15, 2026

Steve Hamilton said it would be the hardest game of the season.

A winner of two WHL Championships as an assistant coach, the Everett Silvertips bench boss knew firsthand just how difficult it is to close out the series, which Everett had the opportunity to do entering Game 5 of the WHL Championship against the Prince Albert Raiders at Art Hauser Centre on Friday.

Except the Silvertips, as they have all season, made it look incredibly easy.

It took just 68 seconds for Everett to get on the board before going up 2-0 by the end of the first period, holding Prince Albert to just five shots on goal.

After fending off a Raiders push early in the second period, the Silvertips surged to a 7-2 win and secured their first Ed Chynoweth Cup in franchise history. Dominant from start to finish, the 2025-26 Everett Silvertips secured their legacy as one of the WHL’s all-time great teams.

Shea Busch was robbed of experiencing most of Everett’s historic 57-win season when he sustained a wrist injury in late October after scoring 13 goals in his first 12 games. The 18-year-old forward missed the rest of the regular season, but he maintained a positive attitude trying to get ready for the postseason.

After months of waiting, he returned midway through the first-round series against Portland on March 31, and he saved his best for last: With a hat trick that included the opening goal on Friday and two more late to put Game 5 out of reach, Busch effectively opened and shut the title-clincher.

Zackary Shantz had three assists to share the scoring lead with Busch, and Jesse Heslop (two assists) and Brek Liske (one goal, one assist) each had multi-point nights. Goaltender Anders Miller made 22 saves to complete a stellar postseason run with a 16-1-1 record to go with a .932 save percentage and 1.91 goal-against average. Julius Miettinen was named playoff MVP after leading the postseason field with 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 18 games.

Busch opened the scoring at 1:08 of the first period. Shantz picked up a cross-ice pass from Luke Vlooswyk off the boards while entering the offensive zone and centered it to Busch, who crashed in at the right post.

It set the tone for a dominant opening frame, in which Everett did not allow a shot from Prince Albert until 5:11. With a strong forecheck, the Silvertips limited the Raiders’ time on the puck and kept the action in their zone.

Jaxsin Vaughan intercepted a pass behind the net and tried to wrap around to jam it through, but Orsulak made the stop at around 4:15. Carter Bear threw his body around in the Prince Albert zone, which ultimately led to a Miettinen rebound chance off a shot from Matias Vanhanen at around 8:45. Halfway through the period, Everett held a 7-2 shots on goal advantage.

The Silvertips easily could have pulled ahead by three at the 13:30 mark, but Heslop and Bear each sent a shot off the post nearly a minute apart. Heslop’s came off a feed from Shantz with the net fully exposed around 12:30 during an Everett power play.

Ultimately, Mattias Uyeda let them both off the hook. After Prince Albert goalie Michal Orsulak made a sprawling save on Rhys Jamieson at the net-front, Jamieson retrieved the puck and sent a backhand pass to Uyeda from behind the net, and the 19-year-old defenseman deked in behind the left circle and ripped a shot through to push it to 2-0 at 15:57.

The Raiders had an opportunity to even things up with two power plays late in the first and at the beginning of the second, respectively, but Miller and the penalty kill were up to the task.

While Prince Albert came up empty on the man-advantage, it picked up enough momentum to push back. The Raiders matched their shot output from the first period (5) in just 3:38 of the second, which is when Brayden Dube cut it to 2-1 with a net-front rebound.

Prince Albert generated a handful of offensive zone turnovers in the following minutes, threatening to tie it up multiple times, but Miller shut the door. His biggest save came against Jonah Sivertson with a point-blank glove stop at 9:56 after another turnover.

Bear went off the post on an open net again at around 11:40, but Liske made it a non-factor by restoring the two-goal lead at 14:51 with a fantastic solo effort.

Drifting back towards the blue line in the offensive zone, the 2026 NHL Draft prospect cut the breaks and spun away from Max Heise into the left circle, where he utilized a Miettinen screen in front and slipped a wrister through to make it 3-1.

Everett received its second power-play opportunity of the night on a Dube roughing call at 17:41, and Busch cashed in for his second goal with 43.5 seconds left in the frame to extend it to 4-1, trickling a shot into Orsulak’s pad and off Prince Albert defender Linden Burrett’s skate into the net, all but putting the game out of reach heading into the second intermission.

Busch completed his hat trick at 6:17 of the third period with a shot off the faceoff from the right circle, and overager Nolan Chastko pushed it to 6-1 at 7:07 with a hack from behind the left circle. Raiders captain Justice Christensen cut it to 6-2 at 11:04 with a 4-on-3 power-play goal, but it was far too late. DuPont kicked in the extra point at 15:50 of the third on a give-and-go with Shantz for the 7-2 final.

It did not take long for the celebration to start. The players stood with their arms around each other on the bench well before the final buzzer, spilling onto the ice to celebrate when the clock finally hit 0:00. Amid the on-ice celebration, Hamilton hugged each player before getting into the handshake line.

With his arm in a sling, injured Silvertips captain Tarin Smith accepted the Ed Chynoweth Cup from WHL Commissioner Dan Near before the rest of the leadership group — Bear, Vaughan, DuPont and Heslop — brought the Cup to the rest of the team.

With the WHL title in tow, Everett will prepare for the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, with its first game set for May 23.