The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Last weekend I watched the RBC Royal Bank Cup Final for the first time Ð well, I watched half the game while watching the Oilers. I felt for Yorkton because they lost 8-2. Yikes. When it came to this game, I was looking forward to see how two different teams in different leagues would match up. I thought Yorkton Terrier was a shoe-in to win. Just engrave their name on the trophy and forget about playing the tournament. Then something unexpected happened. The top-ranked team in the country struggled to score Ð they really couldn't do much against the Burnaby Express. In fact, if it wasn't for the team from the West Coast, Yorkton would never have played in the big game. The same could be said of Burnaby as they nearly lost their semi-final game, scoring two goals in the last two minutes and getting the tying goal with just seconds remaining. That might be the tale of the championship game Ð two teams lucky to be in the final Ð yet Burnaby played their best when they had to. Like I said before, I was expecting Yorkton to win. Why? Since coming to Flin Flon, some people that I've talked to say the SJHL is the best junior league in the country hands down. They really like Ð no Ð they love their SJHL hockey. I've thought about whether it's true. Until coming here, I had only been exposed to the BCHL. You will never hear me say it's the best junior A league in the country. If I have, I apologize. I won't say it because I haven't seen action in all the leagues and I've only watched one MJHL game. Everyone has the right to their opinion, but I don't understand people who make the comments that one league is better than another when they haven't watched the other leagues. Following the Express' win of the RBC Royal Bank Cup, I checked to see which league has the most titles. While it's close among three leagues, the BCHL is on top with nine and that includes Burnaby's win. The SJHL is next with eight, followed by the Alberta Junior Hockey League with seven. Three other leagues are tied at two and one since 1971. The big question is, how do you determine which league is the best? I spoke to Bomber coach-GM Doug Stokes because I wanted his opinion on it and he said he didn't know how to determine that. He doesn't believe one game is the answer. Is it indeed by the number of times a league has been in the National Championship game or by how many scholarships a league has earned? Is it both? At first I agreed with Stokes, but now I'm going to say the honour goes to whichever team is the champion. If someone has a problem with it, I encourage you to write to me. Championship games determine who is the best. Yes, sometimes there are teams who are lucky to be in that situation, but that's what's great about sports. The unexpected happens. A blowout in this year's RBC Royal Bank Cup championship game was unexpected. A champion defines who is the best Ð this year it's the BCHL.5/19/2006
