When the Edmonton Oil Kings clinched their fifth Western Hockey League championship in team history on Monday night, a pair of Moose Jaw Minor hockey products were part of the celebrations.
Third-year veteran forward Jaxsen Wiebe and rookie defenceman Ethan Peters helped the Oil Kings cap off a season to remember, with Edmonton taking a 2-0 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 6 of the WHL Final at Roger’s Place in Edmonton.
Wiebe, 19, joined the Oil Kings in an off-season trade with the Red Deer Rebels and went on to have a solid season, putting up 10 goals and 36 points in 51 games.
Wiebe added another two goals in the post-season, scoring both in Edmonton’s 5-0 win over the Red Deer Rebels in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal on May 7.
All told, Wiebe would put up two goals and eight points in 13 post-season games during the Oil Kings’ run. He was injured in Game 1 against Seattle but was able to return for Game 6.
Peters wasn’t as lucky in the WHL Final, as the 18-year-old suffered an injury in Game 1 and was unable to return to the ice.
He saw plenty of action in the lead-up to the series with Seattle, though, playing 14 games and being held without a point while posting a plus-two plus/minus and recording nine shots on goal.
Peters played 57 games in his first full season in Edmonton, scoring twice and picking up seven points while finishing plus-30 on the campaign.
It was as impressive a playoff run as can be for the Oil Kings, as they swept the first two rounds of the playoffs four-games-to-none over the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Red Deer Rebels before needing only five games to get past the powerhouse Winnipeg Ice in the Eastern Conference final. Winnipeg had defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors four-games-to-one in their semifinal series.
Seattle won Game 1 of the WHL final 2-1 on June 3 before Edmonton took the next three games -- 5-4 on June 5 before things reverted to Seattle, where the Oil Kings won 4-0 on June 7 and 3-2 on June 8. The Thunderbirds won Game 5 3-2 in Edmonton on June 11 before the Oil Kings finished things off two nights later.
Edmonton will now go on to represent the WHL at the 2022 Memorial Cup beginning Monday in Saint John, N.B. There, they’ll face the QMJHL-champion Shawinigan Cataractes on June 21 and tournament host Saint John Sea Dogs on June 22 before closing out their round robin against the OHL champions on June 24.The Memorial Cup semifinal is set for June 27, championship final for June 29.
