The 2025 Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons, is set to kick off this week in Calgary from May 8-18 at the Max Bell Centre.
The Calgary Canucks not only welcome the nine league champions from the Canadian Junior Hockey League as hosts, but as back -to-back champions of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“It feels really good. It’s hard to win once. It’s even harder to win twice. And I felt like our group last year paved the way for us this year, and showed us how we can win and how we can do it together,” said Captain Bowden Singleton. “We’re super excited to be hosting. We’ve got the city of Calgary behind us and our great fans to get us going, there’s just a great buzz in the locker room. We won the AJHL cup, and that’s a good feeling, but we want an even better feeling, and winning the Centennial Cup at home.”
Cenntennial Cup action will kick off on Thursday, May 8 when the Canucks take on the Melfort Mustangs, with a 7:30 PM puck drop in the third game of day one action.
AJHL Finals Recap:
Trailing 2-0 midway into the opening period, the Canucks would tie game one from a pair of goals from Hayden Fechner. In the second, Calgary wouldn’t look back as Bowden Singleton scored himself a pair and Fechner completed his hat trick to lead 5-2 after two periods. Rhett Melnyk and Nolan DuPont scored two more goals, with the Storm adding one more. Fechner picked up his fourth of the night, and Landon Pappas scored with one second on the clock in a 9-3 win.
Game two saw more of the same from the Storm as they took an early 3-1 lead into the third period. The Canucks rallied back in the third, when DuPont made it a one goal game on the powerplay. Next up, Jayden Joly scored his second of the night, while Kenny Sutton broke the tie, making it 4-3. Nathan Maloney made it 5-3 moments before the Storm made it a one-goal game. Fechner would seal it with the empty goal for his tenth of the playoffs in a 6-4 win.
Shifting the series up to Grande Prairie, the Canucks and Storm traded seven goals in the opening period, with the Canucks responding three times with goals from Singleton, Rhys Jamieson, and Wade Wallace. Fechner broke the tie, making it 4-3 after the opening twenty. The Storm would tie it 7:41 into the second, but once again the Canucks found an answer as Joly tied it 4-4. The Canucks would go on to score twice in the third as Luc Trevors and Jack Plandowski winning game three 7-4 and holding a 3-0 series lead.
In Game Four, the Canucks took an early lead, finishing the first period with a close score of 3-2 with goals from Maloney, Alexey Trischuk, and DuPont. After the opening moments of the second period, Calgary extended the lead by scoring two more goals from Pappas and DuPont, bringing the score to 5-2. Although the Storm managed to cut into the lead, Trischuk scored again, making it 6-3 by the end of the second period. DuPont completed his hat trick in the final frame as the Canucks won the Interpipe Cup for the second time in two seasons with back-to-back sweeps.
Key Players, Playoffs:
Goals: Hayden Fechner – 11G
Assists: Bowden Singleton – 18A
Points: Bowden Singleton – 24P
Goaltending: Lukas Renaud – 12-0, 0.908 SV%, 2.84 GAA
Highest CJHL Ranking: 14th
2025 Centennial Cup Preview:
Thursday, May 8 vs Melfort Mustangs, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL)
Back-to-back SJHL champions, Melfort Mustangs are heading back to the National Championship for the fourth time since 1996 and will face the Calgary Canucks to open the preliminary round. The Mustangs lost only two games on their way to capturing their sixth Canterra Seeds Cup and still look for their first Centennial Cup. The Canucks will have this matchup circled on their schedule as they seek to avenge last year’s semifinal meeting, where the Mustangs edged out the Canucks with a narrow 2-1 victory.
Key Players, Playoffs:
Goals: Zac Somers – 8G
Assists: Reilley Kotai – 10A
Points: Zac Somers, Reilley Kotai – 17P
Goaltending: Kristian Coombs – 10-1, 0.942 SV%, 1.33 GAA
Highest CJHL Ranking: 2nd
Saturday, May 10 vs Braves de Valleyfield, Ligue de Hockey Junior AAA du Québec (LHJQ)
This is the first appearance in the Centennial Cup for the high-scoring Braves de Valleyfield, who went 12-5 in the playoffs. The Braves knocked off last year’s champion Collège Français de Longueuil in six games en route to their first-ever league championship.
Key Players, Playoffs:
Goals: Vincent Gauthier – 15G
Assists: Nathan Lévesque – 18A
Points: Vincent Gauthier, Nathan Lévesque – 26P
Goaltending: Kyle Hagen – 12-5, 0.897 SV%, 3.27 GAA
Highest CJHL Ranking: 9th
Sunday, May 11 vs Rockland Nationals, Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL)
The Rockland Nationals were far and away the best team in the CCHL this season, going 12-3 on their way to their first CCHL championship. The Nationals had sweeps in the opening round and the cup finals, but were put to the test in the semi-finals, going all seven games against the Smiths Falls Bears.
Key Players, Playoffs:
Goals: Gabriel Le Houillier – 9G
Assists: Rémi Gagné – 11A
Points: Gabriel Le Houillier – 15P
Goaltending: Benoit Forget – 12-3, 0.909 SV%, 2.34 GAA
Highest CJHL Ranking: 1st
Tues, May 13 vs Edmundston Blizzard, Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL)
Dropping only one game to last year’s MHL champions Miramichi Timberwolves, the Edmundston Blizzard never looked back with back-to-back sweeps to win their second MHL championship. This marks the Blizzard’s first appearance in the national championship and will be the last game for the Canucks, wrapping up the preliminary round.
Key Players, Playoffs:
Goals: Émile Fournier – 10G
Assists: Philippe Collette – 13A
Points: Carl-Anthony Massé – 22P
Goaltending: Frédéric Cousineau – 6-0, 0.920 SV%, 2.56 GAA
Highest CJHL Ranking: 1st
Upcoming Events:
Junior Hockey Honky Tonk Revival (18+)
Thursday, May 15, 2025: Ranchmans Calgary, Doors open at 6:00 PM
Thank you to our 2025 Centennial Cup Sponsors
