It’s like Island old-home week in the Western Hockey League final.
With rookies Jacson Alexander and Quinton Waitzner, both of Victoria, and veteran Josh Anderson of Duncan with the Swift Current Broncos and veteran Patrick Bajkov of Nanaimo skating with the Everett Silvertips, there is guaranteed to be more than one Island player in the 100th Memorial Cup this month in Regina, where forward Tanner Sidaway of Victoria plays for the host Pats.
“This shows there are a lot of players being developed on the Island,” said the mobile blue-liner Alexander.
That theme continued last week when the Victoria Royals selected a franchise-high four Island players in the 2018 WHL bantam draft, including their first-ever first-rounder with defenceman Nolan Bentham of Victoria 13th overall. Two Island players were chosen among the first 23 selections and three in the first three rounds. Winger Kobe Verbicky of Victoria was the first player selected in the second round, 23rd overall to the Edmonton Oil Kings, while defenceman Ty Gibson of Victoria went in the third round to the Silvertips.
The 2018 WHL final, meanwhile, is tied 1-1 with Game 3 between the Silvertips and Broncos tonight at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington.
Nobody has had more of a whiplash ride to get there than Alexander, the heralded 17-year-old puck-moving blue-liner, who left the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League on Dec. 22 to join the Broncos, who had selected him 17th overall in the first round of the 2016 WHL bantam draft. In deciding the WHL was the quickest path to pro hockey, the Esquimalt product turned his back on a full-ride NCAA scholarship to Denver University.
“I’m happy with the decision,” said Alexander.
“The experience has been really good. We have made it to the WHL final. To go through this, and make it this far in my rookie year, has been a good learning experience for the years ahead.”
There are plenty of those remaining in Swift Current for Alexander, who is eligible for the 2019 NHL draft.
Alexander had three goals and 10 points in 29 games for the Grizzlies and an assist in five games in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He had a goal and five points in 32 regular-season games with the Broncos, with a plus-7 rating, and has an assist in 22 playoff games during Swift Current’s lengthy post-season run.
“It was a big jump — the WHL is faster [than the BCHL],” Alexander said.
“And the playoffs are different than the regular season, which is a learning experience in itself.”
As close as he is getting to it, Alexander said he is not allowing himself to think ahead about possibly playing in the centenary Memorial Cup upcoming in Regina.
“That’s not even on our minds at his point. We are only taking it 10 minutes at a time in each game,” he said.
A league championship would be quite the WHL career capper for six-foot-three Duncan-product Anderson, selected third overall in the first round of the 2013 WHL bantam draft by the Prince George Cougars and 71st overall in the third round of the 2016 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche.
After only eight career playoff games in three seasons with the Cougars, the 19-year-old has already played in 22 post-season games this year alone after coming to Swift Current in a trade from Prince George. He has only two assists in that run but that’s not how to best evaluate this Islander’s presence on the ice as a shut-down rearguard.
“All have been physical series. It’s how we thrive,” said Anderson.
Waitzner was taken by the Broncos in the ninth round, 186th overall, in the 2015 WHL bantam draft out of Victoria Racquet Club. The former Saanich Braves Junior B forward had a goal in 43 regular-season games for Swift Current but has yet to appear in the playoffs.
Nanaimo’s Bajkov, overlooked in the NHL draft, showed why the Florida Panthers signed him to a three-year NHL entry-level contract in March. The compact yet powerful 20-year-old winger has had a scorching post-season with 14 goals and 22 points in 18 games for the Silvertips after scoring 33 goals and 100 points in the regular season.
“Swift Current has big bodies. But when we execute our game, is when we are at our best,” Bajkov said, in a league interview.
The WHL final is a 2-3-2 format with remaining games in Everett on Wednesday and Friday. If necessary, Games 6 and 7 would be Sunday and Monday in Swift Current. The winner between the Silvertips and Broncos advances to the 2018 Memorial Cup from May 18 to 27 in Regina. The host Pats of the WHL will also play in the 100th tournament for major-junior hockey supremacy in North America.
