The Chinook set to begin the defence of their Kehler Cup title

It may seem hard to believe, but nearly seven months have passed since the night the
Chinook captured their very first Kehler Cup championship in Calgary. Training camp
and preseason is already underway at the Scotia Bank Saddledome and aside from a
number of burning questions for the 2018-19 season, the Chinook will find themselves
in a position they’ve never been before: entering the season as the defending Kehler
Cup champions. The next question that needs to be asked is: can they successfully
defend their title?

GM Eugene Yip has made a few tweaks in the off season, “The core group is there
and I believe I have improved on a few areas that I wasn’t too satisfy last season.” Said
Yip. Aside from losing important players such as Joe Pavelski and Shea Weber to free
agency, and power play specialist Kevin Shattenkirk in a trade with the Gillam Sharks,
the Chinook are returning most of their entire Cup-winning roster this season, combined
with the addition of Marc Andre Fleury and John Carlson, makes defending their title
slightly easier, albeit not much.

For the first time in the Sidney Crosby era, the team will not have to worry about dealing
with the burden of a postseason collapse earlier in the year, but the pressures of being
the defending Kehler Cup champions. So can the Chinook successfully defend their title
and make a repeat run as champions? While the Copenhagen Crusaders’s two
consecutive Cup wins may make the prospect of repeating seem easy, it is harder than
one initially might think.

Prior to the Crusaders’ run in 2014 and 2015, the last team to win consecutive Stanley
Cups were the 2005 and 2006 Bismarck Ibex. In addition to that, other teams around
the league (both in the Corfield and Canosa Conferences) have added to their rosters,
and in some teams’ instances their coaching staffs, over the offseason, making the
Chinook’ path to another victory parade more difficult. If the team can remain
consistently healthy throughout the season, play with the same resiliency and
determination they showed this past season, they have just as much a chance to win as
the next team. Like with anything in the CCHL, anything is possible.

IN:
A.Czarnik, M.A. Fleury, M. Calvert, J. Carlson, Bozak, Pominville, Connauton

OUT:
J. Martinook, Bellemare, F. Nielsen, J. Pavelski, T. Vanek, A. Vermette, S. Weber, K.
Shattenkirk, M. Ferland