Sudbury (AP) - Mattias
Ekholm sat at his locker in the Visitor’s dressing room, a towel draped over
his shoulders which served little purpose as it was soaked in champagne. He sat
quietly and watched as his Seattle Reign teammates continue their celebration
after having captured the CCHL’s Kehler Cup, the 1st in Seattle’s
franchise history.
His demeanour was
stoic and content a look of satisfaction on his face. “Thanks, yes that was
awesome” he uttered as athletic trainer Jim Nasium came by enthusiastically
shook his right shoulder, gave him an obligatory fist pump and shouted “Yeah
Baby…woooo”.
“That was awesome”
Ekholm repeated, “I still can’t believe it…there are no words that adequately
describe what I think we are all feeling. I do know I wouldn’t trade this
moment for anything else” he paused for a brief moment and continued “….well
other than the day I met Ida and the birth of our children but this is darn
close” he wryly smiled.
Celebrations had
concluded on the ice some 10 minutes ago when Seattle defeated the Sudbury
Miners 2-1 in Game 5 of the Kehler Cup Final. It was a remarkable run for the
Reign who concluded the playoffs with an amazing 10-1 record on the road, their
only blemish a Game 5 loss to Bismarck in the 2nd Round.
Seattle had somehow
rebounded from a 10-3 opening night loss and a 4-8-2 start to the season but
went 42-23-3 the rest of the way and make a late run up the Corfield Conference
standings to finish in 4th place. Led by Kyle Connor on offence and
Ekholm on defence Seattle took the usual route to the Championship after
relocating from California some 8 years ago.
Never a threat to win
any Conference crowns they began a rebuild by trading away or parting ways with
some of the bigger names to acquire youth and some additional draft picks. Gone
were Evgeni Malkin, Patrice Bergeon and Jeff Petry, ushered in were the
aforementioned forward Connor, Ekholm along with Nico Hischier, William
Nylander, Oliver Bjorkstarnd and defenceman Jacob Chychrun
Seattle paired this youth
movement with the various free agent signing to plug the holes, fill the gaps
until the younger players were ready to take on larger roles. This year was no
different, Mattias Janmark, Michael Raffl, Richard Panik, Andrej Sekera, Brendan
Smith and Cam Talbot were all signed this off season.
All but Sekera and
Talbot were to be role or depth players who if needed could fill in when
injuries warranted or perhaps to provide a spark when head coach Scott Stevens,
whose contract has expired, deemed it necessary to change up the lines.
These free agents were
used occasionally as veteran defenceman Nick Jensen, Jon Merrill joined
youngsters Ethan Bear and Carson Soucy on the back end. Up front veterans
Jordan Staal, Jason Zucker, Andre Burakovsky, Artturi Lehkonen, Ivan Barbashev,
Matt Duchene, Calle Jarnkrok and Jonathan Drouin mostly played bottom 6 forward
roles with Burakovsky and Zucker mostly rounding out the top 6 forwards.
Talbot who was brought
in to compete with Semyon Varlamov for the #1 spot was never able to displace
Varlamov, who not only cemented his #1 role but when it mattered most shone the
brightest posting a save percentage of .942 in the Finals and single handily
won the Cup clinching Game 5 when Seattle was outshot 45-15 but won 2-1. Ironically Sudbury had dropped Varlamov 3
seasons ago and Seattle signed him as a free agent. Thatcher Demko, the
projected future #1, saw some time up with the big club and won in his only
appearance, starting the last game of the season.
Perhaps the most
amazing aspect and what was one unusual aspect of Seattle’s Cup winning team, and
it might be a CCHL 1st, but Seattle won the Cup without making a
single trade this season. That’s correct they made 0 trades only signing FA
defenceman Dan Hamhuis as an emergency fill-in when they had injured and
suspended defenceman leaving them shorthanded.
While making zero
trades in a season is not a blueprint for success somehow Seattle had the right
players to play specific roles and as evidenced by playoff performances by
Janmark and Talbot all the players stepped in when needed and contributed.
GM Michelle Chapman
was still smiling and celebrating with reclusive owner Cam McCurdy near the
dressing room entrance as the coaching staff continued congratulating various players
as they along with the other staff slowly made their way out of the dressing
room to continue the celebration on the team’s buses. Those buses will be heading
to the airport to catch the team’s charter flights back home to what will
surely be an enthusiastic Seattle fan base.
Ekholm was conversing
with Kyle Connor as the two of them were exiting the dressing room
“Mattias what words of
wisdom are you imparting to Kyle?” a beat reporter yelled across the room.
Ekholm looked to the
reporter and with a large smile upon his face said “Carpe Diem”
Carpe Diem indeed as
for this one day the Seattle Reign and its fans would adhere to that motto.
