Travis Ewanyk experienced the thrill of a lifetime by winning the Western Hockey League championship with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
The St. Albert minor hockey product celebrated the playoff triumph in Sunday's 4-1 victory against the Portland Winterhawks for the Ed Chynoweth Cup at Rexall Place.
"I'm still feeling pretty high," Ewanyk told the Gazette on Monday night. "It's a real high for the whole team, and to get the opportunity to go the Memorial Cup now is really special."
The Memorial Cup starts Friday with the Oil Kings playing the host Shawinigan Cataractes.
On Monday the Oil Kings face off against the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights and on Tuesday they play the Saint John Sea Dogs, the defending Memorial Cup champions from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Game times are 5 p.m. on Rogers Sportsnet.
The Oil Kings haven't been to the Memorial Cup since 1972, the first year the national championship was held in a tournament format. The last time they won it was 1966.
Ewanyk said the Memorial Cup is a different challenge with its single knockout format to determine the champion instead of a best-of-seven final like they played for the WHL title.
"Any of the teams there have an equal chance of winning, but obviously there is going to be favourites like Saint John, which is a powerhouse team," said the Oil Kings' assistant captain. "You've got to go there and worry about your own game more because that's what got you there."
The Oil Kings advanced to the Memorial Cup by eliminating Portland in seven games in a hard-fought series. Saturday's 3-2 win by Portland on home ice forced the deciding contest.
Going into the final the Oil Kings were 12-1 in the playoffs.
"Playing a seven game series against Portland was definitely a grind. The final three games were played in four nights, and we played the last two in under 48 hours," Ewanyk said.
In the first period in front of 12,514 revved up fans, Rhett Rachinski opened the scoring at 1:51 and Taylor Maxwell made it 2-0 at 19:42.
Michael St. Croix and T.J. Foster, a former midget AAA St. Albert Raider from Slave Lake who registered his first point of the series on a two-on-one with Jordan Peddle, added to the lead before Portland replied at the end of the second period.
Foster also hit the post in the first period while playing the wing on the team's checking line with Rachinski and Peddle.
Shots overall were 32-20 for the Oil Kings. Netminder Laurent Brossoit was named the playoff's most valuable player.
"We came out with a lot of energy and that helped us out a lot," Ewanyk said.
It's the first WHL championship for the modern incarnation of the Oil Kings in their five-year existence, and the first championship for an Edmonton-based franchise since the original Oil Kings won back-to-back titles in 1971 and 1972.
The Oil Kings also placed first overall in league play with 50 wins and 107 points in 72 games.
"We just came together as a team. It's definitely the tightest team I've ever been on. I can't see myself being on a team much tighter than this one is," said Ewanyk, the Oil Kings' third round (48th overall) pick in the 2008 WHL bantam draft. "We also picked up a lot of key players throughout the year and we had a lot of team depth, too. We had injuries like any other team but it didn't seem to stop us at all."
Ewanyk, 19, finished the playoffs with three goals and two assists in 20 games, and was plus three.
Shoulder surgery
Reconstructive surgery to a torn labrum in his right shoulder in the fall sidelined the 2011 Edmonton Oilers' draft pick (third round, 74th overall) for 61 games. It also forced him to miss the YoungStars tournament in Penticton with the Oilers.
"It was kind of a wear and tear thing that happened over the course of last year actually. It didn't heal over the summer and that's when I got the MRI in the Oilers' camp. They decided to go ahead and get the surgery done and it had to be done then," he said. "It was definitely a grind at times, mentally as much as physically. It was just a complete change in lifestyle, like trying to lift your arm up again and do simple things, and in rehab it becomes a lot harder."
The six-foot-two, 189-pound centre returned to the line-up and in 11 games scored once, added three assists and was plus eight.
"My first couple of games I got through them on adrenaline. After that I had to get back to working hard, keeping it simple and get back into the swing of things," said the Paul Kane High School graduate. "I was kind of playing all over the place when I got back because obviously they had lines set throughout the year, so I was more like a rover in the playoffs. I was able to play any position so it helps that I can play on any of the lines.
"I'm fortunate now that we're having such a long playoff run because it's pretty much my entire season."
Last season the versatile forward earned a roster spot on Team Canada at the U18 worlds in Germany after compiling 16 goals, 11 assists and 126 penalty minutes in 72 games.
His WHL totals are 18 goals, 18 assists and 179 penalty minutes in 127 regular season games.
