BACK TO-BACK!

At the end of the 2021- 22 season, the St. James Canucks won their first MMJHL championship since 1997-98, ending one of the longest droughts in league history. At the end of the 2022-23 season, the Canucks had won their second straight Jack McKenzie Trophy and were suddenly being referred to as a dynasty. High-scoring Tyrone Willan of the St. James Canucks knew that as defending Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League champions, he and his mates would be the targets for every team in the league. All the Canucks players knew that after going 25 years without a championship and then winning one with the dominance they displayed in 2021-22, the 2022-23 version of the Canucks would have to be even better. The Canucks were a great underdog story in 2021-22. They were the favourites in 2022-23 and that changed everything. “It was a little bit different this year just because, last year, I felt the whole league thought it was kind of our time, everyone kind of wanted us to win, so we kind of felt like everyone was happy for us,” said Willan. “But then, this year, everyone was trying to knock us off, so it felt better just because I could tell how hard everyone else – every other team -- was trying to take us down and we ended up winning it again.” Willan not only led the MMJHL in scoring during the regular season (31 goals and 91 points), a season St. James dominated (40-4-1), but he led the league in scoring during the playoffs with seven goals and 26 points in 14 games. MORE SATISFYING Winning the second consecutive crown was indeed even more satisfying than the first. “It’s funny because, last year, we had a great group of guys with a lot of 21-year-olds who were aging out,” said Canucks goaltender Noah Gilbert. “Then, you would have thought, ‘How can we top last year?’ Then, we manage to do that this year in the regular season and kind of had the same playoffs as we had last year and it was somehow an even better year.” Gilbert posted a 2.10 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage to earn the Chris Flintoft Trophy as playoff MVP as the Canucks lost only two of 14 postseason games. “Obviously, when the team’s putting up five or six goals a game, I’m going to stay confident and do whatever I can to keep my team going,” Gilbert said. “We had a great year and I’m proud of how I played, too.” Ironically, head coach Blair Mooney almost called it quits to spend more time with his young family after breaking that long drought last year, but the Stonewall teacher was convinced to come back by the franchise’s ownership group. “I started thinking about it once COVID happened and it was a lot of free time away from the rink,” said Mooney, who has coached the Canucks for the past eight years. “It kind of got me thinking about it a little bit – how much longer I wanted to do it. But I knew we were going to have a pretty good team last year, so I wanted to see that through. So, it was just a combination of getting busy with my family life, and also, I’d been doing it a while and started thinking maybe a change needed to happen. But I’m glad that I didn’t do it, for sure.” Mooney obviously did have another championship-calibre team led by the likes of Willan, Gilbert, MMJHL MVP, top defenceman Rory Neill and captain Kale Price. “We had four lines that were capable of scoring and really good, six -- well, more than six D-men, on any given night -- whichever six we decided to go with,” Mooney said. “Our starting goalie (Gilbert) is, in my opinion, the best goalie in the league. He won Goalie of the Year and playoff MVP, so we just had a lot of depth – lots of guys who could fill the net and that was the key for us. We could score a tonne of goals and we were pretty good at keeping it out of the net, too.” IS THIS A DYNASTY? The Canucks will have only two players that have aged out – Ethan Robson and Zach Greenwood. So, the returnees are already talking ‘threepeat’ next season. With award-winners like Neill, Gilbert and Willan back, this will be a great team once again. “Obviously, those were two pretty key guys for us, but, like last year, a lot of our key guys are returning again,” Neill said. “Plus, some young guys, who made a big difference in playoffs for us. So, it looks like we’ve got a bright future still.” Gilbert concurred. “We only lost two players this year,” he said. “So, that (three-peat) seems to be the plan for next year.” With players like Willan returning next season, the Canucks will certainly have the offence required to win again. “Yeah, that’s what we’re aiming for,” Willan said. “It’s my last year in the league, so it will be hard, but I think we’ll be ready for it next year.” While the Canucks would appear to be a dynasty-in-the-making, there are some folks around the league who believe the dynasty is already here. After going 40-4-1 during the regular season and finishing 22 points ahead of the second-place finisher, the Canucks blew through the playoffs with a 12-2 mark. When you go 52-6-1 through 59 games, win your second straight championship and have most of your team back for the upcoming season, it just might be appropriate to use the D word. In the meantime, head coach Mooney isn’t sure if he’ll be back to complete the trifecta. With a young family at home, it might be far too great a commitment to coach a Junior hockey team at the same time. However, there were rumblings last summer that Mooney would return for 2022-23 and here we are. “I don’t know about next year,” he said. “As of right now, I don’t think I will be, but you never know, I guess.”