PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN SEITZ
Medicine Hat product Dawson Seitz hoists the Ed Chynoweth Cup Tuesday night after his Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-0 to take the WHL championship series in Game 6.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Dawson Seitz is a WHL champion and he can hardly process it.
The 17-year-old Medicine Hat product won the Western Hockey league’s Ed Chynoweth Cup on Tuesday night after his Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-0 in Game 6 of their finals series. Seitz said it’s a surreal feeling.
“With the past couple years with COVID, and hockey getting taken away, it’s been a long time since any of us have actually played for a cup, so it’s a pretty amazing feeling,” Seitz said. “I felt like I was a little kid winning a hockey tournament, it was unreal.”
He said standing on the blue line in Rogers Place watching his captain Jake Neighbours lift the cup gave him a feeling he’s never felt before.
“It was unreal being a little kid going to WHL games and watching the Memorial Cup in the playoffs on TV. When I was on the blue line there and our captain raised the trophy it just felt like I was watching it on TV,” Seitz said. “It’s just been an unbelievable feeling and I haven’t felt anything like that before.”
Seitz’s Oil Kings were the top team in the WHL, and at times the top team in the CHL this season, finishing with a record of 53-10-3-2 and 111 points. The Oil Kings were all in this year as indicated by their acquisitions of 2022 playoff MVP defenceman Kaiden Guhle and forward Justin Sourdif.
Seitz said he learned a lot as a young player on a team with six World Junior players.
“Having these kind of things to learn from and obviously a good finish in the first year, I’m really grateful for that and everyone involved,” Seitz said.
He played for the SEAC Tigers when he was selected 20th overall by the Oil Kings in the 2020 draft. Seitz suited up for 49 games this season in the WHL and had seven goals and nine points. He played in 15 of the Oil Kings’ playoff games and had two goals.
The Oil Kings are off to the Memorial Cup, hosted in Saint John, N.B., and will take on the host Ice Dogs of the QMJHL, the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes and the winner of Wednesday’s OHL final between the Windsor Spitfires and Hamilton Bulldogs. The CHL tournament begins June 20 and runs until 29.
Seitz said they’re all motivated to win the Memorial Cup because they know how it feels to win and they want to get another championship for their 20-year-olds. He also said they are motivated to win it for their late teammate Caleb Reimer.
The 16-year-old Reimer passed away Aug. 21, 2021 in a car crash in Surrey B.C. after making his WHL debut in the COVID shortened season. The Oil Kings brought his jersey out for their celebration Tuesday night, something that meant a lot to Seitz.
“I was glad to see his family out there and stuff so I’ve been in touch with them lately and I’ve been talking to them lots,” Seitz said. “It was a pretty amazing feeling when they put his jersey on the trophy all night, it was a pretty special night for us.”
The WHL final was an all-out Medicine Hat affair, with former Tigers Lukas Svejkovsky and Henrik Rybinski on Seattle and Justin Williams on the Oil Kings.
Williams, who was traded to Edmonton in 2019, said he was proud of what the group achieved and was happy to win in his 20-year-old season.
“Especially with the last few seasons, having really good teams and not having the chance to play in the playoffs, there’s some unfinished business here,” Williams said. “A lot of guys on our team have a sort of a chip on their shoulder, especially for me, being able to win in my last year is super incredible.”
After getting his chance to carry the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Seitz said he couldn’t even remember whether it was heavy or not – he was just lost in a top moment in his young life.
“We were out there for so long and were in the rink, just partying all night,” Seitz said. “It was just an amazing night, probably the best in all of my hockey career.”
