‘Not really a favourite in this’: Coaches shy away from label at Memorial Cup

KELOWNA — No head coach is welcoming of the favourite label at the Memorial Cup.

Not Steve Hamilton of the Everett Silvertips, nor Jussi Ahokas of the Kitchener Rangers.

They were both given that opportunity during Thursday’s Meet The Coaches press conference ahead of the Canadian Hockey League’s championship tournament. The two shared the stage with Yanick Jean of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens, and Derrick Martin of the host Kelowna Rockets, who bowed out to Everett in the second round five weeks ago.

Kitchener swept the Ontario Hockey League final and Everett only lost twice in a dominant run through the Western Hockey League playoffs.

“I find it hard to believe that we’d be considered the favourites, to be honest,” said Hamilton, noting a WHL team hasn’t won a Memorial Cup in 12 years — not since his Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014, when he was an associate coach under Derek Laxdal.

The WHL has only won three times since the Rockets prevailed here on home ice in 2004, with the OHL and QMJHL each winning eight times over that span.

That question came prefaced as “we’ve been hearing about the big, bad Silvertips all year, top of the CHL rankings. How do you feel coming into this tournament with that favourite label?”

“I don’t know how those rankings are generated when you don’t see other teams from other leagues,” Hamilton continued. “We’ve got a great host team and three league champions. These teams are all going to have a lot of the same pieces. We’re going to have a great goaltender, a couple of big-time defencemen and some big-time forwards.

“There’ll be very slim margins between all the teams,” he concluded. “That’s the nature of this tournament. That’s why it’s so hard to win.”

Then it was Ahokas’s turn to field a question about that “F word.” With the Rangers acquiring two key players who won the Memorial Cup with London last year — Sam O’Reilly and Jared Woolley — that experience could make them the team to beat.

But Ahokas wasn’t taking the bait, either.

“I wouldn’t say we’re the favourites. There’s not really a favourite in this tournament,” said Ahokas, a rare European coach in the CHL, now in his third season with Kitchener after leading Finland to gold in under-18 and under-20 tournaments.

“Four really good teams … from what I’ve watched, all the teams are really structured, they play well, they’re well coached. It’s going to be a good tournament and another good test for us.”

However, Ahokas didn’t downplay the value of O’Reilly and Woolley as the only Memorial Cup veterans in this tournament — at least on the ice, among the players.

“It’s a really big factor, for us, that we got them,” said Ahokas. “They’re both winners. They bring a lot of experience. They bring a lot of leadership. They’ve been here, they’ve seen it, what it takes to win.”

Hamilton was also more inclined to heap praise on his players — particularly Landon DuPont, who is the marquee name at this year’s Memorial Cup. A record-breaking blueliner who has lived up to his exceptional status hype, DuPont is projected as the top prospect for the 2027 NHL draft.

“We probably don’t get here without a defencemen of that quality,” Hamilton said of DuPont, who will celebrate his 17th birthday during the tournament. “We’re fortunate to have him.

“I think his on-ice game is pretty self-explanatory. He’s a treat to watch, but he’s exceptional behind the scenes as well. Great teammate, hard worker, dedicated, wants to be the guy. Obviously, he’s a next level kind of guy.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2026.

Larry Fisher, The Canadian Press