Oil Kings oust T-Birds in WHL final, earn berth in Memorial Cup

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oil Kings are Western Hockey League champions — and Memorial Cup bound — following a series-clinching 2-0 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds on Monday night at Rogers Place.

Jakub Demek and Kaiden Guhle provided the offence and Sebastian Cossa supplied shutout netminding as Edmonton won the best-of-seven WHL championship series 4-2. Jake Neighbours chipped in with two assists.

Edmonton outshot Seattle 36-27 and enjoyed period leads of 1-0 and 2-0.

Seattle opened the championship with a 2-1 win in Edmonton, but the Oil Kings rattled off three consecutive wins — including two in Seattle — to gain control of the series. Seattle won Game 5 in Edmonton 3-2 to extend the series to six games.

The Oil Kings will represent the WHL in the 102nd Memorial Cup championship, which runs June 20-29 in Saint John, N.B.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2002