First article: Kelowna Knights  

The Kelowna Knights are among the most successful and historic franchises in the SMJHL. They have existed since the very first season, and from that time until now they’ve won 11 Four-Star Cups. Their most recent championships were a threepeat from seasons 40 to 42, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t found success since. Last season they led their conference in points and tied for league lead with 71 points, and the season before they led their division again and made it to the Four-Star Cup finals before unfortunately being defeated by the Detroit Falcons in 6 games.

This season they should be looking to replicate some of their success, as they still sit atop the western conference with 38 points in 26 games. This is good for a 2nd place tie with the Carolina Kraken, who have 38 points in 25 games, one point behind the Newfoundland Berserkers, who have 39 points in 24 games.

There are many players on their team this season to keep an eye on. The first one of these is right winger James Hagan, who currently sits in a five-way tie for 3rd most goals in the league, with 13 in 26 games. This is a 25 goal pace, which if achieved would be the 2nd most goals scored by a Knights player in the FHM era. He also has 26 points in 26 games for a 50 point pace, which would make him the all-time leader in points in the FHM era. This is especially interesting since he is in only his 2nd pro season. Another player to look out for is starting netminder Peter Ramsay. In 21 games, his stat line is a .920 SV% (3rd in SMJHL), 1.80 GAA (4th in SMJHL), 16 wins (T-1st in SMJHL), and most impressive of all, 7 shutouts (1st in SMJHL). This is all very impressive for yet another player in only his 2nd pro season, since if he can keep up this pace then his save percentage and goals against average are both good for 2nd in the FHM era for his team (though he already holds the record for 1st in both categories). His 16 wins in 21 games is a 31 win pace, which would put him at 1st on his team in the FHM era, and his 7 shutouts already puts him at 1st even if he doesn’t get another one all season. Even more impressively though, if he was to keep up his current shutout pace then he’d end up with 13. This would not only blow his team’s FHM-era record for shutouts out of the water, but also destroy the SMJHL record, which before this season sat at 6.

All in all, the future is as bright as the past for the Kelowna Knights led by youngsters Hagan and Ramsay. This isn’t to say that they are doing it all alone, however, as help does come from SMJHL veterans such as two-way centre Ethan Duncan, playmaking centre Rocco Berni, and left wing sniper Jaska Seppälä. They also have many young players with huge potential, to name a few, centre Viesturs Grābeklis, left wingers Logan Wong and Patrik Money, and defenseman Mikhael Petrov. If this team can’t win a championship this year, their window won’t be closing any time soon so watch out for them come seasons 56 and 57.

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