Edmonton's Laurent Brossoit.Last season, the Portland Winterhawks came into the WHL Championship Series to face a team with a hot goaltender. They were upset, 4 games to 1, and now turn around a year later to face another team with a red-hot goaltender. The Edmonton Oil Kings also sport one of the league's top offences and have the ability to roll two scoring lines.

It was a similar story going in. The Winterhawks, led by dynamo scorers in Ryan Johansen and Nino Neiderreiter, combined for 20 goals in 21 games in the opening three rounds of the playoffs. They were held to just 3 in the five games that followed. Kootenay's Nathan Lieuwen, who held a .929 save percentage going into that series, held strong and the Ice held the series close, striking twice in OT in home games 3 and 4 to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and advance to the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

To say the task is tougher this year is an understatement. The Edmonton Oil Kings were the WHL's top club in the regular season, second best in the league in both goals for (behind only Portland) and goals against (behind only Tri-City). In the playoffs, the Oil Kings have been dominant, going 12-1 and out-scoring their opponents 53-22.

The "22" figure is probably more noteworthy than the "53" figure. The star for the Oil Kings has been their goaltender Laurent Brossoit, the Surrey, B.C. native and a sixth round pick of the Calgary Flames last June. Brossoit, known by his initials "LB" among teammates, leads the WHL in playoff save percentage at .945. He has kept the opposition below two goals eight times in his 13 starts this postseason, and it took until Game 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference Final for him to be cracked and surrender his first loss. He turned it around two nights later and stopped 37 of 38 to seal Edmonton's entry into this series.

Dougie Hamilton

The voting wasn't even close when it came down to identifying the Ontario Hockey League's top defenceman.

Niagara IceDogs blueliner Dougie Hamilton was far and away the popular pick, earning 80 out of a possible 95 points from league general managers.

"Obviously this year has been a ton of fun and hopefully we can keep going," said Hamilton. "It's a big honour for me to win this award. I think in the past few years I've kind of been watching a lot of the best defencemen in the OHL and trying to get to that point one day and for me, it's exciting to be at this point.

"It's an honour  with so many guys coming through the OHL and winning this award and going on to the NHL so hopefully I can follow that soon."

The first-round pick of the Boston Bruins finished ahead of fellow defencemen Scott Harrington of the London Knights (36 points), and Cody Ceci of the Ottawa 67's (28 points). Hamilton and Harrington were both members of the Canadian world junior squad that finished with bronze this

Dallas Stars second-rounder Brett Ritchie (OHL Images)Brett Ritchie might have an easier time sidestepping one of the psychological pratfalls of playoff hockey.

In a championship series, sometimes it takes one game or the better part of two for the teams vying for a trip to the MasterCard Memorial Cup to get a hate on for each other. There isn't the same amount of friction between teams who only play twice a year, as the Niagara IceDogs and London Knights did this year, as there are between conference rivals during the early rounds. In the IceDogs' case, though, it's worth noting that Ritchie is both an X-factor in the series and the IceDog with the most history playing London. Ritchie spent two-plus seasons with the Sarnia Sting, the team which toils in the big-market Knights' long shadow in the Western Conference.

"In Sarnia that was one of their biggest rivals because we're so close, right down the 402 [highway]," the Dallas Stars second-rounder says. "I'm on a different team but there's still that rivalry, that blood that I shared with my teammates when I was in Sarnia. It's going to be cool to play them [London'.

"I guess I know a lot more about them than most of the guys on our team because in Sarnia we played them six times a year, I know their defence and forwards fairly well. I'll try to pass that to our team. But as the series goes on, things will change and we'll have to adapt."

Ryan Hartman (left) celebrates at the IIHF U18 championship with U.S. teammate Nick Kerdiles (Getty Images)

Ryan Hartman feels confident that the homework he did before joining the Plymouth Whalers will pay off.

Being a member of USA Hockey's national team development program, which is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., meant the 5-foot-10, 182-pound right wing was in close proximity to the OHL which drafted him two years ago. So when the 17-year-old signed with the Whalers on Monday, it came with the confidence it will pay off at the 2013 NHL draft. Hartman, whose 18th birthday will fall five days after the cutoff for this summer's draft, is projected as a potential first- or second-rounder.

"I came to a lot of games this season, probably nine or 10 in the regular season and a few more in the playoffs," says Hartman, who had been slated to spend next season with the Dubuque (Io.) Fighting Saints before joining the NCAA's Miami RedHawks in 2013. "I've been in contact with Plymouth since they drafted me a few years back [in 2010]. I just thought overall this was the best place for me to develop and play a more NHL style of game to be better prepared for the future.

"Plymouth's going to develop me a lot, that's why I made the decision to come here," added Hartman, who recently helped Team USA capture its fourth gold medal in a row at the IIHF under-18 championship. "I think I can bring an all-around offensive and defensive game, help make players around me a little better, be kind of a team player, a playmaker.

"Defensive zone is definitely a big part of what I want to work on. Defence comes from offence."

Chicago Blackhawks prospect Brandon Saad led the OHL in points per game this season (OHL Images)

Michael Houser played more games in goal this season than some of his chief competition for the Ontario Hockey League's top individual prize did at forward. In a nutshell, that sums up the ambiguity over what the Red Tilson Trophy symbolizes.

By popular usage, the media who vote for the award maintain it is for the player who was most valuable to his team team, which is Houser by a country mile. By definition, though, it's presented "to the most outstanding player in the Ontario Hockey League." There is a distinction between the two and perhaps it needs to be amplified to keep pace with the changing circumstances in major junior hockey. The case can be made that treating the Red Tilson like a MVP award actually penalizes some of the OHL's best and brightest who earned extended stays in the fall with their NHL organizations and represented their country in the world junior championship, the twin meccas for any junior.

Junior hockey comes advertised as a place to see future NHL stars and, to players, as the fastest route to The Show. Shouldn't picking the league's best player reflect how that affects their circumstances? It would be more honest.

Quick question: on average, how many regular-season games do you think the 10 highest picks from last summer's NHL draft who returned to major junior played this season? It works out to 50.6 games — three-quarters of an OHL or Quebec league schedule, 70 per cent of the WHL's. None of the top-10 picks who returned to junior — Jonathan Huberdeau in the QMJHL and the OHL's Ryan Strome, Mark Scheifele and Dougie Hamilton — appeared in 50 games. The same went for Kitchener Rangers all-everything defenceman Ryan Murphy. It also applies to the most efficient point producers in both the Western and Ontario leagues, the Portland Winterhawks centre Sven Bärtschi and Saginaw Spirit captain Brandon Saad, who each played in the NHL after Jan. 1.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Potential NHL lottery pick Ryan Murray is getting his head wrapped around hanging out with big-leaguers as Team Canada preps for the IIHF world championship. (Edmonton Sun)

Adopting stiffer sanctions for habitual fighters is in the offing in the Ontario Hockey League, but will be a tougher sell in the WHL. (Globe & Mail)

Talking about the championship series from an Edmonton and Portland perspective. (The Pipeline Show)

Edmonton Oil Kings coach Derek Laxdal went to the Memorial Cup as a player — with Portland. (Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun)

A longish retrospective on the brains behind establishing the Winterhawks in Portland in the 1970s and '80s. (Taking Note)

Graduating Tri-City captain Mason Wilgosh is planning to become a paramedic or firefighter once he's done with Canadian university hockey. (Tri-City Herald)

When you're talking about the draft-eligible defencemen in the WHL, don't forget about Kelowna's Damon Severson. (The Pipeline Show)

Right wing Miles Koules, son of producer Oren Koules, has passed on the University of North Dakota to play in Medicine Hat. (Coming Down The Pipe!, Grand Forks Herald, Everett Herald, Medicine Hat News)

Dominik Volek (Canadian Press images)At the young age of 17, Dominik Volek packed his bags and moved half-way across the world from his home in the Czech Republic to Southern Saskatchewan to better his hockey career.

"It was tough," says Volek. "My mom was sad and it was hard to leave everything."

Volek's hockey bloodlines played a role in his decision to move to Regina after the Pats drafted him ninth overall in the 2011 CHL import draft. The 6-foot, 175-pound winger's father, David Volek, played five seasons with the New York Islanders during the late '80s and early '90s. While his father was in North America, he seen and was told about the dedication and quality of coaches and trainers in the Canadian Hockey League. Therefore, as any father would, he wanted his son to play in the most beneficial junior league for his development.

"My dad wanted me to come here," says Volek. "He said it's the best junior league. He played with guys who played in the WHL."

Another major reason for Volek's decision to move to Regina is

Halifax Mooseheads GM Cam Russell (The Canadian Press)A little regional resentment probably doesn't hurt for stoking interest in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, especially amid playoff fever.

The QMJHL's decision to affirm the automatic one-game suspension Halifax Mooseheads captain Cameron Critchlow received for removing the helmet of the Rimouski Océanic's Jonathan Lavoie in a fight Friday played into that. Critchlow will miss the Mooseheads' must-win Game 6 at home on Sunday on what the Mooseheads and many others believed was a bad call. It also will give people pause to wonder if  the optics — Critchlow being a key player for Halifax and Rimouski representing the best chance to have a QMJHL team in the final at a time when the league is trying to generate buzz for next month's MasterCard Memorial Cup in Shawinigan — affected the decision.

"We've heard that all before but it's something I just can't comment on," Mooseheads GM Cam Russell said by phone Sunday, a few hours before the Halifax-Rimouski puck drop.

"People think of all sorts of things and there will be lots of different opinions and different ideas."

Russell's quarrel is strictly with QMJHL disciplinary prefect Raymond Bolduc upholding officials Jeff Hopkins and Jean-Philippe Sylvain's call. (Teams cannot appeal one- to three-game suspensions during the playoffs.) Critchlow's hand did touch Lavoie's helmet as the two tussled Friday. Divining intent to remove Lavoie's headgear was daunting, to put it mildly. Russell, who was rugged defenceman in his NHL career (872 penalty minutes in 396 games), said it was a missed call.