2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Edmonton Oil Kings preview

Far be it to imagine when the Edmonton Oil Kings transformed from a fine collection of talent into a great team. But over the arc of a long season, Feb. 22 stands out as a demarcation point.

That night Edmonton got humbled 6-4 at home by the Kelowna Rockets, a mid-pack team. From afar, it reads as an eye-opener, a reminder to buckle down, an easy way to drive home that they could do much more than merely have the best season in the short history of the franchise. The actions speak louder than whatever the message was the next day. Coach Derek Laxdal's team has gone 27-4 since that night, including a 22-game win streak (11 regular season, 11 playoffs) that removed all doubt they were for real.

The Oil Kings have allowed more than two goals in a game only nine times — nine times — across that span. They have the junior game's hottest goalie, Calgary Flames prospect Laurent Brossoit. Defensive leader Mark Pysyk has validated why he was chosen for Canada's national junior team, even if only a few months after the act.

With only four players sure to not return next fall, Edmonton's already being pencilled in to make a return trip to next year's Cup in Saskatoon. They had the longest, most drawn-out league championship series, though, so the first game vs. Shawinigan will be a proof of how well they cleanse the palate after a big win. Here are a few items for consideration about the Oil Kings.

1. Your yoga teacher should have such balance

Trivia question: how many hat tricks did the Oil Kings record in the playoffs? Try zero. How many players, on the league's highest-scoring team, averaged better than one point per game in the WHL post-season? Also zero. That is notable with a team who scored 300-plus goals in the regular season. They are tough to prepare for, since from rookie Curtis Lazar (the playoff co-scoring leader with 19 points in 20 games), through St. Croix and the overages Tyler Maxwell, Jordan Peddle and Rhett Rachinski, anyone might have the hot hand for the Klondike City kids.

Whether St. Croix, the 105-point scorer, breaks out is a major Edmonton storyline. Laxdal has called the New York Rangers fourth-rounder a "streak scorer"; if he goes off, Edmonton is awfully tough.

2. Laurent Brossoit could steal this tournament for them

London's Michael Houser was his league's most outstanding player. Saint John's 'tender, Mathieu Corbeil, was chosen one round higher than Brossoit in the NHL draft and is considered a surer thing than his predecessor, Jacob DeSerres, at least to those who only remember the latter from his WHL days. At this point, though, Brossoit is the choice for an imagined all-the-marbles game where those three are the options to start in goal.

The Surrey, B.C., native had a 2.04 average and .933 save percentage in the playoffs while facing 30.3 shots per game, the kind of numbers that make people imagine a goalie wearing the Maple Leaf at the next world junior championship. Laxdal describes Brossoit as a goalie who is "very calm, cool, collected, doesn't quit until the puck is in the back of the net."

In 2008, the Spokane Chiefs' Dustin Tokarski was the Memorial Cup MVP and won a world junior gold medal the following season with Team Canada. It's a little early to say Brossoit is on such an arc, but it's worth puttin' out there.

3. Their top-four defencemen run the show

Pysyk, Carolina Hurricanes-drafted defence partner Keegan Lowe, likely NHL first-rounder Griffin Reinhart and offensive-minded Edmonton Oilers pick Martin Gernat were nails in the series against Portland. The Pysyk and Lowe combo will probably have to replicate the job they did of stifling the Winterhawks' Sven Bärtschi-Marcel Noebels-Ty Rattie line for Edmonton to have a shot.

The rub is that Pysyk admitted to the Edmonton Sun that they were "Pretty exhausted last couple of games, playing a lot more than we did during the year. But you're playing for the league title, so you're running on adrenaline." Now they have to take a cross-Canada flight and recharge. Granted, every junior player nowadays has a good idea of how to rest up mentally and physically, but Edmonton's seven-game championship series surely exactly a greater toll than London's five-game OHL win or Saint John's four-game QMJHL sweep.

Five games of the Portland-Edmonton games were one-goal contests. There was seldom more than a one-goal differential. That didn't leave much coasting time.

4. Like the 2011 Sea Dogs, their elders set a tone for the team

Peddle, Rachinski, 19-year-olds T.J. Foster and Kristian Pelss and Pysyk on the back end all seemed at various times to be the glue that held Edmonton together when it faced a stiff challenge, although the latter didn't happen too often before they faced Portland. That is reminiscent of the blend Saint John had a season ago between precocious high NHL picks in waiting such as Jonathan Huberdeau and Tomas Jurco and the vets who were steady as rent such as Mike Thomas, Michael Kirkpatrick and now-Pittsburgh Penguins farmhand Simon Després.

Ten of Edmonton's regulars joined the team from 2007-09 while it was enduring the expansion growing pains, which hit a nadir with a 56-loss season in 2009-10. Point being, they have an identity that might make them more than the sum of their parts. The third Oil Kings overage, left wing Tyler Maxwell, might be the most accomplished 20-year-old scorer in the tournament if one uses the run of his whole career. Saint John's Danick Gauthier had a 47-goal season, but heretofore was a role player.

5. Are the reasons beyond "that's why they play the games" that make expecting Edmonton to be in Saskatoon next spring a case of jumping the gun?

Defending a championship does require favourable circumstances. Edmonton will be a very good team next season, notwithstanding there's been talk Laxdal could return to the pro game and assistant coach Steve Hamilton could be a head-coaching candidate. They should be on the short list to win next spring's Ed Chynoweth Cup, provided Reinhart also returns for his age-18 season. But repeat winners have been rare in the Western league. From Sam Cosentino:

The Don Hay-led Kamloops Blazers were the last repeat winner in 1994 and '95. Those '95 Blazers, though, had the Memorial Cup host berth in their back pocket.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.