Centennial Cup guide: 'High-end offensive guys' on Greater Sudbury Cubs
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Brad Moran and the Calgary Canucks host the 2025 Centennial Cup, beginning Thursday at Max Bell Centre.
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The annual hockey tournament to crown a Canadian Junior Hockey League king begins Thursday and runs through May 18, with 10 teams vying for the coveted championship, won last year by the Ontario Junior Hockey League's Collingwood Blues.
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The teams are split into two pools — Group A featuring the Trenton Golden Hawks, the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, the Grande Prairie Storm, the Greater Sudbury Cubs and the Kam River Fighting Walleye and Group B comprised of the host Canucks, the Melfort Mustangs, the Rockland Nationals, the Valleyfield Braves and the No. 1-ranked Edmundston Blizzard — with each team lining up for four round-robin contests to start the event.
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The skinny: The Cubs — as a nine-loss club in 2024-25 — join the Canucks and the Mustangs as the only teams returning to the national championship for a second-straight year, marking their only two trips to the Centennial Cup as the Cubs. But unlike the Canucks and the Mustangs, the Cubs didn't make last spring's playoff round. They return 13 players from last spring, as well.
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Moran: 'Some really high-end offensive guys. You've got to shut them down if you're going to play them well.'
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The Cubs' first game is Friday against the Grand Prairie Storm, then Saturday versus the Northern Manitoba Blizzard.
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The skinny: The Canucks — one of just three teams returning from the 2024 Centennial Cup — are the only team of the 10 competing for this year's crown which has won the national championship. That came in 1995 over the host Gloucester Rangers. Seven players return for another run at the title.
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Canucks GM/head coach Brad Moran: 'We've gotta play our game. Speed and execution will be our key. If we keep it simple and execute, I think we'll be OK.'
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Moran: 'I think as good a team as we're going to find here. They've got a ton of offence, and defensively, they've got big, strong guys on the back end and a good goalie.'
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The Abbotsford Canucks open their Calder Cup title quest Friday in Charlotte, N.C. with rookie head coach Manny Malhotra in the spotlight. He has been widely saluted for a seamless transition to the demanding position and has a confidant in Green to live in the career moment and not dwell on the future. Green knows you have to look before you leap. Timing should be everything for Malhotra. What would Green tell the 45-year-old Malhotra as he preps to face the Checkers in the AHL championship? Malhotra served as a Canucks assistant to Green for three seasons before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in the same capacity. He was also a Canucks centre for 159 games over three NHL seasons. That's a pretty good book of work. Any advice, Travis? 'Doesn't look like he needs much right now,' Green chuckled Wednesday during an interview with Postmedia. 'Just keep doing what he's doing. He's obviously doing a hell of a job. I'm not giving him advice. He doesn't need it. I just sent him a note the other day to wish him luck and congratulate him on getting to the finals. 'I didn't know Manny before I got to Vancouver, but I consider him a good friend now. I'm happy and really proud of him.' That's where time can become a factor. Malhotra is the talk of the town as a hot NHL bench-boss prospect. He was a finalist here to replace the departed Rick Tocchet , but the Canucks pivoted to Adam Foote. That didn't stop speculation. As soon as Pete DeBoer was dismissed by the Dallas Stars on Friday, one betting site had Malhotra as a 3-to-1 favourite to supplant the veteran head coach. But the Stars have five key unrestricted free-agent forwards north of 30 years in age. The better bet would probably be a proven NHL bench boss to finally get Dallas over the hump and into the Stanley Cup Finals. Then again, if the Stars braintrust was curious about Malhotra, he was down the road in Cedar Park, Texas last week for three games against the parent club's AHL affiliate in the Western Conference final series. Green once thought he had a serious shot at a Anaheim Ducks vacancy, and an opening with the Colorado Avalanche, the summer before he signed in Vancouver. Patience paid off. He could have also leapt at assistant NHL posts long before leaving Utica. However, he stayed put for two more seasons after that Calder Cup Finals run in 2015. 'It's not a race,' stressed Green. 'I know that personally, and even going back to junior (Portland, WHL), I went there to learn to coach. It's much like making the NHL as a player. It take years of working on your craft. Same thing as coaching. Manny was a great hire by the Canucks. 'You're seeing between Ryan Johnson (Abbotsford general manager and Canucks AGM) and Manny two guys who will be a GM and coach in the (NHL) at one point.' Victoria native Spencer Carbery, 43, turned his second season running the Washington Capitals bench in 2024-25 into the Jack Adams Award. He was a unanimous winner as the league's top head coach over runner-up Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets. Green finished sixth. Carbery's acknowledgement came after doing predatory work as a Leafs assistant for two seasons and earlier running an AHL bench with the Hershey Bears for three seasons. The Capitals went 51-22-9 this season, improved by 20 points, and won a Stanley Cup playoff series for the first time since 2018. They finished second in goals per game (3.49) in the regular season after being ranked 28th last season (2.63). They were also tied for eighth in goals against per game (2.79) after tied for 16th in 2023-24 (3.07). Washington was fifth on the penalty kill (82.0 per cent), first in comeback wins (25), and tied for first in road points (53). 'A lot of (NHL) coaches have come through the AHL,' noted Green. 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