The Memorial Cup moved to a four-team format in 1983.
Of the three leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League (WHL), none have produced more Memorial Cup champions than the Western Hockey League (WHL).
Since the Memorial Cup switched to the four-team format in 1983, a WHL team has won the tournament on 16 occasions. The Ontario Hockey League has had 12 championships, while the Quebex Major Junior Hockey League has produced eight.
This is the 37th year with the four team format, so more than half of CHL champions during that time have come from the western league.
The Edmonton Oil Kings won the 2014 Memorial Cup championship with a 6-3 win over the Guelph Storm.
Those numbers might be surprising, especially if you’ve only been watching over the last ten years or so.
In the last decade, the 2014 Edmonton Oil Kings are the only WHL team to win the Memorial Cup. The Oil Kings beat a highly favoured Guelph Storm team to win.
Since then, the WHL champ has gone 2-15 with both those wins courtesy of Kelowna in 2015. The Rockets fell to Oshawa in overtime in the final that year, and the west has been winless ever since.
It’s been the opposite case in the Q, who’s champion has won eight Memorial Cups since 1983, four of which have come since 2011.
