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Yorkton hockey players are WHL champs

Turner Ottenbreit, Zack Andrusiak and Ethan Bear help Seattle win title
thunderbirds
The Seattle Thunderbirds are shown here after their victory in Regina at the Brandt Centre. This is the first WHL championship in franchise history. Photo from Twitter.

The Seattle Thunderbirds are the 2017 WHL champions.

The Thunderbirds defeated the Regina Pats in the sixth game of the championship series on Sunday, May 14 in Regina. The Thunderbirds came back from a two-goal deficit with less than six minutes remaining to force the OT period. The Thunderbirds’ Alexander Ture scored the game winner about half way through the OT period. The final score was 4-3.

This is the first championship title in the team’s history, and some Yorkton players helped them make that history.  

Turner Ottenbreit and Zack Andrusiak are both Yorkton natives, and Ethan Bear is from Ochapowace.

Ottenbreit started his hockey career in Yorkton, moving through the ranks from bantam AA to midget AAA before his WHL career started.

Bear spent one year playing on Yorkton’s midget AAA team before he headed to the WHL.

Because of this win, the Thunderbirds move on to the Memorial Cup in Windsor, Ontario. In the round-robin tournament, they’ll face the Erie Otters (OHL), the Saint John Seadogs (QMJHL) and host team the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) for the Canadian Hockey League Championship. The Memorial Cup starts on Friday, May 19. Seattle’s first game of the tournament will be on Saturday against the Otters.