One last recap of the year. The thrill of victory and the frustration of defeat.
Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Jared Woolley, Kitchener Rangers, LH Defenseman (164th overall in 2024)
2025-26 Stats: 15 goals, 30 assists, plus-32, 128 PIM in 88 games played
Jared Woolley is a Memorial Cup champion. Again.
The tournament opener set the tone. Woolley buried an insurance goal on a quick one-timer, and had a heavyweight bout with Dawson Gerwing in the 5-0 rout of Kelowna. The sequence that led to the goal had two future Kings going back and forth: Vojtech Cihar had a breakaway chance coming out of the penalty box but couldn’t convert. The puck then went the other way, and Woolley made him and the Rockets pay.
Game 2 brought no offense, but it didn’t need to — Kitchener held Everett to just two goals. In fact, no team cracked that number against the Rangers all tournament. Game 3 featured another Woolley scrap, but it was broken up quickly, as both players went down to the ice. Then came the final, where he scored the game-winner on a bar-down laser to put Kitchener over the top. He finished the tournament with two goals, eight shots, a plus-1 with 12 penalty minutes, and the hardware to show for it.
Woolley ends his junior career with a track record that borders on absurd. Three straight OHL championships, back-to-back Memorial Cups, and a game-winner in the championship game. He’s a sixth-round pick with a first-round résumé. And now, professional hockey in Ontario awaits him.
ABSOLUTE SNIPE BY!!! Up 3-1 and a period away from winning his second straight #MemorialCup pic.twitter.com/W1WLXFHup1
— Alexander Legget (@LeggetNHL) June 1, 2026
Western Hockey League (WHL)
Vojtech Cihar, Kelowna Rockets, Forward (59th overall in 2025)
2025-26 WHL Stats: 18 goals, 26 assists, plus-20, 28 PIM in 43 games played
Kelowna was overmatched in the round robin, going 0-3 and bowing out without advancing. Cihar was held off the scoresheet entirely, going 0/9 on his shots on goal. When the offense wouldn’t come, he leaned into physicality and his defensive game. He delivered hits, forechecked, and tried to create turnovers, but the Rockets were shut out of the tournament regardless of his best efforts on both sides of the ice.
Game 1 had the unbelievable missed chance after being sprung out of the box, and Game 2 brought three high-danger chances in a 3-2 overtime loss to Chicoutimi. Game 3 — a must-win rematch against Everett, the same team that ended Kelowna’s WHL playoff run — saw his best offensive attempts of the tournament: four shots, three of them dangerous. And yet none of them could find the net.
As noted in our last tracker, Kelowna needed a superstar performance from Cihar to have a chance. Unfortunately that didn’t come. However, the talent that produced a point-per-game regular season and a World Juniors MVP isn’t going anywhere, and one quiet week doesn’t overshadow a tremendous year. Whether he returns to Kelowna for a second year or heads to Ontario remains to be seen. But wherever he ends up, he’ll be worth watching.
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