1981 WCLH Playoffs

 

The matchups look promising to many fans, as it could be an even series. Once again, it's an international style like last season. The top seed from the west Lethbridge Cougars takes on 4th seed east Brandon Buffalos, 2nd seed west Abbotsford Forest Kings is ready to defend their Jade Trophy title as their opponent for round one is 3rd seed east is the Portage la Prairie Magic, 1st seed east Kenora Pioneers are hoping to get themselves to the next round, but they have to go through 4th seed west Moose Jaw Wings. Lastly, it's the battle of 1st timers as 2nd seed east Swift Current Battalion takes on 3rd seed west Billings Trains, which many would see who will get their first playoff series win.

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 4th east Brandon Buffalos

In the first two games of the series, the Cougars won both in a blowout way until the Buffalos took game three, followed by game four overtime win, but in game five, the Cougars blew the Buffalos away with a 5-1 victory, then the Cougars shut the Buffalos out from scoring any goals to win both game six and the series 3-0, meaning that the Lethbridge Cougars are moving on to the 2nd round.

 

2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. 3rd east Portage la Prairie Magic

In game one, the Magic had a 1-0 lead throughout the game until the Forest Kings Ryan Wedgewood scored to tie the game with 1:09 left in the game; then, headed into overtime, and Jack Lazar scored the overtime winner for the Forest Kings, after that the Forest Kings kept on the gas petal as they went on winning the last three games to sweep the Magic in four games and advance to the 2nd round.

1st east Kenora Pioneers vs. 4th west Moose Jaw Wings

The Pioneers may have won the series in five games, but they had to win it the hard way. In 4 of the 5 games, the Wings had the lead for most of the games. "We can't play like this; if we don't play the right game, we are done for," Kenora Pioneers coach Chuck Patton said during a post-practice press conference. 

2nd east Swift Current Battalion vs. 3rd west Billings Trains

Both teams were willing to do anything to win their first series, and both went back and forth all the way to game seven at Swift Current. With 0:30 left in the third period, Denny Holbrook scored the tie-breaker as the Swift Current Battalion won and headed to the 2nd round for the first time since 1960 when they won the Jade Trophy championship as North Battleford Crusaders.

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 2nd east Swift Current Battalion

The Cougars took the first two games, but the Battalion took the next two games to even the series. In the last two games of the series were all Cougars as Jack Burk scored five goals within those previous two games to lead the Cougars to a series win in six games and advance to the Jade Trophy championship for the first time since 1976.

1st east Kenora Pioneers vs. 2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings

Last year was for the Jade Trophy championship; now, this year, the winner of this series will go to this year's Jade Trophy championship. This series was a back-and-forth; four of those games were blowouts. In game seven were goals galore until the end of the third period tie at 5-5. After two overtimes, there still nothing was what everyone thought that the Pioneers forward Keith Zachary scored the overtime winner, but the referees called it off as the replay shows that he scored 0.2 seconds too late, 12:07 into the third overtime Forest Kings Ryan Wedgewood got a chance to ended with a breakaway and scored the winner as the Abbotsford Forest Kings win the series and headed to the Jade Trophy championship for the 2nd year in a row with a 6-5 3OT win.

WCLH Jade Trophy Finals

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings

One team is the defending Jade Trophy champion, and the other hoping to make its anniversary season more special. In game one, the Cougars took a big 3-1 win thanks to rookie Karl Fuhr and his 2 goals and 3 points. In game two, Jack Lazar made 3 points, one containing a goal that was a winner as the Forest Kings even the series with a 3-2 overtime win. The Forest Kings had a big 3-1 lead in game three, but in the third period Karl Fuhr scored 2 key goals to tie the game, and Wes Roy scored the game-winner 4-3 to take the series lead. Game four was tight as ever as the score after the first period was 1-1, and it was like that until the second overtime as Karl Fuhr scored the O/T winner. It was back and forth between the two in game five as 1:24 left in the third period in a 3-3 tie game. Ed Bram had an open net to score for the Forest Kings to keep their season alive, but the Cougars goalie Shawn Hoff who had been ups and downs with the team, made one of greatest save of all time; thanks to that, Jack Burk took the advantage and took the pack, made some moves and pass it to Karl Fuhr and he scored the tie-breaker as the clock hit zero the game is over, and the Lethbridge Cougars win game five 4-3 winning the series 4 games to 1 and took home their 8th Jade Trophy title in team's WCLH history and headed to Waterloo, Ontario for the 1981 Valor Cup tournament.