The Memorial Cup begins on Friday, and Vancouver Canucks prospect Parker Alcos is excited for his Kelowna Rockets to up their physical play as they host this year’s prestigious tournament that decides the top junior team in Canada.
Alcos was traded to the Rockets back in January after spending parts of four seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings. Alcos is a 6’3”, right-shot defenceman who the Canucks picked in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. His strengths on the ice are his skating ability, long reach, and good stick in the corners.
This will be Alcos’ final season in the CHL, as he plans to move on to the NCAA next season and play for Quinnipiac.
The Rockets were eliminated by the Everett Silvertips in the WHL playoffs earlier this year, but are this year’s Memorial Cup hosts. The last time Kelowna hosted the Memorial Cup was 2004, and they ended up winning the tournament after being eliminated from the WHL playoffs by guess who... the Everett Silvertips.
Alcos says that the group is quite aware of the 2004 season, but knows they have different goals and areas to improve on than the 2004 team. It’s cool to know the history, but his group wants to come into the Memorial Cup with fresh bodies ready to ramp up from the opening puck drop.
“We’ve taken this time in the weeks we have to improve a lot of the side of the game that we need to work on, like power play and just the individual skills, so we’ve had a lot of time to work on that to help us and transition it to the Memorial Cup,” said Alcos.
“Just being more physical overall has been a big factor, and playing the body has been one of the big, big keys for me to work on over this break.”
Alcos has been speaking with Daniel and Henrik Sedin as development coaches. Though they have been busy becoming Co-Presidents of the organization, Alcos has enjoyed having them as a sounding board since he was drafted.
The excitement around Kelowna has been mounting for the Memorial Cup, and Alcos says he is beginning to feel it around the rink.
Alcos will not be the only Canucks prospect in attendance. Gabe Chiarot, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2025 draft, swept the OHL final with his Kitchener Rangers.
The Rangers are a powerhouse team coming out of the OHL, and Chiarot has played a strong two-way game with his aggressive playstyle, adding five goals and six assists for 11 points in 18 playoff games.
The Memorial Cup begins on Friday, May 22nd, with the two Canucks prospects facing off in the opening game of the tournament.
Be sure to follow along on the Canucks Insider social channels for updates on our prospects.
