The matchup is set for the 2020 Gump Cup: the El Dorado Lynx and Boston Banshees will face off in a best-of-seven series to determine this year’s top team.
The league will crown a champ other than the Salem Sabercats for the first time since 2016. El Dorado last won it all in 2012, while Boston is looking for its first championship since 1998, back when it was the Kansas City Copperheads and under different ownership.
Despite the long drought, the Banshees have an air of destiny about them heading into the series. They swept both Vancouver (no real surprise) and Delta (a much bigger one) on the road to the finals, following a magnificent 57-17-8 regular season that saw them lose just five games on the road. Still, the team is no doubt haunted by its two straight finals losses in 2017 and 2018.
The Lynx, meanwhile, came into the playoffs as the third seed in their conference, and gutted out wins against the higher seed in two straight seven-game series. And they’re doing it on the backs of unlikely heroes like Derek Ryan (who leads the team with 15 points) and Jeff Petry. As the underdogs, they may be able to take the Banshees by surprise.
The series begins this week in Boston.
Gump Worsley Memorial Hockey League 