More than 30 NHL prospects will hit the Dow Event Center ice in Saginaw for the 104th Memorial Cup, with fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers getting a bigger sneak peek at their futures.

The four Canadian Hockey League coaches in the 2024 Memorial Cup answer questions at Thursday’s press conference. They are, from left, Chris Lazary (Saginaw), Mark O’Leary (Moose Jaw), Sylvain Favreau (Drummondville) and Dale Hunter (London)

The host Saginaw Spirit start the party, taking on Western Hockey League champion Moose Jaw in the tourney opener at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the Ontario Hockey League-winning London Knights facing QMJHL champion Drummondville in Game 2 at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The round-robin tournament reaches its finale with the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 2.

While Saginaw is not a league champion, the Spirit and London are the only two 50-win teams from the regular season in the tournament. Moose Jaw was 44-21-0-3, while Drummondville was 48-14-5-1. Moose Jaw and Saginaw are making their first appearances in the Memorial Cup.

“It is just another game at the end of the day,” Saginaw coach Chris Lazary said. ”We have a process how we want to play, little things we want to do. As long as we’re hitting those things, to us that’s our focus.

“You can’t look at the stage you’re on. Obviously, we’re playing three championship-caliber teams. You just have to look at how you want to play, the things you want to do. Are you doing those things, and if you are, is that going to lead you to success at the end?”

All four rosters are packed with NHL prospects, including a London team that has 10 NHL-drafted players. Saginaw has nine, Moose Jaw seven and Drummondville five.

There are three Columbus and three Philadelphia prospects taking the ice during the tournament, including Flyers prospects Denver Barkey (London), Oliver Bonk (London) and Alexis Gendron (Drummondville). The Blue Jackets hold the NHL rights to Nolan Lalonde (Saginaw), Denton Mateychuk (Moose Jaw) and Max McCue (London).

The NHL prospect numbers are expected to rise when the NHL holds its 2024 draft June 28-29. Top draft prospects include Saginaw’s Zayne Parekh, London’s Sam Dickinson, London’s Sam O’Reilly, London’s Jared Wooley, Drummondville’s Simon-Pier Brunet, Drummondville’s Peter Pepcik, Moose Jaw’s Pavel McKenzie and Moose Jaw’s Jackson Unger.

Lalonde, who signed as a free agent with Columbus, got the bulk of Saginaw’s playoff starts after No. 1 goalie Andrew Oke suffered a check to the head in the second game of the Spirit’s series against Sault Ste. Marie. Oke, who was 5-0 in the playoffs, did not play the rest of the series against Sault Ste. Marie or in the Western Conference finals loss to London.

But Oke is healthy again, leaving Lazary with a difficult decision.

“Nolan, coming in when Oke got hurt, was phenomenal … an NHL-signed goalie,” Lazary said. “He gave us a chance to win every night in the playoffs. Oke comes back. At the time of his injury, he had some of the best numbers in the league in the playoffs.

“Everybody is saying they feel bad for you, but I love that decision all day. We have an ongoing decision. We’ll find out when we set our roster.”

Saginaw has not played in more than two weeks, dropping Game 6 to London on May 5. But Lazary’s hope of a “healthy” advantage took a detour in the championship series for the other three CHL teams.

In the championship series, all three Memorial Cup teams swept their opponents in four games: London over Oshawa, Drummondville over Baie-Comeau and Moose Jaw over Portland.

“We were hoping every series would go seven games after we were eliminated,” Lazary said. “It’s not really a rest advantage anymore. We were kind of hoping on it. I don’t think rest is going to be an advantage for anybody.”

NHL Prospects in Memorial Cup

Saginaw Spirit

Owen Beck (Montreal Canadiens)

Matyas Sapovaliv (Vegas Golden Knights)

Hunter Haight (Minnesota Wild)

Rodwin Dionicio (Anaheim Ducks)

Joel Willis (Nashville Predators)

Josh Bloom (Vancouver Canucks)

Ethan Hay (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Jorian Donovan (Ottawa Senators)

Nolan Lalonde (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Moose Jaw Warriors

Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken)

Denton Mateychuk (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Brayden Yager (Pittsburg Penguins)

Matthew Savoie (Buffalo Sabres)

Martin Rysavy (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Kalem Parker (Minnesota Wild)

Vojtech Port (Anaheim Ducks)

London Knights

Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Kasper Haltunnen (San Jose Sharks)

Max McCue (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Jacob Julien (Winnipeg Jets)

Denver Barkey (Philadelphia Flyers)

Olliver Bonk (Philadelphia Flyers)

Kaleb Lawrence (Los Angeles Kings)

Landon Sim (St. Louis Blues)

Isaiah George (New York Islanders)

Jackson Edward (Boston Bruins)

Drummondville Voltigeurs

Ethan Gauthier (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Alexis Gendron (Philadelphia Flyers)

Vsevolod Komarov (Buffalo Sabres)

Mikael Huchette (Philadelphia Flyers)

Maveric Lamoureux (Arizona Coyotes)