Memorial Cup Format

The Windsor Spitfires won their second straight Memorial Cup on Sunday night beating the host Brandon Wheat Kings by a score of 9-1 in the final; a real barn burner of an affair.

The Wheat Kings qualified for the final by beating the WHL Champion Calgary Hitmen in an overtime thriller. The Wheat Kings qualified for the tournament by having the right address.

The lopsided final along with Hitmen loss only further fuels the debate about the format of the Memorial Cup Tournament. The Hitmen won the WHL Championship and the Ed Chynoweth Cup back in early May. They beat Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, Brandon and Tri City in best of seven series.

Yet they lose a single game to the host team and it costs them a chance to compete for the biggest prize in junior hockey.

Should the format be altered? Should the host team be allowed to play in the tournament despite not winning anything prior to the tournament? Is this a fair assessment of who the best team is?

No other major sports league has such a weird format.

For instance, to be a little dramatic, the Miami Dolphins don’t get to play in the Super Bowl every year just because the game is being played in the city? Nor do the Toronto Argonauts get a free pass to the Grey Cup just because it is being played in the Rogers Center.

If the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) really wants to find out who the best junior hockey team is, they should have all the champions play in a tournament, and that is it.

From 1972 through to 1982, that is how things were done. However, in 1983 they switched the format to include a pre-determined fourth team; the host city.

A way to possibly attract more fans the stadium, most likely. More fans results in more revenue for the league. It was an easy solution; however it diminishes the merit of the tournament.

This should be a tournament to decide the absolute best junior team, and therefore the teams involved should all of have won their respective leagues; every team, not three of four.

Let’s us rewind back to 2007 when the Vancouver Giants won the Memorial Cup, as the host city, beating the Medicine Hat Tigers, the WHL Champion, 3-1 in the championship game. Vancouver lost the Ed Chynoweth Cup to the Tigers in seven games in the WHL playoffs.

Is it fair to call Vancouver the ‘best’ team in junior hockey in 2007 because they beat Medicine Hat in a single game, yet Medicine Hat bested the Giants over a gruelling seven game series?

I do not think so.

The same could be said for this year when Brandon beat Calgary in the semi final game. The Hitmen beat Brandon in five games, albeit close affairs for the most part, in the Eastern Conference Final. Calgary then demolished the Wheaties 5-1 in the final round robin game of the Memorial Cup. This all led to a Jay Fehr overtime winner that sent Brandon to the Memorial cup Final, and sent Calgary on plane back home.

I am not saying that Brandon is not a good hockey team, but do they deserve to be in a tournament that should be a ‘tournament of champions’ when they are not really the champions of anything.

I think the format of this tournament should be reviewed, and if it does not change, which is probably will not, the credibility of the competition weakens dramatically.

Hitmen bow out of Memorial Cup

The Hitmen lost 5-4 in overtime to the host city Brandon Wheat Kings to officially end their chances at winning the Memorial Cup. Despite not winning the Memorial Cup, the Hitmen should still hold their heads high as they took this city on a fantastic ride.

Congratulations on the season boys! You did this city proud!

GO HITMEN GO!

Hitmen fall to Spitfires

The Hitmen lost their first game at the 2010 Memorial Cup tonight to the Windsor Spitfires.

The loss means Calgary does not clinch a spot in the final and must play either Brandon or Moncton to punch their ticket to the final.

Here are some post game comments from both teams.

Hitmen win Ed Chynoweth Cup!

Hit of the Game

Zak Stebner lays out Americans assistant captain Kruise Reddick right beside the Hitmen bench.

Save of the Game

Martin Jones makes a blocker save on the Amerks Patrick Holland with 7 minutes left in 1st to keep the game tied at 1-1.

Post Game Commentary

Martin Jones - MVP of WHL Final

"We didn’t want it to be easy. We wanted them to push hard and for it to be a battle. It’s just an awesome feeling now, knowing that we beat them at their best."

"We’re just so excited right now. We are going to soak this in for a couple of days then back to work."

Ian Schultz - Hitmen Co-Captain

"It hasn’t really sunk in yet, I can’t even put it into words. It really makes us feel like Calgary’s team right now and it’s awesome."

"We were not going to be denied tonight. We said leave it all on the table, there is nothing to save it for. My hat goes off to every single person on this team. We worked as hard as we could for a full sixty minutes. We never gave up and we got rewarded for it."

"To have this many people behind us, it makes it feel like we are really Calgary’s team. My hat goes off to them. For them to come and support us like this, it’s awesome."

Down 3-1 to MJ

"Yeah that was a bit of a wake up call, that first series, we didn’t want to get behind the 8-ball like that but good teams find ways to win, that’s what we did."

"We can still be a little bit sharper, but we are happy with the success so far."

Talk about Martin Jones

"Outstanding, he has been doing it all year, so it’s not too much of a surprise but my hat goes off the kid, he some how makes saves that nobody else in this league can make."

Zak Stebner - Hitmen defenceman

"It’s simply unbelievable."

What was going through your mind the last five minutes?

"I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, I don’t know if anyone noticed out there but I was smiling for the last 5 minutes of the game. It’s just an amazing feeling."

How about winning on home ice?

"It’s unbelievable. Something just didn’t feel right about last game. I was talking to Captain Ian Schultz, it just didn’t feel right. We knew this morning and then coming out to pre-game skate that tonight was the night and we proved it."

Thinking about the Memorial Cup?

"I’m so excited to play against high calibre teams. It is going to be good test for our team."

Matt MacKenzie - Hitmen defenceman

"It’s great. Last year it was pretty devastating, we were on the opposite end. This is definitely a lot nicer."

"It’s great. We had a few big penalty kills, which everybody was laying their bodies on the line. I think right after those, we just knew it was going to happen. Everyone was just in a groove."

About Jones

"He’s been great. After that Moose Jaw series, that was kind of a wake up call for everyone and after that he was pretty much unbeatable on most nights. It’s pretty easy playing in front of him."

Memorial Cup?

"I’ve been kind of thinking about it a little bit, but on game days you got to focus on this. I think the next couple of days I’ll be thinking about it more."

Michael Stone - Hitmen Co-Captain

"It’s nice to finally get it for them. We had that disappointment last year and it’s nice to fix it, I guess you could say."

"We knew they were going to come. Obviously they were fighting for their lives.
They really pushed at the start. We weren’t going to take no for an answer here tonight."

"The two goals were on two good screens where I picked the right spot and I connected with the puck really well."

"It’s a great feeling. It’s nice to see. The disappointment from last year was really hurting me throughout the year. It’s nice to do it not only for the boys here now, but for the boys that missed out on the chance last year. I think they feel like they’re a little bit a part of it as well.
We’ve still got one more thing to win."

Talk about the fans

"It’s amazing. We knew they were going to come out. We didn’t know how many, but we knew they were going to come out and support us no matter how many there were. It’s really nice to see the amount."

Giffen Nyren - Hitmen defenceman

"This is our night. We knew it. We didn’t want to go back to Tri-Cities. Everyone was focused coming to the rink and we knew what we had to do."

"A lot of my friends and family are here. I’ll always remember this moment for the rest of my life. That’s amazing."

"We’ll enjoy this for a couple days and prepare for the bigger one."

Kris Foucault - Hitmen forward

"Eleven years ago I was standing in this spot exactly today, except I was somewhere out there, so it’s very exciting to be down on the ice doing the same thing."

"We did exactly what they did. They went down 3-1 and came back. History’s repeating itself and it feels great."

"It’s definitely exciting. To be on the winning side of this on the ice, it’s actually unbelievable.
It’s exciting either way. This is what we work for."

"The Memorial Cup’s a big thing, but we’ve got to enjoy this right now because this is a huge trophy to win."

Brandon Kozun - Hitmen leading scorer

"It’s a great feeling. It’s unlike anything I’ve experience so far. I’m pretty happy right now. I’m going to savour this moment."

How are you?

"Perfectly fine. I could skate right now if I wanted to. It was mostly precautionary reasons. I’ll be alright."

There’s nothing that’s going to stop you?

"Absolutely not."

Fans?

"Unbelievable. It says a lot about this city, the amount of people that came out to support us. It’s awesome, really awesome."

Mike Williamson - Hitmen Head Coach

"Jonesy was incredible, the guys on the kill did a great job. I think Jonesy played like he expects and that’s why he’s there. He sets a high standard. I think our team has embraced and set a high standard. We’re just very ecstatic to get the opportunity to go to Brandon."

"All of our guys will enjoy this. They’ll already be thinking about how important it is to live in the moment right now, but start to prepare and focus mentally. We’re going to have to be better yet and I think we will be."

"So many guys stepped up. Obviously Jonesy had to weather the storm for us. We were on our heels at times and he was incredible. We got some big, big efforts out of guys that maybe haven’t seen the ice on a regular basis – blocked shots, guys sacrificing. It’s unbelievable."

About Stone

"Any time he gets the chance to shoot the puck, we want him to shoot it. He’s done it all year."

"Any time you have a chance to win the league, it’s a special feeling for the whole group. Obviously with me not coaching the last two years, to come in and get the opportunity was the biggest thing. I owe so much to the Flames and Hitmen for allowing that to happen. The players, it’s just incredible that this group has."

Jim Hiller - Tri City Head Coach

"Not a lot of people thought much of our team early, certainly in the pre-season polls and then we stumbled a little bit at the end. I think people wrote us off going into the playoffs particularly based on the size of our team. I thought we showed tremendous character and will through the playoffs."

"I don’t think we got a lot of bounces in this series. Calgary’s an excellent team. They made us pay when we made our mistakes."

"I thought that was probably our best period of the series and maybe our best game of the series. I didn’t think they had a lot of good chances. They did a really good job this series of finishing when they had chances."

"It certainly is a great achievement. It’s not where we wanted to end up. Based on the age of our team, we’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to and a lot of people with something to prove again next year."

Tri City staves off elimination

Despite being out shot 42-30 by the Calgary Hitmen, the Ti City Americans managed to win game 4 by a score of 4-2.

This sets up a game 5 back in Calgary on Friday night. You do not want to miss this game!

Hitmen take commanding 3-0 series lead

Saves of the Game

Early in the first, Martin Jones made key stops while the Americans were out working the Hitmen. These stops proved crucial as the Hitmen bounced back and grabbed a 3-0 lead after the first period.

Move of the Game

Jimmy Bubnick dangles around Ams defenceman Brock Sutherland to set up Kris Foucault for the ice breaker and his 9th of the post-season. Sutherland is still trying to find out where Jimmy went.


Post-Game Comments

Martin Jones - 29 saves in the win

"We knew they were going to be in desperation mode."

On a sweet pad save

"It was a broken play and I was fortunate enough to get a piece of it."

Amerks in same situation as Hitmen were last year

"We don't want to give a team like that any momentum. They are too dangerous and will run with anything we give them."

Jim Hiller - Americans Head Coach

"We have to get to the net. Guys are frustrated. We have to try and relax."

Hitmen take 2-0 series lead

Here are some quotes from the post-game news conference

Mike Williamson - Hitmen Head Coach

"It was a close game. I thought that we got timely goals and timely saves."

"Tri-City definitely had another level tonight I thought. They won a lot of races to pucks and battles on the boards early in the game especially."

"I think we played well in stretches and better as the game went on. Early on we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be and a lot of that was with the game Tri-City had. We’re happy with where we’re at. We know how good Tri-City is in their own rink. We’re going to have to be that much stronger, that much better going into Tri-City."

"We’ll talk about it. There’s things we have to improve on, there’s always adjustments to make and adjustments to counter that they’re making. We just have to have a businesslike approach and we will."

Peter Kosterman - Hitmen defenceman

How did you find out you were playing?

"I got a text a couple of hours before I headed off to the rink. I think it was sent sooner, but I got it at like one o’clock."

About going into Tri City

"These guys are really good at home, that’s what we have heard. We’ve just got to make sure that we keep to the game plan.”

Giffen Nyren - Hitmen defenceman

About assist on the first goal

"It was huge. I was coming back on a backcheck and it just came back out there, so I turned around and Broda was in the slot. There’s no other guy I’d rather put the puck on his stick than that guy. His shot’s phenomenal."

"Once we got that first goal, our feet started moving a lot more and our team really buckled down and tried (to allow) no turnovers."

Ian Schultz - Hitmen Co-Captain

About a better effort by Americans

"We kind of expected that. They brought it to another level and I think we kind of matched it at the start and then kind of got off our game a little bit."

About the team's penalty killing

"Everybody’s really sacrificing their body right now."

Jim Hiller - Tri-City Head Coach

“The score was closer, obviously. I don’t know for sure, but I thought maybe in last night’s game the play was more even. I thought Calgary had more pressure in our zone tonight than they did last night despite the score.”

“We usually start quick and score the first goal and that, obviously, hasn’t been the case here two nights in a row. We have a break down and again a key goal by them on a turnover. I thought up until that point we were playing pretty well (but) we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and got the building into the game and us on our heels.”

Johnny Lazo - Tri-City goal scoer

Talk about your goal

“I found some time in the slot and just kind of faked and put it upstairs.”

About Hitmen goalie Martin Jones

“He (Jones) is definitely a bigger guy. He’s got the good size, he’s quick. He was on Team Canada for a reason. He’s a phenomenal goaltender. We’ve just got to get more pucks on net and more traffic than we have been.”