The Memorial Cup thread

[juliansteed]

Tomas Jurco ties the game with 3:27 to go. He also set up the Sea Dogs 1st goal with a nice play. He was pretty quiet in the Q finals but has been stepping up his game in this tournament.

 

[juliansteed]

Huberdeau scored in overtime to clinch a berth in the Memorial Cup final game on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what type of lineup the Dogs dress tomorrow night for a "meaningless" game for them against Kootenay.

 

[juliansteed]

So there are now 2 games left in the round-robin and this is the situation. Saint John has clinched a bye to the finals with the win because the worst they can now finish is 2-1. 1 of Owen Sound or Missisauga will finish 2-1 because they are each 1-1 and have yet to play each other. But the Sea Dogs have beaten both of them so they hold the tie-breaker.

So if Saint John beats Kootenay tomorrow then Kootenay is out and the Mississauga vs Owen Sound game will be somewhat meaningless other than momentum and who gets to be the "hometeam" (last change etc.) as they will meet in the semis.

But SJ is likely to play their backup goalie and give a few key players some rest that might have been rushed back a bit from injuries. Not to mention they are playing back to back games and just went to OT in the 1st game. So the 0-2 Ice beating the 2-0 Sea Dogs is a very real possibility as far as I'm concerned. Even with full line-ups, who knows what could happen? If Kootenay wins then the winner of the Mississauga vs Owen Sound game goes to the semi-finals and the loser plays Kootenay in a tie-breaker to see who gets the other spot in the semis. The head to head tie breaker only comes into play for ranking teams that are already moving on. It is not used to decide who gets to move on and who is eliminated. They play a tie-breaking game for that.

 

[dash]

Tremendous hockey game between Saint John and Owen Sound tonight...Don't let the final score deceive you, this was an exciting game and both goalies played great between the pipes. These two teams are proving to be the class of this tourney and I could definitely see them meeting in the final.

 

[juliansteed]

I expect to see Owen Sound again in the finals as well but you never know. Anything can happen in a single game elimination tournament. Barring any further injuries, both teams should be healthier for that game too.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

It would be nice if Huberdeau would curtail is heroics a bit. If he keeps this up there's now chance he makes it to 5.

 

[juliansteed]

It would be nice if Huberdeau would curtail is heroics a bit. If he keeps this up there's now chance he makes it to 5.

I was thinking the same thing. In which case there would less of a chance of him returning to the Sea Dogs next year when they are expected to challenge again. But if that's the price of winning the Memorial Cup this year then so be it.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I was thinking the same thing. In which case there would less of a chance of him returning to the Sea Dogs next year when they are expected to challenge again. But if that's the price of winning the Memorial Cup this year then so be it.

I think it depends on who drafts him. If Florida takes him I think he'd be a lock to start the season in the NHL. To say offense isn't a strong point for the Panthers is an UNDERSTATEMENT. New Jersey doesn't have a reason to rush him. Neither do the Islanders. If he earns a spot on the roster duing training camp, fine. If not send him back.

The way Huberdeau is playing right now he could find himself as high as 2nd overall.

 

[juliansteed]

Yes that is why I'm selfishly hoping that he goes 4th or later. But it would be great for him if he was able to go higher and make the jump to the NHL right away.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Yes that is why I'm selfishly hoping that he goes 4th or later. But it would be great for him if he was able to go higher and make the jump to the NHL right away.

At this point I think Huberdeau could go in the top 3. What he does at the combine & during the interview process will be important though.

 

[Destroydacre]

Huberdeau scored in overtime to clinch a berth in the Memorial Cup final game on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what type of lineup the Dogs dress tomorrow night for a "meaningless" game for them against Kootenay.

This will be the 4th year in a row where game 5 is between a 2-0 team already in the final and has a chance to eliminate the 0-2 team.

2010: Windsor eliminates Moncton, Windsor wins the final
2009: Kelowna loses to Windsor, Windsor beats Kelowna in the final
2008: Spokane eliminates Gatineau, Spokane wins the final

Based on that, I'd say Saint John should play their top lineup (sitting anyone who needs it because of injury) and eliminate Kootenay tonight rather than letting them hang around.

 

[Destroydacre]

Also I'd just like to say how disappointed I am with the NHL network's coverage of the Memorial Cup in the United States. In the past few years they've shown all the games live. Now I know they're showing pre game NHL stuff, and that's fine and I'm not upset about them having to tape delay games. But at least show the game in it's entirety. They cut out about 4 mins from each period in this morning's broadcast and then they cut the first 12 and a half minutes of the overtime. I mean come on it's OVERTIME IN THE MEMORIAL CUP! You really telling me they couldn't have cut off one replay of on the fly to show the whole game? I was pretty pissed. Tonight's game won't be live either, but hopefully there will be an internet feed I can follow. Better than missing out on 25 minutes of the game.

 

[dash]

Also I'd just like to say how disappointed I am with the NHL network's coverage of the Memorial Cup in the United States. In the past few years they've shown all the games live. Now I know they're showing pre game NHL stuff, and that's fine and I'm not upset about them having to tape delay games. But at least show the game in it's entirety. They cut out about 4 mins from each period in this morning's broadcast and then they cut the first 12 and a half minutes of the overtime. I mean come on it's OVERTIME IN THE MEMORIAL CUP! You really telling me they couldn't have cut off one replay of on the fly to show the whole game? I was pretty pissed. Tonight's game won't be live either, but hopefully there will be an internet feed I can follow. Better than missing out on 25 minutes of the game.

Everybody loves Heidi!!

 

[dash]

Kootenay wins 5-4 in OT on a disputed goal (the play was clearly offside/cleared the zone), but the linesman missed the call.

All four teams are still alive.

 

[juliansteed]

This will be the 4th year in a row where game 5 is between a 2-0 team already in the final and has a chance to eliminate the 0-2 team.

2010: Windsor eliminates Moncton, Windsor wins the final
2009: Kelowna loses to Windsor, Windsor beats Kelowna in the final
2008: Spokane eliminates Gatineau, Spokane wins the final

Based on that, I'd say Saint John should play their top lineup (sitting anyone who needs it because of injury) and eliminate Kootenay tonight rather than letting them hang around.

Believe it or not, but this was the 1st post-season game in the Sea Dogs 6 year franchise history in which Simon Despres did not play. Of course they missed the playoffs during the 1st 2 expansion seasons which is what allowed them to pick Despres 1st overall in 2007. I'm fine with him getting a rest for this game as he has been playing with a cold or some type of minor illness. I'm hearing Jacob DeSerres' status is similar which is quite surprising considering how well he played last night. Also Michael Kirkpatrick, who was once thought to be done for the season, still seems to be feeling the effects of a shoulder injury. 3rd line role player (and sometimes 2nd liner due to injuries) Dannick Gauthier has had a good post-season but is a bit banged up so he got the night off as well. So I'm fine with those guys getting some rest which complies with what you were saying. If they had an extra body to spare Zack Phillips might have gotten the night off as well. The Sea Dogs appear to have managed to escape this game without injury and rumour is Steven Anthony should be ready to go by Sunday so with the exception of a 4th line rookie who was often a healthy scratch anyway, I suspect the Sea Dogs to be completely healthy for Sunday's finals.

Also as I try to look for more positives, losing this game isn't so bad for the Sea Dogs. Either way they were still going to need 1 more win on Sunday to win the Memorial Cup and either way any of their potential opponents are capable of beating them and vice-versa. The teams that should be most disappointed in tonights results are the 2 OHL teams. Now their final game has significance beyond determining who gets last change in the semis, so they won't have the same luxury that the Sea Dogs had tonight of resting certain players. The loser will have to play 1 more game if they want to make it to the finals.

Of course you still play and coach to win but it seems as though the worst case consequence for resting some players with nagging injuries/illnesses isn't so bad in this case. Not to mention the Sea Dogs have not lost 2 games in a row since September when many key players around the league were still attending pro camps. Of course Kootenay could come back and do the same thing that Windsor did 2 years ago but if that happens then they will absolutely deserve to be Memorial Cup champs.

 

[dash]

The teams that should be most disappointed in tonights results are the 2 OHL teams. Now their final game has significance beyond determining who gets last change in the semis, so they won't have the same luxury that the Sea Dogs had tonight of resting certain players. The loser will have to play 1 more game if they want to make it to the finals.

You hit the nail right on the head julian...I mean, we'll never know what may have happebed in OT if the right call was made (maybe Kooteany still goes onto victory, but now the loser of tomorrow's game has to play the Ice and has to do it on a back-to-back as well).

 

[dash]

Mississauga is in the semi-final game and await the winner of Owen Sound and Kootenay after a 3-1 win over the Attack tonight.

Majors top Attack to clinch spot in Memorial Cup semi-final

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Mississauga is in the semi-final game and await the winner of Owen Sound and Kootenay after a 3-1 win over the Attack tonight.

Majors top Attack to clinch spot in Memorial Cup semi-final

I saw a highlight of Cizikas going off the ice with some help. Am I right to assume he's okay?

 

[Destroydacre]

Question for the hockey think tank about something that came to my notice recently. Looking at the boxscore for the Owen Sound/Kootenay game I noticed that McNabb got the major for elbowing Hishon at 14:25 of the third period. Now that's not noteworthy, but if you look a few lines up under the penalty summary, you'll notice Hishon got a double minor for roughing at 12:09 of the third period. So that begs the question (assuming the box score is right of course) what was Hishon doing on the ice? Now I'm not justifying the hit by McNabb here, just curious, it seems to me that Hishon should have been in the box during that time. Unfortunately I've deleted my recording of the game so I can't go back and look, but does anyone know if the box score really is correct? Something seems to be amiss here.

 

[puckhead]

One of those roughings was offset by Czerwonka, so someone else served that 2?
I think a distinction is made between a double minor for roughing (ie... serve 4 minutes) and two distinct penalty calls at the same stoppage (even if they are both for rouging).

that's the only theory I can come up with, anyways.