BY PATRICK KING
sportsnet.ca
BRANDON -- MasterCard Memorial Cup host Brandon named Andrew Hayes the Wheat Kings' starting goaltender for Friday's opening game against the Windsor Spitfires.
All MasterCard Memorial Cup games can be seen live on Sportsnet, and live via webcast on sportsnet.ca
The Wheat Kings had kept a poker-face hours before the tournament kicked off. Brandon head coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon wouldn't name his starting goaltender to the media following Friday's morning skate. Jacob De Serres started the majority of the playoff games and remained on the ice 20 minutes longer in practice than Andrew Hayes this morning.
"Oh, it's one of these interviews," McCrimmon said when asked who will start the first game of the Memorial Cup. "We don't (name) our starting goaltenders until we have our team meetings, which we haven't had yet so we'll address that at that time."
Like the goaltending situation, Hamonic was just as coy about which Windsor Spitfires line he would be matching up against. As one of the top shutdown defenders in the Canadian Hockey League, he's likely going to see plenty of Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique and Zack Kassian.
"There's a lot of speculation," Hamonic said. "If it is up to me, I will be playing against the other team's top line, but that's the coach's decision and we'll find out at game time."
The Spitfires' skate lasted just 20 minutes, which is not unusual for the Ontario Hockey League champions. Kassian felt confident after the skate despite having injured his left arm during the playoff run.
"Yeah, I'm feeling great," he said. "That sweep (over Barrie in the OHL final) definitely helped and got the well-deserved rest and ready to go here."
Windsor's enforcer, Adam Wallace, will be available after being suspended in Game 3 of the OHL final. His suspension did not carry over to the Memorial Cup.
Many of the family members of Windsor management skated after the Spitfires exited the ice. Kerby Rychel, son of general manager Warren Rychel, was on the ice wearing his Detroit Belle Tire's uniform. His OHL rights are owned by the Barrie Colts who drafted him in the first round of the priority selection this year.
These two teams have plenty of offensive firepower, which could produce a high-scoring first game.
"Who knows," Brandon forward Brayden Schenn said. "We're not looking to do that. We're not looking to have a 9-8 score, but anything's possible."
"Sometimes what might appear obvious and you expect sometimes goes the other way," McCrimmon said. "I think both teams are good offensive teams, but I think likely are better defensively sometimes than what they are given credit for."
