Patrick King

BRANDON, Man. -- Another year, another disappointing result for the Québec Major Junior Hockey League representatives.

The Moncton Wildcats seemingly had all the ingredients needed to end their league’s MasterCard Memorial Cup drought, yet they are on the verge of a familiar fate. A QMJHL team has been the first eliminated in this tournament in each of the previous three years and that streak is looking secure again this year.

Moncton’s 4-0 loss to the host Brandon Wheat Kings on Sunday brings the QMJHL representatives one step closer to the first exodus of this year’s tournament thanks to an 0-2 start. The Wildcats now have the daunting task of needing a win in their final round robin game against the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires on Tuesday.

If there’s a positive for the Wildcats, it’s that last year Windsor became the first team in Memorial Cup history to win the championship after starting with two losses.

"The Spitfires did it last year," said forward Kelsey Tessier. "I don’t know why the Moncton Wildcats can’t do it."

Many of the Wildcats players spoke of Windsor’s rally in last year’s tournament, which coincidentally would need to begin against that same team.

But hockey isn’t meant to be coincidental and the Wildcats are in a worse position than the Spitfires a year ago. Windsor went up against a team with nothing to gain in their final round robin game (against the Kelowna Rockets), which presumably could still happen for Moncton if Windsor beats Calgary on Monday.

The difference now is that the Spitfires, unlike the Rockets last year, won’t be taking that game lightly. Having escaped from that huge hole, Windsor knows just how dangerous it can be to give a team life and momentum in this tournament.

There was a time when the QMJHL was a constant threat to the other two leagues in this tournament.

But ever since 2006 when both the host Wildcats and Québec Remparts made it to the final, no QMJHL team has advanced past the semifinal.

The only team from their league to make it as far as the semis was the Drummondville Voltigeurs a year ago when the tournament was hosted by Rimouski.

As such, with two teams from the QMJHL, they were guaranteed at least one would make it that far.

The Western Hockey League holds the historical edge in tournament championships. Since 1972 when the tournament adopted a round-robin format, a WHL team has hoisted junior hockey’s biggest prize 18 times. The Ontario Hockey League follows with 13, more than double the seven wins by QMJHL teams.

Although the Canadian Hockey League’s eastern-most league has not had a finals appearance in three years, it was once a common occurrence. Prior to the current three- year drought, the QMJHL had been in the title game seven straight times. However, just two of those teams -- the 2000 Rimouski Océanic and the 2006 Québec Remparts -- won the championship.

One of the storylines emerging from this tournament is that the Wildcats more closely resemble a WHL team than a QMJHL team. Moncton nearly beat the WHL champion Calgary Hitmen on Saturday, playing a better WHL-style. Momentum and a bad bounce caught up to the Wildcats and now they’re a loss away from being shown the door.

Moncton head coach, Danny Flynn noted the significant difference in population between the three leagues, calling it, "a challenge for Québec."

"The teams in this league and this tournament are very strong," Flynn said. "We don’t see teams in the Québec league with this much skill and size and depth as we do here."

The population base affects the overall talent pool from which teams in the QMJHL can draw upon. However, one can’t help but wonder how different the outcome of this year’s MasterCard Memorial Cup might have been had the Wildcats not been without Nicolas Deschamps.

Deschamps finished tied atop the league in scoring during the regular season and suffered a high ankle sprain in the semifinals of the QMJHL playoffs. Moncton defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs in the final without Deschamps, who has also missed both games of the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

"It might be different," Tessier concurred. "We definitely miss him a lot, but things happen and we can’t make those excuses."

"That’s the hand we were dealt and we have to deal with it," echoed teammate Randy Cameron.

The team is also without Russian forward Kirill Kabanov. Like many Russians, he’s an enigma who eventually chose playing for his country over his club team, and was then subsequently released before the under-18 tournament for what his coach deemed not being a team player.

Regardless, Deschamps and Kabanov are not available for the goal-challenged Wildcats in this tournament, and neither will likely be suiting up on Tuesday.

Injuries and bounces are part of the game and unless the Wildcats can repeat the Spitfires’ feat from a year ago, the QMJHL will continue to search for its first MasterCard Memorial Cup since 2006.