The Attack and Majors are in the Memorial Cup but they are after more hardware.
Like any other major championship, junior hockey's Memorial Cup is prone to its fair share of clichés.
When players and coaches speak about the defining moment in a season, the MasterCard Memorial Cup is often mentioned. All eyes are on the big prize when the regular season begins in September and as a result, the quotations tend to blend together throughout the country.
"Our goal is to win the Memorial Cup," they will all say in the first few weeks of the season.
Sure, not many teams strive for mediocrity and admit defeat before their blades hit the ice.
As each tournament approaches, the host team dusts off another tired cliché and uses it as their own. Since their participation in the tournament is assured regardless of whether they win their league title, another obvious statement always finds its way in reporter's notebooks.
"We want to go in the front door," members of the host team will say.
Sure, no one wants to concede losing a series is not all that important when a prestigious tournament awaits. But amid the repetitive answers and the tired clichés is that rare time when an honest answer changes the complexion of an interview.
Leave it to Dave Cameron for keeping members of the media on their toes.
The Mississauga St. Michael's Majors head coach was asked if there was much emphasis on actually winning the Ontario Hockey League championship, given both his Majors and the Owen Sound Attack will be in the tournament regardless. Both teams could opt for a safer approach now that their participation in the Memorial Cup is assured so that their chances aren't jeopardized through injury or suspension.
In true Cameron fashion, he perked the ears of reporters with his answer.
"If I had my choice between the two, I would take the OHL championship," he said. "That's how valuable I think it is."
While it may come off as a variation of the often-used comment about going through the front door, Cameron was then asked why the OHL championship trumped the trophy many believed was junior hockey's holy grail. He points to the familiarity among teams within his league and the one-game, winner-takes-all format of the national championship.
"I think the Memorial Cup's more of a crapshoot," he said. "Sudden death games and you really don't know the opposition as well."
It's more than just lip service. In addition to the fact neither franchise has won a league title, history would certainly indicate the Rogers OHL Championship series could be one for the ages.
The Kitchener Rangers were the last OHL team to host the Memorial Cup three years ago. Few in Kitchener would have cared if the Rangers had lost the OHL final, but still managed to win the Memorial Cup on home ice.
The Rangers and the Belleville Bulls were determining what some may feel to be a consolation prize in the league final with the Memorial Cup right around the corner. Kitchener won the first three games of the series and seemed poised to sweep the Bulls when the tables turned completely.
Belleville won the next three before the Rangers finally found a way to capture the OHL title in Game 7. The result of the extended series meant far less preparation time, since Game 7 was played just four days before the tournament started.
The Rangers seemingly lost something during the final playoff series that they never fully regained in the Memorial Cup. Kitchener finished third in the round robin, but still managed to reach the final. The Rangers wound up losing to the Spokane Chiefs in the final.
A year earlier, the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League hosted the tournament. The Giants, like the Rangers a year later, went to a decisive seventh game for the league championship. Vancouver ended up losing to the Medicine Hat Tigers, a team they would eventually beat in the Memorial Cup final, in double-overtime of Game 7.
The truth is, there's more to lose by developing bad habits and a false sense of security than there is to win by escaping the final series unscathed.
Sure, a costly injury that occurs during the playoff run in a year that a tournament berth is guaranteed seems like a bad move in the big picture.
At the end of the day, losing is just bad for business.
"I don't think any coach goes into a year not wanting to win," Owen Sound bench boss Mark Reeds said.
"The Memorial Cup - obviously very exciting to be involved in it - but our No. 1 focus and priority has to be on playing the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors on Tuesday night," Reeds concluded.
One thing is certain: when the puck drops in this series, both teams will take it game-by-game and give it 110 per cent.
