SASKATOON — The MasterCard Memorial Cup will stay in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as the Halifax Mooseheads became the third straight QMJHL team to win junior hockey’s top prize.
The Mooseheads defeated the Portland Winterhawks 6-4 in the championship final on Sunday. Nathan MacKinnon, the tournament’s top scorer and most valuable player, capped the night with an empty-netter for his hat trick goal en route to the franchise’s first national championship.
“I might not score a bigger goal in my life,” said MacKinnon, who leapt into the bench to celebrate the insurance marker with his teammates. “We’re champions. We’re the best team in Canadian Hockey League.”
MacKinnon enjoyed a five-point night, while linemate Jonathan Drouin had five assists and Martin Frk finished with a goal and two assists.
“They like playing in big games,” head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “They like playing in big games and they want to be difference-makers and tonight they were.”
It was a big moment for the Mooseheads and their fans, who went through a long and sometimes painful rebuild to get to this moment.
“To bring the Memorial Cup to Halifax is something that was just a dream four years ago for us when we started this,” general manager Cam Russell said. “Mission accomplished. It’s an incredible feeling. “
The Mooseheads followed in the footsteps of the Shawinigan Cataractes and Saint John Sea Dogs as QMJHL teams becoming MasterCard Memorial Cup champions. It’s the first time since 1987-89 when three teams from the same league won the title in consecutive years, when the Medicine Hat Tigers (1987 and 1988) and Swift Current Broncos (1989) kept the trophy in Western Hockey League territory.
“It’s huge for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and all our teams,” QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said. “I’m very, very happy for them. It’s three in three now.”
Why the Mooseheads won: Their quick start put them in the driver’s seat and gave the Winterhawks a steep hill to climb. The Mooseheads scored three first period goals from MacKinnon, Frk and Konrad Abeltshauser.
The 3-0 lead soon evaporated in the second period, as the Winterhawks scored two unanswered goals. The Mooseheads fought back once more and scored two in the third period to put the game on ice.
“I think we got a little bit too pretty in the second period,” Abeltshauser said. “We played behind (them) all first period and just pushed and pushed and pushed and that was the way we had to start. The second we kind of tried to do some fancy plays in front of them and most of them resulted in turnovers, which gave them some opportunities, which eventually shifted momentum. We went back at it in the third period and we took back the game and finally came out with the win.”
There were some tense moments when the Winterhawks scored with 1:16 left to cut the deficit again to one goal.
“I think we played a good, hard game and we deserve to come out with the win,” goalie Zachary Fucale said. “I think we had to expect them coming back and working hard.”
Why the Winterhawks lost: The Winterhawks have the firepower offensively to make sure no lead is safe, but their first period play put them behind early and they were never able to get it tied back up.
“We didn’t have the first period that we wanted, but I thought we showed a lot of heart coming back,” head coach Travis Green said. “We made a late push. It just wasn’t enough.
“We weren’t good for probably 12 to 14 minutes in the first. We stormed back in the second, we hit a crossbar, we had a goal that didn’t count and I thought we had them on the ropes a little bit in the second period. They played well in the third. I thought we pushed hard in the third. It’s a great hockey team. Someone’s got to lose and someone’s got to win.”
Ty Rattie scored a goal late in the second period that was eventually waved off. He gloved the puck and guided it towards the goal where it eventually went in. The goal was eventually called off after a review. Green hadn’t seen the replay by the time he spoke with media, but the impact of a goal that could have helped tie the game remains a tough blow for his team.
“I’m guessing it didn’t touch (Rattie’s) stick,” he said when asked, while adding he had never been given an explanation from the officials.
When a member of the media said it appeared to touch Rattie’s stick, Green responded by saying: “then it should have been goal … it’s a shame if it (did touch his stick and not count).”
Player of the Game: MacKinnon may have played his final game in a Mooseheads uniform, but he made it memorable. Fans littered the ice after his hat trick goal with the net empty as he celebrated with his teammates at the bench.
If it was his final junior game, he knows it couldn’t have ended on a better note.
“The memories are going to be with these guys winning the Memorial Cup and not so much individual (accomplishments),” he said.
Unsung hero: Mooseheads defenceman Austyn Hardie made a crucial play in the dying moments of the third by separating Portland forward Nicolas Petan from the puck along the wall. His teammates regained possession and it led to MacKinnon’s insurance goal with 23 seconds left.
“He won a big battle there,” Ducharme said.
Game changer: Abeltshauser scored what wound up being the championship-winning goal. The German defender rushed up behind MacKinnon and put away a rebound that stood up as the winner.
“I still had some gas left from the shift so I figured I’d just jump up in the play and the rebound just ended up on my stick and I put it home,” he said.
“Honestly,” MacKinnon added, “I saw the rebound go and didn’t think he was there. … At the time, it didn’t seem like a huge goal but it ended up being the game winner.”
Quote of the day: Mooseheads forward Stephen MacAulay won his second MasterCard Memorial Cup, this time doing so with his hometown team. As special as the moment was for him, it was even more so considering his mom passed away in March after a fight with cancer.
“I wish she was here,” MacAulay said with his father Garth standing by his side. “I love her and I know she was here.”
