Another MasterCard Memorial Cup in the books and after a travel day to reflect, here’s my thoughts on another amazing event.
- Despite falling down 3-0 in the first, the Winterhawks made it a nail-biter to the end.
- A disallowed goal (that was the correct call) and an Oliver Bjorkstrand cross-bar turned out to be the difference.
- Stephen MacAulay set a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League record having become the only player in the history of the league to play in four President’s Cups, three MasterCard Memorial Cups and win two of them. Jacques Jr. Locas only won one MasterCard Memorial Cup.
- Jonathan Drouin’s creativity was masterful with five assists in the final.
- Love how Nathan MacKinnon went straight to jump into his bench after the empty netter, no personal celebration.
- Zachary Fucale made all the saves he needed to make when he needed to make them.
- Halifax’s no-name back-end will get a little love in the off-season; Mackenzie Weegar will get drafted and Trey Lewis will get a pro look somewhere.
- Atlantic Canada has boasted the Cup winner in two of the last three years.
- By far the most underrated performance of the entire event goes to Nic Petan of Portland. He was brilliantly consistent and with his four points in the championship game and finished third in tournament scoring with 10 points.
- I also loved the tournament of Tyler Wotherspoon.
- Brendan Leipsic seemed out of sorts for most of the MasterCard Memorial Cup. He’s at his best when he’s involved physically, getting under the opponent’s skin and leaving the officials alone.
- Taylor Leier’s presence was really missed by the ‘Hawks in the final game.
- It will be an interesting summer for Travis Green as I can’t see him moving back to an assistant’s role when Mike Johnston is allowed to return to the Portland bench.
- Ty Rattie did everything expected of him; I wonder where he ends up playing next season.
- I was happy with the people of Saskatoon, despite not having their Blades in the final; the announced attendance at the final was 11,488.
- Special thanks to Cory Wolfe and his crew in Saskatoon for providing stats, media guides and everything else that goes into a media room at a cup.
- There were no overtime games and no fights at this year’s tournament.
Coaches
- The coaching carousel picked up some serious steam with the hiring of Patrick Roy in Colorado and the trickle-down effect could be huge in the QMJHL. Of those on the list to join King Patrick are his current Assistant Martin Laperriere, Gatineau’s Benoit Groulx and Rouyn-Noranda bench boss Andre Tourigny.
- The Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars also have openings, and depending on who fills those jobs, the pool of assistants always includes those coaching in the CHL.
- The same can be said in the American Hockey League. Only Hershey remains open right now, but as many as a dozen jobs became available as the summer wore on last off-season.
- Of the hot coaches right now, how about Eric Veilleux of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar? I think you can add Dominique Ducharme of the Halifax Mooseheads to that list as well. Veilleux has ties to Hershey, having won a Calder Cup there in 1997.
- Both coaches played together under Bob Hartley, were mentored by him and won Memorial Cups with him in attendance.
- Guy Boucher is a name that remains out there and despite still being paid by Tampa, coaches don’t want the out of sight, out of mind thing to linger.
- Speaking of coaches, the idea of a full-time national coach for the men’s U-20 program has started to gain momentum again. If not, likely a full-time management team will be discussed as well.
Other Stuff
Testing for the NHL Scouting Combine gets going Friday and it is a short turnaround for the group of 10 players that participated in the MasterCard Memorial Cup. You can see the entire list here.
Stat Trick
Goalies at the MasterCard Memorial Cup
| Name | Team | Record | GAA | SV% |
| Zachary Fucale | Halifax | 3-1-0 | 3.52 | .902 |
| Jake Patterson | London | 1-2-0 | 3.18 | .902 |
| Mac Carruth | Portland | 3-2-0 | 3.61 | .894 |
| Andrey Makarov | Saskatoon | 1-3-0 | 4.09 | .889 |
| Anthony Stolarz | London | 1-1-0 | 4.50 | .872 |
Completely Off Topic
Atlanta Braves’ Evan Gattis is a throwback. He’s a monster of a man and swings like it’s the last he’ll ever take. Plus, he reminds me of my former broadcast partner Rance Mulliniks in that he doesn’t wear batting gloves.
Finally
- Coz for Thought will take some time off. I will be attending the NHL Draft Combine and if there’s anything of interest, I will be sure to write. Other than that, I am looking forward to blogging around the NHL draft.
- Big thanks to the owners, coaches, general managers, public relations people, trainers, equipment managers, broadcasters, writers and all the others whom we leaned on as resources throughout the season: without your help, our broadcasts would not be the same, and neither would this blog.
- Another big thanks to our MasterCard Memorial Cup/Friday Night Hockey broadcast crews. You are all pros and played a significant part in making our shows stand above the crowd all season long.
- And to my partners, RJ Broadhead, Rob Faulds, Tony Ambrogio and Gene Principe who are all a treat to work with.