SAINT JOHN, NB – Two teams that skated on clearly different paths in the playoffs will meet on Wednesday in the final of the Memorial Cup for 2022.
Host St. John Sea Dogs, who passed 39 days between games after losing in the first round of the playoffs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, will face the Hamilton Bulldogs, who set a 16-3 post-season record on the way to the Ontario Hockey League.
This is the first Memorial Cup final since 2019, when the Ruin-Noranda huskies skated for the title at the Halifax tournament. Memorial Cup events in 2021 and 2022 were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sea Dogs won a direct spot in the final after scoring two wins and a loss in the preliminary round, while Hamilton needed the right 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings to escape the preliminary round and then scored an exciting 4 – 3 overtimes triumphed over Shawinigan Cataractes in Monday’s semifinals to advance.
“ We’re hanging around. A month ago, who knows what people said about us, “said St. John Gardiner head coach McDougall, who replaced Gordy Dwyer on May 22 after the Sea Dogs were upset by the Roman Oceanic to open the playoffs.
“They didn’t know if we would be a good representative in the tournament, maybe we would only have three matches – that’s all we were guaranteed. It’s nice to still be here. “
Hamilton survived a series of seven games against Windsor Spitfires to win the OHL crown and then missed consecutive games for St. John and Shauinigan to open the Memorial Cup.
This laid the groundwork for a preliminary “do or die” match against Edmonton on Friday, where the promising Anaheim Mason McTavish scored two goals for Hamilton in the key victory.
In Hamilton’s semi-final victory, the prospect of choosing the Montreal draft Jan Misak transferred the point to his teammate Nathan Staois with 10:08 in overtime.
“The players have found ways,” said Hamilton coach Jay McKee. “It’s a confident group that believes in each other and it’s a really powerful element that you have to have.”
St. John and Hamilton met at the opening of the tournament on June 20, when the Sea Dogs competed to a 4-1 lead in the second period and held on to a 5-3 victory.
“The players won a great opportunity,” McKee said. “We played St. John’s once and they certainly didn’t see the best version of the Hamilton Bulldogs and I expect them to do it (Wednesday).”
The Sea Dogs later fell 4-3 in overtime at Edmonton. Then, led by QMJHL’s most valuable player William Dufour, they united by a 3-0 deficit in the first period on Saturday to lower Shawinigan 5-3 and take first place in the preliminary round.
“They had a really good way of thinking and were receptive to everything,” McDougall told Sea Dogs, who finished the regular season with a 15-game winning streak.
Hamilton won 51-12-3-2 in the regular season, led by Logan Morrison’s 100-point campaign and 66 points by defender of the year in OHL Staios.
Dufour, a promising New York Islanders who leads the tournament with six goals, was named QMJHLMVP after his 116-point season, which included the top 56 goals in the Canadian Hockey League.
Ambulance Josh Lawrence finished the year with 101 points, tying the league for assists with 70, which also set a franchise record.
This is St. John’s fourth appearance for the Memorial Cup, as the franchise looks set to add to its 2011 championship in Mississauga.
Hamilton makes his second appearance in the tournament after losing in the semifinals in 2018 to host Regina Pats.
Meanwhile, it was a big night for the Dallas Stars prospects at the Canadian Hockey League Awards on Tuesday.
Logan Stankoven of the Kamloops Blazers, who scored 104 points in 59 regular season games, was named David Branch’s Player of the Year in the KHL.
Stankoven, a 5-foot-10 center that was selected by the Stars in the second round of the NHL 2021 Draft, recorded three or more points in 18 games during the regular season, including two five-point games on Nov. 3 and Jan. 29.
Wyatt Johnston, Dallas’ first choice, 23rd overall in 2021, was the KHL’s top scorer with 124 points in 68 games for Windsor Spitfires.
Shane Wright of Kingston Frontenax took home the best award for potential candidate, while Brady Jaeger of the Moose Jaw Warriors was named Rookie of the Year.
Charlottetown Islanders’ Jim Hulton won the Coach of the Year award after leading his team to its first presidential trophy in franchise history.
Hamilton Bulldogs’ Nathan Staois won the Defender of the Year title. Dylan Garand of the Kamloops Blazers won the Goalkeeper of the Year award, while Jordan Dumas of Halifax Muzheds won the Athlete of the Year award.
Owen Beck of Mississauga Steelhead was named Student of the Year, and Luke Prokop of Edmonton Oil Kings was named Humanitarian of the Year.
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