Frontenacs hosting a Memorial Cup: That Doug won't hunt

Hearing the little rich kid talking about his last-place team some day hosting a Memorial Cup is a little rich.

Poor Doug Springer. Here he is, tryin' to throw what's left of the Kingston Frontenacs fanbase a friggin' bone, he goes and gets the OHL All-Star Game for next February, and still people are cynical. God forbid they would be upon hearing that getting the all-star game makes getting the Memorial Cup likely, when that tends to rests more on a team's competitiveness than the opulence of their arena, as the Fronts found out once before. Seeing Springer trumpet this aggravates the accumulated frustration of the last 11 seasons and makes people all tense in the chestal region.

Damn that David Branch. Why did he have to play his consummate politician's role with platitudinous remarks such as, "Undoubtedly when you host an event like this, it only serves to enhance opportunities for going forward for other special events ... when teams held the all-star game or one of our Canada-Russia games, I think it held them in good stead when it came to successful bids (for the Memorial Cup)."

There is no begrudging David Branch for what he said. He's a politician. It's more of a fevered dream to imagine him getting his Dean Wormer on and putting the Frontenacs on double-secret probation instead of talking about them hosting a Memorial Cup.

Point being, people in K-town are right to scoff when they read or hear the Frontenacs owner saying, "We're thrilled the commissioner is looking at it that way. It's all possible because we have what we believe is the best facility in the Ontario Hockey League." The Frontenacs highers-up should maybe try to worry about winning a playoff series this century before they start bidding to host the Canadian Hockey League's championship tournament.

To sum up, the Frontenacs are hoping they will be competitive enough to host the Memorial Cup by 2014 (Windsor is a lock to get the tournament in 2011). Sure, and the Deltas in Animal House were hoping their midterm grades would really boost their average:




It's not that the hardy souls who have hung in through thin, thinner and Springer won't go to the OHL All-Star Game. There is nothing wrong with having the event; the complaints are more about the owner's perceived attitude.


It's by most accounts a decent enough event. It could also be a huge love-in for Kingston native Taylor Hall prior to the 2010 NHL draft, since his Windsor Spitfires team typically makes only one Eastern swing a year, usually during the first half of this season. There could be some fun, fan-friendly events with the players on the outdoor rink at, wait for it, Springer Market Square in downtown Kingston. The CHL Top Prospects Game is probably a sweeter plum, since outside the junior hockey diehards who have a Shea Kewin replica jersey, there's a better chance statistically of getting 40 players you'd want to see from the 60 CHL teams than the 20 in the OHL.

The Kingston area, for all the complaining about the K-Rock Centre's location and the total lack of attention of detail during its construction (the home team bench isn't connected to the dressing room, so if a player has an equipment problem, the trainer can't leave the bench until play is stopped, for instance), has come a long way in a short time in terms of hockey facilities. The Kingston Kimco Voyageurs, who play at the Invista Centre, are talking about hosting either a regional or national Junior A championship. The Clarkson Cup, the Canadian women's championship, was held at the K-Rock Centre in April. Neighbouring Napanee's less than five-year-old Strathcona Paper Centre was the site of last fall's national under-18 women's hockey championship and will be for the 2010 Ontario Tankard for men's curling.

There are a lot of hockey events out there which would probably work well in Kingston, such as the World Under-17 Challenge, the Telus Cup (Canadian midget championship) and perhaps an IIHF Women's World Championship, given that public enthusiasm for buying tickets to women's hockey might be on the wane. People shouldn't look down on bringing in any of those events. (Granted, it's not perfect, since Queen's has no campus arena and summer-sport athletes are somewhat SOL due to the lack of a proper outdoor running track. Kingston's high school track and field championships had to be held in Belleville).

By that token, though, at some point Springer has to figure out that he has stop trying to put a Mercedes-Benz façade on a broken-down beater of an OHL franchise. Trading off Doug Gilmour's celebrity as coach while retaining The Royal Mavesty (Rhymes With...) as general manager smacks of this. The same goes for getting the all-star game and talking about the Memorial Cup after a 50-loss season. Granted, after seeing talk that Kingston would likely stand a shot at hosting, "Well, 2014 is when Larry Mavety's 17-year plan should really kick in."

Springer isn't going anywhere. The best to hope for is attitude adjustment in the front office. The Frontenacs are in a Bill Wirtz scenario and are crying out for a Rocky Wirtz, who made over the Chicago Blackhawks after his dad died. It is possible for someone to go from a bad owner to a good owner. George Steinbrenner had that metamorphosis. Mark Cuban is headed in that direction.

Until that happens in Kingston, though, people are right to be cynics about anything coming from the Frontenacs. Right now, Doug Springer could find a way to make cars run on consommé and people would still turn up their noses.

It has been 591 days since Doug Springer promised to do "whatever it takes" to bring a winner to Kingston.

Related:
OHL boss hints at Memorial Cup (Doug Graham, Kingston Whig-Standard)

Memorial Cup: The format still stinks

Sportsnet renewing its television deal with the Canadian Hockey League meaning there's no chance of overhauling the outdated format for the Memorial Cup.

As awesome as the Windsor Spitfires' win for a town and a team, the fact remains it's a tournament where, as super-commenter Dennis Prouse put it, "all you need is a 1-2 record to make the playoffs."

You know what this means, though? In the big picture, there was a point behind the booing at the Rimouski Colisée yesterday. You just have to believe it wasn't being vented at the teenagers on the Kelowna Rockets, but at the highers-up such as CHL president David Branch, who refuse to ditch the overly drawn out, outdated format since it's a cash cow (and TV ratings were up from last season, but here one could point out that's not saying much since a U.S. team represented the WHL in 2008).

Regan Bartel, Kelowna's play-by-play man, stuck up for his guys, and there's not a word there that's wrong. Teenaged players should not be booed, but the adults who left them hanging in the wind should:

"... I was a little turned off by the reaction of the crowd at the Colisée over the booing every time the Rockets touched the puck. The booing was the result of the fans belief that the Rockets threw Tuesday's game against the Spitfires when they had a chance to eliminate them from the tournament. Essentially it looked like the fans are blaming the Rockets for the demise of both Rimouski and Drummondville. Windsor would beat Rimouski in the tie breaker before eliminating Drummondville in the semi-finals. To say the Rockets threw the game is laughable."

Obviously, that game was on the level. This was no repeat of the stunt Mike Keenan pulled at the 1980 tournament, when his Peterborough Petes lost the last game of the round-robin so they could face Cornwall instead of host Regina in the final. (That debacle prompted a change in format.)

In this case, Windsor was the No. 1-ranked team. Kelowna probably had trouble getting motivated to play their final round-robin game since there was nothing at stake for them, since they were assured a spot in the final. Each Québec team had a chance to oust Windsor in win-or-go-home match and didn't get it done.

The point is the Canadian Hockey League has a problem if customers perceive that it could be to a team's advantage to dump a game. Meantime, the fact a team does not need to win the majority of its round-robin games and can still win the championship is kind of chintzy.

The rub is that in 1980, as Gregg Drinnan related in a great retrospective on the '80 debacle, Branch's predecessor, the late Ed Chynoweth and the other powers-that-were had the humility to realize bad policy could lead to bad results.

"We were lucky for eight years under this system ... There's no sense moaning over what's happened now. Everybody coming into this knew the rules, knew the pitfalls and whatever. It's just unfortunate that this had to happen in our league's turn as host and in the host team's own city.

"Still, we (in junior hockey) do recognize that we do get ourselves into some great holes with the way we conduct ourselves at times."

More Drinnan:

"Brian Shaw, the WHL's chairman of the board, added: 'We, as adults, have put the youngsters in a precarious position because there is a loophole or two in the formula as we know it.

" 'The format, as it stands, is all right as long we put in a modification to prevent a recurrence of what happened Friday night. This formula is the best to bring together competitors from across Canada.

" 'There was a suggestion to go back to an East-West final, but we're involved with the education of our players. We don't want them out of class for the length of time it would take. With the present round-robin taking exactly one week, they don't miss too much school.' "

You wouldn't hear that kind of candour today, even with the increased lip service major junior hockey pays to education. Everything is tamer than it was 30 years ago. Tamer players, tamer fans, and certainly a tamer media. Thank goodness for those Spitfires:

Monday morning with Mr. Canoehead...

Let it bounce off you like raisins off an Oldsmobile ... check out Puck Daddy's post on the Memorial Cup, by the way ...

Mark Teixeira hitting a home run at Coors Field East the new Yankee Stadium on a pitch where he broke his bat. There would be calls for a Congressional inquiry if someone built a park in Denver or Houston where it was that easy to hit a home run.

Broadcasters who don't realize you "can't succeed by forcing zany or funny or irreverence," as Phil Mushnick put it. That would include TSN's Darren Dutchyshen joking about Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin's parents "having sexy time" while recapping a playoff game last week. It's not insensitive, it's just witless. Borat references were old three days after the movie came out, let alone almost three years later.

The same goes for Rogers Sportsnet baseball commentator Darrin Fletcher eating on-air during a recent Jays game. They're just having fun, damn it, so what if it's bad broadcasting?

Knowing that if the NHL moves the start of the Stanley Cup final ahead to this weekend, it will only be because of a bout of temporary sanity. It means cheering for Detroit to oust Chicago on Tuesday, which is a small price to pay.

An altogether stinky sports Sunday: Blue Jays lose sixth in a row, the Memorial Cup finally was basically over halfway through the first period, the NBA playoff game was a hackfest (61 fouls called in Orlando's win) and having to fake an interest in the Indianapolis 500. There's a lot to be said for being aloof and acting above it all.

Windsor wins Memorial Cup, scores one for Malcolm Gladwell

The Windsor Spitfires, junior hockey champions, were a great third-period team.

And a great second-quarter team.

The wordsmiths covering the Memorial Cup can capture the spirit of Windsor's triumph for the papers and the sportscasts. The Spitfires, representing a city devastated by the bottoming-out of the U.S. auto industry, are the first team to win the Memorial Cup after losing its first two games of the tournament. They are just a year removed from captain Mickey Renaud's death from a rare heart ailment age 19, which GM Warren Rychel said at the time was "the biggest tragedy in Spitfire history."

(Puck Daddy has did it justice, brilliantly.)

A broader if not necessarily larger truth could be Rychel and coach Bob Boughner, who as our own Trevor Stewart explained last November, have a special eye for talent. This is kind of a complicated post and you're excused for not reading.

The book Outliers shone a light on the disproportionate number of elite hockey players born in the first three months of the year. The Spitfires actually had the fewest (7) of the four teams at the tournament. The tourney MVP, good Kingston boy Taylor Hall, is a November baby, who is not eligible for the NHL draft until 2010. Windsor's captain and No. 1 goaltender were also born late in the year. The runners-up, the Kelowna Rockets, whose Western Hockey League drafts players at age 15 (a year earlier than the other two leagues), had the most, 10, which is fairly typical. The point is the obvious: Maybe one way to get a read on a major junior team's front office is to see how many regulars it has who were born outside the Jan. 1-March 31 window.

This does not explain the outcome of today's game. That debate could be steered around to the ridiculously long layoff Kelowna had between meaningful games. The Spitfires scored on their first three shots before the Rockets could even skate off the rust from four days between games, for pity's sake. As defenceman Ben Shutron told Gare Joyce of sportsnet.ca, they were "the best-conditioned team in the tournament."

However, what made that possible? They had to get there first. Looking at the rosters for the two finalists hints at Malcolm Gladwell's point in Outliers about how we are not "always particularly smart about how to make the best use of our talent." (ESPN.com, Dec. 8, 2008.) It might also illustrate how Rychel/Boughner are smarter than most of their competition.

As Gladwell explains, there is a huge blind spot with identifying good hockey players. The major junior teams which can negotiate around this might be the ones who put themselves in position to pull off something like Windsor did:

"It's a beautiful example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In Canada, the eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey programs is Jan. 1 ... Coaches start streaming the best hockey players into elite programs, where they practice more and play more games and get better coaching, as early as 8 or 9. But who tends to be the 'best' player at age 8 or 9? The oldest, of course — the kids born nearest the cut-off date, who can be as much as almost a year older than kids born at the other end of the cut-off date. When you are 8 years old, 10 or 11 extra months of maturity means a lot."

The Windsor brain trust's wisdom might be borne out when you group the Spitfires' and Rockets' Memorial Cup rosters by which quarter of the year the players were born in (January-February-March; April-May-June; and so on.)

Kelowna: 10-4-6-3
Windsor: 7-10-4-5

Kelowna's 10 players born between Jan. 1-March 31 include star defenceman Tyler Myers (Feb. 1, 1990) and starting goalie Mark Guggenberger (Jan. 10, 1989). The Rockets were considered an improbable WHL champion, but the team they upset in the championship series, the Calgary Hitmen, had a somewhat similar birthday distribution: 10-6-4-2. The main reason to cite Kelowna and Calgary is to show what the age distribution often tends to be with major junior teams: Lots of players born early in the year, very few born in the summer and fall. It doesn't explain why Windsor won, it's just background for how they rebuilt in two years.

At age 16, when players are drafted in the OHL, the advantage early-birthday kids have can wreak havoc with teams' evaluations. It evens out somewhat by the time those players are 18, 19 and 20. The Windsor team which Warren Rychel assembled has several contributors born in the second quarter of the year, between April 1 and June 30 (hence second-quarter team):

• Greg Nemisz (June 5, 1990) — Nemisz, who had seven points in six games at the Memorial Cup, was thought of as a bit of reach when he was taken with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2006 OHL draft. Two years later, the 6-foot-4, 200-lb. winger became a first-round pick in the NHL (25th overall to Calgary).
  


• Dale Mitchell (April 9, 1989) — Like Nemisz, Mitchell went in the same round of the NHL draft that he did in the OHL draft (third round to the Leafs in 2007 and third round by Oshawa in '05). Mitchell, a trade deadline pickup, scored a natural hat trick in the tie-breaker game vs. Rimouski and some thought he, not Hall, could have been the MVP.
  


• Andrei Loktionov (May 30, 1990) — Also notched seven points during the tournament. Kind of a wild card since he's Russian.


• Mark Cundari (April 23, 1990)— One of Windsor's top defencemen; was able to take a regular shift in the OHL as a 16-year-old rookie in 2006-07, when Boughner and Rychel went with a youth movement.


• Ben Shutron (June 14, 1988) — A feel-good story, since he played for Kitchener in the '08 Memorial Cup and was a whipping boy while he was with the human comedy which is the Kingston Frontenacs. Gare Joyce wrote a nice piece about Shutron for sportsnet.ca ahead of Sunday's final.

Windsor was the only team at the tourney with more April-May-June birthdates than Jan.-Feb.-March (Drummondville, the Quebec league champ, had eight of each).

Meantime, three of Windsor's veteran role players were all "wrong birthdays" who were acquired in trades:

• Rob Kwiet (Aug. 2, 1988) — An overage defenceman who started out with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. Scored the third Windsor goal.
  
  
• Lane MacDermid — A tough guy who was a valuable penalty killer during the playoff run. Originally taken 159th overall in the 2005 draft by the Owen Sound Attack.
  
  
• Scott Timmins (Sept. 11, 1989) — Centre who was with Kitchener last season. Originally a fifth-round pick.

Last but not least, there are the fourth-quarter players:

• Andrew Engelage (Oct. 28, 1988) — A kind of OHL version of the Red Wings' Chris Osgood (often criticized, but his teams win) who was originally a 13th-round draft choice. Ended up being in net for 64 wins this season after Windsor was criticized in some corners for not trading for a more ballyhood goalie, such as Red Wings prospect Thomas McCollum.
  
  
• Taylor Hall (Nov. 14, 1991) — One wonders what Hall's progress would have been if his family had not moved from Western Canada to Kingston before he was exposed to the draft. Hall's father was a pro athlete (CFL), which means he has the genes to counter his wrong birthday.
  
  
• Harry Young (Nov. 12, 1989) — The team captain and a Windsor native, Young was a fourth-round pick in 2005 by Guelph. Windsor got him via trade.

Of course, by this point, you might have figured out, "Hey, smartass, Windsor's best NHL draft prospect, Ryan Ellis, was born Jan. 3! Doesn't that blow the theory out of the water?"

Ellis, who just became the 20th player to win a world junior gold medal and a Memorial Cup in the same season, is an outlier. Concerns about his size (5-foot-10, 173 lbs.) led to the offensive defenceman slipping through the entire first round in the 2007 OHL draft before Windsor snapped him up in the second. If you read the feature story Sun Media's Ryan Pyette wrote about Ellis ahead of today's game, you see traces of that "ten thousand hours" theory:

" 'I was constantly shooting pucks,' Windsor Spitfires star defenceman Ryan Ellis said of growing up in Freelton, Ont., near Hamilton. 'We had a (white) garage door my dad tried to repair a million times. But it didn't work. There was really nothing left of it. It had brick in the middle but it just covered the net.

" 'I basically destroyed the door.'

"... Boughner remembers, a couple of years ago, pulling into the Ellis driveway to interview the Spitfires' potential draft pick. He saw the garage door with the terrible dents.

" 'Warren (GM Warren Rychel) said I have to see this kid play and after I did, I went to meet him,' Boughner said. 'You watch him knock down bouncing pucks at the blue line and he has the most unbelievable hand-eye co-ordination I've ever seen. It's innate talent, but he works harder than anyone at it. He shoots a ton of pucks. In the games, he doesn't shoot enough for my liking. I'm always on him to shoot more.' "

You know the rest of the story. Ellis scored the sealer today, the fourth goal in a 4-1 win, on a slapshot from the point after some nice work along the end boards by the November baby, Taylor Hall.

Obviously, junior teams should not draft or trade based on birthdates. Maybe they should use it a check when they try gauge the upside of a 15- or 16-year-old player. (Oddly enough, the Belleville Bulls are losing P.K. Subban, who went from sixth-round pick in the OHL to a top prospect for the Montreal Canadiens and a two-time world junior defenceman. Subban's birthday? May 13, making him another second-quarter player.)

All this might go to show is how well each team stickhandles around a built-in bias in hockey toward players born in January, February and March. It might show how well teams do with evaluating a player who is not a finished OHL-ready product at age 16, which is almost every player.

It is interesting if you look at the birthdates of players on an also-ran team. Selecting one at random ... the Kingston Frontenacs.

It turns out the Frontenacs are absolutely top-heavy with January, February and March birthdates, 12 in total. In the 2007 OHL priority selection, they didn't take a single player born between July 1-Dec. 31. Coincidentally or not, the only selections from that '07 draft who have panned out were the first two picks, forward Ethan Werek (June 7) and d-man Taylor Doherty (March 2). Doherty is coming off a disappointing second season, but will get drafted into the NHL because teams can't teach size (6-foot-8, 220 lbs. give or take).

Only two players on this past season's team, defenceman Brian Lashoff (July 16, 1990) and winger George Lovatsis (Nov. 30, 1989), were born in the second half of the year. Lashoff ended up being signed by the Detroit Red Wings after being passed over in the 2008 NHL draft, which makes him a late bloomer. Lovatsis proved to be a fan favourite last season. They were, on balance, decent additions.

As you might expect with a 19th-place hockey club, the Frontenacs make a lot of in-season trades. One of general mangler Larry Mavety's trademarks is to deal for a former high draft choice, telling anyone who will listen that he's bound to realize his potential with the Fronts.

This season the Frontenacs traded for three forwards who had each gone relatively high in the draft, Kelly Geoffrey, Colt Kennedy and Mitch Lebar. You know where this is going: Their birthdays fall within a five-day span in late January, the 25th, 28th and 29th. Perhaps it is true they haven't found the right fit. Based on the evidence, it might be that starting from an early age, they had a leg up on their peers. That made them seem better than they really were, and now their peer group has closed the gap.

Windsor has an abundance of players who didn't have the benefit of an early birthday and/or were not drafted early at age 16. They're the champs. Kingston, the Siberia of major junior hockey, has all these players with early birthdays who were taken high and are now perceived as not playing to potential. In the words of an old Twilight Zone episode, how many coincidences add up to a fact?

There are other factors in building a winner in the OHL. How players are treated, fan and community support, being able to bend the draft rules, each play a role. The best this analysis can do is be a gauge for who can find the hidden gem, and who doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

(In the recent draft, the Frontenacs used the 37th and 42nd overall picks on players not born in January, February and March. Winger Brett Morgan, a late second-rounder, was born Aug. 12. Clark Seymour, the defenceman taken early in the third, was born May 18. There might be hope yet for this franchise!)

The year that was -- 11 things that made me smile in 2008

In honour of Listmas (what, that’s not what it’s called. With all the top 10 lists out there I could have sworn…), my own, personal, self-indulgent top 11 (cause we take things that extra step here at OOLF) sports moments of 2008.

You know, dear readers, we do have a comments section! Perhaps you could add a list of your own. Come on, it’s fun!

11 - Laval’s dominance
Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the favourite. Cheering for an upset is always just a little more fun. But, if you can’t appreciate just how good the Laval Rouge et Or football program is, I’m not sure you are a fan of sport. No, the Rouge et Or didn’t provide fans with much drama in ’08 – they were too good – but standing on the field watching the players hold up yet another Vanier Cup, you knew you were surrounded by excellence. And, that’s what sports is about.

10 - Champions League final
And, this is coming from a Manchester City fan. I can’t think of a worse match-up than the all British Man U/Chelsea. But, the game made up for it -- a tale of two halves with United coming out strong and Chelsea storming back in the second. Chelsea was unlucky not to win it outright on the pitch, but United proved just resourceful enough to claim it on the penalties (with a little help from the pitch and a slip by John Terry). Often the big games fail to live up to the hype, but this was not a case of that.

9 - Carol Huynh wins gold for Canada
It was a looooong time coming with every half-wit humour columnist in the land cracking out the atlas to find Third World countries that had more medals than us Canucks. One of the great things about Olympics is there is always a where-did-that-one-come from medal. This was it for 2008 and it kicked of a second half of the Games that was as good for Canada as any other Olympics. When the lights went out, we had actually exceeded pre-game expectations and it was Huynh that got things going.

8- Belleville forcing game 7 in the OHL Final
Ultimately my Bulls – my hometown, childhood team, Bulls – came one game too short twice. But it was a nice little ride for this junior hockey fan. By storming back from 0-3 in the OHL final, Belleville briefly put itself in the national spotlight and, as anyone that cheers for small town teams will tell you, that doesn’t happen every day and you soak it all up when it does.

7 – The Pats lose!
If Laval taught me how to appreciate a favouritre, the Super Bowl reminded me of how good it feels to watch arrogance fall. It was a good game, but all history will remember is that the Pats got what was coming to them. And my inner, immature child loved every minute of it.

6 - The Men’s 8s do what is expected
Canada’s biggest favourite of the Beijing Games simply went out, pushed the pressure aside, and got the job done. And, in doing so cast off the personal demons from losing in 2004. There is something about the men’s 8s that is compelling. Maybe it’s the speed, or the power or maybe the tradition. But at the start of any Olympics this is one of the top three or four events I’d really like Canada to win.

5 – The Voyageurs Cup
But, mostly the way soccer fans in this country took to it. It had been 16-years since Canada had crowned a pro soccer champion in a legitimate competition. And, it had been far longer than that before anyone cared about who won. That changed in 2008, when the Voyageur’s Cup – paid for and donated to the CSA by the fans of the game – was awarded in front of 20,000 mostly disappointed fans in Toronto. Speaking personally, the day of the final game was the most intense I’ve ever experienced as a sports fan and the feeling at the final whistle was as awful as I can imagine. But, time gives me perspective and I still look back on the day and shake my head at just how far the game has come in such a short time.

4 – DeRo comes home
On the pitch 2008 was mostly a forgettable year for TFC fans, but an early Christmas present – the acquiring of Dwayne DeRosario—restored hope in the masses. DeRo (with apologizes to Jimmy Brennan) is the first Canadian star to come home to play and that matters a great deal to the supporters. Suddenly we feel even more connected to our little soccer club.

3 - Simon Whitfield’s silver
The man was out of this race about 10 times. He never looked comfortable. He often looked old and worn out. But, Simon Whitfield has a killer instinct that is sadly missing in most Canuck athletes. His final kick came up just short of gold, but his silver was, without a doubt, the Canadian performance of the Games.

2 - Usain Bolt goes really, really fast
It took 20-years, but I finally saw something more impressive than what Ben Johnson did in 1988. Officially he stopped the clock at 9.69 seconds, but he had more speed in him. It was scary and awe inspiring. And that was before he went 19.30 in the 200m.

1 - Barnsley!
I was sick the day that Barnsley played Liverpool in the FA Cup, which is how I improbably found myself in front of the tube in the middle of the day watching a soccer game that seemingly was a blowout waiting to happen. It was already 1-0 ‘Pool when I turned it on. But then Luke Steele started to make save after save. And then Stephen Foster got an out-of-the-blue equalizer. Suddenly I was sitting up, on the edge of the couch willing this little Championship team on. If only they could hold on to the draw and force a re-match in Barnsley, I thought. That would be something to see. But then Brian Howard scored in injury time causing me to literally start jumping up and down, giggling at the absurdity of it. Liverpool was out; Barnsley was through….

To play Chelsea. Surely they couldn’t pull another upset, could they?

Really, just watch this. If it doesn’t put a smile on your face you are likely dead and most certainly not a sports fan:


The next time a Big Four fan tries to tell you that no one cares about the FA Cup anymore, kindly tell them to stuff it.

The expressions on their faces are priceless, eh?

Chances are, some sports blogs down in the U.S. should pick up on the Spokane Chiefs breaking the Memorial Cup trophy tomorrow, following their own Memorial Day weekend... it's priceless fodder, though, the wild American horde breaking the trophy that's emblematic of Canadian junior hockey supremacy during the celebration -- and they even did it while wearing uniforms that are cheap copies of the Montreal Canadiens.

There's also a cheap analogy in the trophy breaking, since it's symbolic of the Memorial Cup format, which needs major repairs. A round-robin to eliminate one team? Please. (Link via a Mirtle commenter.)

Tok-freakin-arski

The Kitchener Rangers will be having nightmares featuring goaltender Dustin Tokarski for some time. The Spokane Chief's 'keeper was the difference in today's 4-1 Spokane win to capture the Memorial Cup. The Rangers came out strong and looked to be the better team for long stretches, but the Chiefs play a strong systems game and Tokarski is a big body in the net...

It was Spokane's second M-Cup win and the first for an American based CHL team in 10 years. In many ways the Memorial Cup may be a more difficult trophy to win than even the Stanley Cup. For one, 60 teams make up the CHL and you must win four rounds of playoffs and a very tricky tournament of champions to capture it.

Consider this: The Peterborough Petes are thought to be one of the model junior hockey franchises in the world--an iconic team that has featured some of the game's greatest names. They have qualified for the tournament a record seven times. Yet, the Petes have won exactly one Memorial Cup.

Really (cliché alert) there were no losers today--or this week.

That's it, that's all and that's everything

"We didn't have much left. I'm not going to sit here and bash my guys. It's been an incredible run."

-- George Burnett

Really, that's all there is to say. Except maybe this:

"I hate to look back on this game and reflect on it, because it doesn't reflect our team."

-- P.K. Subban

The Rangers are a wonderful team, built to win a championship. Belleville was also a wonderful team--one that may have won a championship in any other year. But, as a Bulls fan you can't be too bitter. Unlike 1999, when the OHL champion Bulls lost the national semi-final to a team that they had already beaten in the OHL playoffs, this year's Bulls came up short twice. You can move on knowing that Kitchener was the slightly better team.

There was no shame in losing to Kitchener. This Bulls team will still go down as the greatest ever to wear those beautifully ugly yellow jerseys.

Hopefully the one-sided game last night will allow Kitchener to enter the final with fresher legs than it might have otherwise. It says here that the hosts finish the job Sunday by defeating a good Spokane team that very well may be back at the M-Cup next year.

Notes:

• Who says community newspaper reporting doesn't exist in bordering on Metro sized papers. God love ya Al Coates, God love ya...
• The Intel's Ady Vos is understated in his report.
• This deserves a post of its own, but for now I encourage you to read it
• Bonus points to the first person that catches my reference in the title.
  

Enough already. OK, once more then. But, that's it. I mean it.

So, yeah—Kitchener and Belleville. Again. For the ninth time in three weeks.

There isn’t much left to say. Other than to make more “Bull” puns. And, talk about how much Kitchener hates that Perry kid. Or wonder…just who are these kids kissing? I suppose you could throw Josh Unice under the bus if you were really looking for something to say.

Seriously, there is little point in trying to break it down and get all analytical. The game’s not going to be predictable.

If Belleville wins it will be the story of the small town underdog avenging its OHL final loss by winning five of six games against the big, rich Rangers. Mike Murphy will be heralded as the best non-drafted player in the world. Someone will call the Fan590 to demand that the Leafs sign him.

If the Rangers win it will be manifest destiny. A sign that the Rangers can step it up when it matters most, having won game 7 of the OHL final and the M-Cup semi-final. Peter DeBoer will be heralded as the best coach not in the NHL. Someone will call the Fan590 to demand that the Leafs hire him.

The loser will feel cheated by the format—Belleville will ask why Wednesday wasn’t the deciding game and Kitchener will wonder just why they are still playing Belleville anyway. Sportsnet will get some great “agony” shots tonight at the final buzzer. Junior hockey players still cry. Somehow it’s easier to be the 57th best team in the CHL than it is to be the third.

Then, Spokane will win 4-1 Sunday. Or, something like that anyway.

Not that it mattered, but...

What’s with the Kitchener Rangers and blowing 3-0 leads? Twice so far in this Memorial Cup tournament has Kitchener allowed a team back from that deficit and it blew a 3-0 games lead in the OHL final. Last night, however, it finally bit ‘em in the butt. For the first time, the Rangers weren’t able to rebound, allowing Belleville to capture a 4-3 OT win to close out the round-robin of the M-Cup.

Not that it much matters. All the win accomplishes is to give Belleville last change Friday when the two teams go at one last time this year. The winner of their now best-of-nine series gets a well-rested Spokane in the final Sunday (The Chiefs are off touring the Hockey Hall of Fame today and catching a Blue Jays game while Kitchener and Belleville are preparing to kill each other Friday). There is a reason eight of the last 10 teams that have earned the bye to the final have gone on to win.

There are a lot of theories about how to improve this tournament. Certainly, any championship event that forces two teams to play a virtual meaningless game two days before they play each other for real is flawed. It’s unlikely that the CHL is going to give up its license to print money by having a host team involved, so any changes will have to come in the form of tweaking, rather than a complete overhaul. One thing that might help that hasn’t been mentioned is this: scrap the semi-final. It’s silly to play a full round-robin to only eliminate one team and if you got rid of the semi you could give the two teams that advance a similar amount of rest to better assure a competitive championship game.

Regardless, there will be a semi this year and it should be a compelling game. Both Belleville and Kitchener must feel that they have yet to play a perfect game in the tournament. Belleville has come out sluggish in two of its three games and has taken far more penalties than it typically does (The Bulls were, by far, the least penalized team in the OHL this year). As for Kitchener, the Rangers just haven’t looked themselves all tournament long. That said, don’t count them out. It wouldn’t be shocking if they rebounded to win two straight and take the Cup.

Notes:

• It’s all fun and games in KW!
• One of the biggest reasons for the Bulls success the last few years has been coaching. The Record gives us some insight to the man behind the bench
• The Intel’s gamer can be read here
• There are eerie similarities to Belleville’s tournament in 1999 and its current run

Throwing Bull across the border

There's some sabre-rattling going on between the Ontario Hockey League and the QMJHL.

The Ontario league is feeling a little territorial about the players from the province, such as Gatineau Olympiques standouts Claude Giroux and Darryl Smith, who have gone over to the Q and thrived after not being able to find a spot in the OHL. Far be it to suggest that the OHL, which has a larger population to draw from, should look in the mirror if good, capable major junior players have reason to leave the province.

(Now, how about that Belleville Bulls' comeback last night at the Memorial Cup? It could end up being completely meaningless, but still, wow... Mike Murphy made 54 saves. Meantime, there is reason to be optimistic toward our wayward Frontenacs -- no harm can from from having clear eyes and full hearts toward the hometown team -- and best of luck to former Kingston captain Justin Wallingford, who's signed on to play CIS hockey at Saint Mary's.)

Duty calls, so it's off to cover a track and field meet for most of the day.

Hey Chief: It's yours to lose

So, it's happened. With Spokane's 3-1 win yesterday at the Memorial Cup, tonight's game between Belleville and Kitchener has been rendered virtually meaningless.

Now that's not to say that you won't hear this 10 times tonight:

Peter Loubardias: Kitchener once again trying to match lines. What a job by Peter DeBoer here at the MasterCard Memorial Cup!
Sam Cosentino: Yes Peter last change is vital in big games. Both of these teams will desperately want last change for the semifinal of the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Peter Loubardias: So, tonight's game is huge as we close out the round-robin of the MasterCard Memorial Cup?
Sam Cosentino: Every game is huge at the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

Walk your dog. Play with your kids. Sleep. Watch the Jays strand 11 bloody runners again. Do anything other than watch this meaningless exhibition game. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Although, I'm going to PVR it and probably watch it at X4 speed while drinking a bottle of cheap red wine.

The tournament starts again Friday and it's Spokane's to lose. In the last 10 years, four teams have gone 3-0 in the round-robin--all four were champions. Additionally, eight of the last 10 teams that received the bye to the final went on to win.

They're big! They're yellow! They're big yellow guys!!

You knew it was going to be a good night when you saw them wearing the yellows. So violently ugly to be beautiful, that’s the way my Belleville Bulls look. Logically, I know that the cartoon logo they sport today is more in line with what a big time hockey team’s jerseys are supposed to look like, but if cheese-ball yellow was good enough for Dunc MacIntyre, (I wrote that Wiki entry, you know. They edited it to make it read like crap, but as a writer you get used to that...) it’s good enough for Shawn Matthias.

And, Matthias was damn good—well, he got his butt in the right place at the right time yesterday and by doing so keep the Bulls season in the Bulls hands. Win three straight games and you win the Memorial Cup—no problem.

Belleville's win irritated the Kitchener faithful to no end.

With the loss, Gatineau is a little more screwed. Since the M-Cup plays a tiebreaker for the third spot, they still have a chance, but they will need to bounce back quickly tonight against Spokane. A Gatineau win tonight would assure that the tiebreaker would be played, against the loser of the Kitchener and Belleville game Wednesday.

If Spokane wins then we face the bizarre situation of Belleville and Kitchener playing, essentially, a friendly a day before playing the national semi-final (unless you think last change is worth risking injury by playing full-out that is. Seriously, what purpose would it serve playing the game if the semi was set? Oh yeah, the money).

Notes:

• You have to feel a bit for Josh Unice, who has been decidedly mediocre in the tournament thus far. Despite what they are saying now, when Kitchener acquired World Junior goaltender Steve Mason at Christmas time they were not so subtly sending the message that Unice wasn’t quite good enough to be the starter in the tournament. Remarkably, he appears to have maintained his confidence.
• It appears that the Intel did in fact show up!.
• Yes, this Laurier guy just made a Queen's reference in the title of this post. I know all the words to the Oil Thigh too. It's embarrassing.
  

No Bull. Tonight is huge at the M-Cup

No, I haven’t been hiding since the Bulls tragic overtime loss on Saturday. But, it was tragic. Deserved too. Spokane was the best team on the ice and they showed their worth by coming right back and slapping Kitchener down yesterday.
The Chiefs aren’t pretty (which has never been a requirement of winning championships), but they are getting the job done.
The weekend’s results set-up the closest thing to a sudden death game in the tournament yet. Whoever loses between Belleville and Gatineau is in deep. Not officially eliminated, but rendered at mercy of other results.
Such is the nature of a tournament like the Memorial Cup. The flip side, of course, is you can always win your way back in. Both Belleville and Gatineau will advance to the semi finals if they win out.
Spokane will book a spot in the final with a Belleville win.
Meanwhile the hosts have to be wondering what’s going on. Clearly very talented, Kitchener has played in a bit of a funk in its first two games. It’s worth noting that the Rangers have lost four of their last six games. If Gatineau win tonight, Kitchener could actually face elimination against Belleville Wednesday.
This funny little tournament is far from perfect, but it is entertaining (which makes sense since it’s pretty much a made for TV event). With half the round-robin done, things are still blurry.
They will get a lot clearer after tonight.

Notes:

• There isn’t much news out of Kitchener. It’s like it’s a holiday or something.
• What’s with famous owners of junior hockey teams? It seems like there is a story like this every year at the M-Cup.
  

Rangers rock on! Sort of.

A win is a win is a win and all that, but the talk today at the Memorial Cup has to surround the Kitchener Rangers seeming inability to finish teams off.

The Rangers were clearly the better team last night—at times they appeared to be toying with the Olympiques. But, whenever it looked like they were about to blow the game wide open, somehow they would let Gatineau back in. When you couple last night with the recent OHL final where the Rangers blew a 3-0 lead before rebounding to win game 7, you have to wonder. Do the Rangers lack a killer instinct?

What you don’t have to wonder is whether Kitchener is talented. They enter the tournament as the clear favourite. For now, they remain. Despite letting Gatineau back in last night and Belleville back in the Ontario final, the Rangers did manage to emerge victorious in both occasions. In game 7 against the Bulls Kitchener played a near perfect game. Clearly, this is a spectacular junior hockey team.

One area of concern for the Rangers has to be goaltending. Josh Unice was, frankly, terrible last night. Troubling, then, is news that World Junior goaltender Steve Mason is probably not going to be made eligible to play for the Rangers in the tournament. The Record reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets would need to give their OK for Mason to lace ‘em up.

If Kitchener entered the M-Cup as favourites, Gatineau came in as the clear No. 4 choice. Despite fighting back to force the overtime, the Olympiques didn’t do much to demonstrate that they should be taken more seriously. Clearly outplayed through long stretches of the game, last night was more about Kitchener playing down to an opponent than it was Gatineau stepping up.

Today’s game shapes up to be quite interesting. Both Spokane, who looks to be the New Jersey Devils of the CHL, and Belleville will have reason to think that they should advance to the final. Today, then, should give a good indication of which of those teams has the inside track.

It’s a cliché, but every game at the Memorial Cup is massive. Get a win and you pretty much guarantee that you will play, at worse, in the tie-breaker game. Lose and the noose starts to get tighter.

The Record has a bit of a preview on today's game. Here too.

NOTES AND LINKS:

• You can read a couple more game reports from last night here and here.
• The Belleville Intell, seemingly, continues to report on the tournament by talking to people on the phone (God help this industry). Today, we have a Q&A with head coach George Burnett and former Bulls captain Ryan Ready talking about his experience at the 1999 Cup. Hopefully, the Intell will cough up the gas money to send a reporter to Kitchener for today because I might just jump off a bridge if it runs the CP gamer.
• I'd love to provide some Spokane perspective, but the local paper out there is stuck in 2002 mode and wants $7 for the privilege of reading it. I'll pass. I'm sure they are taking things one game at a time and not taking anyone lightly.
  
• Kitchener is a really swell town that's doing a fantastic--FANTASTIC--job of hosting the Memorial Cup. Or so says Al Coates anyway.
  

Your M-Cup link-o-rama for Friday

"When I step on the ice, I forget about it. That's why girls don't play hockey."

That’s Nazem Kadri of the Kitchener Rangers on his seven-stitch boo-boo gracing his upper lip. The Record’s Jeff Hicks gives us the rest of Kedri’s insightful prose here.

Hicks also tells us not to worry – really, the Rangers back-up goalie, who is now their starting goalie, isn’t injured. Maybe.

If you want, you can read a bunch of cliches here, as the Record is going all out on this little hockey tournament Kitchener is hosting. They are even blogging! At least I think that's what that is.

Meanwhile, the Belleville Intell's Paul Svoboda gives us a history lesson on early '80s Spokane hockey culture. Oh, and he's added a travel piece into the mix as well.

And, this is just bizarre. Although the author does reference Avril, so that's something.

If you are interested in some, you know, hockey related news about the Bulls you have to look beyond the Quinte region.

Watch out! The Globe let our boy Mirtle out. Not that he needs our help, but...

As a Bulls fan I like the way the London Freep is thinking.

I've been told that there are some non-Ontario based teams playing in this thing too. Evidently, Quebec is involved, as is Washington state.