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05-26-2010, 04:28 AM #1Assistant General Manager
Memorial Cup format needs to change
BY: Derrick Newman
The Windsor Spitfires won their second straight Memorial Cup on Sunday night beating the host Brandon Wheat Kings by a score of 9-1 in the final; a real barn burner of an affair.
The Wheat Kings qualified for the final by beating the WHL Champion Calgary Hitmen in an overtime thriller. The Wheat Kings qualified for the tournament by having the right address.
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05-26-2010, 08:02 AM #2Hockey Manager
Sour grapes from an obviously disappointed Hitmen fan. He has a right to express his opinion but I disagree with him. The Memorial Cup is the most difficult prize in sports to win exactly because of the tournament's format, which has been in place for as long as I can remember and helps to emphasize that every single game you play out there could be your last. If the Hitmen had defeated the Spitfires in their qualifying game, Calgary would have had the bye into the championship game. They didn't. If the Hitmen had defeated Brandon in the semi-finals, Calgary would have earned a berth into the championship game. They didn't.
It's funny how the fans of the losing team complain about the format and demand it be changed to make it more equitable, isn't it?
Habs fan and collector! Current PC's: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Lane Hutson...., and of course...
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05-26-2010, 08:40 AM #3
there is no reason to change it, plain and simple
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05-26-2010, 09:24 PM #4
Calgary Hitmen Examiner
Derrick Newman
Enough said, quit crying because your team failed to deliver when they needed to
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05-26-2010, 10:14 PM #5Hockey Advisor
There is one thing about the format, that I don't like.
When the host team wins their league playoffs, the loser of the conference final gets the 4th berth in the tourny. This doesn't happen too often, but it can. (It happened the last two times the OHL hosted, 2008 in Kitchener, and 2005 in London).
Take the 2008 Tourney as an example. Kitchener automatically got a berth, because they were the host. They also got one because they won the OHL playoffs. The loser in the conference final, Belleville, got to play too.
I don't like this - because it means the runner up is automatically treated like the 2nd best team.... even though, by virtue of geography, no teams in Kitchener's conference had that opportunity.
IMO - Belleville should have had to play a one game playoff against Sault Ste. Marie that season (following the league finals) to earn that right. (The Greyhounds lost to Kitchener in the conference finals).
Belleville did have the 2nd best record in the league regular season that year, so I might give them the benefit of the doubt (even though the west is almost always the strong of the two OHL conferences) but in 2005 - both Kitchener (the Conference Final loser, to London) and Owen Sound were better teams than Ottawa, who got to go to the Memorial Cup.
Don't doubt that it could happen again next year. Mississauga is hosting.... and with 17 returning players, there's a great chance they win the league. Someone would then get into the tourney based on their geography, instead of really earning it.
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