anthem botchery aside, it's been a bit of a disaster attendance-wise for the organizers.
Portland vs. Halifax, Jones vs. McKinnon, the two best junior teams there are.
They couldn't even get 9000 into a 15000-capacity arena.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
Ever see a Saskatoon Blades home game? That building is empty. It's baffling, really, given that Saskatoon and environs is hockey player producing country. But the locals just don't go. What the hell else is there to do in Saskatoon during the winter? But the Blades have always had miserable attendance numbers. It's amazing that there is still a team there.
You'll see full houses for every game next year. And that, as it turns out, will be London's third-straight Memorial Cup (they're hosting), a rare enough feat.
The world finally gets a look at the Halifax Mooseheads. Not bad, eh? The Blades probably can't stop them. They lit up Portland. Unless London can play flawless smothering defense against the Mooseheads, fingers-crossed, Halifax should win it all. Damn, they looked incredible against a Portland team that ripped through the WHL this season. Still . . . anything can (and often does) happen in a Memorial Cup and as each day progresses, each game becomes bigger and bigger. Right now, that Portland/London game on Monday is looking huge.
Scottie, I have not seen a Moosehead game this year. I follow the press clippings, not even the box scores. But it seems to me that they have a fantastic young goalie.
It's the sixth version of The Swamp. What could possibly go wrong?
HDO45331 wrote:Scottie, I have not seen a Moosehead game this year. I follow the press clippings, not even the box scores. But it seems to me that they have a fantastic young goalie.
They do. But not today. Zach Fucale is draft-eligible this summer (NHL).
I have no idea what is going on with the Mooseheads today. They dismantled Portland yesterday; the Winterhawks were 57-12-1-2 this season, number two ranked team in all of Junior behind only Halifax themselves. And The Mooseheads are out there losing to Saskatoon 4-0 right now. Gak!
I've not a cent riding on this but, damn, Memorial Cup games are no place for a betting man.
Well, London dismantled the Blades Friday, then Halifax beats Portland soundly Saturday, their supposed competition for the Cup. I suspect nothing more than a mental letdown by Halifax doubled up with back to back games on the road by young kids.
I still say Portland and Halifax meet again in the Final. Of course, my prognosticating in hockey this season has been dreadful!
"All men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln
Still in shock that Halifax lost to the Blades. Yeeesh. Anyway, if Portland defeats London today, everybody is 1-1. That'll guarantee the tie-breaker game is necessary since after Tuesday (Halifax/London) and Wednesday (Portland/Saskatoon) the standings will have two teams at 2-1 and two at 1-2. Today's game is ginormous.
The only way there is no tie-breaker game is if the teams finish round-robin play at 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, 0-3.
Number two and three ranked teams on Planet Erf, Portland Winterhawks and London Knights, and that damned building in Saskatoon is virtually empty. Rots me, that, given the lengths I've gone to in the past to attend Memorial Cup tournaments.
All those empty seats . . . looks just like a typical Saskatoon Blades game. On a national holiday, no less.
MaxWebster wrote:maybe Vancouver gets it back in 2 yrs.
Oh, man, I hope so. Or Victoria (they have a great building here).
At the PNE a few years ago, even the Lewiston/Plymouth game had over 12,000 in attendance. And that barn is pretty much perfect for the Memorial Cup. The Giants have a looooooong way to go to be worthy hosts. Mind you, the horse trading that goes on in the season before hosting and the season "of" hosting can change the face of a team almost entirely.
That Memorial Cup final in 2007, Vancouver and Medicine Hat at the PNE, may well have been the best hockey game I've ever seen.
And, Max, I'm just assuming that if the Memorial Cup is in Vancouver in 2015, you'll be here for the week with me and Hotcakes, eh?
Scottie sees much more WHL hockey than me so I'll defer to him.
But I really see nothing special about Seth Jones so far, looks butter soft and rushes passes when pressed. I am always leery of players that dominate junior because of their size. He simply won't have that size dominance in the NHL and he will be tested physically on a regular basis nothing I have seen from him so far suggests that he will dish it back.
Personally, I would much rather draft a dominant skater than someone who is dominant due to size. Compete level is also paramount. Then add in the D vs F argument. No contest for me, i would take McKinnon.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
MaxWebster wrote:maybe Vancouver gets it back in 2 yrs.
Oh, man, I hope so. Or Victoria (they have a great building here).
At the PNE a few years ago, even the Lewiston/Plymouth game had over 12,000 in attendance. And that barn is pretty much perfect for the Memorial Cup. The Giants have a looooooong way to go to be worthy hosts. Mind you, the horse trading that goes on in the season before hosting and the season "of" hosting can change the face of a team almost entirely.
That Memorial Cup final in 2007, Vancouver and Medicine Hat at the PNE, may well have been the best hockey game I've ever seen.
And, Max, I'm just assuming that if the Memorial Cup is in Vancouver in 2015, you'll be here for the week with me and Hotcakes, eh?
The stories I saw said that London got the 2014 Cup over Windsor because London will have the better team. Would love to see it in Windsor though. I'd make a trip back home to catch a game or two. The new arena they have there to replace their old barn (which was a great old classic arena, though a tremendous dump) is very, very nice I'm told.
ETA: Realizing that 2017 would be the soonest and all, but still...Windsor deserves a shot to host IMO.
There are three Junior leagues comprising the CHL. They are the OHL, the WHL and the QMJHL. Each year one league hosts the Memorial Cup. It rotates. Last year Shawinigan (QMJHL) had it. This year, Saskatoon (WHL). Next year, London (OHL). The year after next it goes back to the QMJHL. And so on. In each iteration, league teams offer bids which are, exactly as you said, like Olympic bids. So when it was Shawinigan's turn to host, they beat out Cape Breton and two other league cities.
When the WHL's turn rolls around again, you'll get bids from Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, etc. Each puts a package together much like Olympic bids, gloss and glory, offering host amenities and community this and that.
It's highly political. Probably highly corrupt in some ways, much like Olympic host competition.
Also, it costs a bidding city's franchise millions just to enter the competition to host a Memorial Cup. Some cities more than others, of course.
It would be an interesting study to examine how well teams with failed bids fared in the immediate seasons after as their buying power for players is decimated. They tend to collapse. Like Cape Breton this year; worst team in the entire combination of the three leagues. All that after failing to land the 2012 Memorial Cup.
Portland beats London 6-3. So, as Scottie predicted, all 4 teams sit at 1-1 with two pool play games left.
Big game is probably tonight, if we assume Portland will beat Saskatoon tomorrow. Very important for Halifax to defeat London or else they risk elimination in tie-breaker format against Saskatoon, who they lost to earlier, if that is in fact the first tie-breaker.
If head to head is main tie-breaker, which I would assume, but I don't know: then if Halifax and Portland end up 2-1, Halifax gets bye to final, and Portland would have to play London again. But, if London wins tonight, then Portland would get bye, and London would play Saskatoon in Play-in game, with Halifax eliminated.
Very interesting scenarios. Does anyone know for sure the tie-breaking rules for the Memorial Cup? If not head to head, is it some kind of goal differential, which could force teams winning these next two games to try to "run up" the score to advance?
"All men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln
Head-head is used to determine 1st place but it cannot be used to determine 3rd place. There must be a tiebreaker.
So the scenarios are
The two losers will play in a tiebreaker for sure.
If Portland and London win, Portland is first
If Portland and Halifax win, Halifax is first
If Saskatoon and London win, London is first
If Saskatoon and Halifax win, Sasaktoon is first
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
The feed to Domi, right through a defender's skates, was amazing enough. But what Domi does with the puck? Well . . . you HAVE to see this. Not merely a behind the back between his own legs pass, but he actually SAUCERS it to Horvat.
His dad, Tie, was damn right when he said that "Max doesn't get his hands from me".
This is incredible. You'll never see a better pass.
Anybody watching this right now? What Halifax is doing to London? Halifax scores five goals in a period . . . again. I don't know what the hell sort of let down the Mooseheads had against Saskatoon but 5-0 after one period against the London Knights just isn't the same bunch of guys that snoozed through the first two periods against Saskatoon.
And that building is empty again. People in YXE can go fuck themselves. The #1 and #3 teams in all of Junior and attendance is about 500.
London, clearly exhausted, is trailing by a touchdown. That puts them in the tie-breaker game. Meaning that to win the Memorial Cup they'll have to win three games in four days against Saskatoon, Portland and Halifax . . . all on an empty tank. Yikes.
MacKinnon and Drouin get all the attention sure. And I agree with Degen, I'd draft MacKinnon, too, in a heartbeat. Any heartbeat. But a couple of years ago I shot my mouth off about how great Martin Frk is. And in the Memorial Cup he has been showing himself to be world-class; that's somewhat rare for a European.
Oh, Frk? Yeah, Detroit drafted him.
The 2013 draft will probably go like:
1. MacKinnon (Colorado)
2. Seth Jones (Florida)
3. Drouin (Tampa)
Colorado would be completely insane, certifiably insane, to not take Nathan MacKinnon.
There's no way that Saskatoon defeats the Portland Winterhawks tomorrow . . . right? Let's say Portland wins. The tie-breaker would be London/Saskatoon (Got a coin? Toss it.) The semi-final would be that winner versus Portland. The winner of that gets Halifax in the Memorial Cup final. Yep. Clear as mud.
SportsDoc and I both went with a Halifax/Portland championship game. SportsDoc said this back on the 14th:
SportsDoc wrote:I'll take Portland over Halifax in the Final.
I hope that is the final. That's because I believe Portland will defeat Saskatoon tomorrow, Portland will defeat a tired team in the semi.
And, Doc, I'll stick with Halifax. They just do everything right. And I'm a Q guy, after all.
Note: The only time that Halifax lost back-to-back games all season was when MacKinnon and Drouin were off with Team Canada at the World Junior. As was half the league.
Take a good look at what happened last year. Shawinigan built a team (see upthread) knowing they would host the Memorial Cup. Loaded up with talent. And then lost in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs (to my beloved Chicoutimi Saguenéens, the only team on this continent that plays on a proper size rink), giving them the same sort of vacation Saskatoon has had.
Yet the weirdest thing happened. Shawinigan managed to win one (only one) round-robin game; oddly it was the London Knights that they defeated in the pool play. And then Shawinigan won the tie-breaker against an incredible Edmonton Oil Kings team. And then somehow beat the best team in the Junior world (at the time) Saint John in the semi-final. At the time it seemed impossible. And then, in overtime, they beat the London Knights to win the Memorial Cup. So can the impossible happen? Can a host team run the table against the champions of the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL? Yup. Canadians love their insanity.
Imagine that, eh. What sort of groove do you have to be in to knock off, on consecutive days, the teams that won each of the three leagues? With no rest.
I don't think Saskatoon has that sort of run in them. Shawinigan did, but you could sort of see that coming. For Saskatoon to win the Memorial Cup they'll have to defeat Halifax again. Think that's going to happen? Crazier things have happened. But that would out-crazy all of crazy.
As an aside, I wore my Mooseheads cap to the Little Brown Jug, one of the jewels of harness racing. I got a couple of "thumbs-up" from people there. Harness racing is pretty strong in Canada, and has a rather loyal following. So much, that both national anthems are sung before the racing begins on Jug day.
It's the sixth version of The Swamp. What could possibly go wrong?
Scottie wrote:MacKinnon and Drouin get all the attention sure. And I agree with Degen, I'd draft MacKinnon, too, in a heartbeat. Any heartbeat. But a couple of years ago I shot my mouth off about how great Martin Frk is. And in the Memorial Cup he has been showing himself to be world-class; that's somewhat rare for a European.
Oh, Frk? Yeah, Detroit drafted him.
They surely seem to have some kind of weird magic when it comes to drafting Europeans.
I would agree, draft the over the top talent at forward before defense at the top of the draft.
Think St. Louis wishes it had drafted either Staal or Toews instead of Erik Johnson? Defense takes time to develop, and many times is harder to evaluate at the Junior level. A highly skilled forward light years ahead of his peers is always the better choice (as long as his character is not suspect) because he is usually always going to be better than his peers, skill wise.
Portland - Saskatoon tonight. The Blades will try to run the Winterhawks out of the building tonight, physically, as Portland is an atypical WHL team that is built more on finesse.
If the building isn't full, Saskatoon should be ashamed. I'll still take Portland.
"All men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln
Arena not full bout it's over 10000 for the first time in years.
Great game so far, 1-1 after 2. Blades just killed a 4 minute penalty at the end of the 2nd period.
A win for the Blades and they go directly to the final.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
SportsDoc wrote:Portland - Saskatoon tonight. The Blades will try to run the Winterhawks out of the building tonight, physically, as Portland is an atypical WHL team that is built more on finesse.
That's an excellent observation. Portland is built like, well, a QMJHL team. Saskatoon, on the other hand, is pure prairie farm boys.
When Portland scored to go up 2-1 in the third, that was not a celebration as much as it was an expression of relief.
rass wrote:I know his stats were pretty good this season, but how has Pouliot looked?
Oh, very solid. He took a couple of needless penalties when the Halifax game got beyond them. But he has more points in this tournament than anyone else not wearing Halifax Mooseheads jerseys.
Can't really base much on that earlier Portland/Halifax game. Pouliot had three assists and was still -3.
How's he doing tonight? Sportsnet just gave him the "player of the game".
degenerasian wrote:But I really see nothing special about Seth Jones so far, looks butter soft and rushes passes when pressed. I am always leery of players that dominate junior because of their size. He simply won't have that size dominance in the NHL and he will be tested physically on a regular basis nothing I have seen from him so far suggests that he will dish it back.
Degen, curious to know if you still feel that way. Have you seen the last couple of Winterhawks games?
I agree with you, by the way. Although that kid's passing skills are something else. He really has that rare gift for putting the puck to where the play is going to be rather than where it is. That make sense? Nyahhh, probably not. He thinks ahead a play. And in Bettman world, softer players will rule the league. He's no pussy though.
You can forgive his, for lack of a better term, unwillingness to engage physically. But that is the system that Portland plays, no?
Oh, and the London Knights are fucking up the Saskatoon Blades for free. This looks like practice; 6-0 and counting. So the semi-final is London -v- PDX and Halifax is in the final. Way it should be. Top three teams in Junior.
Fuck me, I wish I had the time and money to fly out there. Not like there's a lack of seats. The next two games, semi and final, are going to be incredible.
Y'know, I could probably swing this. It's been a while since I've done something wildly idiotic.
degenerasian wrote:But I really see nothing special about Seth Jones so far, looks butter soft and rushes passes when pressed. I am always leery of players that dominate junior because of their size. He simply won't have that size dominance in the NHL and he will be tested physically on a regular basis nothing I have seen from him so far suggests that he will dish it back.
Degen, curious to know if you still feel that way. Have you seen the last couple of Winterhawks games?
I agree with you, by the way. Although that kid's passing skills are something else. He really has that rare gift for putting the puck to where the play is going to be rather than where it is. That make sense? Nyahhh, probably not. He thinks ahead a play. And in Bettman world, softer players will rule the league. He's no pussy though.
You can forgive his, for lack of a better term, unwillingness to engage physically. But that is the system that Portland plays, no?
And his Dad is Popeye.
I still feel that way. I feel his NHL career may mirror that of Bouwmeester.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
