What a finish! - Spirit take Memorial Cup with late winner

Josh Bloom enjoys the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Josh Bloom delivered a Hollywood ending to the Saginaw Spirit and to his CHL career.

On Sunday night, the host Spirit found themselves locked in a 3-3 tie with the OHL champion London Knights in the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament at the DOW Event Centre in Saginaw, Michigan. With less than 25 seconds remaining in the third period, Spirit defenceman Jorian Donovan fired a point shot on the London goal that resulted in a net scramble.

During the net scramble, Bloom, who is a 20-year-old left-winger playing in the final game of his major junior career, found a loose puck in the crease of the London net. He backhanded the puck underneath a fallen Knights defenceman into the net to put the Spirit up 4-3 with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third.

After Bloom’s goal went into the net, the tournament game high crowd of 5,373 spectators exploded into joyful delirium except for the healthy contingent of Knights supporters. The cheers hit another level as the Spirit killed of the remaining time in the frame to finalize a 4-3 final score in their favour.

The Spirit players poured on to the ice to celebrate winning the Memorial Cup and becoming CHL champions. The win marked the first championship for the Spirit franchise since it relocated to Saginaw before the start of the 2002-03 campaign.

The Spirit franchise can trace its history back to 1943. It existed in the Ontario centres of St. Catharines from 1943-76, Niagara Falls from 1976 to 1982 and North Bay from 1982 to 2002. The franchise previously won the Memorial Cup on two occasions in 1954 and 1960 as the St. Catherines Teepees.

Sunday’s win allowed the Spirit to get the last laugh on the Knights for the 2023-24 campaign. Throughout the regular season, the two clubs battled for first overall in the OHL.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 50-14-1-3 record and were ranked second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Spirit finished second overall in the OHL two points behind the Knights with a 50-16-1-1 record. Saginaw was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

During the regular season, the Spirit and Knights faced each other four times and each side came away with two wins. The two squads would meet in the OHL’s Western Conference Championship Series, and the Knights took the best-of-seven set 4-2.

Last Wednesday, the Spirit and Knights collided in the final round robin contest of the Memorial Cup tournament. The two sides were locked in a 2-2 tie until the Knights scored twice in the final two minutes of the third to claim a 4-2 victory.

Josh Bloom (#17) had three points on Sunday. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

That win gave the Knights a first place finish in the round robin standings and a berth into the event’s title game. The Spirit romped past the Moose Jaw Warriors 7-1 in the tournament’s semifinal game on Friday to set up the 12^th encounter of the 2023-24 campaign with the Knights this time in the Memorial Cup title game.

The Spirit finished the tournament posting a 4-1 record while the Knights wrapped up the event with a 3-1 mark. London saw an overall win streak of eight games going back to the OHL Playoffs and a seven game winning streak at the Memorial Cup tournament come to an end with Sunday’s loss to the Spirit.

For the longest time in Sunday’s clash, it appeared the Spirit were going to win without any need for last second dramatics. The host squad came out flying in the first period jumped out to a 2-0 lead, while holding a 13-1 edge in shots on goal.

Star centre Owen Beck scored both of the Knights goals in the opening 20 minutes, while Bloom picked up assists on both tallies. Beck roof home his first tally to the top right corner of the London net at the 9:07 mark of the opening frame. His shot came from inside the left faceoff circle in the London zone shortly after an offensive zone draw.

Beck scored his second goal on the power-play one-timing home a shot from the right faceoff dot in the London zone to the top right corner of the Knights net with 44.3 seconds remaining in the first to give the Spirit their two-goal edge.

While the Spirit were energized in the opening 20 minutes, the Knights looked flat and proceeded to look frustrated at the end of the stanza. Beck’s power-play goal inside the final minute of the first period came from Knights 19-year-old left-winger Landon Sim being given a major penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct with 62 seconds remaining in the first.

Sim was assessed those infractions after he elbowed Spirit star offensive-defenceman Zayne Parekh on the chin. Parekh was helped to the dressing after being down on the ice after Sim’s hit. The Spirit blue-liner returned to play the rest of the contest after the first intermission.

The officials went to a video review to give Sim a major penalty.

At the start of the second, it looked the Knights were going to continue to sink in quicksand. At the 7:47 mark of the frame, Knights star left-winger Denver Barkey gave the puck away in the centre ice zone to Spirit standout centre Joey Willis.

Willis jetted into the London zone on a contested breakaway and put a backhand shot home to the top right corner of the London net to push the Spirit advantage out to 3-0. At the time of Willis’s goal, the Spirit held a 3-0 lead and a 20-1 edge in shots on goal.

Josh Bloom (#17) reacts to his winning goal. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Out of nowhere, the Knights started to work themselves back into the contest. Just under two minutes after Willis’s goal, Knights star import right-winger Kasper Halttunen broke into the Spirit zone down the left wing on a two-on-one rush.

He wristed a shot into the top left corner of the Spirit net to cut the host’s lead to 3-1. Halttunen’s tally came on just the second shot on goal for the Knights.

When the second period came to a close, the Spirit were still up 3-1 and held a 24-6 edge in shots on goal.

The Knights continued to rally in the third. At the 7:48 mark of the frame, Knights star right-winger Easton Cowan slipped home from the top of the right faceoff circle a shot through a screen to trim the Spirit lead to 3-2.

With 9:44 remaining in the third, Knights star offensive-defenceman Sam Dickinson scored the equalizer that forced a 3-3 tie on a three-on-one rush. Dickinson received a pass on the left wing from Knights overage power forward Max McCue and drilled the game-tying goal into the Saginaw net. The Knights third goal came on their 10^th shot on net of the contest.

That set the stage for the dramatics with Bloom’s winner coming with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third.

Andrew Oke stopped 10 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Spirit. Michael Simpson turned away 27 shots to take the setback in net for the Knights.

The Knights have won the Memorial Cup twice in their history coming in 2005 and 2016.

Beck was named the MVP of the tournament claiming the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy. He recorded four goals, one assist and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in the five games the Spirit played at the tournament.

On top of the tournament MVP honour, Beck was named to the tournament all-star team along with Spirit offensive-defenceman Rodwin Dionicio.

The Spirit pictured with the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Halttunen and Simpson were also named to the tournament all-star team, while Simpson was named the event’s most outstanding goaltender. Cowan finished up as the leading scorer for the tournament with eight points coming off three goals and five assists.

Moose Jaw Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk was named to the tournament all-star team along with Warriors star centre Brayden Yager. Mateychuk captured the award as the event’s most sportsmanlike player.

Overall, Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game belonged to the Spirit. They capped their championship win with an unforgettable franchise moment courtesy of Bloom’s winner in the final seconds of the game.

Warriors’ Firkus, Mateychuk named CHL first team all-stars

Jagger Firkus was named a CHL first team all-star.

Jagger Firkus and Denton Mateychuk each got one more accolade on Sunday for an unforgettable 2023-24 campaign.

The two stars from the Moose Jaw Warriors were both CHL first team all-stars with Firkus taking a spot at forward and Mateychuk a spot on defence. Both played key roles in helping the Warriors win their first WHL championship in team history in 2023-24.

Firkus, who was named the CHL’s player of the year, topped the CHL in scoring with 126 points coming off 61 goals and 65 assists to go with a plus-31 rating in the plus-minus department in 63 regular season games. Mateychuk, who is the Warriors captain, collected 75 points coming off 17 goals and 58 assists to go with a plus-35 rating in 52 regular season games. He was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs in the Warriors run to winning the league title.

The WHL had one other played named a CHL first team all-star as Zac Funk of the Prince George Cougars took up a spot at forward. The WHL had two players named CHL second team all-stars in defeceman Carter Yakemchuk of the Calgary Hitmen and forward Berkly Catton of the Spokane Chiefs.

Denton Mateychuk was named a CHL first team all-star.

The CHL third team all-stars from the WHL included goaltender Harrison Meneghin of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, defenceman Luca Cagnoni of the Portland Winterhawks and forward Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers.

McKenna was also named to the CHL all-rookie team along with two other WHL players in defenceman Tarin Smith of the Everett Silvertips and forward Terik Parascak of the Prince George Cougars.

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Warriors down to last life at Memorial Cup tourney

Moose Jaw drops 5-4 decision to Knights to fall to 0-2

Ethan Semeniuk scored twice for the Warriors on Monday.

The Moose Jaw Warriors are finding out life can come at you fast at the Memorial Cup.

On Monday, the WHL champions played their second round robin game at the tournament that crowns a CHL champion taking on the London Knights, who are the champions of the OHL. Once again, the Warriors supplied their share of thrills at the DOW Event Centre in Saginaw, Michigan, but fell 5-4 in a contest played before 4,768 spectators.

The Warriors also came up short by a 5-4 final score in their first round robin contest on Friday against the host Saginaw Spirit from the OHL.

Sitting at 0-2, the Warriors are down to their last life at the Memorial Cup tournament. On Tuesday, Moose Jaw takes on the QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

The Voltigeurs are also 0-2 at the tournament. Tuesday’s clash between the Warriors and Voltigeurs will be the final round robin game for both clubs at the tourney. The winner moves on to play in a semifinal contest on Friday, while the losing squad is eliminated from the event.

The Knights improved to 2-0 at the Memorial Cup. They close the round robin portion of the event taking on the host Spirit, who are also 2-0, on Wednesday (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

That clash between the Knights and Spirit will be a rematch of the OHL’s Western Conference Championship series, which London claimed 4-2. 

The winner of Wednesday’s encounter between the two OHL clubs advances to the Memorial Cup championship game slated for this coming Sunday (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

Denton Mateychuk had the Warriors first goal on Monday.

The squad that falls in Wednesday’s battle will play in Friday’s semifinal contest (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN) against the winner of Tuesday’s game between the Warriors and Voltigeurs.

In Monday’s encounter between the Warriors and Knights, the WHL champs got out to a fast start. Just 27 seconds into the contest, Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus broke into the London zone on a breakaway. Firkus put a backhand shot on net that was turned away by a right pad save from Knights star netminder Michael Simpson.

Moose Jaw would break through on the scoreboard first a short time later. At the 3:39 mark of the first, Warriors captain and star defenceman Denton Mateychuk received a drop pass from Warriors star 20-year-old right-winger Atley Calvert in position for a midrange shot straight out from the left post of the London net.

Mateychuk rocketed a shot to the top left corner of the London net to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. That marked the first time the Warriors held a lead at any time in the Memorial Cup tournament. Moose Jaw is making its debut in the CHL championship event.

The Knights would answer back in the second half of the opening frame. After causing a turnover off the forecheck in the Moose Jaw zone, Knights centre Jacob Julien made a backhand pass from below the icing line to the right side of the Warriors goal across the face of the net to import right-winger Ruslan Gazizov. 

Gazizov popped the puck into an empty left side of the Moose Jaw net to even the score at 1-1.

With 2:10 remaining in the first, Knights star offensive-defenceman Sam Dickinson wired a midrange shot from the front of the Moose Jaw net through screen home to the left side of the goal to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.

Moose Jaw would even the score at 2-2 at the 7:01 mark of the second. Warriors defenceman Aiden Ziprick fired a shot from the left side of the London net that rebounded out to Warriors left-winger Ethan Semeniuk at the right side of the goal. Semeniuk quickly fired the rebound into an empty right side of the London net past a fallen Simpson for the equalizer.

Atley Calvert set up the Warriors first goal on Monday.

At that point, the Knights shot out on a surge scoring three straight goals to take a 5-2 lead. At the 9:02 mark of the second, standout rookie centre Sam O’Reilly scored a beauty for the Knights. He made a puck drag move to get around Warriors defenceman Cosmo Wilson on a rush down the left wing and roofed a close in shot to the top right corner of the Moose Jaw net to put the Knights up 3-2.

With 7:13 remaining in the second, O’Reilly found himself breaking into the Moose Jaw zone jetting down the right wing on a two-on-one rush with veteran left-winger Landon Sim speeding down the left win. O’Reilly made a pass across the front of the Moose Jaw net to Sim, who buried a shot to put the Knights up 4-2.

The Knights completed the surge with 3:46 remaining in the second, when import winger Kasper Halttunen one-timed home a midrange shot from just off to the left of the Moose Jaw to give the OHL champs their 5-2 advantage. Halttunen converted a beauty setup pass from star right-winger Easton Cowan.

Moose Jaw got a big traction moment just six second later, when Semeniuk netted his second of the contest putting home a shot from just outside the London blue-line that cut the Knights advantage to 5-3.

Things got a bit rough with 2:30 remaining in the second as Warriors offensive-defenceman Kalem Parker took on Knights power forward Max McCue in a fight. McCue got the better of Parker in the bout.

When the second period came to a close, the Knights held their 5-3 advantage holding a 24-20 edge in shots on goal. While the Knights have skill, they built their lead by playing heavy in a style similar to that of some of the skilled and physical squads that traditionally have been more usual in coming out of the WHL.

The Knights players often dumped the puck into the Moose Jaw zone, and the London forwards got some big hits on Warriors defencemen working on the forecheck.

Jagger Firkus has been snake bitten around the net.

In the third, the Warriors came with a big push holding a 10-4 edge in shots on goal. Moose Jaw elected to first pull star netminder Jackson Unger for an extra attacker with about 4:36 remaining in the third.

During a scramble around the London net with 3:55 remaining in the third, Warriors standout overage import left-winger Martin Rysavy banged the puck home into the OHL champs’ goal to trim the Knights lead to 5-4.

Unger returned to the Warriors net and was pulled once again for an extra attacker with 79 seconds remaining in the third. The Warriors proceeded to get an offensive zone faceoff with 71 seconds left in the frame.

Off the draw, Warriors star centre Brayden Yager got the puck at the right side boards of the London zone and passed it to Firkus, who was in position for a midrange one-timer just off to the left of the London net. Firkus one-timed Yager’s setup pass but the shot was corralled by Simpson.

The Knights clamped things down defensively from there to hold on to their 5-4 victory.

Unger turned away 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors. Simpson stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Knights.

Cowan and Denver Barkey each had a pair of helpers for the Knights. London has now won six straight games at the Memorial Cup tournament, which includes going 4-0 to win the 2016 edition of the tournament held in Red Deer, Alta.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Warriors won two elimination games taking their epic seven game WHL Eastern Conference title series win over the Saskatoon Blades. The Warriors claimed a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 of that series at home in Moose Jaw and posted a 3-2 overtime victory in a series-deciding Game 7 in Saskatoon.

On Tuesday, the Warriors take on a Voltigeurs side that is facing elimination for the first time in the 2024 post-season.

Brayden Yager nearly set up a late equalizer for the Warriors.

Moose Jaw has battled and lost two games that could have gone either way at the Memorial Cup. In the department of Captain Obvious, now would be a great time for the Warriors to get their first win at the CHL championship tourney.

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Thunderbirds on the clock to end WHL’s Memorial Cup woes

Colton Dach scored a key goal in the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Will the Seattle Thunderbirds end the WHL’s drought when it comes to winning the Memorial Cup?

That will be the burning question for WHL followers when the Thunderbirds take the ice in the title game of the CHL’s championship tournament. They will go up against the QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts on Sunday at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C., at 4 p.m. local time. The winner claims junior hockey’s most prestigious trophy in the Memorial Cup.

On paper, this has the makings to be a heavyweight tilt that produces a classic of a championship game. Both the Thunderbirds and Remparts have been two of the CHL’s top clubs throughout the 2022-23 campaign.

The Thunderbirds topped the WHL’s Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Thunderbird proceeded to win the league title posting a 16-3 mark.

The Remparts finished first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Remparts proceeded to win the league crown posting a 16-2 mark.

In the round robin game held this past Monday between the two sides at the Memorial Cup tournament, the Remparts slipped past the Thunderbirds 3-1, but Seattle held a 36-22 edge in shots on goal. Both teams posted identical 2-1 records in the round robin portion of the event, and the Remparts were given first place and a bye to the event’s championship game due to the head-to-head victory over the Thunderbirds.

Brad Lambert scored Seattle’s first goal in the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Seattle downed the OHL champion Peterborough Petes 4-1 in a semifinal contest on Friday to advance to the tournament’s championship game. With the win over the Petes, the Thunderbirds were officially put “on the clock” to try and end the WHL’s drought when it comes to winning the Memorial Cup.

The Edmonton Oil Kings were the last team from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup, and that victory came back in 2014. Edmonton captured the WHL and CHL titles that year playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with the Oil Kings 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in June of 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.

The WHL is currently in its longest drought as a league of not being able to win the Memorial Cup spanning six seasons from 2015 to 2019 and 2022. The Memorial Cup tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Clubs from the WHL became eligible to play for the Memorial Cup on a regular basis in the 1970-71 campaign. If the Thunderbirds lose in the CHL’s title game on Sunday, the WHL’s drought will grow to seven seasons creating a new distinction for the drought.

Since the WHL first hit the ice as a circuit for the 1966-67 campaign, the longest it has gone without a Memorial Cup win is seven seasons. That drought included years the WHL wasn’t eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup as the circuit was originally viewed as an “outlaw league” by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association that governed the game in Canada at that time.

The WHL didn’t have any Memorial Cup victories in its first seven seasons of existence, and that winless run came to an end when the Regina Pats won storied trophy for the third time in team history to conclude the 1973-74 campaign.

Kyle Crnkovic scored Seattle’s third goal on Friday.

For a moment, the possibility existed that there wouldn’t be a WHL team in this year’s championship game at the Memorial Cup tournament. On Thursday, the Petes met the host Blazers in a standings tiebreaking game as both teams were 1-2 in round robin play.

Despite not winning the WHL title, the Blazers had a fairly stellar campaign in 2022-23. They finished second overall in the Western Conference and third overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-13-4-3 mark. The B.C. Division champions were rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

The Blazers won their first eight straight games in the WHL Playoffs to advance to the Western Conference Championship Series. They fell in six games in that set to the Thunderbirds.

The Petes were the Cinderella team of CHL’s post-season. They finish 10^th in the overall OHL regular season standings with a 35-29-2-2 record. Despite being an afterthought when the post-season began, the Petes proceeded to win the OHL title posting a 16-7 record in the OHL Playoffs.

In the round robin portion of the Memorial Cup tournament, the Blazers pummeled the Petes 10-2 on May 28. The Blazers held a 4-1 lead early in the second period of Thursday’s tiebreaking game and appeared to be set to cruise to victory.

The Petes caught fired and evened the score 4-4 by the end of the second period. The contest ultimately went to overtime and Petes 19-year-old left-winger J.R. Avon scored the winner at the 10:54 mark of extra time to give the Petes a 5-4 victory.

Going into Friday’s semifinal between the Petes and Thunderbirds, one had to wonder if the Petes were going to see their Cinderella run through to getting their hands on the Memorial Cup. Unfortunately for the Petes, the fact that they were playing their fifth game in seven days caught up with them on the fatigue front.

Thomas Milic made 27 saves in Seattle’s Memorial Cup semifinal win.

The Petes looked fatigued in that clash, but they stayed in the game thanks to a spectacular effort by their star netminder in Michael Simpson. Simpson kept the Thunderbirds off the scoreboard until being beaten by star Seattle centre Brad Lambert with 4:28 remaining in the second period. Lambert’s tally gave the Thunderbirds a 1-0 edge.

Power forward Colton Dach scored 88 seconds into the third to push the Thunderbirds lead out to 2-0. The Petes responded 73 seconds later with a goal from left-winger Brennan Othmann to cut the Seattle lead to 2-1.

Seattle put the contest away with a goal by star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic just before the midway point of the frame and an empty-net tally from standout left-winger Nico Myatovic to round out the 4-1 win. 

Star netminder Thomas Milic made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds, while Simpson turned away 43-of-46 shots in the campaign ending setback for the Petes.

Unfortunately for the loaded up Thunderbirds, they could be running into a buzzsaw with the Remparts, whose level of play might be raised by their own emotional motivation. The Memorial Cup title game could be the last ride with the Remparts for “Saint Patrick.”

Hockey legend Patrick Roy, who is the Remparts head coach and general manager, is involved in speculation with regards to NHL head coaching vacancies. The Remparts players could be motivated to see the 57-year-old Roy departs on an ultimate high note.

The Remparts starting star netminder William Rousseau has been solid during the tournament stopping 87-of-95 shots for a .916 save percentage and a 2.93 goals against average.

Nico Myatovic scored an empty-net goal on Friday night.

You can expect the Thunderbirds will give their best to try and win their first Memorial Cup title in team history. If they fall in the CHL’s title game on Sunday, one has to wonder how far the WHL’s Memorial Cup drought will go.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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