PREVIEW
From the official Memorial Cup website comes the official preview for the Memorial Cup. How will the Sea Dogs win?
“The Sea Dogs have been on a huge roll for the past three
seasons and come into the Memorial Cup as the defending champions and
favourites to win it all once again,” writes Aaron Bell. “They have lots of
depth - especially up front - and the experience to give them a head start in
the quick tournament.”
NOVA SCOTIA
As Willy Palov writes in Wednesday’s Chronicle Herald,
the Sea Dogs have a few Nova Scotia born players on their squad.
“It’s a little different than last year,” said Stephen MacAulay.
“We have the same group of core guys but we added a few new guys so our
makeup’s a bit different. It’s still the exact same feeling. After we won that
last game against Rimouski (to win the QMJHL title), you couldn’t really put
into words how good it felt. Even though we were expected to win and we had
such a great record in the playoffs, it’s still an unbelievable feeling.”
Devon Oliver-Dares also talks about all the bad luck he
has had health wise this season.
BEAULIEU
Here is the first of many Nathan
Beaulieu-grew-up-a-London-Knights-fan story you’ll be hearing about all week. The first comes from the London Free Press.
"It means a lot because it's my hometown team,"
Beaulieu said. "I grew up with the Knights and it's going to be special to
play them because there are still a lot of people in that organization who are
like family to me.”
Beaulieu’s father Jacques, of course, is a former Knights
assistant coach and Sea Dogs head coach/general manager. He’s currently with the Sarnia Sting in the OHL.
TPS
On The Pipeline Show on Tuesday night, Gerard Gallant was
a guest on the program as they setup the Memorial Cup. All four head coaches
and Sam Cosentino were guests on the program. It’s worth a listen.
Kris Eberwein has an article up on Yahoo! about Jonathan
Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers.
“Huberdeau almost made the Panthers team for the 2011-12
season,” he writes. “He put on a great show at the Panthers' training camp
which must have made it very difficult for the front office to send him back to
Canada. In the grand scheme of things there is no reason to rush the kid along
but at the same time there's no reason to have a potential all-star playing in
the Q either.”
CONFIDENT
Got news for you: the Sea Dogs are feeling confident
heading into this year’s tournament as the Canadian Press explains. Head coach
Gerard Gallant feels his team is entering the Memorial Cup on a solid note
following that 8-0 win in Rimouski last Thursday.
"That was the best I've seen us play this
year," Gallant said. "I'm really happy with the way we've played
lately and that's a good sign going into the Memorial Cup, where you know
you're going to face really good competition."
POLLING
Sportsnet has a bunch of polls up on their website. Some
of the questions include how many points Jonathan Huberdeau will record, how
many games Shawinigan will win, who will win it all, and more.
BEST IN AWHILE
Solid article from Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press, via the Toronto Sun, about this year’s tournament appearing to be the best since
2005.
“There isn't a Sidney Crosby-like talent to track this
go-round -- you'll have to make do with Florida's third overall pick, Jonathan
Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs, once again -- but there are zero
pretenders here,” writes Pyette.
Saint John’s motivating factor: the lost Memorial Cup
bid.
STATS
The QMJHL has done great job putting together this stats package featuring all four Memorial Cup teams. Be sure to check that out.
THE UNKNOWN
Via the Ottawa Citizen, John MacKinnon of Postmedia News
writes about the unknown at the Memorial Cup. He’s bang on with his opening paragraph.
“Here’s the deal with the Memorial Cup: Every team knows
a little bit about their opponents, just not enough to mar the mystique of the
national major junior hockey championship,” writes MacKinnon.
Also unknown: what Nick Kypreos will say.
No comments:
Post a Comment