Embed from Getty Images
REGINA - The Acadie-Bathurst Titan will look to do something no QMJHL team has done since 2013 - win the Memorial Cup final.
The Halifax Mooseheads were the last team from the QMJHL to win a national title, capping off a stretch of three straight Q winners. Since then, a QMJHL team has appeared in the final just once (Rouyn-Noranda in 2016).
The Titan earned an automatic spot in the final earlier this week, finishing with a 2-1 record. They'll take on the host Regina Pats in tonight's final, who finished 2-1 in preliminary round play and defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs in Friday's semifinal.
Game time this evening is 8 p.m. The game can be seen on Sportsnet.
The Pats had a long layoff heading into the tournament after being eliminated in the first round of the WHL playoffs. They'll look to join last year's Windsor Spitfires and the 2012 Shawinigan Cataractes as recent host teams with long breaks to win the tournament. The host team has won the Memorial Cup just three times since 2007.
While the Titan's story isn't really an underdog tale - they were one of the best teams in the QMJHL all season long - it has the feel of one. The Titan are one of the smallest markets in the CHL, and for them to get to this point - especially after everything that has happened to the franchise over the past decade - is quite impressive.
The Titan's only previous Memorial Cup experience was in 1999 when they finished third.
The Titan will also look to become just the third team from Atlantic Canada to win the Memorial Cup following the 2013 Mooseheads and 2011 Saint John Sea Dogs.
What you see with the Titan is a team built of clever trades -- trades often involving players who weren't up to speed where they were like Fitzy. Clearly the team is well managed and well coached to have made it this far with some players others couldn't work with. Similar, perhaps to the Vegas Knights.
ReplyDelete