Nine years ago tonight...

It was nine years ago tonight that the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 3-1 to win the 2011 Memorial Cup.

Because there is nothing else to do right now, the CHL has been posting quite a bit about past Memorial Cups. Here's Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino remembering the tournament:

2011 #MemorialCup Highlights 🏆

A shorthanded snipe by Simon Despres plus a goal and an assist from both Zack Phillips and tournament MVP Jonathan Huberdeau led the @QMJHL’s @SJSeaDogs to a 3-1 championship win over host Mississauga.

FULL GAME 🖥: https://t.co/Tlf8hspPxb pic.twitter.com/hKZnvGKKMT

— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) May 29, 2020

The CHL aired the championship game on its website last night.

As Cosentino mentioned, the Majors outshot the Sea Dogs 26-14 in the final two periods. While Jordan Binnington was probably the right choice for the tournament's top goaltender award, it really can't be understated just how good - and how valuable - Jacob DeSerres was in the Saint John goal.

As the highlight package shows, DeSerres essentially had the game of his life in net. He was named the game's first star and finished the tournament with a wild .946 save percentage and 1.82 goals against average - this a year after allowing nine goals in the Brandon Wheat Kings' 9-1 loss to the stacked Windsor Spitfires.

DeSerres didn't celebrate much when the final horn sounded. “I was almost so excited and so happy you don't show it. It's just all inside," he told NHL.com after the game.

“I have the simplest job title in the world — just stop the puck," he added.

Some random thoughts on the nine-year anniversary:

• Six players from that Sea Dogs team went on to play in the NHL.
• In the eight tournaments that followed the Sea Dogs' victory, four were won by QMJHL teams.
• The worst part about the 2011 tournament was definitely that hit Owen Sound's Joey Hishon took, which ultimately ruined his playing career. Hishon is now an assistant coach with the Attack along with being Justin Bieber's private hockey coach.
• Tomas Jurco finished his Memorial Cup playing career with six goals and two assists in eight games.
• All of Saint John's games were extremely entertaining in this tournament, something I didn't really appreciate until later on.
• Of the four teams that took part in this tournament, Saint John is the only one that has won a league championship since. Mississauga made the OHL final in 2017.
• From the Canadian Press' game recap comes a line you probably don't want to hear given this week's news: "Once again, Dave Cameron's team came up short when it mattered most.” The Majors lost in Game 7 of the OHL final that year as well.
• Here's our recap and notebook from the game.
• Reaction from Harbour Station that night: