2023 Memorial Cup begins Friday

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

The Quebec Remparts have departed for Kamloops, BC where they'll try and win a fourth straight Memorial Cup championship for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The Remparts earned their spot in the four-team tournament with 5-4 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday, taking the Gilles-Courteau Trophy final in six games. They did so while staying fairly healthy, which should be beneficial heading into their tournament opener.

Quebec will be thrown into a hostile environment immediately, taking on the host Kamloops Blazers on Friday night at 10 p.m. Atlantic. The Blazers were eliminated in the third round of the Western Hockey League playoffs and haven't played since May 8.

The Remparts finished the QMJHL playoffs with an impressive 9-0 record on the road. Quebec will be the home team for their other two preliminary round games: May 29 against the Seattle Thunderbirds and May 30 against the Peterborough Petes.

Will MacLaren and I discussed the QMJHL final and the Remparts' Memorial Cup hopes on this week's episode of The Hockey News on the Q.

.@willmacwriter and @station_nation recap the @QMJHL final, preview the Quebec Remparts' #MemorialCup pursuit, discuss Guy Boucher to Rimouski rumors, #GoHabsGo prospects and more: https://t.co/oGtMwUpKfX

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 24, 2023

The Petes and Remparts met at the 2006 Memorial Cup in Moncton. Quebec, led by Patrick Roy behind the bench, went on to win the national championship that year, defeating the QMJHL champion and host Wildcats in the final.

Host teams have had a good run of late at the Memorial Cup, appearing in the championship game in each of the past four tournaments. Saint John won last year and Windsor did the same in 2017. The Blazers have an impressive roster and are certainly a worthy and capable host.

The team that eliminated the Blazers, the Thunderbirds, have perhaps the most loaded roster in junior hockey with the likes of Dylan Guenther, Reid Schaefer, Brad Lambert, Nolan Allan, Luke Prokop, Thomas Milic and a few other "household names" in junior hockey circles.

Now, the reason why you're reading this: here are a few Sea Dogs connections taking part in this year's Memorial Cup:

• The Remparts feature former Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie. A second-round pick of Saint John in the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft, Savoie played in 74 regular season games with the Sea Dogs over three seasons. He also appeared in three games at the New Brunswick provincial playoff tournament thing in 2021.
• There are a few players from last year's tournament in Saint John taking part in this year's event: Daniel Agostino (Shawinigan/Quebec), Dylan Guenther (Edmonton/Seattle), Luke Prokop (Edmonton/Seattle), Avery Hayes (Hamilton/Peterborough) and Gavin White (Hamilton/Peterborough). Guenther did not play in last year's Memorial Cup because of an injury.
• The Sea Dogs faced the Thunderbirds at the 2017 Memorial Cup in Windsor, posting a 7-0 victory in preliminary round play.

All tournament games will be broadcast by TSN for a second straight year.