Top 10 Sea Dogs Memorial Cup Moments: #8 - Jurco scores with his head

(Ed. Note: In honour of 2022 Memorial Cup tickets going on sale to the general public on Dec. 6, we're counting down the top 10 Sea Dogs moments in Memorial Cup history.)

#8 - Tomas Jurco scores with his head

Having already secured a spot in the 2011 Memorial Cup final, the Saint John Sea Dogs concluded round-robin play in Mississauga with what was essentially a meaningless game against the Western Hockey League's Kootenay Ice.

The Sea Dogs got off to a good start, leading 2-0 early in the second period. But the Ice then started to turn it on, leading 3-2 early in the third period and then 4-3.

With 15 seconds remaining in regulation time, a Zack Phillips shot hit Tomas Jurco in the head and went in, sending the game to overtime.

From The Canadian Press:

"It hurts a little bit but it's not too bad," said Jurco following the Sea Dogs 5-4 overtime loss on Tuesday night, and added that it was likely the strangest goal he's ever scored. "It was just a lucky goal, I don't know what else I can say about it."

Jurco spoke to reporters with the lingering effects of his game-tying goal still showing thanks to a red mark on his neck just under his right ear. "It didn't feel great but it wasn't bad," Jurco added.

"I didn't worry about how it hurt because I had scored ... I think it's going to be a tough morning."

The Ice eventually won the game just 3:55 into overtime, but at least we got a very memorable moment in what was a meaningless game for the Sea Dogs.

Five Seasons Later

Embed from Getty Images

It's been five whole seasons since the Sea Dogs made their Memorial Cup debut in Mississauga.

Obviously, a lot has changed since then. Saint John went on to reach the tournament again in 2012 and then went into rebuild mode. They hadn't come close to making the Memorial Cup until this past season where they reached the QMJHL's final four.

We know how Saint John has performed over the past five seasons, but what about the other teams that participated in the 2011 Memorial Cup? Here's a look at how the host Mississauga St. Michael's Majors, OHL champion Owen Sound Attack and WHL champion Kootenay Ice have performed since then.

Saint John Sea Dogs

Season	Record	Playoffs
2011-12	50-15-0-3	Won championship
2012-13	23-44-1-0	Lost in round 1
2013-14	19-44-2-3	Missed playoffs
2014-15	32-26-4-6	Lost in round 1
2015-16	42-20-6-0	Lost in round 3

DOGS - MAJORS FOR ALL THE MARBLES

FINAL: Ice 1, Majors 3

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors will play the Saint John Sea Dogs in the championship game at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Majors advanced to Sunday’s winner-take-all contest after eliminating the Western Hockey League champion Kootenay Ice 3-1 in the tournament’s semifinal game.

Devante Smith-Pelly scored a pair for the Majors while Chris DeSousa iced the game with an empty netter in the final minute of regulation. JP Anderson was stellar in goal, making 28 stops to send the hosts into the game they have preparing for all year.

Joe Antilla netted the only Kootenay goal. Goaltender Nathan Lieuwen made 23 stops in the loss.

Mississauga had a 1-0 lead after one and 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes at the Hershey Centre.

Despite being eliminated, Kootenay made an impressive run just to reach the semifinal. After an 0-2 start, they saved their season with a 5-4 overtime win against Saint John. They then blasted the Ontario Hockey League champion Owen Sound Attack 7-3 in the tiebreaker game last night.

The Majors, who finished third in the Canadian Hockey League final rankings, only have one loss at the Memorial Cup and that came in the opener – against the Sea Dogs.

Saint John will be the more rested team having not played since Tuesday night. In the time span, Mississauga has played twice.

Game time for Sunday’s final is 8:00 pm on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS. Harbour Station will be opening its doors for fans to watch the game.

WHO WILL THE SEA DOGS PLAY?

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Semifinal

Kootenay Ice vs Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors

Tonight, May 27, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Saint John Sea Dogs will find out who their opponent is for Sunday’s MasterCard Memorial Cup final tonight.

The Western Hockey League champion Kootenay Ice face the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors tonight at 8:00 pm at the Hershey Centre in the tournament’s semifinal game. The winner will advance to Sunday’s final while the loser will have their season come to an end.

The two teams faced each other last Sunday with the Majors coming out in top by score of 2-1.

The Ice, who started the tournament off with a 0-2 record, have staved off elimination in both of their last two games. They beat Saint John 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday and then eliminated the Owen Sound Attack 7-3 in the tiebreaker last night.

Mississauga has lost just one game in the Memorial Cup and that came in the tournament opener one week ago against the Sea Dogs.

Saint John has not played since Tuesday and will be much more rested than either team they face.

Tonight’s game can be seen on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS.

TIEBREAKER GAME TONIGHT

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Tiebreaker

Kootenay Ice vs Owen Sound Attack

Tonight, May 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – It’s do or die for two teams tonight at the MasterCard Memorial Cup as the Kootenay Ice take on the Owen Sound Attack in the tournament’s tiebreaker game.

The Ice forced a tiebreaker after defeating the Saint John Sea Dogs in overtime on Tuesday night. Kootenay had lost their previous games and would have been knocked out of the Memorial Cup if they had lost.

They will continue their quest to replicate what the Windsor Spitfires did in 2009 when they lost their first two games but battled back to win it all.

Owen Sound’s loss to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors last night in the final round-robin game pushed them into the tiebreaker. The 1-2 Attack beat the Ice 5-0 last Saturday in the second game of the tournament.

The Attack will be without two of their best players with Joey Hishon and Garrett Wilson both missing tonight’s contest with concussion like symptoms. Hishon was elbowed in the head by Kootenay’s Brayden McNabb on Saturday and Wilson was hurt last night on a check by Mississauga’s Chris DaSousa.

Could the Attack be looking for some payback on the McNabb elbow? We’ll find out tonight at 8:00 pm on Rogers Sportsnet/RDS.

The winner of this game will play in tomorrow’s semifinal against the Majors. The winner of the semifinal will than advance to Sunday’s championship game against Saint John.

POSTSCRIPT: Ice 5, Sea Dogs 4 (OT)

RECAPS
A collection of recaps from around the interweb on last night’s 5-4 Kootenay Ice overtime victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs:

Scott Briggs’ recap. After losing their first two tilts at the Canadian Hockey League championship tournament, another setback would have sent Kootenay back to British Columbia.

The Cranbrook Daily Townsman’s recap. They scored three powerplay goals and needed overtime to clinch it, but they skated away a 5-4 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Tuesday.

The Globe and Mail’s recap. “It was frustrating watching them get a late goal” – Matt Fraser

Buzzing The Net’s recap. What is the big takeaway for Kootenay, knowing it is still alive thanks in small part to Gallant's lineup choices?

The Canadian Press’ recap. The reeling Kootenay Ice felt they deserved a break.

Rogers Sportsnet recap. The hockey Gods have an interesting way of balancing the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Sea Dogs website’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs suffered their first loss at the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Saint John’s lineup changes were the big news entering yesterday’s game. The Dogs chose to rest several of their key players with a spot in Sunday’s championship game already guaranteed. From Buzzing The Net:

"The last two games Després has played he's had bronchitis pretty bad," Gallant said. "Tonight was an opportunity to give him a chance not to play. Kirkpatrick, he's got an injury from the Lewiston [semifinal] series. Guys like that, back-to-back games are tough. If we had played the game tomorrow night, you probably would have seen a full lineup, but we took care of business [Monday] night.

"We can say all we want to the kids, but they know they're going to the final and we want to get them ready," Gallant said.

Resting for the Sea Dogs was defenseman Simon Despres, forwards Michael Kirkpatrick and Danick Gauthier, and goaltender Jacob DeSerres didn’t dress at all.

Along with them, Steven Antony missed is eighth straight game with a lower-body injury and Jason Cameron remains out and is recovering from a bruised kidney.

ICE BREAK SEA DOGS

RECAP
FINAL (OT): Ice 5, Sea Dogs 4

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Kootenay will live to see another day at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Ice defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday night at the Hershey Centre, forcing a tie-breaker game against the loser of tomorrow’s Owen Sound – Mississauga contest.

The victory improves the Ice to 1-2 at the Memorial Cup while the Sea Dogs dropped to 2-1. Saint John has already earned a bye to Sunday’s final because, no matter who wins tomorrow’s game, they will win the first tie-breaker.

Matt Fraser scored twice while Kevin King, Jesse Ismond, and Drew Czerwonka added singles. Goaltender Nathan Lieuwen made 19 saves on the night to pick up his first win of the Memorial Cup.

Kootenay was finally able to get their offense going after getting shutout in their first game against Mississauga and only scoring once against Owen Sound. They went 3-for-6 on the power play and fired 45 shots at Saint John netminder Mathieu Corbeil.

Tomas Jurco scored twice for Saint John. Ryan Tesink and Kevin Gagne also scored. Corbeil was solid in net, making 40 saves in the loss.

The game meant nothing to Saint John and they played like it at times. They rested some of their regulars with a trip to the final already booked.

SEA DOGS LINEUP TWEAKS

The big news today out of Mississauga is the amount of lineup tweaking the Saint John Sea Dogs have made for tonight’s game against the Kootenay Ice.

The biggest change will be in goal where Mathieu Corbeil will replace Jacob DeSerres. The move isn’t that surprising given that this game is meaningless for the Sea Dogs.

Corbeil has been good in all but one game in the post-season. He has a 4-0-0-0 record with a 1.54 goals against average and a 0.936 save percentage. His last start came in Game Four of the semifinals against Lewiston where he allowed two goals on two shots in just under three minutes of action.

DeSerres will not even be on the bench as recent call up Jacob Edwards will serve as backup.

Also out for Saint John will be their best defenseman – Simon Despres. The ‘Big Horse’ has been battling sickness and will get the evening off.

Up front, both Danick Gauthier and Michael Kirkpatrick will not play. Kirkpatrick has been nursing a few injuries throughout the playoffs while Gauthier ran into the Owen Sound Attack’s bench door last night and was in some pain. Steven Anthony and Jason Cameron will remain out as well.

Inserted into the lineup will be defensemen Jason Seed and Spencer MacDonald along with forward Devon-Oliver Dares.

Oliver-Dares and Seed both dressed during the playoffs while MacDonald hasn’t played with the Dogs since January.

Photo: Another embarrassing fail by Rogers Sportsnet courtesy of @moose_country

LIVE BLOG: Memorial Cup - Ice vs Sea Dogs

PRE-GAME: Ice vs Sea Dogs

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Preliminary Round

Kootenay Ice vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight, May 24, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

PREVIEW
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Kootenay Ice are the upset kings of the Canadian Hockey League.

En route to a Western Hockey League title, the Ice, who weren’t ranked in the final CHL Top 10, defeated the No. 2 team in the country, the Saskatoon Blades, in a four game sweep in the second round. After dispatching the Medicine Hat Tigers in the semifinals, they beat the No. 7 ranked Portland Winterhawks in five games to win the WHL championship.

Tonight, they are faced with the task of going up against the No. 1 ranked team in Canada – the Saint John Sea Dogs. Game time is 8:00 pm at the Hershey Centre (Rogers Sportsnet/RDS; News 88.9 FM).

Kootenay has gotten off to a bad start at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup. They dropped their first game 5-0 against the Ontario Hockey League champion Owen Sound Attack on Saturday. On Sunday, they fell 2-1 to the host the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.

With the Ice being 0-2 at the tournament, a loss tonight means their season is over. A win and they will play in a tie-breaker on Thursday against the loser of Wednesday’s Attack-Majors game.

The Ice will surely be playing desperate hockey this evening against an up-tempo Saint John team that is coming off a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win against Owen Sound yesterday.

The Sea Dogs played fairly well last night in an extremely entertaining contest. A late goal by Tomas Jurco sent to the match into extra time where Jonathan Huberdeau snipped the disc past Attack netminder Jordan Binnington to give the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champs a 3-2 win and a 2-0 record.

With last night’s victory, the Sea Dogs have guaranteed themselves a spot in Sunday’s championship game. Now the question becomes how will Saint John play in a game that means virtually nothing to them?

Only one team has ever comeback from a 0-2 hole to win the Memorial Cup. That came back in 2009 when the Windsor Spitfires won their first of two straight national championships. In that tournament, the Kelowna Rockets failed to eliminate the Spitfires in the round-robin. Windsor then won the tie-breaker, the semifinal, and eventually dumped the Rockets 4-1 in the final.

Although the chances of that happening again are slim, the Sea Dogs may not want to take that risk.

MAJORS DOWN ICE FOR FIRST WIN

FINAL: Mississauga 2, Kootenay 1

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup hosts have their first win.

Rob Flick scored the winner at 11:51 of the third period to give the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors a 2-1 victory over the Kootenay Ice in the third match of the Canadian Hockey League championship tournament on Sunday night.

Kootenay’s Cody Eakin opened the scoring at 7:55 of the first period on a power play to give the Ice their first lead of the Memorial Cup. But the Majors quickly tied it up as Russian forward Maxim Kitsyn netted his first of the tournament to make it a 1-1 game.

It would remain scoreless until Flick’s third period marker.

JP Anderson made 32 stops in the Majors net to end his club’s three game losing streak. Nathan Lieuwen allowed two goals on 34 shots.

Mississauga outshot Kootenay 34-33 even though the Ice outshot them in both the first and second frames.

It was a tight, physical affair that had its nasty moments. The Ice were already without their captain, Brayden McNabb, who was serving a one-game suspension for his elbow to the head of Owen Sound Attack forward Joe Hishon.

Kootenay is now in a major hole with a 0-2 record. As mentioned throughout the broadcast, only one team has ever come back from dropping the first two games to win the Memorial Cup.

The Ice play their final game of the preliminary round on Tuesday against the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs must face Owen Sound first, though, a game that will be played tomorrow at 8:00 pm.

Mississauga closes the round-robin on Wednesday against the Attack.

Photo Credit: The Globe and Mail

LOOKING FOR A WIN

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Preliminary Round

Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors vs Kootenay Ice

Tonight, May 22, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – It’s a battle of two 0-1 teams at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup this evening as the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors take on the Western Hockey League champion Kootenay Ice. Game time is 8:00 pm AST and can be seen on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS.

The Majors are coming off a 4-3 loss in the tournament opener on Friday night against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs. The played basically on par with the Sea Dogs for most of the night but were unable to get a late goal to tie it up.

Mississauga is currently on one of their worst stretches of the season. Going back to the Ontario Hockey League final against the Owen Sound Attack, the Majors have lost three straight contests five of their last six. The team lost only 15 games during the regular season and just one through the first three rounds of the playoffs.

They got into some penalty trouble on Friday night against Saint John, allowing the Sea Dogs to score three times while a man up. They’ll surely want to be more disciplined even if the officials are better.

Kootenay is coming off a rough loss last night. They trailed the Attack 2-0 entering the third period but fell apart, allowing the OHL champs to score three times and win easily by score of 5-0.

The Ice will in tough as they look to rebound tonight at the Hershey Centre. Their captain, Brayden McNabb, has been suspended by the Memorial Cup Disciplinary Committee for tonight’s match following his elbow-to-the-head of Attack star Joey Hishon.



Brian O’Neill, discipline chairman for the Memorial Cup, said in a release that “following review of the referee’s report, and watching all of the television footage of the incident, I determined that it was a reckless action by the player but not a deliberate attempt to injure.”

Tonight is a huge match for both teams. The team that comes out of it with an 0-2 record will be in rough shape moving forward.

ATTACK BEAT ICE

FINAL: Attack 5, Ice 0

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The Owen Sound Attack laid a beating on the Kootenay Ice on Saturday night at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

Robby Mignardi scored twice while Roman Berdnikov, Garrett Wilson, and Andrew Fritsch added single markers. Goaltender Jordan Binnington, part of the Attack’s bizarre triumvirate of netminders, made 29 stops to earn the shutout.

Owen Sound’s win sets up a battle of 1-0 teams on Monday night when they face the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Dogs won their opening game 4-3 over the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors on Friday at the Hershey Centre.

Tomorrow’s game will feature both 0-1 teams going at it as the Majors take on the Ice at 8:00 pm. Kootenay will look to rebound from this blowout loss while the Majors look to end a losing streak.

The Attack led 1-0 after one period in Saturday’s game thanks to Magnardi’s first goal of the match. Shots in the opening stanza were 12-6 Owen Sound.

In the second, Berdnikov scored the lone goal of the frame at 3:30. Shots were 15-6 in favour of the Ice.

Owen Sound blew it open in the third period. Just when it looked Kootenay may have a chance to get back in it because of a power play, Mignardi added his second of the match while shorthanded to make it 3-0.

The play that everyone will be talking about tomorrow came at 14:25 as Brayden McNabb elbowed Joey Hishon and got a five-minute major and game misconduct for his actions. Hishon sat on the ice bleeding for a few minutes and then left the game.

The Attack would add two late power play goals to make it a 5-0 final.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

ATTACK, ICE MEET TONIGHT

GAME DAY

2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup – Preliminary Round

Owen Sound Attack vs Kootenay Ice

Tonight, May 21, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hershey Centre

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Two of the Canadian Hockey League’s smallest markets go head-to-head tonight in Mississauga at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup as the Ontario Hockey League champion Owen Sound Attack face the Western Hockey League champion Kootenay Ice.

Game time is 8:00 pm at the Hershey Centre. It can be seen live across the country on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS.

The Memorial Cup opened last night when the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors fell 4-3 to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Attack know how to win at the Hersey Centre after upsetting the Majors in a seven-game series to win the OHL title. They even won Game Seven – in overtime – in Mississauga. Given the proximity, there should be plenty of Attack fans in house tonight.

Owen Sound’s goaltending situation is a big storyline entering this tournament as they have three qualified netminders. Jordan Binnington will get the call in goal this evening.

Kootenay is the Cinderella team in this year’s event after becoming the upset kings in the WHL. The Ice swept the No. 2 nationally ranked Saskatoon Blades in the second round and then defeated the loaded Portland Winterhawks in five games in the final.

The Ice feature Canadian world junior forward and Washington Capitals prospect Cody Eakin.

After tonight’s game, the Majors and Ice do battle tomorrow night. The Sea Dogs are back in action Monday when they face Owen Sound.

SN'S MEMORIAL CUP PREVIEW

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – The 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup kicks off this evening as the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors take on Quebec Major Junior Hockey League representatives the Saint John Sea Dogs at 8:00 pm at the Hershey Centre.

The other teams participating in the event are the Ontario Hockey League champion Owen Sound Attack and Western Hockey League winners Kootenay Ice.

Most “exports” claim that this year’s tournament is as wide open as it has ever been. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of the teams walking away with junior hockey’s Holy Grail next week.

Rather than restating stuff that has already been said, here are a bunch of links to some excellent previews of the tournament:

ICE ADVANCE TO MEMORIAL CUP

The Kootenay Ice have advanced to the MasterCard Memorial Cup following a 4-1 series clinching victory against the Portland Winterhawks last night. The Ice won the Ed Chynoweth Cup in five games over the Winterhawks.

Matt Fraser scored twice for the winners while Steele Boomer added a single marker. Jesse Ismond netted an empty netter in the final minute. Goaltender Nathan Lieuwen made 26 saves in goal.

Portland’s only goal came from Tyler Wotherspoon. Mac Carruth allowed three goals on 39 shots.

The Ice lost just three games in their playoff run. They dropped one game in the Western Hockey League final and two in the first round to the Moose Jaw Warriors. One of their most surprising feats came in the second round when they swept the Saskatoon Blades. The Blades finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the Canadian Hockey League behind Saint John.

Kootenay finished the regular season with a record of 46-21-1-4, finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference.

The WHL champs will join the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors and Owen Sound Attack at the Memorial Cup. The winner of the Saint John – Gatineau series will be the last to join the party.

Game Seven of the Ontario Hockey League final is tomorrow at 3:00 pm in Mississauga.

Photo Credit: WHL Website