Chiefs and Bulls ready to go at the MasterCard Memorial Cup
Bill Peters feels like he’s been cramming for an exam.
The third year coach of the Western Hockey League champion Spokane Chiefs is the only one of the four coaches competing in the 2008 MasterCard Memorial Cup that hasn’t been there before. He said that he tried to make up for his lack of firsthand experience by talking to everyone that he knew that had played in the national championship tournament before.
“I went through two legal pads talking to people about it,” Peters said. “I’ve got writer’s cramp.”
Peters said that one of the things that his mentors stressed was the importance of getting a win in their first game. Peters and his Chiefs will get that opportunity when they open the tournament tonight against the Belleville Bulls from the Ontario Hockey League (4:00 p.m. Eastern on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS).
“It’s huge – especially with the way the tournament format has changed over the years,” Peters said. “The format of the tournament has evolved and it makes it more of a level playing field in my opinion. Getting that first W is a big thing.”
Peters said that one of the biggest differences about the Memorial Cup today versus past years is in the pre-scouting teams do before they get here. They utilize contacts from around the hockey world and watch games on TV and the Internet to get a feeling of how the other teams in the tournament play.
“It’s all about doing your homework,” Peters said. “We’re following the same process that we have all year that was successful for us. You don’t play at this time of the year unless you are an elite team so we know that these teams are all highly skilled.”
The Chiefs are looking for their second Memorial Cup championship after winning the title in 1991. They have a balanced attack up front with 42-goal man Drayson Bowman leading the way. Bowman, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect, led the team with 11 goals and 20 points in the post-season and is joined up front by a group that includes Dallas Stars’ prospect Ondrej Roman, overagers Judd Blackwater and David Rutherford.
In net, Dustin Tokarski had an outstanding regular season with a 20-7-0-1 record and emerged as one of the top netminding prospects for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He was 16-5 in the playoffs and plays in front of a solid group of blueliners that includes Trevor Glass, who played in the Memorial Cup last season with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
For the Bulls, the Memorial Cup is a second life for a quality team that pushed the Kitchener Rangers to seven games in the OHL Championship Series.
Bulls GM and coach George Burnett, who guided the Guelph Storm to the OHL championship and an appearance in the Memorial Cup championship game in 1998, said that it’s important to start the tournament off with a win tonight.
“Unlike the other three teams, we’re the only ones that lost our last game,” Burnett said. “I think more than anything, we’re not really here to prove to anyone that we belong. We believe that we are here for a reason and we deserve to be here.”
The Bulls dropped the first three games of the OHL finals and were down by three goals on home ice before they rallied for an overtime win in Game 4. They won Games 5 and 6 to push the series to the limit, but the Rangers cruised to a 4-1 win in the deciding game.
“The mental challenge of losing Game 7 on Monday night and regrouping on Tuesday and coming back to Kitchener was probably the biggest challenge,” Burnett said. “I think our guys responded with a couple of great practices and there’s a lot of energy. I know they are anxious to have another opportunity to have a positive outcome.”
The Bulls are also anxious to have star centre Shawn Matthias back in the lineup for the tournament. Matthias, who helped Canada win the gold medal at the World Juniors and was a standout in an emergency call-up to the Florida Panthers in January, missed all but the final game of the playoffs with mono. He scored the Bulls’ only goal in his return on Monday.
“We were real pleased to see him back in the lineup,” Burnett said. “I think any game that Shawn would participate in the final series would benefit him in the tournament by getting some quality minutes under his belt. He’s really excited to be playing again. He was probably overexcited and probably tried to do too much. We’re real pleased to have him back in our lineup.”
Matthias joins a deep group of Belleville forwards that includes captain Matt Beleskey, an Anaheim Ducks’ prospect that is the definition of a heart-and-soul player. Despite playing at less than 100%, Beleskey scored the overtime winner in Game 4 that extended Belleville’s season. Their group also includes veteran forwards A.J. Perry, who won the Memorial Cup as a rookie with the London Knights in 2005, and Detroit Red Wings’ prospect Jan Mursak.
Team Canada defenceman P.K. Subban anchors a group of blueliners that includes Nigel Williams, a big, fleet-footed blueliner with a booming shot, veteran Geoff Killing and NHL draft prospect Shawn Lalonde. They play a solid game in front of Mike Murphy, the OHL’s goaltender of the year.
Burnett said that playing four games at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium helped prepare his team for this tournament.
“I think the building and the environment – there’s probably no better in junior hockey with the fans, the old building, everybody is right on top of you,” Burnett said. “It’s just a wonderful atmosphere and having played four games in here over the last couple of weeks was probably huge for our preparation for the tournament. It should help us as we prepare to move forward, just knowing the environment that we are playing in.”
Peters said that after a week’s worth of his own preparation, his team is also ready to get back to the ice.
“We’re done processing the information and we’ll be ready to go on Saturday night.”
Photo: Aaron Bell / CHL
