Inside the CHL: The Road to the MasterCard Memorial Cup
By Aaron Bell
Two teams are already in for the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup while four others are still in the hunt for the final two spots.
The host Mississauga St. Michaels Majors are facing the Owen Sound Attack in the Rogers OHL Championship Series. Both teams are already guaranteed a berth in the national championship tournament, which opens at the Hershey Centre on May 19.
“Every player’s goal is to win a championship,” Majors coach Dave Cameron told the Fan 590 on the weekend. ”This is what we play for. The Memorial Cup is a great event, but you want to win your league championship before you get there. Its a banner to hang in your rink no matter what happens at the Memorial Cup.”
The Majors, who skated to a 5-2 win in the opening game of the series on Tuesday, eliminated the Niagara IceDogs in five games in the Eastern Conference final while the Attack got past the defending OHL and Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires in five games.
The WHL Championship Series between the Kootenay Ice and Portland Winterhawks opens with games on Friday and Saturday in Portland before shifting to Cranbrook, BC for Games 3 and 4.
The Kootenay Ice are the surprise of the 2011 CHL playoffs. After knocking off the regular season champion Saskatoon Blades, they swept the Medicine Hat Tigers in four games to clinch the Eastern Conference championship and a berth in the championship series.
The series sweep gives the Ice 11 straight playoff wins, one shy of the WHL record while veteran centre Max Reinhart did a little record searching of his own in the deciding game against Medicine Hat last Wednesday.
Reinhart equalled a playoff record when he scored five times in the 7-2 win that completed the conference final sweep for the Ice.
”We just came out flying,” Reinhart told the Medicine Hat News after the deciding game. “Tonight, you just get the feeling all your hard work has paid off so far.”
Meanwhile the Winterhawks used a 6-3 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Game 6 of the Western Conference final on Monday to get back to the league championship series for the first time in a decade.
“It’s exciting,” general manager/coach Mike Johnston told the Portland Tribune. “It’s special for everybody – the organization, the fans. We’re thrilled.”
In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Saint John Sea Dogs will face the Gatineau Olympiques, who came back from a 3-1 series deficit to the Quebec Remparts on Tuesday to win the other semi-final and get into the league championship series.
The Sea Dogs knocked off the Lewiston Maineiacs in four straight games in the league semi-finals to push their playoff record to 12-1 through the first three rounds. They are making their second straight appearance in the QMJHL finals.
”Hopefully it’s going to be real good, and we’d like the result to be different this time,” Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant told the Lewiston Sun Journal after eliminating the Maineiacs on Wednesday. “We’re going to have to work for it, and we’re going to have to play a good team no matter who we play.”
