Memorial Cup flashback: remembering the first Memorial Cup on American soil

1983 was a year of firsts.

The first Memorial Cup held on American soil.

The first time four teams would compete for the trophy.

The first time a non-league champion lifted Canadian major junior hockey’s top prize.

It was also the last time teams were allowed to bring in a fresh goaltender for the Memorial Cup- much to the pleasure of Portland Winter Hawks fans.

Portland was already a model franchise, having moved to Oregon from Edmonton in 1976 and capturing its first Ed Chynoweth Cup in 1981-82.

After becoming the first American team to win the league championship and finishing third in their first Memorial Cup appearance, it just made sense for the Winter Hawks to become the first United States-based team to host the tournament at the then-nearly new Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

“It was really the Taj Mahal of our league at the time,” WHL Vice President, Hockey, Richard Doerksen remembered. “It was the Glass Palace. Everybody wanted to play there, the officials all wanted to officiate there. It was a very special building to work and ’83 was certainly one of the most successful Memorial Cups our league has ever hosted.

Portland had put together a dangerous roster, led by up-and-coming NHL draft prospect Cam Neely and featuring famed sportscaster Ray Ferraro and current Prince George Cougars associate coach Jim Playfair, strung together the team’s third 50-plus win season heading into the playoffs.

That’s where the Winter Hawks were stunned in the final by the upstart Lethbridge Broncos, who had entered the postseason as the fifth seed in the East Division.

Despite scoring the fewest goals of any WHL team in the regular season, Lethbridge knocked off the Winnipeg Warriors, the top-ranked Saskatoon Blades and powerhouse Calgary Wranglers before downing Portland in five games.

However, the Calgary series would come back to haunt them, due to an old Memorial Cup rule designed to help out teams with exhausted, beat-up goaltenders heading into the Memorial Cup.

“That was the last tournament that the Memorial Cup teams were allowed to pick up a goaltender,” Doerksen explained. “Broncos’ goaltender Ken Wregget got injured in the championship series so he wasn’t able to play in the Memorial Cup.”

Wranglers netminder Mike Vernon was the clear best free-agent pickup for both Lethbridge and Portland, but with the choice in the netminder’s hands- er, glove- it was a no-brainer.

“There was a bit of a sour taste with Lethbridge in Calgary to begin with and I think that was part of the reason Mike Vernon chose Portland,” Doerksen added. “And he helped lead the Winter Hawks to the Memorial Cup Championship.”

Not that Lethbridge was full of slouches.

The squad featured many players destined for long, fruitful NHL careers, like twins Ron and Rich Sutter and two-time Stanley Cup Champion Bob Rouse.

Ontario’s Oshawa Generals made the trek east for their eighth appearance at the tournament.

This time, they were led by a late addition, future Hockey Hall-of-Famer and 600-goal scorer Dave Andreychuk.

The high-scoring Verdun Juniors were bolstered by the CHL Player of the Year Pat LaFontaine (yet another Hall-of-Famer) and Gerard Gallant, who would go on to a long NHL career as a coach, most recently with the New York Rangers.

Portland held on for round-robin wins over Oshawa and Verdun, though they fell to Lethbridge again in an inconsequential match, considering the Broncos had been mathematically eliminated from moving on after losing both of their contests against the Eastern contingent.

Another future Hockey Hall-of-Famer Cam Neely potted a hat trick in the final match against Oshawa to seal a sweet victory for Portland in front of a home crowd of nearly 10,000 fans.

“The final started at 11 o’clock in the morning in Portland,” Doerksen added. “The building was jammed and 15 minutes before the game the fans were jumping up and down on their seats. It was really special.”

Portland’s Alfie Turcotte was named the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy winner as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Vernon took home the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as Top Goaltender.

The Calgarian would prove to have a knack for powering his teams to championships, lifting the Stanley Cup as a member of the Calgary Flames in 1989 and the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL Playoff MVP.

Portland would host the tournament once again in 1986, with a more disappointing on-ice result for the home side, but lifted the Memorial Cup for a second time in 1998 when the Spokane Chiefs played host.