« 9 Days in May » – The 2003 MasterCard Memorial Cup
Championship Final Game
Hull Olympiques Vs Kitchener Rangers
Sunday, May 25, 2003 – 7:00 p.m.
Live on Rogers Sportsnet National and RDS
9 Days in May officially comes to a close tonight with the championship game of the 2003 MasterCard Memorial Cup between the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League and the and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League`s Hull Olympiques.
The Rangers advanced directly to the final by going undefeated in the round robin tournament and they have been able to rest and prepare for the final game of the 2002-03 Canadian Hockey League season since defeating the Kelowna Rockets 4-2 on Wednesday. For Kitchener the 2003 MasterCard Memorial Cup was their fifth trip to the CHL championship tournament, and as in the previous four visits the Rangers have once again earned the right to participate in the final game.
The Rangers played in the final games of the 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1990 tournaments and they will be looking to add to their Memorial Cup title win in 1982 when they defeated the Sherbrooke Castors 7-4 in Hull in the final. Ironically the Rangers are also the last team from the OHL to win the Memorial Cup at a tournament hosted by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Although there are no players on the Rangers` roster that have played in a Memorial Cup final, two members of Kitchener`s staff can pass on some thoughts about playing in the final game. Rangers` General Manager and Head Coach Peter DeBoer played in the 1988 final game in Chicoutimi as a member of the Windsor Spitfires. DeBoer finished in second in tournament scoring and the Spitfires lost 7-6 to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Kitchener`s Governor and COO Steve Bienkowski was a goaltender with the Rangers when they went to the final of the 1981 Memorial Cup.
Kitchener, who are the first OHL team to go 3-0 at the Memorial Cup since the 1990 Oshawa Generals, used their bench depth to arrive at the final game. 12 players have recorded at least one point in the tournament and six different players have scored for the Rangers. Moreover, each of the three game winning goals has come off the stick of a different player. Petr Kanko leads the team in scoring with 4 goals and 1 assist while Captain Derek Roy has 3 goals. Mike Richards, a top prospect for the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, has 2 goals and 2 assists and Gregory Campbell has 4 assists.
The Olympiques played a strong defensive game in their 2-1 semi final win over the Kelowna Rockets. Eric Lafrance made 27 saves to earn first star honours and Hull`s scoring game from Jean Michel Daoust and Francis Wathier. Wathier scored the game winning goal with thirty five minutes left in the game as Lafrance made 24 saves in the final two periods.
This will be the third time that the Olympiques have qualified for the championship final. Previous trips to the final game for Hull were in 1986 and in 1997 when they defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes at home.
The Olympiques and the Rangers met on Tuesday with Kitchener scoring four unanswered goals to post a 4-1 win. The Rangers scored twice in the second and twice in the third after Hull had taken a 1-0 first period lead. Kitchener held a 38-26 advantage in shots on goal in the game.
The two teams have played solid defensive hockey in the tournament and their penalty killing teams have been outstanding. The Rangers have allowed just one goal in 22 shorthanded situations in their three games while in four games Hull has successfully ended all but one of their 21 shorthanded situations.
Total attendance for the 2003 MasterCard is 70,320 as we head into the final game. The record for the tournament was set in Ottawa in 1999 when 84,200 fans attended the eight game tournament.
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Memorial Cup Facts
Since the introduction of the Memorial Cup Tournament in 1973 the tournament has been hosted by the QMJHL 10 times prior to the 2003 tournament. The OHL teams won the first four tournaments (1973,1976,1979 and 1982) and WHL teams won the next four (1985, 1988, 1991 and 1994). Teams from the QMJHL has won the last two (1997 and 2000) Memorial Cups that have been played in the QMJHL.
The 2004 MasterCard Memorial Cup will be hosted by the City of Kelowna marking the third time that the CHL championship will be played in the Province of British Columbia. Previous tournaments in B.C. were Vancouver in 1977 and Kamloops in 1995.
In the 85 year history of the Memorial Cup seven teams have won back to back titles: Oshawa Generals 38 & 39, Toronto Marlboros 55 & 56, Montreal Jr. Canadiens 69 & 70, New Westminster Bruins 77 & 78, Cornwall Royals 80 & 81, Medicine Hat Tigers 87 & 88, and Kamloops Blazers 94 & 95.
The Peterborough Petes have played in more final games than any other team. The Petes have played in 6 championship final games – 72, 78, 79, 80, 93 and 96. The Petes defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 2-1 in overtime in 1979.
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CHL – Dave Lord
2003-05-25
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