By Mike Beasley /
For the first time in a decade, Canada’s Holy Grail of Junior hockey, the Memorial Cup, will take up residency in the United States for at least the next 12 months.
The Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs, from the state of Washington, won the 2008 edition with a convincing 4-1 victory in the grand finale over the OHL champion and tournament host Kitchener Rangers.
Spokane sent the majority of the standing-room-only crowd that filled the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium home with a lot of sad faces.
It was a very emotional scene as one team celebrated their victory while the other consoled each other and tried to help their teammates cope with the loss.
Kitchener had been the No. 1-ranked team in the CHL for much of the season and the odds were in the Rangers’ favour but it was the Chiefs who ended up being crowned champion when the final buzzer rang to end the tournament.
The Chiefs qualified for the final game after knocking off Gatineau 3-1 earlier in the week, finishing the round robin 3-0-0, giving the WHL team four days to prepare for their date with destiny.
The Rangers crushed the Belleville Bulls 9-0 in the tournament semi-final to earn the right to face Spokane.
Despite the long layoff, Chiefs head coach Bill Peters had his team fully prepared when the puck dropped for the final match-up.
“It just showed the maturity of this group,” said the Red Deer, Alta.-native during the post-game celebration. “The guys didn’t get distracted during our time off, they stayed focused on the task at hand.”
Brandon Mashinter registered his first goal of the game at 5:01 of the opening period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead but Judd Blackwater from Lethbridge, Alta. scored on the powerplay for Spokane to tie things up with less than five minutes remaining in the frame.
After that, it was all Spokane, specifically G Dustin Tokarski, who was outstanding stopping 53 shots en route to an MVP performance in the Chiefs’ net.
Second period goals by Drayson Bowman and Trevor Glass (Cochrane, Alta.) gave Spokane a 3-1 lead heading in to the final period.
Jared Cowan sealed the victory for Spokane with an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.
Even though Chiefs captain Chris Bruton had the misfortune of having the Cup crumble in his hands when he tried to pass it on to a teammate, nothing will tarnish that special moment when he hoisted the historic trophy over his head.
“I tried to bobble it when I felt it falling apart,” laughed the Calgary-native. “I’m sure its going to be all over YouTube and I’ll get e-mails about it for the rest of my life over that, but I don’t care, we won and that’s all that matters.”
Spokane becomes the first U.S.-based team to win the Memorial Cup since the Portland Winter Hawks did it back in 1998.
Spokane’s last conquest was in 1991.
MEMORIAL CUP NOTES:
Tokarski was named the tournament’s MVP and Most Outstanding Goalie. Kitchener F Matt Halischuk was the Most Sportsmanlike while teammate Justin Azevedo finished as the Top Scorer with 11 points in five games.
The Memorial Cup All-Star team included forwards Azevedo, Bowman and Spokane teammate Mitch Wahl, D Justin Falk, Spokane, D Ben Shutron, Kitchener and Tokarski.
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