Memorial Cup: who will take home the precious trophy?

The junior hockey season has been long, very long, but it is finally coming to an end. Starting Monday evening, the champions of the three Canadian junior hockey leagues, the Shawinigan Cataractes (LHJMQ), the Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL) and the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL), as well as the host team of this year, the Saint John Sea Dogs will compete for the Memorial Cup, which has not been awarded for the past two years due to the pandemic. The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are therefore still, technically, the defending champions. Analysis of the forces present.

QMJHL Champion

Shawinigan Cataracts

• Regular season record: 40-24-1-3, 84 pts (7^e in the league)
• Record in series: 13-3
• Players to watch: Mavrik Bourque, Xavier Bourgault, Olivier Nadeau, Pierrick Dubé

The Cataractes made history by winning their first President’s Cup in 53 years when they defeated the Charlottetown Islanders in five games in the Grand Final. Even though they are QMJHL champions and have beaten first and second overall in the playoffs in quick succession, Daniel Renaud’s team comes to Saint-Jean as underdogs. The big question remains whether the Cats have enough depth to compete with other league champions. In the playoffs, captain Mavrik Bourque was superhuman and dragged the team on his shoulders, as did Pierrick Dubé who scored several important goals, including the one in overtime in Game 5 which confirmed the title in Shawinigan. However, they will need more attacking input from depth players if they want to go a long way. In goal, it will be interesting to know with whom the Cataractes will decide to start the tournament since in games 4 and 5 of the final, Antoine Coulombe was replaced by Charles-Antoine Lavallée. That being said, favorite or not, betting against the Cataractes and Mavrik Bourque can be a big mistake, and the playoffs have proven it.

WHL Champion

Edmonton Oil Kings

• Regular season record: 50-14-3-1, 104 pts (2^e in the league)
• Record in series: 16-3
• Players to watch: Kaiden Guhle, Jake Neighbours, Sebastian Cossa, Josh Williams

The Oil Kings were considered favorites to win in the West all season and delivered the goods losing only three playoff games, including two in the Finals to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Edmonton will have seven NHL drafted players on their roster, three of whom were first-round picks: forward Jake Neighbors (St. Louis), defenseman
Kaiden Guhle (Montreal) and goaltender Sebastian Cossa (Detroit). However, they learned very bad news since Dylan Guenther, first choice of the Arizona Coyotes in the last draft, will have to miss the tournament due to an injury suffered in the final. Nevertheless, the Oil Kings are brimming with talent and Canadiens fans can certainly be excited about Guhle’s play, who was named the most valuable player of the last series after collecting 16 points in 19 playoff games. He was acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders last December for two players, two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick. The Oil Kings will now try to stem a five-year streak without winning the Memorial Cup for WHL teams (excluding the two pandemic years). The last time a Western representative got their hands on the trophy was in 2014. The team? Edmonton Oil Kings.

OHL Champion

Hamilton Bulldogs

• Regular season record: 51-12-3-2, 107 points (1^er in the league)
• Record in series: 16-3
• Players to watch: Mason McTavish, Jan Mysak, Logan Morrison, Arber Xhekaj

The Bulldogs have ruled the OHL this season, literally. With a record of 51-12-3-2, they were the only team from Ontario to reach the 100-point plateau (107). The second-placed team in the overall standings, the Windsor Spitfires, were 12 fewer points, or 95. In the playoffs, they swept their opponents in the first three rounds, but needed seven games to overcome Spitfires in the final. If they are counting on a fearsome offense, led by Canadian prospect Jan Mysak, third overall pick in the 2021 draft Mason McTavish and the most valuable player of the last OHL playoffs Logan Morrison, it is especially thanks to their defense they have stood out this season. Their 176 goals against in 2021-22 was the third-lowest total of the three Canadian leagues, behind the Winnipeg Ice (152) and the Remparts (175), this season. The Bulldogs don’t have as many big names at fullback as the Edmonton Oil Kings, for example, but Canadian prospect Arber Xhekaj has been a mainstay of their roster after being acquired from the Kitchener Rangers in the transaction period.

host team

St. John’s Sea Dogs

• Regular season record: 47-17-1-3, 98 pts (3^e in the league)
• Record in series: 2-3
• Players to watch: William Dufour, Josh Lawrence, Vincent Sevigny, William Villeneuve

So many questions remain unanswered on the side of the Sea Dogs and we will soon have the answers. The tournament’s host team was aiming for top honors this year, but saw its momentum halted as abruptly as possible by the Rimouski Oceanic in the first round of the playoffs. They will have benefited from 38 days off between their elimination and their first match of the tournament and a lot has happened during this period. The team fired head coach Gordie Dwyer to replace him with Gardiner MacDougall, on loan until the end of the year from the University of New Brunswick. From what we hear, they will also be in perfect physical condition since MacDougall is a coach who does not accept half measures. In addition to being in good shape, the Sea Dogs will be rested since, unlike the three league champions, they had more than a month to heal the minor sores. It remains to be seen whether the biggest of these sores, the humiliation of a loss in the first round, will have left its mark. On paper, however, Saint-Jean has what it takes to rival the three champions.

• June 20, 6 p.m.: Hamilton Bulldogs vs. St. John’s Sea Dogs
• June 21, 6 p.m.: Shawinigan Cataracts c. Edmonton Oil Kings
• June 22, 6 p.m.: St. John’s Sea Dogs v. Edmonton Oil Kings
• June 23, 6 p.m.: Shawinigan Cataracts c. Hamilton Bulldogs
• June 24, 6 p.m. : Edmonton Oil Kings v. Hamilton Bulldogs
• June 25, 4 p.m.: St. John’s Sea Dogs v. Shawinigan Cataracts
• June 26, 4 p.m.: Tie-breaker match (if necessary)
• June 27, 6 p.m.: Semi-final match
• June 29, 6 p.m.: Final