Memorial Cup
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The Memorial Cup is the championship trophy of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Each year the champions from three CHL member leagues; the WHL, the OHL, and the QMJHL, and the host CHL team, compete in the MasterCard Memorial Cup Tournament for the top prize in Junior Men's (Under 21) ice hockey. The Spokane Chiefs are the current Memorial Cup Champions, having won the 2008 Memorial Cup in Kitchener, Ontario.
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[edit] History
The Memorial Cup, originally the OHA Memorial Cup was donated in 1919 by the Ontario Hockey Association (the precursor to the Ontario Hockey League) as a memorial to the Canadian dead of World War I. It was awarded to the junior hockey champions of Canada. It started as an East versus West format where the George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions from the East would play the Abbott Cup champions from the West.
From 1919 to 1928, the Memorial Cup Final was a two-game total goals affair between a champion from Eastern Canada and a champion from Western Canada, both of which were determined through a series of playdowns under the auspices of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. In 1929 the Memorial Cup Final became a best-of-three series.
When the junior ranks were further divided in 1934 between Junior 'A' and Junior 'B', the Memorial Cup served as the Junior 'A' championship trophy, and the Sutherland Cup became the Junior 'B' trophy. From 1937 the Memorial Cup was a best-of-five series, and in 1943 reverted back to a best-of-seven series.
For the 1971–1972 season, the Junior 'A' rank was further split into the Major Junior rank and a second-tier rank (referred nowadays as Junior 'A'), with the Memorial Cup serving as the Major Junior championship trophy, and the Manitoba Centennial Trophy, and later the Royal Bank Cup, serving as the second tier championship trophy.
In 1972, the Memorial Cup was contested between three teams: the champions of the three leagues of the Canadian Hockey League: the President's Cup Champs (WHL), J. Ross Robertson Cup Champs (OHL), and the President's Cup Champs (QMJHL). These three teams would play a double round robin (four games each) with the top two teams advancing to a single-game final. The tournament was held at a pre-determined site which was rotated among the three leagues.
The 1983 Memorial Cup tournament saw the inclusion of a fourth team, the team hosting the event, which was done to boost tournament attendance. The tournament was held in Portland, Oregon, and marked the first time that an American city hosted the Memorial Cup. The host Winter Hawks also won the Cup that year, becoming the first American team to win the Memorial Cup. The four teams now played a single round robin (three games each), followed by a semi-final game between the second and third-place teams and a final between the first-place team and the semifinal winner. The site of the tournament continued to be rotated between the three leagues. This is the format that continues to be used today.
In the history of the cup, there has only been one major mishap with the cup itself. A replica trophy, which is the one teams are presented with on the ice after the game, broke apart while Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton tried to hand it off to a teammate after being presented the cup on the ice at the 2008 tournament.[1] The crowd started heckling after the replica cup broke apart while the Spokane Chiefs took apart the trophy and share around with teammates. The official cup is currently held at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It is considered one of the hardest trophies to win in hockey as there are currently 60 teams competing each year to make the tournament and a player has a maximum of five years to win it due to age restrictions.
[edit] Memorial Cup Tournament awards
- Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy - (MVP)
- George Parsons Trophy - (Sportsmanship)
- Hap Emms Memorial Trophy - (Outstanding Goaltender)
- Ed Chynoweth Trophy - (Leading scorer)
- Memorial Cup All-Star Team
[edit] Champions
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
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