SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Host after a two-year hiatus St. John Seadog won the 2022 Memorial Cup, making the Canadian Hockey League the champion again.
Sea Dogs defeated OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 in front of a crowd of over 6,000 at the Harbor Station Arena on Wednesday.
Vincent Seviny, Cam McDonald, Riley Bezo, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds scored the Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs were eliminated in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs and took nearly 40 days to prepare for the tournament. .. Goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise has made 25 saves.
"This is amazing, I can't say it right now. It's amazing to win against the many guys who worked hard for this and to be the champion. "Dufour, who was nominated for the tournament MVP, said. "The last two games didn't get the start we wanted. The message in our room was to come out powerfully. That's what we did. Just It was great. "
Mason McTavish, 2 goals, Hamilton scored by Janmi Shark, 21 saves by Marco Costantini.
St. John fired head coach Gordie Dwyer after losing to Limousi Oceanic in the first round of the Best 5 Series, making him the coach of the legendary New Brunswick University, Gardiner McDa. I replaced it with Gull. A title that goes to his resume with seven college national championships in 22 years with UNB.
"We wanted to score first, get the lead, protect it, and extend it. That's what we did," MacDougall said. "We had a lot of beliefs, even though we took the lead early, pulled the crowd into it, and played a really good opponent.
" It's a complete team effort. It was. From the goalkeeper, I got a great save when I needed it to reach an important goal when I needed it. I wanted to take advantage of the momentum of the crowd, so I had a chance to expand my lead.
St. John won the final bye-bye after his first finish in a four-team round-robin. Hamilton defeated Shawinigan Cataract 4-3 during overtime in the semi-finals on Monday, offering opposition to the host. For the bulldog, who entered the finals, this game was the 92nd in the season.
"There are a lot of emotions in the room," said Bulldog head coach Jay McKee. "The message to the boys was that they were champions of the championship, as they won the OHL championship, knocked out the WHL championship team and knocked out the Quebec league championship team in this tournament. They are champions of the championship.
"Steve Staos, President and General Manager of Bulldogs, said," I won the championship but lost the tournament. " As a hockey and coach, I've never been part of such a close group. The teams are very close, love each other and feel like a family.
Sevigny has begun scoring 2:35, the first shot of Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs captain hit the Bulldog's defensive Arbor Shekai stick and drifted the shot from a point that bounced off in the past Costantini.
McDonald's took a pass in the slot just three minutes later and raised the host to 2-0 when ripping the shot over Costantini.
McTavish pulled back one before the end of the period and chipped in a shot from defense Nathan Staios through the Hurtubise pad.
However, Bezo raised Seadog to 3-1 in less than 5 minutes of the second period. He shot his wrist from his right face-off circle and picked his upper corner.
"It's great to win at home here in front of St. John's fans," Seviny said. "It was a four-year process, and now we will be the champions of life, and no one can rob us of it."
Dufour 30 minutes later became 4-1 and received a feed from Ryan Francis from behind the net and shot at one timing in the past Costantini.
Bulldog defense Jan Kuznetsov should have increased his lead to four goals later in the period when he first loosened the puck at the crease with Costantini down and out. .. However, Kuznetsov fired the puck high on a wide open net.
Miss opened the door for the bulldog, who scored with nine seconds left, to reduce the deficit to 4-2.
After a couple of close quarters, Puck returned to Gavin White at that point, and his shot through the front maze hit Mysak next to the net and bounced past Hurtubise. ..
Third, Hurtubise made two excellent saves to maintain a two-goal lead. Sea Dogs were given power play after the innocent Scrum imposed an accidental penalty, and Xhekaj was rated as a minor act against sportsmanship while sitting on the bench.
Lawrence scored in power play, taking a pass from Dufour from behind the net and shooting over Costantini's shoulder.
McTavish cut the lead 5-3 with the second goal of the game and the sixth goal of the tournament. His goal came in 5 minutes to go to the third period, giving Hamilton some hope.
"It's hard to put into words what these guys mean to me," said Staos, who was playing with a broken shoulder. "It's hard to know for now that this was the last match against them."
Bulldog pulled Costantini to further reduce the deficit, but Reynolds was an empty net. I put a score in and frozen the game with 1:17 remaining.
This is the second time Sea Dogs has won the Memorial Cup. They won the tournament as QMJHL Champion in 2011 at Mississauga, led by Florida Panthers star Jonathan Yuberdeau. The 2023 Memorial Cup will be hosted by WHL's Kamloops Brazer.
"It feels great. It's been four years. Some were tough, but it's worth it," Lawrence said. "We faced some adversity, but after all, we were champions and couldn't write any more scripts."
Email:dvandiest@postmedia.com
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