So wrong, yet so right
It wasn’t the most exciting Memorial Cup final to watch. In fact, the Hunter brothers did a fantastic job this spring trying to set hockey back 10 years. Remember how in 2006 we all were pleading for the game to go back to 1-0 and 2-1 games…
But if you are a sucker for great endings like quite frankly most fans are then that was your kind of game. The home team winning in OT, the tournament underdog…dare I say afterthought coming into the tournament, having to go through the tie breaker, playing 3 games in 3 nights, 4 in 5, knocking off the tourney favourite and defending champions along the way, just a story book!
However, I just can’t help but say at the end of the day….this in no way decided the top team in the CHL. Shawiniganwas bounced in the 2nd freaking round of the playoffs and there for those 3 games in 3 nights, 4 in 5 shouldn’t have in any way affected them because they were well rested and had home ice advantage!
Meanwhile, and trust me I in no way have a Western bias when it comes to this event, the Edmonton Oil Kings clearly ran out of gas after having to fly back and forth playing Portland in a flat out grueling 7 game series, then fly across the country to play in the Memorial Cup (and yes I am heeding Don Cherry’s words and making certain I call it the MEMORIAL Cup).
It is a phenomenal event that I quite frankly believe doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. If it were back on TSN I can’t help believe that they would promote it to the level of the World Jr’s and in my mind that is the level it deserves to be on. I don’t understand a lot of things about the way Sportsnet covers it but then again we all don’t understand a lot of things Sportsnet does. One example would be having Jeff Marek, a junior hockey encyclopedia, doing the CHL games all year only to get bounced for Darren Millard and 2 analysts that hardly cover any junior hockey…
But I digress and will get back on topic. In a lot of ways it is a big shame that the CHL champion gets decided in such a compressed and unfair manner. But at the end of the day it’s so exciting to watch and it just adds to the drama. As I said in the title: so wrong, yet so right.
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