Wheat Kings lose 9-1 in Memorial Cup final

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This article was published 23/05/2010 (5600 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — The Brandon Wheat Kings were hopelessly outshot and badly outscored here at Westman Place in the final of the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup, as the Windsor Spitfires made Canadian hockey history with a 9-1 thrashing of the Wheaties.

The win was the second straight Memorial Cup for the Spitfires, making them just the eighth team in the 92-year history of the event to successfully repeat as champion. The loss, meantime, was a bitter pill for the Wheat Kings, who squandered the rare opportunity to win this storied franchise what would have been its first ever Memorial Cup before a capacity and partisan home crowd of 5,609.

Wheat Kings sniper Brayden Schenn wanted nothing to do with any consolation talk about his club finishing second in all of major junior hockey this season.

“It’s a second place finish, but second is second,” said Schenn, an LA Kings first-rounder. “We’re not going to be satisfied with second. It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for many years. You’ll look back on it — we didn’t want to go out with any what ifs. It’s a tough way to lose tonight, in your home barn. But you can’t do anything about it now.”

Sunday’s appearance in the final was the third time the Wheaties have appeared in a Memorial Cup final and the third time they have lost. Teams from this city also lost their only appearance in the Allan Cup (1921) and Stanley Cup (1904).

The Wheat Kings dominated the early-goings Sunday night but fell behind 1-0 at 6:39 of the first on a soft goal through the legs of goaltender Jacob De Serres by Windsor centre Adam Hendrique. Windsor then went up 2-0 just before the first period intermission when Buffalo Sabres first-rounder Zach Kassian lasered a shot from the high slot at 19:27,

That took the life out of the Wheat Kings, who lumbered their way through a second period that saw them give up another four goals and get outshot 23-6. Windsor outshot the Wheaties 52-28 on the night and, except for a second period powerplay goal by Brandon forward Matt Calvert, very nearly played a flawless hockey game.

“It was,” said Windsor forward and tournament MVP Taylor Hall, “a picture perfect game.”

Wheaties head coach Kelly McCrimmon tipped his hat to Windsor. “They demonstrated through the four games,” said McCrimmon, “that they were by far the best team of the tournament.”

The game did have some controversy. Calvert’s goal narrowed the Windsor lead to 3-1 and gave the Wheaties some life, but it was shortlived. Just 40 seconds later, a goal mouth scramble in front of De Serres prompted a confusing and lengthy video review that ultimately resulted in Spitfires winger Greg Nemisz being credited with his club’s fourth goal.

“That fourth one just killed us,” said Calvert. “No one really knew what was going on and it really rattled our team. Our structure went from there and after that it got ugly.”

While the loss was disappointing to the locals, it shouldn’t have come as too much of a shock. The Wheat Kings were also drilled by Windsor 9-3 when the two teams met in the very first game of the tournament.

Windsor finished the tournament a perfect 4-0 and have now won eight straight games at the Memorial Cup going back to last year’s championship run.

Hall, who had a goal and two assists in the final game, also became the first player to ever repeat as Memorial Cup MVP and is now almost certainly bound for the Edmonton Oilers, who have the first overall pick at next month’s NHL entry draft.

Hall finished as the leading scorer in the tournament with five goals and four assists.

“I think I’ve done everything I can,” Hall said of his final performance in the leadup to the draft. “This should put me in a good position.”

The crowd gave a standing ovation in the game’s final minute, in recognition of the team’s effort and in particular tribute to 20-year-old forwards Jay Fehr, Aaron Lewadniuk, Matt Calvert and New York Islanders prospect Travis Hamonic, who were all playing their final games as Wheaties.

The loss was particularly bitter for Hamonic, who was also a member of the Team Canada squad that lost the gold medal final at the World Juniors in Saskatoon in January. “It’s tough,” said Hamonic. “To do it twice in the same year, in a matter of a couple of months with the world juniors loss, it’s hard to accept.”Spitfires defenceman Cam Fowler, on the other hand, was on the American team that won that game in Saskatoon and with Sunday night’s victory becomes the 21st player in history to win the Memorial Cup and World Juniors in the same season.

NOTES — Calvert, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect, was named to the all-star team, while Brandon forward Toni Rajala, who led his club in scoring, was named the most sportsmanlike player…Calgary’s Martin Jones was named top netminder.