Hey all. I might not get much company in this thread, but I am pumped for this year's Memorial Cup. With the top three draft prospects already locked in (Jones, Drouin, MacKinnon), and a bunch more probable first-round prospects playing as well,, I think this is a must-see to get a better gauge on this year's draft.

Starts Friday, May 18 in Saskatoon (that's mountain time), with the OHL champion (TBD: Barrie/London) playing the hometown Blades. The Halifax Mooseheads will represent the QMJHL. And representing the WHL are THE PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS!!!!

I of course have no rooting interest and will be watching this purely as an objective fan of junior hockey.

However it turns out, I am expecting some good hockey and a look at future NHLers (and possibly future Sabres). Will be televised by Sportsnet in Canada and the HNL Network in the US.

I love me some Memorial Cup Hockey. Anyone know if this will be televised at all nationally?

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

see last sentence above.

I can haz reading skillz.

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Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

I'm married and I'm a teacher. I'm used to people ignoring what I say.

I've never watched the Memorial Cup before, but I will this year.

And, I finally have an excuse to wear my Mooseheads jersey!

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

I think you'll enjoy it. The format can be a little strange and jarring at first. They do a round-robin of 3 games, then seed the teams 1 through 4 based on the results. #1 goes straight to the championship game, #4 is eliminated, and #2 and #3 play against each other in a semifinal game. It's sort of like a shortened Olympics or World Cup.

edit: the real difference between this and an international tourney is certainly worth noting though. That's that these teams have been together all year long and through four playoff rounds (with the exception of the host team), and are all champions of their respective leagues. I think that makes for much more compelling hockey than you usually see with national teams that are thrown together only for a short time.

I'll try and watch this, if I can find a stream of it of course.

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And Halifax destroyed the Hawks last night. MacKinnon was the best player on the ice with a hat trick and an assist. From that game, I'd have to say Jones may not be the clear cut #1 I thought.

After 4 games, all 4 teams are 1-1. This tournament is truly anyone's to win with two games left in the round-robin (London vs. Halifax, Portland vs. Saskatoon).

I like how MacKinnon completely undressed him with one of his goals. Just simply went around him. Jones didn't impose his will or anything.

_________________
Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

Looks like I had the tournament format wrong above. After the round-robin stage is over, the top team advances straight to the championship game (Halifax this year), the #2 team advances to the semi-final game (Portland this year), and the #3 & 4 teams play each other in a "tie-breaker" game. That's going to London and Saskatoon tonight. It's a pretty strange format to me, especially since Halifax and Portland were both 2-1 in the round robin, and both Saskatoon and London were 1-2. I can see head-to-head result as being the tie-breaker between Portland and Halifax, but then I don't understand why head-to-head result is not used as a tie-breaker on the bottom of the seeding as well. Anyhow, that's the situation.

Halifax wins it all. Portland played pretty well in the championship game, but they were not the better team.

Nathan MacKinnon was once again the best player on the ice. It was the World Juniors that convinced me that Seth Jones was the best prospect available in the upcoming draft. But after the Memorial Cup, I look at him as #2 instead. If MacKinnon can dominate in two head-to-head games on the biggest stage in North American junior hockey, he deserves the top slot, and I don't know that I could pass him up if I was picking at #1.

People who think MacKinnon's WJC performance was bad need to examine a few things before rushing to that judgment. He was playing as a 4th line center behind guys like RNH and Mark Scheifele, both highly drafted prospects who are older than MacKinnon. MacKinnon never had the ice-time to overtake them. That's not to say he wasn't as good as those guys, but they were the more established "veterans."

_________________
Girgensons for captain. Team Keep Nick DesLauriers forever.

@TJLuckman550

Well, as far as MacKinnon seeing limited ice time in the WJC, Ty Rattie had limited ice time too but still managed to score 3 or 4 goals playing with linemates he wasn't used to. MacKinnon was great on his regular line, but how much of that was talent and how much chemistry? I still think his WJC performance should give the Avalanche pause as to who to take at #1. But as of now, I'd say McKinnon is playing the best in the draft-class. And the fact is defensemen taken in the top 5 picks over the past few seasons in general haven't "lived up" to that hype, which argues against Jones. I'd still love to see Buffalo have a shot at him at pick 2 or 3 if Florida or Tampa is willing to take Miller and the eighth pick.