Mastercard Memorial Cup

[Pilky01]

I'd guess there'd be a stream or too somewhere.

Cheering on Portland - London for the final.

I don't remember finding any last year. I remember the only live video I could find was Sportsnet streaming footage from a single camera, mounted on the glass near centre ice. Frankly I couldn't understand why Sportsnet even put it up.

 

[JoeyBeans]

Thinking about setting up my own stream via sportsnet.

 

[Senateurs]

This is going to be a very good year.

But I still think they should add teams and make it a 8 team tournament.

 

[Killahpunk]

Go Mooseheads!

 

[JoeyBeans]

1 Fri May 17 London Saskatoon 06:00 MDT
2 Sat May 18 Portland Halifax 05:00 MDT
3 Sun May 19 Saskatoon Halifax 05:00 MDT
4 Mon May 20 Portland London 06:00 MDT
5 Tue May 21 Halifax London 06:00 MDT
6 Wed May 22 Saskatoon Portland 06:00 MDT

picks









http://tournaments.neulion.com/tournaments/

7.99 per game

 

[Taoiseach]

This is going to be a very good year.

But I still think they should add teams and make it a 8 team tournament.

8? How do you get 8 teams?

I think 6 (the league champions and the league runners up) or 3 would be better than 8 or the current 4.

 

[Snippit]

Thinking about setting up my own stream via sportsnet.

That would be cool. If you were to do it, could you provide a link?

Going to be without access to T.V for the next few days.

 

[King Mapes]

What a disgraceful showing..

 

[King Mapes]

If 2 teams are tied for first what's the tiebreaker? Head to head matchup? I know if its for third you play eachother but I know it's different for first

 

[poisonivy]

If 2 teams are tied for first what's the tiebreaker? Head to head matchup? I know if its for third you play eachother but I know it's different for first

I'm pretty sure it's head to head for first place as well. Last year, London and Saint John were tied for first after the round robin (2-1). However, London beat Saint John in their meeting and were awarded a bye to the final.

 

[johnnydrum]

What a fabulous performance by the Saskatoon Blades last night.

After reading some of the comments about how the Blades "...not deserving to be there...", and how they would be "fodder for the Moose", I have to say that the Blades displayed great charachter (which I gather they had lacked during the WHL playoffs) and proved that, on the night, ANYONE has a chance.

Well done to the Blades...they have just "upped the ante" of an already intriguing tournament.

 

[King Mapes]

What a fabulous performance by the Saskatoon Blades last night.

After reading some of the comments about how the Blades "...not deserving to be there...", and how they would be "fodder for the Moose", I have to say that the Blades displayed great charachter (which I gather they had lacked during the WHL playoffs) and proved that, on the night, ANYONE has a chance.

Well done to the Blades...they have just "upped the ante" of an already intriguing tournament.

Look at who won last year. Anything can happen in a short tournament

 

[Senateurs]

8? How do you get 8 teams?

I think 6 (the league champions and the league runners up) or 3 would be better than 8 or the current 4.

Because 8 is better for a tournament. You can make two "division" of 4 teams.

-Round robin (3 games)
-1 Vs 4, 2 Vs 3
-Cross over (or not)
-Finals

That is a maximum of 6 games for the winner and runner up. Which is exactly the amount of games Shawinigan played last year. But most importantly, it's 19 games for the host city.



You can't really make this kind of tournament with 6 teams.

If you go two division of 3 teams, it's a total of 4 games for the winner but only 9 for the host city. If you go with a round robin with all 6 teams, the winning and runner up will play 7 games. 18 games for the host city.

Now, how you decide who plays is another story...


Anyways, I just think that the Memorial Cup does not get the respect it should and the actual format is ridiculous. Any tournament that could force a team to play 3 games in 3 nights because of a tie breaker lacks serious planning. The Memorial cup should be junior hockey's equivalent of March madness.

 

[Frankenrogers]

Anyways, I just think that the Memorial Cup does not get the respect it should and the actual format is ridiculous. The Memorial cup should be junior hockey's equivalent of March madness.

Agreed. Not sure if it is b/c the NHL playoffs are also on but this tournament is forgotten for the most part and with the caliber of players should be followed by all hockey lovers. I totally forgot that it was on myself.

Could a top 10 work in the 2x Pool scenario above? Host City, 3x League champs, 3x League Runner Ups, 3x League Regular Season Winners.

Play 4 games Round Robin, Top two in each division advance with the winners facing each other on a set night (Championship Monday).

 

[optimus2861]

Could a top 10 work in the 2x Pool scenario above? Host City, 3x League champs, 3x League Runner Ups, 3x League Regular Season Winners.

Too many teams, plus it's quite common for the league champs & league regular season champs to be the same team - all three league champs fit the bill this year.

I'm sort of fine with just the four teams, I just hate that the host gets a free shot if they don't earn their way in, like Shawinigan and now Saskatoon. The host berth should be provisional provided they advance to at least the third round of their league's playoffs. If they don't, their berth is given to their league's playoff runner-up instead (so Edmonton would've taken Saskatoon's spot). Unfortunately given the need to keep the host city's fans interested that just won't happen.

To eliminate the back-to-backs, you could just play two round-robin games each day with days off between them. One afternoon game, one evening game. Then everyone's got a matching schedule.

 

[JoeyBeans]

Too many teams, plus it's quite common for the league champs & league regular season champs to be the same team - all three league champs fit the bill this year.

I'm sort of fine with just the four teams, I just hate that the host gets a free shot if they don't earn their way in, like Shawinigan and now Saskatoon. The host berth should be provisional provided they advance to at least the third round of their league's playoffs. If they don't, their berth is given to their league's playoff runner-up instead (so Edmonton would've taken Saskatoon's spot). Unfortunately given the need to keep the host city's fans interested that just won't happen.

To eliminate the back-to-backs, you could just play two round-robin games each day with days off between them. One afternoon game, one evening game. Then everyone's got a matching schedule.

Lose the host team and you lose money.

 

[Alpine]

Besides the NCAA Frozen 4 what championship tourney does not have a host team?
Ahh the luxury of large student bodies.
Gotta sell tix

 

[optimus2861]

Lose the host team and you lose money.

I understand & acknowledge it, but I don't have to like it. For a hockey-mad country like ours, it's a frigging shame that the host team absolutely must participate in order to get the locals to watch the best junior hockey players in the country compete for the national championship.

The Blades could conceivably be crowned national champions with a post-season record of 3 wins, 5 losses, while the Mooseheads would be deemed runners up with a post-season record of 19 wins, 3 losses (if SAS beats POR, HAL wins the semi-final and then SAS wins the final). A championship format that allows for this does itself a great disservice, and I dearly hope it doesn't come to pass.

 

[Taoiseach]

After reading some of the comments about how the Blades "...not deserving to be there..."

The Blades don't deserve to be there. They went 0-4 in the playoffs, and are now competing for the so-called 'national championship.'

Because 8 is better for a tournament. You can make two "division" of 4 teams.

Now, how you decide who plays is another story...

That's my point. How do you come to have 8 teams? The league champions, the league runners up, the host, and... next year's host? What if they're already there, or the host teams makes it to the league finals? It seems like one or two teams would have to be selected extraordinarily at random.

 

[Senateurs]

Could a top 10 work in the 2x Pool scenario above? Host City, 3x League champs, 3x League Runner Ups, 3x League Regular Season Winners.

Play 4 games Round Robin, Top two in each division advance with the winners facing each other on a set night (Championship Monday).

That could work too. Look how TSN created the hype behind the world juniors. I think the same could be done if more teams were involved.

You get more fans watching, more people travelling to support their team. You just have to make sure the host city has the capacity to have 8-10 teams, their booster club and the media for two weeks. Some cities may have to co-host the event.

 

[Frankenrogers]

I guess that is what I am thinking, the more teams, the more potential interest. Senateurs is also right that TSN created the huge event that the World Juniors is today. There is no reason that Memorial Cup should not be in that same category. I think that the Pooled Tournament is easy to follow and familiar and would work well.

And to answer the question if the first place OHL team is also the OHL champ or runner up, then pick the next best OHL team that wasn't one of those two.

 

[JoeyBeans]

I understand & acknowledge it, but I don't have to like it. For a hockey-mad country like ours, it's a frigging shame that the host team absolutely must participate in order to get the locals to watch the best junior hockey players in the country compete for the national championship.

The Blades could conceivably be crowned national champions with a post-season record of 3 wins, 5 losses, while the Mooseheads would be deemed runners up with a post-season record of 19 wins, 3 losses (if SAS beats POR, HAL wins the semi-final and then SAS wins the final). A championship format that allows for this does itself a great disservice, and I dearly hope it doesn't come to pass.

I agree 100% If the blades do so happen to win this championship. there will be lots of upset fans just like last year. the 3 teams busted there arses to make it this far meanwhile a 0-4 playoff team has 54 days rest and plays in front of their home crowd.

Just the way she goes bubs.

 

[Taoiseach]

And to answer the question if the first place OHL team is also the OHL champ or runner up, then pick the next best OHL team that wasn't one of those two.

Define 'next best.' The last two teams before the finals lose at the same stage of the playoffs.

 

[TheTechNoir]

YES! THANK YOU PORTLAND! 4-1, 10 minutes remaining... Looking pretty well in the bag. I arrive in Saskatoon at 7am on Sunday so reallllllly didn't want to not be able to see Halifax.

 

[Killahpunk]

I was happy to see Portland win last night so Halifax punches their ticket to the finals. I predict Portland and Halifax final.