The
Memorial Cup is a
junior ice hockey club championship trophy
awarded annually to the
Canadian
Hockey League (CHL) champion. Each year the champions from
three CHL member leagues; the
Western Hockey League (WHL),
Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and
Quebec Major Junior
Hockey League (QMJHL), along with a host team, compete in the
Memorial Cup Tournament.
The OHL's Windsor Spitfires are the defending
champions, having won the 2009
Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Quebec
.
Known originally as the
OHA Memorial Cup, it was
donated in 1919 by the
Ontario Hockey Association in
honour of the soldiers who died fighting for Canada in
World War I. From its donation in 1919 until
1971, the Memorial Cup was awarded via a series of playdowns to the
junior hockey champion of Canada. The
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association moved to
the current tournament format in 1972 when it divided Junior A
hockey into two tiers, naming the Memorial Cup as the championship
of the Major-Junior rank. Sixty teams across the CHL's three member
leagues are eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup, representing
nine provinces and five American states.
History
The Memorial Cup, originally the
OHA Memorial Cup,
was donated in 1919 by the
Ontario Hockey Association (the
precursor to the
Ontario Hockey
League) as a memorial to the Canadian dead of
World War I.
It was awarded to the junior hockey champions
of Canada
. It
started as an
East-versus-West format, where the
George Richardson Memorial
Trophy champions from the East would play the
Abbott Cup champions from the West.
From 1919 to 1928, the Memorial Cup Final was a two-game total
goals affair between a champion from Eastern Canada and a champion
from Western Canada, both of which were determined through a series
of playdowns under the auspices of the
Canadian Amateur Hockey
Association. In 1929, the Memorial Cup Final became a
best-of-three series.
In 1934, when the junior hockey teams were further divided between
Junior 'A' and Junior 'B', the Memorial Cup served as the Junior
'A' championship trophy, and the
Sutherland Cup became the Junior 'B' trophy.
From 1937 the Memorial Cup was a best-of-five series, and in 1943
reverted back to a best-of-seven series.
For the 1971–1972
season, the Junior
'A' rank was further split into the Major Junior rank and a
second-tier rank (referred nowadays as Junior 'A'), with the
Memorial Cup serving as the Major Junior championship trophy, and
the
Manitoba Centennial
Trophy, and later the
Royal Bank
Cup, serving as the second tier championship trophy.
In 1972, the Memorial Cup was contested between three teams: the
champions of the three
leagues of the
Canadian Hockey League: the
President's Cup Champs ,
J. Ross Robertson Cup Champs , and the
President's Cup Champs .
From 1972 to 1973 these three teams played a single
round-robin (two games each), with
the top two teams advancing to a single-game final. A semi-final
game was added in 1974. In 1977 the tournament was expanded to a
double round-robin (four games each), with no semi-final. The
tournament was held at a pre-determined site which was rotated
among the three leagues.
The 1983 Memorial Cup tournament saw the inclusion of a fourth
team, the team hosting the event, which was done to boost
tournament attendance.
The first tournament under this format was
held in Portland,
Oregon
, and marked the first time that an American
city hosted the Memorial Cup. The host
Winter Hawks also won the Cup
that year, becoming the first American team to win the Memorial
Cup. The four teams played a single round-robin (three games each).
If two teams are tied for third place, then a tie-breaker game is
played on Thursday, followed by a semi-final game between the
second and third-place teams and a final between the first-place
team and the semi-final winner. The site of the tournament
continued to be rotated between the three leagues. This is the
format that continues to be used today.
If the host team also wins its respective league championship, the
Memorial Cup berth reserved for the league champion is instead
awarded to that league's runner-up. This was the case in 2006, when
the
Quebec Remparts lost to the
Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL
Finals. However, since Moncton was hosting the Memorial Cup that
year, Quebec was awarded the QMJHL berth to the Memorial Cup
tournament. The Remparts went on to win the Memorial Cup that
season, the first time that a team has won the tournament without
qualifying as the tournament host or as the champions of their
respective league.
In the history of the cup, there has only been one major mishap
with the cup itself. A replica trophy, which is the one teams are
presented with on the ice after the game, broke apart while
Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton
tried to hand it off to a teammate after being presented the cup on
the ice at the 2008 tournament. The crowd started heckling after
the replica cup broke apart, while the Spokane Chiefs took apart
the trophy and shared it around with teammates. The official cup is
currently held at the
Hockey Hall of Fame.
It is considered one of the hardest trophies to win in sports, as
there are currently 60 teams competing each year to make the
tournament, and a player has a maximum of five years to win it due
to age restrictions.
Memorial Cup Tournament awards
Champions
Sources
References
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