Score
Draft Pick
Go Rocket!
Posts: 2,079
|
Post by Score on May 25, 2007 5:45:58 GMT -3
The Plymouth Whalers found out what it was like to play with a lead for the first time at the Memorial Cup and it gave them a critical win.
The Ontario Hockey League champions beat the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Lewiston Maineiacs 5-1 in Thursday's tiebreaker to earn to a spot in Friday's semifinal against the host Vancouver Giants.
The Maineiacs were eliminated from the tournament.
Lewiston goaltender Jonathan Bernier was pulled after the first period after allowing two goals on 13 shots.
He was suffering from an infection in his right foot and told head coach Clement Jodoin he could no longer stand on it after the first 20 minutes.
The Los Angeles Kings prospect unhappily went to the bench to start the second period while 17-year-old Peter Delmas stopped 20 of 22 shots the rest of the way.
The Maineiacs opened the tournament looking confident with a 3-1 win over Medicine Hat, but they lost captain and top centre Marc-Andre Cliche to a shoulder injury during the game and they scored only one goal a game after that.
Losing Bernier was another major blow to their chances of staying in the tournament.
''I don't want to make any excuses, but they're a big part of our team,'' Lewiston forward Simon Courcelles said. ''Cliche is a big leader, a great player and losing him in the Memorial Cup is definitely a big part.''
|
|
|
Post by Wallee on May 25, 2007 7:21:47 GMT -3
while losing that quality player i thought the maineiacs still had enough depth to be serious challengers for the cup. its a surprise to me.
|
|
|
Post by David Aebischer on May 25, 2007 9:07:52 GMT -3
They were never a dominant team like Moncton or Quebec so losing Cliche hurt a lot, especially in 1 goal games...then Bernier last night was the final dagger. They are not that deep in terms of impact players, they rely more on hard work and playing smart than raw skill.
I expected them to do a bit better, but they could have easily been in the semi tonight with a few calls not going against them...maybe playing in the final without Cliche and Bernier's injury.
|
|
|
Post by Krang7 on May 25, 2007 9:12:09 GMT -3
It's too bad and I'm sure there's a lot of disappointment for the Lewy organization and fans, but they still should be very proud of their season. The good news for them is that they should still be good again next year.
|
|
|
Post by SwallowMyBitterPill on May 25, 2007 9:34:34 GMT -3
but the bad news is they steamrolled the Q this year and then put in a pretty weak Memorial Cup performance giving those who love to bash the Q as the weak sister league more fodder for their arguments
and all year we heard how deep Lewy was.. using an excuse of losing a key player is weak on their part.. depth was supposed to be their strength.. scoring 1 goal a game won't cut it boys
|
|
|
Post by Krang7 on May 25, 2007 9:37:07 GMT -3
Two Q teams met in the Memorial Cup final last year. I don't imagine they were portrayed as the weak sister then. It's more of a year by year thing which league or leagues are more dominant.
|
|
|
Post by SwallowMyBitterPill on May 25, 2007 9:44:41 GMT -3
tell that to people in Ontario Krang it still is very much perceived as the "weak" sister league
it certainly has closed the gap tho
but again Lewy's weak performance won't help
|
|
|
Post by Krang7 on May 25, 2007 9:59:23 GMT -3
They can percieve whatever they want. Players like Sidney Crosby, Vincent Lecavalier, Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Roberto Luongo... the proof is in the pudding really.
|
|
|
Post by David Aebischer on May 25, 2007 10:01:14 GMT -3
but the bad news is they steamrolled the Q this year and then put in a pretty weak Memorial Cup performance giving those who love to bash the Q as the weak sister league more fodder for their arguments and all year we heard how deep Lewy was.. using an excuse of losing a key player is weak on their part.. depth was supposed to be their strength.. scoring 1 goal a game won't cut it boys What would their argument be? 2 of their 3 losses were in OT so you can't really say they were any weaker than anybody. There are no more ties in hockey so somebody has to lose. The weak sister argument died last year with Moncton and Quebec in the final.
|
|
|
Post by hockeydog on May 25, 2007 17:20:16 GMT -3
i believe the weak sister arguement has been dead for awhile. since 1996, the q has won the memorial cup 4 times, the west 4, ont. 2. from what i hear and read latly, the ontario league is considered the weak sister nowadays, tho plymouth may dispel that this year. they looked great last night and i thought looked very good against van. in tourny opener. imo, losing cliche was huge.
|
|
|
Post by Krang7 on May 25, 2007 18:54:52 GMT -3
i believe the weak sister arguement has been dead for awhile. since 1996, the q has won the memorial cup 4 times, the west 4, ont. 2. from what i hear and read latly, the ontario league is considered the weak sister nowadays, tho plymouth may dispel that this year. they looked great last night and i thought looked very good against van. in tourny opener. imo, losing cliche was huge. If the O is the weak sister, how do you explain London in 2004-05? One of the best junior teams of all time.
|
|
|
Post by hockeydog on May 25, 2007 20:31:06 GMT -3
2 cups in 10 years!!!!! thats how. how would you call the q the weak sister with double the cups in that time? im just stating what is said around, that the q is no longer looked at in that way. maybe you cannot understand that. and they were not that much stronger then rimouski. both teams had unbeaten streaks that year of almost identical streches.
|
|
|
Post by hockeydog on May 25, 2007 20:32:43 GMT -3
and london was also the host, which it is obvious that that is a huge advantage.
|
|
|
Post by LordStanley on May 26, 2007 17:15:37 GMT -3
We had a great run this year and we are all very proud of the boys. A Championship banner will hang from the Colisee and that will never come down.
Some will damn us for not making trades (oddly, the ones we beat), but we will be loaded again this year and the countdown to Kitchener has started.
|
|
|
Post by canbeer on May 26, 2007 21:03:10 GMT -3
We had a great run this year and we are all very proud of the boys. A Championship banner will hang from the Colisee and that will never come down. Some will damn us for not making trades (oddly, the ones we beat), but we will be loaded again this year and the countdown to Kitchener has started. You guys should be one of the top 3 defensive teams again next year and will be tough to score on but I'm not sure you won't be taking a step back offensively.
|
|