Sports posted Jun 30, 2022 @ 10:00am by Bowen Assman

Host Saint John Sea Dogs lift Memorial Cup

Nothing is quite like home.

That’s what the Saint John Sea Dogs figured out, as they won their second ever Memorial Cup, defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs in the final by a 6-3 score at TD Station in Saint John, NB.

<who> Photo Credit: CHL </who> Saint John poses with their Memorial Cup championship.

The home team got on the board first, with two quick goals from Vincent Sevigny and Cam McDonald. They had the Bulldogs on their heels seemingly throughout the game. Mason McTavish scored his fifth of the tournament a couple minutes later to bring Hamilton within one heading into the intermission.

In the second, it was two more quick goals from Saint John, this time from Riley Bezeau and William Dufour. Jan Mysak would score in the dying seconds of the frame to keep Hamilton within two goals.

In the final period, Saint John added on another, and despite a late second goal from McTavish, the Sea Dogs comfortably hung on to win 6-3.

This was their first Memorial Cup victory since 2011, when the Jonathan Huberdeau led squad defeated the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors in the final.

This was also the first time since 2017 (Windsor Spitfires) that the host team won the cup.

<who> Photo Credit: CHL </who> Sea Dogs captain Vincent Sevigny accepts the Memorial Cup from CHL President Dan MacKenzie.

The Sea Dogs pathway to the championship had its fair share of twists and turns.

After finishing the QMJHL’s regular season with a 47-17-1-3 record, good for third Eastern Conference, they went up against the Rimouski Oceanic in the first round.

In the best-of-five series, Rimouski escaped in the fifth game, winning in overtime, to send Saint John home early.

This meant the Sea Dogs had to wait 39 days until the Memorial Cup began at their rink.

Then, they decided to fire their head coach, Gordie Dwyer and hired current UNB Reds bench boss Gardiner MacDougall to rally the troops.

The decision seemed to work, as throughout the cup tournament, Saint John lost just once, in a 3x3 OT game to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

They were led all week by tournament MVP Dufour. The New York Islanders draft pick had a tournament high seven goals, including a natural hat-trick in the Sea Dogs final round robin match against Shawinigan, to vault them into the final.

4GP-7G-1A-8P. 🔥

William Dufour is your tournament MVP! #MemorialCup | @SJSeaDogs pic.twitter.com/YalPZktLS6
— QMJHL (@QMJHL) June 30, 2022

McTavish, the third overall pick by the Anaheim Ducks in 2021's draft, was tied for the lead in points with eight. His Bulldogs teammate Logan Morrison also had eight points.

McTavish and Dufour were selected to the Memorial Cup All-Star team, which also included forward Mavrik Bourque (Shawinigan), defenceman Yan Kuznetsov (Saint John), Arber Xhekaj (Hamilton) and Sea Dogs goalie Nikolas Hurtubise.

The WHL's representative Edmonton Oil Kings were eliminated in round robin play after dropping their final game against the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, the Shawinigan Cataractes, despite winning their first two games, were defeated in overtime in the semifinal, after a goal by the Bulldogs Mysak.

Next year's Memorial Cup is of course scheduled for Kamloops.

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