Windsor worthy winners of the Cup

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This article was published 24/05/2010 (5762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings went into Sunday’s final of the MasterCard Memorial Cup hoping they were a team of destiny.

But it was the Windsor Spitfires who were destined to make hockey history, becoming only the eighth team in the 92-year history of the Memorial Cup to win back-to-back titles. And they did it in dominating fashion.

The Spitfires showed why they are the class of the Canadian major junior hockey, weathering an early storm as the Wheat Kings rode a wave of emotion from 5,609 towel-waving fans before Windsor took over and cruised to a 9-1 shellacking of the host team that matched the worst ever defeat in a Memorial Cup final.

It would have been hard to believe that the Spitfires could have been better than they were in their 9-3 domination of the Wheat Kings in the tournament opener, but they were last night while out-shooting Brandon 52-28.

"The team that we played against tonight demonstrated through their four games that they were by far the best team at the tournament and give credit where credit is due," said a subdued Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon.

It was amazing to watch how easily the Spitfires shredded a Wheat Kings team that won 50 games in the regular season and came into the final fired up from their dramatic 5-4 overtime triumph over the Calgary Hitmen in Friday night’s semifinal — arguably the most exciting hockey game ever played in Westman Place. But after getting off to a strong start, the Wheat Kings quickly faded as this one wore on. Simply put, the Wheat Kings were no match for the Spitfires, but they certainly weren’t alone in that department this season.

Pushed to the brink of elimination by the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL semifinals, Windsor never lost again, completing a remarkable comeback from a 3-0 series deficit before steamrolling the regular-season champion Barrie Colts in four straight games in the league final to earn a trip to Brandon, where the Spitfires went 4-0 while out-scoring their opponents 28-9 overall.

Led by phenom Taylor Hall — who will be drafted first or second overall in this year’s NHL draft — the Spitfires featured no less than five world junior players and 12 veterans of last year’s Memorial Cup team.

Windsor also added five key pieces this season by recruiting U.S. under-18 team members Cam Fowler and Kenny Ryan and trading for the likes of tough guy Zack Kassian, defenceman Marc Cantin and goaltender Philipp Grubauer to plug the only perceived weaknesses in their lineup.

While Grubauer didn’t flinch under fire when the Spitfires needed him most early on — foiling Brayden Schenn and Matt Calvert on Brandon’s best chances — the Wheat Kings simply did not receive championship-calibre netminding from Jacob DeSerres at the other end of the ice. However, he didn’t get much help as Windsor repeatedly burned Brandon by taking advantage of defensive-zone breakdowns, an ongoing issue that the Wheat Kings never solved.

It was Brandon’s fifth time competing for the Memorial Cup after coming up short back in 1949, 1979, 1995, 1996 and now 2010. And while they deserve full marks for advancing to the championship game, this one is going to sting for a while for the Wheat Kings.

"How can you be satisfied with second?" asked Schenn. "It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for many years … To go out like that, to lose like that, it’s obviously real tough."

Sunday’s finale may have taken the shine off what has been a tremendous 10 days of hockey. But make no mistake, this was a hugely successful event that was more thanjust about hockey, with a dedicated army of enthusiastic volunteers setting the bar a little higher for the next Memorial Cup.