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2006 Memorial Cup

oneandonly wrote on 4/13/2006 4:32:01 PM :
Friday, May 19 OHL VS Host 7:00 p.m. EST
- Saturday, May 20 QMJHL VS WHL 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday, May 21 Host VS WHL 4:00 p.m.
- Monday, May 22 QMJHL VS OHL 7:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 23 WHL VS OHL 7:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, May 24 Host VS QMJHL 7:00 p.m.
- Thursday, May 25 Tie Breaker if Necessary 3:00 p.m.
- Friday, May 26 Semi-Final 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday, May 27 Off day
- Sunday, May 28 Final 4:00 p.m.

http://www.chl.ca/CHLMemorialCup06/schedule.html      nhl [nhl]
_________________
SweetMelody wrote on 4/20/2006 7:46:47 AM :
I take it this is all on tv, right?
oneandonly wrote on 5/21/2006 7:01:13 PM :

The Western Hockey League's Giants led 2-0 after one period, but could not hold off the highest-scoring team or Radulov, the top scorer in the Canadian Hockey League.

LaVallee, an Atlanta Thrashers draft pick, scored the winner for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League runner-up Remparts midway through the third period. Radulov provided insurance with a power-play goal and LaVallee added an empty-netter.

Moncton and the Ontario Hockey League's Petes, both 1-0, meet Monday.

The Remparts (1-1) have two days of rest before concluding the round robin Wednesday against the host Moncton Wildcats in a rematch of the QMJHL final

The Giants (0-2) need to win their last game of the preliminary round Tuesday against Peterborough in order to avoid elimination from the Memorial Cup.

The team with the best record at the conclusion of the round robin Wednesday earns the bye to Sunday's final while the second- and third-place teams meet in Friday's semifinal.

Mathieu Melanson and Michal Sersen also scored for the Remparts and 17-year-old forward Angelo Esposito had two assists in front of 6,722 in the Moncton Coliseum that wasn't as stiflingly hot as it had been for the two games of the tournament.

Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick Gilbert Brule led the Giants with a short-handed goal and two assists. Mitch Bartley scored his second in as many games and defenceman Paul Albers also scored for Vancouver.

Quebec goaltender Cedrick Desjardins made 34 saves on 37 shots for the win and Vancouver counterpart Dustin Slade stopped 22 of 27.

The Giants played their second game in as many days and again started strong, only to fade and fall into penalty trouble.

Slade had trouble corralling rebounds and the Remparts were tenacious around the net on Lavallee's winner at 9:38 and Radulov's goal at 12:41 of the third period.

Slade didn't quite close the gap on Radulov, a first-round pick of the Nashville Predators, who shovelled a rebound between the Vancouver goalie and the post.

The Remparts opened the third period with a two-man advantage, with Vancouver's Albers and defenceman Cody Franson serving minors from late in the second period. Sersen tied the game 3-3 with a shot from the top of the face-off circle that beat Slade glove side.

Melanson pulled the Remparts within a goal late in the second period when he took advantage of traffic in front of the net and a cross-ice pass from Andrew Andricopoulos to beat Slade glove side at 18:58.

Vancouver's Spencer Machacek then took exception to Lavallee manhandling Brule and knocking his helmet off and fought the Remparts winger.

Albers scored the Giants' first power-play goal of the tournament on a two-man advantage at 15:39 for a 2-1 Vancouver lead. Desjardins couldn't get all of his blast from the high slot.

Radulov scored the Remparts first goal of the game on a second effort when he shovelled a rebound by Slade at 13:23 of the second period.

Brule's short-handed goal late in the first was pivotal for the Giants. Instead of clearing the puck, Brule accelerated out of the zone and caught the Remparts flat-footed on the blue-line.

Bartley went with him to create an odd-man rush and Brule, property of the Columbus Blue Jackets, roofed the puck over Desjardins' glove at 16:14.

The Giants scored on their first foray into the Remparts' zone just 20 seconds into the game. Machacek fed Brule from the boards and Brule skated out from behind the goal-line to find an open Bartley in the slot.

The fastest goal to start a game in Memorial Cup history is 11 seconds. Kitchener's Brian Bellows scored it in a 9-2 win over Portland in 1982

oneandonly wrote on 4/22/2006 7:53:44 AM :
im not sure if they televise it or not.probably blacked out locally.
oneandonly wrote on 4/22/2006 7:55:28 AM :
frazzled mentioned a link for the internet but I have not seen if she posted it yet.
oneandonly wrote on 5/21/2006 6:43:51 AM :
The Peterborough Petes defeated the Quebec Remparts 3-2 yesterday in front of 6,662 fans at the Moncton Coliseum in game one of the 2006 MasterCard Memorial Cup Tournament.

The game's first star, David Shantz of the Petes, made 45 saves in the win, while his teammate, Jordan Morrison got the game-winner late in the third period. Jamie Tardif and Steve Downie also scored in the win.
nhl [nhl]                                                                                                                                        The sweat poured off Peterborough Petes goaltender David Shantz after his 45-save performance in the steambath that was Moncton Coliseum on Friday. But Shantz's coolness during the game was the difference in Peterborough's 3-2 win over the Quebec Remparts to open the Memorial Cup.

The 20-year-old goalie from Hamilton gave the Petes a chance to win when they were getting outskated and outshot by the Remparts early in the game.

"It was a pretty busy game, but it was pretty fun at the same time," Shantz said. "It was probably an easier game to play versus a game where you get 20 shots."

It was a see-saw battle between the Ontario Hockey League champion Petes and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League runner-up Remparts in the swampy Coliseum, a 33-year-old building that lacks air conditioning and was further warmed Friday by more than 6,600 bodies watching the game.


"I bet it was five to 10 degrees warmer than in any building we've played this season," Shantz said. "Just the extra fluids you lose during the game takes a toll mentally and physically on you as the game wears on."

Steve Downie and Jordan Morrison each had a goal and an assist for the Petes with Downie setting Morrison up for the winner 15:29 and just 13 second after Remparts defenceman Joey Ryan had tied the game. Petes captain Jamie Tardif also scored.

Maxime Lacroix scored a short-handed goal early in the third period and Ryan's goal had tied the game a second time. Remparts goaltender Cedrick Desjardins made 26 saves on 29 shots.

The host and QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats open the Canadian Hockey League championship Saturday (Rogers Sportsnet, 7 p.m. ET) against the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.

Quebec faces Vancouver on Sunday and the Petes take on Moncton on Monday.

The team with the best record at the conclusion of the round robin Wednesday earns the bye to the final May 28 while the second- and third-place teams meet in the semifinal May 26. A tie for third would be solved by a tiebreaker game.

Moncton beat Quebec for the QMJHL title in a final series that went six games, but the Remparts earned the league's second berth at the CHL championship because the Wildcats are the host club.

It was a sweaty, pro-Petes crowd that heartily booed Remparts head coach and general manager Patrick Roy, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and future Hockey Hall of Fame goalie, during pre-game introductions and whenever his face appeared on the scoreclock's video screen.

Downie, a first-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, took advantage of the Remparts' poor clearing attempt at their own blue line to fire the puck across the offensive zone to Morrison, a Pittsburgh Penguins' draft pick who potted the winner just 13 seconds after Ryan had tied the game 2-2.

The momentum swung back and forth as the Remparts used their speed to harry the Petes deep in their own zone, head-man the puck and outshoot Peterborough 18-7 in the first period. But Shantz's efforts, including two big saves to open the second, held the Remparts in check.

"Normally we get better quality shots, but he played really well," Roy said of Shantz.

Shantz was drafted in the second round by the Florida Panthers in 2004. The Petes acquired him from the Mississauga IceDogs last summer because they were looking for a goalie with big-game experience.

The Remparts opened the third period with a short-handed goal by Lacroix 51 seconds in to tie it before Tardif put the OHL champs ahead again at 9:43.

Tardif gathered up a long pass from defenceman Craig Cescon in the offensive zone and got by Ryan to beat Desjardins.

Lacroix forced a turnover at the blue-line, chipping the puck by Peterborough's Liam Reddox and then beating Reddox in a footrace to whip a high shot by Shantz.

Remparts forward Alexander Radulov, a first-round draft pick of the Nashville Predators, is the top scorer in the CHL and was rarely off the ice. The Russian sniper made some dazzling moves to generate chances but couldn't solve Shantz.

"This is the first time this year we've faced the heat factor," Petes coach Dick Todd said. "With a player with the skill of Radulov, he was amazing out there and I think his shooting was probably affected by the gravelly ice."

Todd was optimistic organizers would be able to cool the building down, but Roy, whose team played here in the league final, was not.

"I don't think it's going to get better," he said. "I think it's going to get worse."

Downie, an all-star for Canada at this year's world junior hockey championship, buzzed down the wing and took advantage of an opening given him by Remparts defenceman Stephane Valente to put a sharp-angle shot over the stick of Desjardins at 9:21 of the second period.

The puck dropped 25 minutes after its scheduled start time at 8 p.m. local due to the opening ceremonies.

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oneandonly wrote on 5/21/2006 6:44:20 AM :

The Moncton Wildcats won their first game of the 2006 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament by defeating the Vancouver Giants 3-2.

Martins Karsums scored the winner, continuing the trend he established during the President Cup final. Philippe Dupuis and Brad Marchand scored the other Wildcats goals.

Mitch Bartley and Michal Repik scored for the Giants.          nhl [nhl]                                                      The Wildcats improved to 12-0 in the Moncton Coliseum in the playoffs and going back into the regular season, their winning streak is 15 games.

Moncton, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champs as well as the host club, came from behind as the Western Hockey League's Giants led 1-0 until the Wildcats scored two goals in the back half of the second period.

Philippe Dupuis, property of the Columbus Blue Jackets, scored the first goal of the game for the Wildcats and assisted on the winner by Latvian forward Martins Karsums at 6:15 of the third period.

Dupuis, 19, is playing in his third Memorial Cup after reaching the final with Gatineau in 2003 and 2004.


``I'm hungry for a Cup now,'' Dupuis said. ``I really want it. I was a little bit young when I was there at 17 and 18 and I didn't know what was going on, really, but right now I really want it and I think other guys want it in the (dressing) room too.''

Wildcats 50-goal man Stephane Goulet returned to the lineup after sitting out the QMJHL final series with a knee injury and the Edmonton Oilers draft pick had two assists.

Michal Repik goal and an assist for the Giants and Mitch Bartley also scored.

Gilbert Brule, a first-round pick of the Blue Jackets and the WHL's playoff MVP, had one assist.

Moncton goaltender Josh Tordjman made 28 saves on 30 shots for the win while Vancouver counterpart Dustin Slade stopped 17 of 20.

Vancouver plays its second game in as many days Sunday when the Giants meet the Quebec league runner-up Quebec Remparts.

The Remparts opened with a 3-2 loss to the Ontario Hockey League's Peterborough Petes. Peterborough and Moncton square off Monday.

The Giants will have less than 24 hours to recover before they play again in a sweltering building. It was less humid outside the Coliseum on Saturday, so the interior wasn't as swampy as it had been for the previous night's game, but the temperature rose in the building as the game progressed.

The team with the best record at the conclusion of the round robin Wednesday earns the bye to the final May 28 while the second- and third-place teams meet in the semifinal May 26. A tie for third would be solved by a tiebreaker game.

Only one major junior team in the country gave up fewer goals this season than the Vancouver Giants and that was the Calgary Hitmen.

The Giants controlled the first half of the game with crisp, quick breakouts and a tenacious forecheck that generated scoring chances. The Wildcats were in penalty trouble early in the game, but their penalty killers held the Giants at bay.

Moncton head coach Ted Nolan said his advice to his players after the first period was ``settle down a little bit.''

It was Vancouver with penalty problems in the second half, when the warmth of the building sapped legs. Moncton began to pressure the Giants in front of Slade and found holes in the Giants' vaunted defence.

The Giants killed off a pair of two-man opportunities by the Wildcats, but playing short-handed hampered their ability to get an equalizer.

``We know if we're going to win the Memorial Cup, we're going to have to play the full 60 minutes and play disciplined,'' Giants defenceman Mark Fistric said.

Karsums scored the game-winner from Slade's doorstep on a goal-mouth pass from Dupuis. Bartley had tied the game at 1:31 of the third by redirecting a pass from the boards from Repik.

Dupuis scored a power-play goal to deadlock the game at 12:39 of the second period and Marchand put the hosts ahead just over three minutes later to revive the 6,854 in the Moncton Coliseum.

It was a hard-hitting game and tempers flared after Moncton's second goal. A pushing-shoving match involving lines from both clubs ensued and Quebec's Tim Spencer and Vancouver's Garet Hunt fought.

Marchand, a prospect for the NHL draft next month, took a drop pass from defenceman Luc Bourdon and wired a shot at Slade, who got a piece of the puck with his glove, but not enough at 15:39 of the second period.

Keith Yandle's blast from the point careered off the bodies stacked in front of the net, but Dupuis snared the rebound and beat Slade glove side for a power-play goal.

Repik took the wind out of the Wildcats fans early by scoring at 1:17 of the first period. The Czech forward shook off a check and took a feed from the deep boards from Tim Kraus, backhanding the puck over the stick of Tordjman.

Although Vancouver outshot Moncton 10-2 in the first period, the Giants didn't get a lot of great scoring chances in close and Tordjman cut off the angles on perimeter shots.

Former Toronto Maple Leaf head coach Pat Quinn is part of the Giants' ownership group and attended Saturday night's game.

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oneandonly wrote on 5/21/2006 6:45:37 AM :

CHL Memorial Cup 2006 Page                                                 http://www.lhjmq.qc.ca/lang_en/index.php                                                                                    http://www.gopetesgo.com/home.php                            nhl [nhl]                         

willie c wuddle wrote on 5/21/2006 7:53:43 PM :

SweetMelody wrote:
I take it this is all on tv, right?

I'm not sure but I think the games are on TSN. The Moncton/Vancouver game was on last night.

Vlad Drac wrote on 5/22/2006 3:31:55 PM :
Yeah, I noticed the Manhattan was showing all the games on their big screen. I assume a few other bars in town or showing them too.
moncton.net wrote on 5/22/2006 4:47:03 PM :
oneandonly wrote on 5/22/2006 7:01:16 PM :
cats are up1-0 after the 1st period.
oneandonly wrote on 5/22/2006 7:50:53 PM :
3-1 for the cats at the end of the second period.  GO CATS GO!
oneandonly wrote on 5/22/2006 8:35:27 PM :

final cats 4--petes 2    

oneandonly wrote on 5/23/2006 4:29:55 PM :

The 20-year-old forward scored twice Monday to lead the Moncton Wildcats to a 4-2 win over the Peterborough Petes at the Memorial Cup.

Goulet, a 51-goal scorer for Moncton during the regular season, was forced to sit out the entire Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship series with a knee injury, but he hasn't missed a step here with two assists in his first game back at the Memorial Cup and his pair of goals Monday.

"I was concerned about maybe my timing and my confidence, but it went well and right now I'm playing my game like I did all year and I'm pretty happy about it," the Edmonton Oilers draft pick said.

He scored both his goals by creating havoc in front of Petes' goaltender David Shantz.


His teammates followed his lead as Wildcats were more willing than the Petes to pay a physical price around the net and never gave up on the puck.

"They keep whacking until they hear that whistle and that's how they got at least two goals," Petes captain Jamie Tardif said.

Moncton (2-0) secured at least a berth in Friday's semifinal, but can do one better and get the bye to Sunday's championship game with a victory against the Quebec Remparts on Wednesday to conclude the preliminary round.

Peterborough (1-1) and Vancouver (0-2) meet Tuesday (Rogers Sportsnet, 7 p.m ET) in a must-win game for the Giants as a loss would knock Western Hockey League champions out of contention.

The team with the best record in the round robin gets the bye to the final. That means more rest, while the opposition wears itself out in the semifinal, and one less game in which a team could lose a player to injury.

The second- and third-place teams play in Friday's semifinal. A third-place tie would be solved by a tiebreaker Thursday and that would happen if Vancouver beats Peterborough.

Adam Pineault, a second-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and NHL draft prospect Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist for Moncton, both the host club and also the QMJHL champions.

Philadelphia first-rounder Steve Downie and Greg Stewart replied for Peterborough.

Moncton goaltender Josh Tordjman stopped 29 of 31 shots for his second victory of the tournament, while Peterborough's Shantz turned aside 33 of 37.

Moncton got off to a stronger start than it did in a 3-2 win over Vancouver on Saturday, when the Wildcats didn't really get on track until midway through the second period.

The Wildcats took the momentum and got the capacity crowd of 7,085 at the Moncton Coliseum firmly behind them when Goulet scored with 19 seconds left in the first period and by the end of the second, Moncton had the Peterborough defence on the run and took a 3-1 lead into the third.

The Wildcats' faithful were so loud at that point they drowned out the public address announcer.

Shantz would have liked to have Moncton's third goal back as he mistimed gloving Pineault's high wobbler from the top of the face-off circle.

"That floater really hurts a team when it goes in like that," Petes coach Dick Todd said.

Stewart pulled the Petes within a goal at 3:12 of the third period when he pounced on a Moncton turnover in the neutral zone and his high shot from the top of the face-off circle beat Tordjman glove side.

But Marchand restored Moncton's two-goal lead at 15:26 when Matt Eagles outhustled the Petes' defence along the boards and found an unmarked Marchand driving the net.

Goulet tipped in an off-speed shot by Maxime Belanger at 11:16. Todd asked for a review because he felt Goulet's was stick too high on the re-direct, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Downie squared the game 1-1 at 9:58 of the second. He cruised the neutral zone and his shot from the high slot trickled between Tordjman's pads as Downie followed up to tap it in.

With the Wildcats forwards swarming the net, defenceman Luc Bourdon let a slapshot go, Philippe Dupuis hacked at the rebound and Goulet finished the job by banging the puck past Shantz glove side at 19:41 of the first period.

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oneandonly wrote on 5/27/2006 7:58:55 AM :
The Peterborough Petes have played in more Memorial Cups than any other club in Canadian major junior hockey, but after Thursday's undisciplined loss they still only have one title to show for it.

The Petes are now 1-for-8 in Memorial Cups after losing 6-0 to the Vancouver Giants a playoff tiebreaker after the two teams had identical records in the round-robin. Peterborough's lone Cup victory was in 1979.

"In this type of tournament you could talk about who is going to score goals and there wasn't one even-strength goal against us today, so it's all power play opportunities and we got the fewest," said Petes head coach Dick Todd.

The Western Hockey League's Giants and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Moncton Wildcats will meet in Friday's semifinal.

The winner of that game will take on the QMJHL runner-up Quebec Remparts in Sunday's final. The Remparts earned the bye to the final after beating the Wildcats 4-3 on Wednesday

Quebec and Moncton finished the preliminary round 2-1. Vancouver and Peterborough were 1-2 and that required Thursday's tiebreaker to determine the other semifinalist.

Penalties begat penalties as the Petes became frustrated by perceived injustices by referee Francis Charron.

Gilbert Brule and defenceman Cody Franson led the Giants' previously anemic power play in a romp. All six Giants goals came with a man advantage and Vancouver had 17 power-play opportunities in total.

"We play hard for 60 minutes," said Vancouver defenceman Paul Albers. "We're staying more disiplined now we're gettin pucks in, we're little a bit more used to officiating and we're crashing and banging. We're playing a lot more physical than we did the first two games."

Since the Petes spent so little time even-strength, they managed only 11 shots on goal to Vancouver's 45.

Franson, a Nashville Predators draft pick, scored a hat trick and added an assist. Brule, the sixth overall pick in last year's NHL draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, had two goals and three assists. Jonathan Blum also scored for Vancouver.

It was a disappointing end of the season for the Petes and for Todd, who came out of retirement prior to the 2004-05 season and stepped behind the Petes' bench again after coaching the team to 1989 and 1993 Memorial Cup appearances that also fell short.

The Petes opened this Memorial Cup with a 3-2 win over the Remparts, but then lost 4-2 to Moncton and 3-2 to Vancouver before Thursday's tiebreaker.

Had the Petes had reached the OHL final last year, they would have earned a berth in the Memorial Cup behind host and OHL champion London.

But Peterborough was upset by the Ottawa 67's in the Eastern Conference final and the Petes missed gaining the experience that would have helped the players adjust to this tournament, where the pace is more urgent than in a seven-game playoff series.

"I think it would have been valuable, looking back," said Todd. "Had we been able to get that experience maybe we would have been more prepared for this.

"It's what you've worked for all year, the players have worked very hard and in the end, you're totally disappointed."

The Petes were not an offensively explosive team but had enough 20-goal-or-more scorers to win the OHL title. But Peterborough managed only seven goals in four games here.

"Very inconsistent, I'd say, on behalf of the whole team," captain Jamie Tardif said.

The Petes needed more production from Daniel Ryder, Liam Reddox, Jordan Staal, Jordan Morrison and Patrick Kaleta, although Kaleta was hampered by injury.

Todd said his team had the least amount of power-play opportunities, which contributed to their offensive woes.

Goaltender David Shantz was the difference in the Petes' opening win over the Remparts in stopping 45 of 47 shots, but did not reach that standard again for the rest of the tournament.

The Florida Panthers' draft pick was one of a few Petes veterans who lost their cool Thursday as he took roughing minors in the second and third periods.

Todd said he considered pulling Shantz for Trevor Cann after Peterborough's fourth goal, but he waited until late in the third period to put Cann in.

"He's a last-year player with a great deal of potential and an opportunity to go on to the pros," Todd said of Shantz. "I thought in between periods, he'd calm down and come back and play well and I wanted to give players who have played so well for us a chance.

"Unfortunately it just continued to deteriorate, but not necessarily him, but around him."

Todd, 60, has one more year remaining on his contract, but the Petes were a team heavy in 19-year-olds this season and will graduate several players, including fifth-year Petes Tardif and defenceman Trevor Hendrikx.

Staal, 17, is a top-rated prospect for next month's NHL draft and could play in the big leagues next season.


oneandonly wrote on 5/27/2006 8:01:21 AM :
Matt Marquardt doesn't score often so, when he does get a big goal, there's no telling what he'll do.

After breaking a tie 6:18 into the third period of the Memorial Cup semifinal Friday night, the 18-year-old plugger jumped off the ice and pounded the side glass in an outburst of joy as a capacity-plus Coliseum crowd of 7,160 went bonkers.

''I thought it was pretty original,'' the six-foot-four hulk said afterwards. ''I was really excited that I could put one in for the club.''

The Moncton Wildcats left-winger was the unlikely hero in a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants that earned the No. 1-ranked major junior hockey team in Canada a date in the national final Sunday against the Quebec Remparts, who finished first in the round robin.

It'll be the first all-QMJHL Memorial Cup final.





Murquardt, who is from North Bay, Ont., played for a provincial Jr. A team in Brockville last season. He wasn't selected in his OHL draft year.

''Last year I was playing tier two and here I am in the Memorial Cup final,'' he said, hardly able to believe what he'd helped accomplish. ''I went to London last year to watch some games in the tournament and I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be part of it.''

Moncton's Keith Yandle and Vancouver's Gilbert Brule traded goals in the second period. It was a stalemate until Marquardt interceded.

Brad Marchand did all the work on the winning goal. Lugging the puck around the Vancouver end, the five-foot-eight native of Halifax got off a shot on goalie Dustin Slade, pulled in his own rebound, and fed Marquardt in the middle of the zone.

Several OHL clubs including Sudbury talked to Marquardt before he signed with Moncton.

''I talked things over with my family and we felt this was the place for me,'' he said.

Wildcats coach Ted Nolan was the deciding factor.

''That's the big reason why I came here,'' said Marquardt. ''Every one of (the Wildcats players) looks up to him.''

Marquardt often plays on the third of fourth line.

''We don't get noticed as much as the goal scorers but we bring a lot to our club,'' he said. ''To score a goal like that was a bonus.''

Said Nolan: ''This team is full of unsung heros.''

Christian Gaudet added an empty-net goal with 45 seconds remaining.

Joshua Hepditch also scored into an empty net with 12.7 seconds left and the scoreboard showed a 4-1 final when time elapsed, but it was announced during the post-game news conference that the whistle had blown before Hepditch shot so that one wouldn't be counted.

Nolan was the most relieved man in the building at the final buzzer.

''I wouldn't want to play them in a seven-game series, I'll tell you that,'' said Nolan.

Vancouver coach Dan Hay lamented his team's ability to play a full 60 minutes in any game in the tournament, and felt his shooters weren't forceful enough Friday.

''The second half of the game, we really didn't mount many offensive opportunities,'' he said. ''It was a grind-it-out, chess match type of game.''

Vancouver players initiated a brawl after Hepditch's shot. Giants captain Mark Fistric was given a fighting penalty, a misconduct and a match penalty after going to the aid of teammate J.D. Watt and knocking Moncton goalie Josh Tordjman to the ice.

''Their goalie was in (the melee) for no reason and that wasn't acceptable,'' said Fistric. ''I took it upon myself to get him out of there.

''I was sticking up for my buddy. I wasn't trying to hurt anybody.''

The brawl wasn't the result of frustration over losing, Fistric said.

''They're a great team and they deserved to win,'' he said. ''They played a hell of a game.

''They're No. 1 in the country for a reason. There's no reason to hold our heads down. We're still the WHL champions and the team is headed in the right direction.''

Fistric graduates from junior now.

''It would have been nice to go out with a Memorial Cup ring on my hand,'' said the disappointed captain.

The well-rested Remparts haven't played since a 4-3 win Wednesday over Moncton, the club they lost to in the Quebec league's championship series, to clinch first place in the round robin.

Brule was the best forward on the ice. He score his tournament-best sixth goal.

''As soon as that buzzer went, it was pretty hard to take,'' he said of the dejection felt on the Giants bench when it ended. ''This is a tough tournament to win.

''Our power play could have been a lot better but (the Wildcats) did a good job and they deserve a lot of credit.''

Notes: Vancouver had a 27-24 shots advantage . . . Moncton was 0-for-6 and Vancouver 0-for-5 on power plays . . . Luc Bourdon got away with spearing Brule out of the view of referee Kyle Rehman. Brule was doubled over on his knees for two minutes while his team's trainer attended to him. He wasn't seriously injuried and was back for his next shift, and Bourdon was lucky he wasn't headed for an early shower . . . Brule played seven NHL games with the Columbus Blue Jackets last autumn, scoring two goals, before a broken leg took the five-foot-11 native of North Vancouver off ice and kept him off Canada's team for the world junior championship . . . Yandle's goal was his first of the tournament. About time - the six-foot-two Bostonian led all Canadian major junior defencemen with 25 goals during the regular season . . . Moncton beat Vancouver 3-2 in the tournament opener for both teams last Saturday . . . Individual game tickets were for sale at $60 a pop Friday
Vlad Drac wrote on 5/27/2006 12:54:05 PM :
The Manhattan will be showing the game on their big screen TV tomorrow. I believe it starts at 4pm. $2.75 beer.......can't go wrong with that.
Vlad Drac wrote on 5/28/2006 2:17:23 PM :
So, who's watching this? Anyone have tickets? Sitting at home and watching the game on TV?
oneandonly wrote on 5/28/2006 5:40:45 PM :
cats are down 4-0 at the start of the third!  Flush [Flush]
oneandonly wrote on 5/28/2006 5:48:30 PM :
4-2 with 14 min. remaining.    they are starting to rally!
oneandonly wrote on 5/28/2006 6:00:37 PM :
damn ,5-2 with less than 9 min. remaining.
oneandonly wrote on 5/28/2006 6:19:18 PM :
quebec remparts earned the memorial cup with a 6-2 victory over the moncton wildcats.
willie c wuddle wrote on 5/28/2006 6:25:00 PM :
I'm not really overkeen on hocky but it was a pretty good game. Buddy sat on the end of his perch and cheered on the game over my shoulder. When Moncton got a goal he took off flying around the room tweeting away.
Vlad Drac wrote on 5/28/2006 8:57:09 PM :
They didn't win it but I still got to have a few drinks while watching the game. I'm still feeling pretty good right now. Go Cats Go!
joel27 wrote on 6/2/2006 10:47:14 AM :
the cats dident show up for the game thats why they lost
Vlad Drac wrote on 6/2/2006 10:50:45 AM :

joel27 wrote:
the cats dident show up for the game thats why they lost

Didn't they put like 40-some shots on net? Sounds like you didn't watch the game at all. They played well but just couldn't finish the plays. Quebec had a hot goalie and Radulov was a threat every time he stepped on the ice.