DOG EATS DOG: Host Saint John topples Hamilton to claim second Memorial Cup title

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. — After a two-year hiatus, the Canadian Hockey League crowned a champion again, as the host Saint John Sea Dogs won the 2022 Memorial Cup.

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The Sea Dogs defeated the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 in front of a sold out crowd of over 6,000 at Harbour Station arena on Wednesday.

Vincent Sevigny, Cam MacDonald, Riley Bezeau, William Dufour, Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds scored for the Sea Dogs, who were eliminated in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs and had nearly 40 days to prepare for the tournament. Goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise made 25 saves.

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“This is just amazing, I’m speechless right now, it’s just amazing to win with those bunch of guys that worked so hard for this, and to be champions, it’s just amazing,” said Dufour, who was named tournament MVP. “The last two games we didn’t have the start we wanted and the message in our room was to come out strong and that’s what we did. It was just amazing.”

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Mason McTavish, with two goals, and Jan Mysak scored for Hamilton, while Marco Costantini made 21 saves.

Saint John fired head coach Gordie Dwyer after losing to the Rimouski Oceanic in the first-round, best-of-five series and replaced him with legendary University of New Brunswick coach Gardiner MacDougall, who now has a Memorial Cup title to go on his resume, along with seven university national championships in 22 years with UNB.

“We wanted to score first, get the lead, protect it and extend it and that’s what we did,” MacDougall said. “We got the lead early, got the crowd into it and had a lot of belief, even though we were playing a really good opponent.

“It was a complete team effort, we got outstanding saves when we needed to from our goaltender, key goals when we needed it. We wanted to use the momentum of the crowd and we had a chance to extend the lead as we went.”

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Saint John earned a bye into the final after finishing first in the four-team round robin. Hamilton defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes 4-3 in overtime on Monday in the semifinal to provide the opposition for the hosts. The game was the 92nd of the season for the Bulldogs, who were beat up going into the final.

“There are a lot of emotions in the room,” said Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee. “The message to the boys was that they’re champions of champion. They won an OHL championship, the knocked out the WHL championship team in this tournament and they knocked out the Quebec League championship team, so they are the champions of champions.

“Steve Staios (Bulldogs president and general manager) said it best, ‘we won a championship, but we lost a tournament.’ It’s tough, it’s very emotional in the room, but in all my years of playing hockey and being a coach, I’ve never been part of a tighter group, a team that’s come so close, loves each other and feels like a family.”

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Sevigny opened the scoring on the Sea Dogs’ first shot, 2:35 into the game. The Sea Dogs captain drifted a shot from the point, which hit the stick of Bulldogs defenceman Arber Xhekaj and bounced in past Costantini.

MacDonald put the hosts up 2-0 just over three minutes later, when he took a pass in the slot and ripped a shot past Costantini.

McTavish pulled one back before the end of the period, tipping in a shot from defenceman Nathan Staios in through the pads of Hurtubise.

Bezeau, however, put the Sea Dogs up 3-1 just under five minutes into the second period. He picked the top corner with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.

“It’s just amazing winning at home in front of our fans here in Saint John,” Sevigny said. “It’s been a four-year process, and now we’re going to be champions for life and nobody can take that away from us.”

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Dufour made it 4-1, half a minute later, taking a feed from Ryan Francis from behind the net and one-timing a shot in past Costantini.

Bulldogs defenceman Yan Kuznetsov should have increased the lead to four goals later in the period, when he was first to a loose puck in the crease with Costantini down and out. Kuznetsov, however, fired the puck high over the wide-open net.

The miss opened the door for the Bulldogs, who scored with nine seconds remaining in the period, to cut the deficit to 4-2.

After a couple of close chances in front, the puck came back to Gavin White at the point and his shot through a maze of bodies in front hit Mysak at the side of the net and bounced in past Hurtubise.

In the third, Hurtubise made a pair of excellent saves to maintain the two-goal lead. The Sea Dogs were then given a power play after an innocent looking scrum drew coincidental penalties and Xhekaj was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct minor while sitting on the bench.

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Lawrence went on to score on the power play, taking a pass from Dufour from in behind the net and snapping a shot over the shoulder of Costantini.

McTavish cut the lead to 5-3 with his second goal of the game and his sixth of the tournament. His goal came with five minutes to go in the third period, giving Hamilton some hope.

“It’s hard to put into words what these guys mean to me,” said Staios, who was playing with a fractured shoulder. “It’s tough right now knowing this was the last game with them.”

The Bulldogs pulled Costantini to try and cut into the deficit even further, but Reynolds scored into the empty net with 1:17 left to ice the contest.

It’s the second time the Sea Dogs have won the Memorial Cup. They won the tournament as QMJHL champions in 2011 in Mississauga, led by Florida Panthers star Jonathan Huberdeau. The 2023 Memorial Cup will be hosted by the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL.

“This is a great feeling, it’s been a long four years, some of them were tough, but it’s all worth it,” Lawrence said. “We faced some adversity, but at the end of the day, we’re champions and we couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com