1988 MEMORIAL CUP
Medicine Hat Tigers, Windsor Spitfires, Drummondville Voltigeurs and Hull Olympiques
at Chicoutimi (Georges Vezina Arena)
This one, the hockey gods seemed to be saying, was for Ed Chynoweth.
The 1987-88 hockey season ended in Chicoutimi, Que., with the Chynoweth family on centre stage.
There was Ed Chynoweth, the longtime president of the Western Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella under which the three major junior leagues operate, presenting the Memorial Cup to his son Dean, the captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The smiles told you it was a moment for the ages.
Never in Memorial Cup history had a father presented the championship trophy to his son.
This was an especially incredible moment for Ed, who admits to getting a charge out of presenting the trophy to any team captain.
"I probably get as big a thrill as the team captain of the winning team does when he skates out to meet me at centre ice,” Ed once told Windsor, Ont., freelance writer John Humphrey. "It's such a sight to see the joy and ecstasy in a player's eyes. It gets my adrenalin going and brings a smile to my face, that much I can tell you.”
And when you're handing the trophy over to your own flesh and blood . . .
"I don't know if that's an accomplishment that will ever be duplicated -- a Canadian Hockey League president presenting the Memorial Cup to his son,” Ed said. "It was such a proud moment for Dean and myself, both personally and professionally.”
Only five times in history had one team won back-to-back championships.
The Medicine Hat Tigers of 1987-88 would become the sixth team on that list. They were the first WHL team to win back-to-back titles since the New Westminster Bruins won four in a row, from 1975 through 1978. And the Tigers became the first WHL team to appear in consecutive Memorial Cups since the Portland Winter Hawks qualified in 1982 as WHL champions and 1983 as the host team.
Shortly after the Tigers won the 1987 Memorial Cup, head coach Bryan Maxwell left to join the NHL's Los Angeles Kings as an assistant coach.
Russ Farwell, who was going into his sixth season as the Tigers' general manager, immediately began what turned into a one-month search for a replacement. He came up with Barry Melrose, a native of Kelvington, Sask., who had been a journeyman defenceman during a professional career that included six NHL seasons and stops in Detroit, Toronto and Winnipeg.
"He's been recommended by all the people he's been in contact with,” Farwell said. "We didn't want a coach who was going to move from point to point.”
Although the Tigers were loaded with returning players from their championship team, Farwell tried to deflect any talk of pressure to repeat as Memorial Cup champions.
"Trying to repeat is difficult,” he said. "We won't know (which players will return) until we see who the NHL gives us back. There is a little bit of pressure, but I don't think that'll be a major problem.”
As for Melrose, he said he came to Medicine Hat because "I just wanted to go to a good organization. This is one of the proven junior teams in Canada.”
Back for another shot at the Memorial Cup were goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick, defencemen Scott McCrady, Wayne McBean and Chynoweth, and forwards Mark Pederson, Rob DiMaio, Trevor Linden, Kirby Lindal, Wayne Hynes and Neil Brady.
Five of those players -- McCrady, McBean, Pederson, DiMaio and Linden -- had also played on the 1988 Canadian team that won the world junior championship. Yes, this was a team that knew a thing or two about playing under pressure.
Still, the Medicine Hat roster also included seven 16-year-old players. And one of their top players, centre Trevor Linden, was only 17 years of age.
The Tigers' regular season could best be described as B.M. and A.M. -- before McBean and after McBean. An outstanding defenceman with tremendous offensive skills, McBean opened the season with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
Without McBean, the Tigers' roar was barely a meow at a mediocre 22-16-4. With McBean, an all-star at the 1987 Memorial Cup, back in the lineup, the Tigers were 38-11-2.
When the regular season ended, the Tigers, at 44-22-6, were second in the East Division, behind the Saskatoon Blades (47-22-3). The Kamloops Blazers finished on top of the West Division, at 45-26-1.
A year earlier, the Tigers had just one player with more than 100 points (Pederson had 102), but had a dozen with at least 50 points.
Now it was a year later and the Tigers had two 100-point men -- Pederson with 111, including 53 goals, and Linden, with 110. They finished 16th and 17th in the league scoring race.
And the Tigers only had seven players with more than 50 points, but McBean finished with 45 points in only 30 games.
As a team, they scored 353 goals, the fifth-best total in the league. As they had the previous season, they won with goaltending and defence.
Fitzpatrick led the league with a 3.23 GAA as he played in 63 of the club's 72 games, going 36-15-6 in the process.
Defensively, the Tigers gave up 261 goals, the lowest total in the league by 23 goals.
After an opening-round bye, Medicine Hat opened the postseason against the Prince Albert Raiders, who had won a best-of-five series from the Brandon Wheat Kings in four games. The Tigers took the best-of-seven series from the Raiders in six games, and then swept Saskatoon in the East Division final series.
The WHL's championship final went six games, with the Tigers eliminating the Kamloops Blazers, winning the last game, 5-2.
Going into the Memorial Cup, no one was hotter than DiMaio, who totaled eight goals and nine assists in the victory over Kamloops. DiMaio finished the playoffs with 31 points, including 12 goals. He and Kamloops' Mark Recchi, who had 10 goals, tied for the scoring lead. Linden had 25 points, including 13 goals to tie for the league lead with Pederson.
Fitzpatrick, playing every minute of every playoff game, put up a 3.25 GAA. He was ready for Chicoutimi.
Still, the Tigers weren't favoured when this tournament opened.
"How can anybody say we're favoured?” Melrose asked. "I think the Windsor Spitfires are the team everyone is talking about, even moreso than us.”
The Spitfires, of head coach Tom Webster, were coming off an amazing OHL season.
Webster had been to the Memorial Cup before, as a player with the Niagara Falls Flyers who won the 1968 title. He brought out the photos and the newspaper clippings from that championship and used them to motivate his team.
"It brought back a lot of memories,” Webster said. "It was a lot of fun and it was a great way to keep the guys loose.”
In winning their first OHL title, the Spitfires set seven franchise records -- most goals (396), fewest goals against (215), most victories (50), fewest losses (14), most points (102), longest winning streak (16) and longest home-ice winning streak (13).
They ran that home-ice streak to 19 in the playoffs and actually took an 18-game winning streak into the Memorial Cup tournament.
Among other things, the Spitfires went into Chicoutimi having won 35 of their last 36 games; they were 40-4-0 since Christmas; and, they were 54-0 when leading after two periods.
They, too, leaned heavily on a veteran of the Canadian junior team -- right-winger Adam Graves, their team captain.
"We will rely on him to prepare us,” Webster said. "You can't get much more pressure than beating the Soviets in Moscow.”
Graves had opened the season with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, but returned to Windsor to total 60 points, including 28 goals, in 32 games. In the playoffs, he had 15 goals and 17 assists as the Spitfires went 12-0. That's right -- they never lost a playoff game as they swept past, in order, the Kitchener Rangers, Hamilton Steelhawks and Peterborough Petes.
Also on this Windsor team were the Shannon brothers -- left-winger Darrin and defenceman Darryl -- and hardnosed defenceman Glen Featherstone.
The goaltending was in the capable hands of Pat Jablonski.
The tournament also featured two teams from the QMJHL -- the Hull Olympiques, who were the league champions, and the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who had lost out to Hull in the final.
The Olympiques, of head coach Alain Vigneault, had concluded the regular season with the QMJHL's best record -- 43-23-4.
They were led offensively by Marc Saumier, whose 166 points, including 114 assists, left him third in the regular-season scoring race. This would be Saumier's second straight Memorial Cup appearance -- a year earlier, he was with the QMJHL-champion Longueuil Chevaliers.
Benoit Brunet was tied for seventh in the scoring race, with 143 points, including 54 goals, while Martin Gelinas was 10th with 131 points, including 63 goals.
Yes, these Olympiques could score. Their 380 goals were third-highest in the league. On defence, they allowed 294 goals, the 10-team league's third-best figure. The goaltender was Jason Glickman, a Chicago native.
Hull was pushed in the playoffs, too.
It opened with a best-of-seven division semifinal against the Granby Bisons that took only five games. But after that the Olympiques went through two seven-game sets -- first ousting the Laval Titan, who led 3-1 after four games, and then taking out Drummondville. The Voltigeurs actually held a 3-1 lead in games in the championship final, but weren't able to close it out. The Olympiques roared back to win three in a row, including a 5-3 triumph in Game 7.
Saumier was the QMJHL's top playoff performer, with 48 points, including 31 assists, in 19 games.
Drummondville head coach Jean Begin was an assistant coach with the 1988 gold medal-winning Canadian junior team.
Begin had guided the Voltigeurs to a 35-31-4 regular-season record, second-best in the Frank Dilio Division, behind the Chicoutimi Sagueneens (38-31-1) and only the fifth-best mark in the league.
They caught fire in the playoffs and rolled over the Victoriaville Tigres and Shawinigan Cataractes, winning both series in five games. Then, in the final, they grabbed that 3-1 series lead over Hull before the roof fell in on them.
The 1988 tournament was played in Chicoutimi, a legendary hockey city that boasts of being home to Georges Vezina, one of the greatest goaltenders in the game's history.
Located deep in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Chicoutimi, with a population of slightly more than 50,000, proved a receptive home to the 1988 Memorial Cup tournament.
But there was controversy before the first puck was dropped.
With the tournament in Quebec, the QMJHL would supply the on-ice officials and had chosen Dave Jackson, Richard Trottier and Luc Lachapelle as its referees.
According to a Canadian Press report: "After almost every game of the (championship) series, Hull coach Alain Vigneault and Maurice Lemay, coach of the Laval Titan, who lost in the previous round, attacked the referees.”
Gilles Courteau, the QMJHL president, admitted concern; in fact, he admitted Jackson had turned in a lax effort in Game 5 of the final between Hull and the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
"I'm concerned,” Courteau said. "We're in the finals of a big tournament, so let's see the guys play.
"Sure the players must be disciplined, but the refs have the rule book. It's up to them to use it.”
Oh, one other thing -- Begin came into this tournament with an 0-6 record in Memorial Cup games. Two days after it opened, he was 0-8.
The Voltigeurs began with an 8-3 loss to Windsor on May 7 and followed that up on May 8 by losing 7-1 to Medicine Hat.
"My record is a bad one and I know it,” Begin said. “But how many coaches can say they have been here three times.”
Begin, the first coach in QMJHL history to make three appearances at the tournament, had previously been there with Laval (1984) and the Verdun Junior Canadiens (1985).
"I prefer to be 0-8 than all the coaches who are 0-0 right now,” Begin said. "I could be 0-20 and I'd be happy.”
Before 2,841 fans, the Tigers really took it to the Voltigeurs.
DiMaio scored 26 seconds into the game, Cal Zankowski made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal midway through the opening period and Linden made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 14:36. Pederson, McBean and DiMaio, with his second goal, scored in the second period, with Mark Woolf adding a third-period goal.
Martin Bergeron scored Drummondville's lone goal at 9:19 of the third period.
"The score flattered us,” said Melrose, whose club outshot Drummondville, 43-21. “They have a little less talent than us and that first goal took the wind out of their sails.
"They were a little overmatched.”
In the other game on May 8, Windsor beat Hull, 5-4.
By May 9, everyone was wondering what was wrong with the QMJHL.
The Tigers hammered the Olympiques 7-3 in front of 2,852 fans that night, leaving the QMJHL teams at 0-4. This was also the 10th consecutive setback, dating back to the 1986 tournament, for Quebec teams.
"I don't put the players on the ice,” Courteau said. "I am concerned. It's an embarrassment and a disappointment. And it's tough for me. But I don't have the answer.”
Courteau felt that QMJHL teams perhaps were content to win the league championship.
"I have told them it is important to understand the season doesn't end with the league championship,” he said. "I have told them we have to play the Memorial Cup.
"I've told them they will be one of the four best teams in Canada and they have to prove it. Maybe they think too much of the teams from Ontario and the West.”
Vigneault disagreed with Courteau.
"We are doing the best we can to represent our league,” he said. ""That's all I can ask of my players.”
Brady, DiMaio, Lindal, Pederson, Linden, McCrady and Darren Taylor scored for the Tigers, who trailed 2-1 after one period but scored the second period's only three goals to take control. Stephane Quintal, Stephane Matteau and Ken MacDermid replied for Hull, which outshot the Tigers, 35-32.
The Tigers were already looking ahead to the following night's game against Windsor, which was also 2-0.
"I wish we could be meeting them when both of us are fresh,” said Melrose, pointing out the game would be the third in as many nights for his Tigers. "We are the only team that has to play three in three. We just don't think it is fair.”
DiMaio said his teammates wouldn't use fatigue as an excuse.
"This is exactly where we want to be, winning our two games,” he said. "They have a lot of character and we have a lot. It's going to be nose to nose.”
The Spitfires ran their winning streak to 21 with a 5-2 victory over the Tigers in front of 3,052 fans on May 10. Afterwards, Melrose was spittin' mad.
"I hope the organizers are happy,” he seethed. ""They gave us three games in three nights. We had to play the best team the last night. Everything was set up for Windsor to win.”
The victory sent the Spitfires on to the final. The Tigers would have the following day off and then play the winner of a Drummondville-Hull game in the semifinal game.
The Tigers were actually in this game until they ran into penalty trouble in the third period.
Windsor took a 3-2 lead into the third period when Medicine Hat defenceman Ryan McGill was hit with a major penalty for slashing Graves. Brad Hyatt and Ron Jones scored on the ensuing penalty to break this one open.
Fitzpatrick took a slashing major midway through the third period, dashing any hopes the Tigers had of making a comeback.
Melrose was not pleased with the work of Jackson, the referee.
"Why is it when we hit a guy in the face it's five minutes and when they hit a guy it is four?” Melrose asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What's the difference?
"Out west, when you hit a guy in the face it is five minutes. I guess I wasn't aware of the rule.”
Graves, Darrin Shannon and Jones, with an earlier goal, rounded out Windsor's scoring. Vince Boe and McGill scored for the Tigers.
"When we got those two quick goals, that was the turning point,” Webster said.
Melrose, after cooling off, agreed.
"You can't kill 10 minutes and expect to beat a good club,” he admitted.
As for McGill, he said he didn't mean to cut Graves, whose right ear was covered by blood-soaked gauze at game's end.
"I went to slash his arm and my stick got up and accidentally brushed him in the helmet,” McGill said. "I didn't hit him hard . . . but there was no blood.”
Graves said: "I figured since I felt it, I might as well fall down and get a penalty. I was laying there looking for the referee (and) it started to bleed.”
Both teams now were looking forward to some rest.
"Hopefully, we will get another crack at Windsor when we are fresh, and we will see what happens then,” Melrose said.
Webster offered: "I think Medicine Hat is as tired as we are and it hasn't been easy to get this far. But we will not lose sight of what we are here for.”
In the meantime, Drummondville would play Hull, meaning the QMJHL's 10-game losing streak would end.
On May 11, Hull beat Drummondville 5-2, earning a spot in the semifinal game and sending Begin to his ninth straight Memorial Cup defeat.
"We're used to playing a do-or-die situation,” offered Vigneault, who had been honoured earlier in the day as the CHL's coach of the year. ""I guess we like it. We've been good at pressure.”
Then, looking ahead to the semifinal game with Medicine Hat, he added: "We're going to try to prove we're the comeback kids again.”
Melrose had watched the game and admitted he wasn't impressed with Hull.
"They didn't play as well as I thought they would,” Melrose stated. "If we don't beat Hull, we don't deserve to play Windsor.”
Melrose also took the time to fire a shot or two at Gelinas, the CHL's rookie of the year.
"Apart from one nice goal, he didn't do much,” Melrose said. "He's a talented player but he hasn't don't anything fancy.”
Always outspoken and frequently blowing smoke, Melrose didn't see much about which to get excited in Hull's record in must-win games.
"We've won must games all year long,” he said. "We have a history of it. We don't quit.”
Gelinas, with two goals, Daniel Shank, MacDermid and Joe Suk scored for Hull. Martin Gecteau and Rob Murphy scored for Drummondville.
Vigneault recognized that his club would be in tough against the Tigers.
"If you don't put any pressure on them and if you let them wheel all night, you will come out on the short end,” he explained.
The Tigers won that semifinal game 5-3 on May 12 in front of 2,989 fans.
Taylor, a checking winger who had 12 goals in the regular season, broke a 3-3 tie with 6:34 left in the third period.
"I'd have to say that was the biggest goal of my life,” said Taylor, who had 34 goals in four seasons of junior hockey. "This is the furthest I have ever been, so it is definitely the biggest goal.”
The goal came moments after Glickman had made a glittering save off Woolf. Taylor scored on the rebound.
Hull led 3-2 after the first period; the teams were tied 3-3 heading into the third.
Linden had given the Tigers a 1-0 lead, only to have Saumier and Brunet put Hull out front. Pederson tied it at 17:29 of the first period; Saumier put Hull back out front at 19:42.
Medicine Hat's Jason Miller scored the second period's only goal, setting the stage for Taylor.
Zankowski wrapped it up with a goal at 16:06 of the third period.
There was an off day between the semifinal and final, meaning the Tigers and Spitfires were well rested when May 14 arrived. And the final game of the 1988 tournament was one for the ages.
The Tigers fell behind the Spitfires 3-0 just 12 minutes into the first period but roared back to win 7-6 before 3,301 fans.
"Unbelievable,” Melrose said. "You couldn't have written a better script.”
Windsor's Mike Wolak scored 14 seconds into the game. Peter DeBoer made it 2-0 at 10:12 and, when Jean-Paul Gorley scored at 12:02 on a power play, it was 3-0. Lindal and Woolf scored for the Tigers before the period ended and the comeback was on.
Pederson pulled the Tigers even at 4:27 of the second period and DiMaio put them into the lead on a power play at 6:33. Darrin Shannon sent the Spitfires back out front at 8:41, but the Tigers reclaimed the lead when Lindal scored at 12:01.
Miller gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead at 11:48 of the third period and most observers thought this one was over. However, Paul Wilkinson (12:14) and Wolak (14:54) pulled Windsor back even and it seemed as though this game was headed for overtime.
Pederson would have none of that. A pure sniper, he didn't scored in the 1987 tournament in Oshawa. He would lead the 1988 tournament with five goals, none of them bigger than the last one. It came with 2:43 left in the third period and won the game.
The winner came after DiMaio found himself with the puck in a corner. As he was falling to the ice, he tossed a pass to Pederson who one-timed it past Jablonski.
"It was a relief as much as anything,” Pederson said. "It was a great feeling. It just sent a chill down through my body.”
The Spitfires had gone into the game riding a 21-game winning streak.
"All I can say is we both won a game,” Webster said. "I don't think we lost. We ran out of time.”
Webster felt Woolf's goal with 53 seconds left in the first period was the key score.
"It was a momentum builder for them coming into the second period and it carried on,” Webster said. "If there was a turning point, that was it.”
Melrose agreed.
"It gave us time to regroup,” he said of Woolf's goal.
DiMaio was named the tournament's most valuable player.
"This year is something that I'll dream about for the rest of my life,” said DiMaio, who was joined on the tournament all-star team by Fitzpatrick, Chynoweth, Linden and the Shannon brothers.
Wolak led the tournament with 10 points; DiMaio and Pederson were next, with nine apiece.
Fitzpatrick became the first double-winner of the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy which goes to the top goaltender. Gelinas was selected the most sportsmanlike player.
And one of the assists on the winning goal went to Chynoweth, a gritty, hard-nosed, stay-at-home defenceman. As the Tigers' captain, he accepted the Memorial Cup from his father, Ed.
There was more to this triumph than what met the eye, however.
As it turned out, this Medicine Hat team was playing with a heavy heart.
Helen Brady, Neil's 62-year-old mother, lost a battle with cancer during the tournament. She died on May 10 in Calgary, the day the Tigers lost to Windsor in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
Neil was a solid, hard-working centre who had been selected by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the NHL's 1986 draft.
His mother had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 1986. Her son was playing in Medicine Hat by then, and he made countless trips from Medicine Hat to Calgary.
"She was an unbelievably strong woman,” her son said.
Two days after winning their second straight national championship, Brady and his teammates attended his mother's funeral in Calgary.
NEXT: 1989 (Swift Current Broncos, Saskatoon Blades, Peterborough Petes and Laval Titan)