1992 MEMORIAL CUP
Seattle Thunderbirds, Kamloops Blazers, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Verdun College-Francais
at Seattle (Coliseum and Center Ice Arena)
The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds didn't do so well in the 1991 Memorial Cup in Quebec City where they played three games and lost them all.
You can bet that gnawed at their very being all through the 1991-92 season.
And when the 1992 tournament rolled around, the Greyhounds were there again. Coached by Ted Nolan, the Greyhounds became the first OHL team to capture consecutive titles since the Kitchener Rangers did it in 1981 and '82.
"Some people never win this once -- and we've done it two years in a row now,” Sault Ste. Marie left-winger Jason Denomme said.
"It's a great accomplishment but this is a totally different feeling than last year -- but how can you compare two great feelings? They both feel good so how do you know if one's better than the other?”
The Greyhounds finished on top of the Emms Division for the second straight season, their 41-19-6 record good for 87 points, one more than they recorded the previous season.
The 1991-92 team scored more goals than the previous one (335-303) and also allowed a few more (229-217).
For the second straight season, goaltender Kevin Hodson got his name on the Dave Pinkney Trophy, which goes to the "goalkeeper of the team which has had the least number of goals scored against at the end of the regular schedule.” A year earlier, Hodson shared the honor with Mike Lenarduzzi; this time around, he went it alone, recording a 3.33 GAA in 50 games.
Still, it seemed the Greyhounds were the Rodney Dangerfield of the OHL -- they just couldn't get any respect from their peers.
In 1990-91, the 'Hounds had only two players selected to one of the OHL's three all-star teams. In 1991-92, that total was zero. That's right . . . not one member of the league champions was selected to an all-star team. Nolan didn't even make it.
All they did was win their second straight championship, with players like Colin Miller, Jarret Reid, Tony Iob, Ralph Intranuovo, Rick Kowalsky, Shaun Imber, Drew Bannister, Tom MacDonald, Brian Goudie, Denomme, Hodson, Mark Matier, Perry Pappas and David Matsos -- all of whom had played in the 1991 Memorial Cup.
The Greyhounds opened the postseason with a first-round bye, and then took out Kitchener in seven games in one Emms Division semifinal series. In the division final, the Soo got past the Niagara Falls Thunder 4-1.
The championship final went the distance, with the Greyhounds winning the seventh game 4-2 over the visiting North Bay Centennials.
Verdun College-Francais was easily the best regular-season team in the QMJHL, its 101 points (48-17-5) good for first place in the Robert Lebel Division, 14 points ahead of the Hull Olympiques. The Trois-Rivieres Draveurs finished on top of the Frank Dilio Division, with 94 points.
This was the first season in Verdun for the franchise which had moved from Longueuil.
College-Francais did it all in the regular season, scoring a QMJHL-high 350 goals and allowing just 233, the second-lowest figure in the league.
The offensive leader had to be Robert Guillet, who had 118 points, including 56 goals, the second-highest total in the league. He finished seventh in the points race.
Dave Chouinard helped out with 97 points, including 63 assists, and David St. Pierre had 95 points, including 40 goals. And, Marc Rodgers, who came over from the Granby Bisons in a trade, had 109 points on the season, 33 of them in 29 games with his new club.
Defenceman Yan Arsenault was the only College-Francais player selected to the first all-star team, while Guillet was a second-team selection.
Philippe DeRouville and Andre Bouliane shared the goaltending through most of the regular season, but Eric Raymond was acquired from the Laval Titan and would play a key role down the stretch.
In 12 regular-season games with College-Francais, Raymond went 10-1-1 with a 2.43 GAA.
In the playoffs, DeRouville and Raymond split the time, but Raymond would play his club's three games in the Memorial Cup tournament.
College-Francais opened the playoffs with a six-game victory over St. Hyacinthe, even though they outscored the Laser only by one, 23-22.
Next up were the Shawiningan Cataractes. They, too, fell to College-Francais in six games.
And, in the championship final, the Verdun-based team took out Trois-Rivieres in seven games, winning the deciding game 5-3. College-Francais was outscored 26-25 in the series.
Guillet and teammate Dominic Rheaume led the league in playoff goals (14), with Guillet tops in points (25 in 19 games).
Of note, too, was the postseason play of defenceman Karl Dykhuis. He didn't score a goal, but had 12 assists.
In the west, observers of the WHL were beginning to recognize the Kamloops Blazers as something of a dynasty.
The Blazers, of head coach Tom Renney, finished on top of the West Division for the third straight season as they put together their third consecutive 50-victory season (51-17-4).
Zac Boyer was the premier offensive player on this team, his 109 points, including 40 goals, leaving him seventh in the scoring race. Boyer would go on to lead the WHL's playoff scoring race, with 29 points, including 20 assists.
Craig Lyons (44 goals), Shayne Green (43) and Mike Mathers (30) could score, too, but the strength of this team was its defence -- keyed by defencemen Darryl Sydor and Scott Niedermayer and goaltender Corey Hirsch.
Hirsch led the WHL with a 2.72 GAA and five shutouts in 48 games. When he needed relief it came from Dale Masson.
In the playoffs, Hirsch would go 11-5 with a 2.20 GAA and two shutouts.
The Blazers began the postseason with a four-game sweep of the Tacoma Rockets. In the West Division final, they took out the Seattle Thunderbirds, who would be the Memorial Cup's host team, in six games.
The WHL's championship final would feature the Blazers and the Saskatoon Blades, and it would go seven games.
The Blazers didn't leave any doubt in Game 7, however, as they buried the visiting Blades 8-0.
"This is the greatest,” Sydor said after that game. "There's great chemistry on this team.”
Chemistry may have been a problem on the Thunderbirds who, knowing they had a berth in the Memorial Cup as the host team, went through the regular season as though they were treading water and finished 33-34-5, good for only fourth place in the seven-team West Division.
The Thunderbirds, of head coach Peter Anholt, didn't have a scorer in the top 20. Nine of the WHL's 15 teams scored more goals than Seattle (292). Mike Kennedy led in goals (42), assists (47) and points (89). Eleven players finished in double figures in goals, but only six of those had more than 20 goals.
The key, then, was on defence where the Thunderbirds, with Chris Osgood providing stellar goaltending, gave up 285 goals, the seventh-best record in the league.
"Everyone thought that because we were in the Memorial Cup, we weren't trying,” Seattle defenceman Jeff Sebastian told the Regina Leader-Post. "We were a game below .500 and didn't have the season some people thought we'd have, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.
"It was the toughest year I've had in the league. It put a lot of pressure on the players. We were hosting it but we still wanted to earn our way. We ended up putting too much pressure on ourselves and we didn't play as loosely as we can.”
By the time the Memorial Cup started, the Thunderbirds hadn't played a game in three weeks.
"The coaches have been working the hell out of us,” Sebastian said. "Despite that, I wouldn't say we're in game shape. There's no substitution for playing.”
Kamloops, meanwhile, was eager to get at it.
"We're a little excited and a little nervous,” said 20-year-old centre Todd Johnson. "The guys who have been there before have told us that what goes on is incredible. You can't be anything but excited.”
Seattle would become only the second American city to play host to the Memorial Cup tournament, Portland having been home to it in 1983 and '86.
But the 1992 tournament didn't quite go the way organizers had planned and hoped.
The original plan was to play all games in the 11,923-seat Seattle Coliseum, the home facility of the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics.
However, when the Memorial Cup began the SuperSonics were still alive in the NBA playoffs. This necessitated a venue change for some of the hockey games, with the alternate site being the 4,139-seat Center Arena.
In the end, the tournament drew only 39,421 fans to eight games, which was way below expectations.
The tournament opened on May 9 with two games -- Sault Ste. Marie doubled Kamloops 6-3 before an estimated 4,000 fans, and Seattle got past Verdun 5-3 in front of about 5,000 fans.
Iob, Intranuovo, Reid, Kowalsky, Miller and Imber scored for the Greyhounds, who led 3-0 after the first period, upped it to 4-0 early in the second and then held off the Blazers who at one time had closed to within one at 4-3.
Johnson, Jeff Watchorn and Green scored for the Blazers, who outshot the Greyhounds 32-19 and actually drove Hodson from the game (Rob Stopar finished up) when Watchorn scored to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Greyhounds had Chris Simon in the lineup after OHL commissioner David Branch cleared him to play. Simon, who missed 35 regular-season games due to suspensions, had 20 goals and 26 assists in 33 games. But he was suspended for the final three games of the championship series after a spearing incident.
In the other game, the Thunderbirds got three goals from George Zajankala, a 13-goal scorer in the regular season who wouldn't score again in the tournament. Tyler Quiring and Blake Knox added the other Seattle goals.
The Thunderbirds outshot Verdun 37-28, as Raymond and Osgood each went the distance.
Kamloops got back on track the following day with a 4-0 victory over Verdun in front of 3,587 fans.
Hirsch stopped 20 shots in recording the tournament's first shutout since May 13, 1987, when Mark Fitzpatrick of the Medicine Hat Tigers blanked the QMJHL's Longueuil Chevaliers 6-0.
Boyer and Lyons had two goals each for Kamloops, which fired 40 shots at Raymond.
"We knew this was it for us,” Boyer said. "After losing the opener, our leaders had to lead.
"Darryl Sydor and myself had to dominate the game, along with Scott Niedermayer. We had to take charge, something we didn't do against the Soo.”
Boyer admitted that the Blazers were doubting themselves a bit after losing to the Greyhounds. That changed with the victory over Verdun.
"Hirsch played great today and now we've got our confidence back,” Boyer said. "We don't doubt ourselves any longer.”
While the teams were competing on the ice, the CHL admitted it had been considering a format change to the Memorial Cup, taking it back to a best-of-seven championship final.
That, however, wasn't to happen.
"It has been put on hold,” CHL president Ed Chynoweth told the Regina Leader-Post. “There isn't enough support for it right now to carry it to the next step.”
Under a proposal designed by Branch, the OHL and QMJHL would play off to determine one representative, with the WHL champion getting the other berth.
The two teams would play a national final with games being played in both cities.
"Some people were worried there would be a problem generating the same financial return as you can from a successful tournament,” Chynoweth said. "As well, the American teams are very concerned about going this late in the season against baseball and basketball.”
College-Francais was eliminated on May 12 when it dropped a 4-2 decision to Sault Ste. Marie before 3,454 fans.
Iob, Reid and Kowalsky scored power-play goals for the winners, with Goudie adding the other goal. Rheaume and Martin Tanguay scored for Verdun, which lost all three of its games.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Reid gave the Soo a 2-0 lead with the second period's only goal, and Kowalsky made it 3-0 early in the third. Goudie upped it to 4-0 before Tanguay ruined Hodson's shutout bid at 13:03 on a power play.
The Greyhounds clinched a spot in the final on May 13 by beating Seattle 4-3 in front of about 5,500 fans.
The winner was Kowalsky's shorthanded goal -- the first shorthanded score of this tournament -- at 17:58 of the third period. It was Kowalsky's third game-winning goal of the tournament, a Memorial Cup record that would be equaled by Boyer later in the week.
Kowalsky blocked a shot at the Soo's blue line and went in alone to beat Osgood.
"I just got lucky,” Kowalsky said. "The shot hit me in the skate lace and bounced straight ahead into open ice.”
The Soo, loser of all three games it played in 1991, was now 3-0.
"We're pretty excited because you always want the opportunity to play for the Cup,” Nolan said. "We were embarrassed going 0-3 last year and a lot of these guys have been preparing for this for a year.”
Simon, Bannister and Reid also scored for the Soo, which led 1-0 after the first period. The teams went into the third tied at 2-2.
Sebastian, Eric Bouchard and captain Kurt Seher scored for Seattle.
"I thought we played better tonight than we did in the first game when we won,” offered Anholt. "I'm really pleased with the way our guys handled themselves against a very good team.”
Next on the agenda would be back-to-back games between Kamloops and Seattle. The first game would be the final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament. The second game would send its winner into the final against the Greyhounds.
The Blazers won the first of those games, 3-1 on May 14 before about 5,500 fans.
Niedermayer was easily the best player on the ice and it showed on the scoresheet, where he had a shorthanded goal and two assists.
"It was important for us to play a full 60 minutes, something we hadn't done in the tournament,” Niedermayer said. "It's expected of me to play better and I think I did.”
Boyer and Lance Johnson had the Blazers' other goals. Turner Stevenson, likely the best Seattle forward in the tournament, replied for the Thunderbirds, who were outshot 27-19.
The Blazers lost Green to an ankle injury, leaving a void on their top line with Boyer and Mathers.
The Thunderbirds were being hurt by a power play that had inexplicably gone in the tank. After going 3-for-10 in the opener against Verdun, the T-Birds found themselves scoreless in 13 tries in their next two games.
"We have to bank in a couple power-play goals,” Anholt said, looking ahead to the semifinal game. "We must put more pressure on the Kamloops defence and work better down low. Some of our veterans have to play better.”
It was Mathers who rose to the occasion in the semifinal game on May 16. He totaled a tournament record-tying six points -- three goals and three assists -- as the Blazers won 8-3 before about 7,200 fans.
Others with six points in a game were Joe Contini (Hamilton, 1976) and Guy Rouleau, who did it twice with Hull in the 1986 tournament.
Defenceman David Wilkie opened the scoring on a Kamloops power play -- the Blazers would go 3-for-5, while the Thunderbirds were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
Duane Maruschak tied it for Seattle at 14:50 of the first period, only to have Mathers score a power-play goal before the period ended.
Mathers added two more second-period goals as Kamloops blew it open.
Todd Johnson, Niedermayer, Steve Yule and Lyons also scored for the Blazers, with Stevenson and Kennedy scoring for Seattle after it trailed 8-1.
(Two days later, Anholt announced that he was leaving the Thunderbirds because of various differences with president and governor Russ Williams.)
By that time the Blazers and their fans were celebrating.
Boyer's goal with 14.6 seconds left in the third period gave them a 5-4 victory over the Greyhounds in the final. It was Boyer's tournament record-tying third game-winning goal and Kamloops' first national title.
"I guess I can thank Ed Patterson because he came off the ice,” Boyer said. "He got speared in the stomach and threw up. He came to the bench and I replaced him.
"We did it the hard way and we earned it. There's no better way than that.”
Boyer took a lead pass from Niedermayer and scored on the breakaway.
"Niedermayer hit me at the right time,” Boyer said. "He could have iced it, but that's why he's such a great player.”
Boyer and Johnson each scored twice for Kamloops. Mathers added the other goal and finished with a tournament-high six assists and 10 points.
The Blazers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was 15 minutes old on power-play goals by Mathers and Boyer and an even-strength marker by Johnson.
But the Soo got back into it when Simon and Miller scored before the first period ended.
Miller tied it with the second period's only goal.
Johnson put Kamloops ahead 4-3 at 3:45 of the third period, and Simon tied it at 15:33. That set the stage for Boyer's heroics.
"They got a lucky bounce for that breakaway,” Hodson said of Boyer's game-winning play. "I tried to poke-check and missed. It's my job in the Memorial Cup final to make the big saves. When you don't, you lose.”
Niedermayer, who made the fine pass that sent Boyer in alone, offered: "I was in the right place at the right time. I just had to go about four feet to get over the blue line and make the pass to Boyer.
"Putting in three years of hard work in the juniors has paid off. The MVP thing was nice, but the Memorial Cup is what it's all about.”
While Niedermayer was named MVP, Hirsch was selected top goaltender thanks to his 2.60 GAA over five games. The sportsmanship award went to Miller.
Named to the all-star team were Hirsch, Niedermayer and Bannister on defence, and forwards Miller, Mathers and Stevenson.
NEXT: 1993 (Swift Current Broncos, Peterborough Petes, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Laval Titan)