Thursday . . .

It must have been an important announcement because even the mayor was on hand.
Yes, Terry Lake, the mayor of Kamloops, was among those on hand Thursday as the Blazers introduced Barry Smith as their head coach.
Smith, a 47-year-old native of Stambaugh, Mich., is the 14^th head coach in the franchise’s history.
The Blazers signed Smith, who spent the last five years as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, to a three-year contract. The team holds an option on a fourth season.
“This is a great day for me,” Smith told the gathering in the Sports Action Lounge at Interior Savings Centre. “I’m so excited to be here. . . . This is a crown jewel place to be.”
In the original job interview and subsequent meetings, Smith impressed Blazers GM Craig Bonner with his passion, something that was very much on display Thursday.
Smith spoke of his passion for the game and the fact that “I love the game.”
He said he wants a team that plays “hard in the hard areas” and added that he expects his team to “set the standard of excellence.”
Smith has to know, however, that he has his work cut out for him, at least in the short term. After all, the Blazers lost 18 of their last 19 games last season and Bonner already has pared veterans Sasha Golin and Spencer Fraipoint from the roster.
Three of the Blazers’ five owners were on hand. Tom Gaglardi, the Vancouver-based businessman who is the majority owner, Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan and Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Darryl Sydor were present. Mark Recchi, an unrestricted free agent who is now believed to be close to signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla couldn’t make it. Doan, Sydor, Recchi and Iginla all are former Blazers stars.
Also on hand were Greg Hawgood, who had been the Blazers’ interim head coach, and goaltending coach Steve Passmore, a former Blazers and ex-NHL goaltender who also works with the junior B Kamloops Storm. Hawgood has one year left on his contract and may be retained as an assistant coach. However, decisions on the assistant coaches have yet to be made.
Bonner said Thursday that Smith will have lots of input into who is on his coaching staff. And Smith said he wants to get that cleared up, perhaps within the next week.
Only one player – veteran centre Mark Hall, who is from Kamloops – was on hand to greet the new head coach.
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With Kamloops having filled its coaching vacancy, each of the WHL's 22 teams has a head coach under contract. As well, there are very few openings for assistant coaches. Off the top of my head, the Vancouver Giants need to fill the vacancy created left when the Blazers signed Craig Bonner as GM; the Calgary Hitmen, who promoted assistant coach Dave Lowry to head coach, would seem to have an opening. And there may be openings with Kamloops and perhaps the Portland Winter Hawks. But that's it. . . . This may be the quietest offseason, in terms of coaching movement, in WHL history.

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For your reading enjoyment, a recent column by Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is right here. . . . Thanks to pal Mr. Sports Curmudgeon for the tip on this one. Hey, check him out at sportscurmudgeon.com.

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THE SIGNING GAME: Two of the Seattle Thunderbirds’ regular skaters from last season got NHL deals on Thursday. D Scott Jackson, who has used up his WHL eligibility, signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, while LW Greg Scott, who is eligible to return as a 20-year-old, did the same with the Toronto Maple Leafs. . . . Jackson was selected by St. Louis in the second round of the 2005 draft but never signed with the Blues. . . . Had he not gotten a pro deal, Jackson was headed to the U of Alberta. . . . Jackson played 326 regular-season games with Seattle; only Glen Goodall (399) and Tyler Metcalfe (333) played more. . . . The Maple Leafs have a prospects’ camp starting Sunday in Toronto and Scott will be there. He has spent three seasons with the Thunderbirds.

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JUNIOR JOTTINGS: It’s true. The ADT Canada-Russia Challenge series is on again. A Russian team will tour in late November, playing two games in the QMJHL, OHL and WHL. The WHL host cities will be announced at a later date. . . . Nate Forster, who spent four seasons (1996-2000) with the Seattle Thunderbirds, is the new head coach of the junior B Peninsula Panthers. They play out of the Panorama Recreation Centre in Saanichton on Vancouver Island. . . . The Portland Winter Hawks have lost another front-office employee. Jennifer Eggleston, listed in the WHL Guide as finance assistant and merchandise manager, gave her notice and was through on June 27. Earlier this summer, the Winter Hawks canned most of their front-office people in a cost-cutting move.

The Memorial Cup: A history . . . 1995

1995 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Blazers, Brandon Wheat Kings, Detroit Jr. Red Wings and Hull Olympiques
at Kamloops (Riverside Coliseum)

Not since the halcyon days of the New Westminster Bruins (1975-78) had the WHL seen anything close to what the Kamloops Blazers had accomplished.
While the Bruins won four straight WHL championships and back-to-back Memorial Cup titles, the Blazers went into the 1994-95 season having;
(a) posted six straight seasons of at least 40 victories;
(b) reached the West Division final in each of the past 11 seasons;
(c) reached the WHL final six times in those 11 seasons; and,
(d) won five WHL titles over that span.
On top of all that, the Blazers had won two of the past three Memorial Cups -- winning the 1994 title in Laval and the 1992 championship at Seattle.
By the time the 1994-95 hockey season wound down, the Blazers had added to each of those distinctions.
Make it seven straight seasons with more than 40 victories, 12 straight West Division finals, seven WHL finals in 12 seasons; and, six WHL titles over that period of time.
There can be no denying this was a dynasty.
And the 1994-95 edition of the Blazers, under general manager Bob Brown and head coach Don Hay, would simply add to it.
This team did it knowing that it was already in the Memorial Cup tournament. That's because the 5,122-seat Riverside Coliseum would serve as home to the 1995 tournament.
The Kamloops lineup included three players -- centres Darcy Tucker and Ryan Huska and left-winger Tyson Nash -- with a chance to win three Memorial Cup rings.
The Blazers breezed through the WHL's regular season, posting a 52-14-6 record. Their 110 points left them on top of the West Division, 22 points ahead of the Tacoma Rockets and 15 better than the Brandon Wheat Kings, who topped the East Division with a 45-22-5 record.
Tucker was the spark on this team, both through his offensive talents and his ability to get under the other team's skin.
Offensively, he totaled 137 points, including 64 goals, in 64 games. That left him three points shy of WHL scoring champion Daymond Langkow of the Tri-City Americans, who played 72 games. Tucker went on to lead the WHL playoffs in goals (16) and points (31).
Left-winger Hnat Domenichelli also broke the 100-point barrier, his 114 points including 52 goals.
Centre Shane Doan chipped in with 94 points, while Ashley Buckberger, a midseason acquisition from the Swift Current Broncos, had 82 points.
Although this team led the WHL with 375 goals -- there were eight 20-goal men and nine players with at least 50 points -- it wasn't recognized as a high-powered offensive machine.
For the record, the 50-point men were Tucker, Domenichelli, Doan, Buckberger, defenceman Aaron Keller (80), Nash (75), Ivan Vologjaninov (72), Jarome Iginla (71) and Huska (67).
Rather, this was a team that could play defence with the best of them.
In fact, the Blazers surrendered only 202 goals, the lowest such total in the WHL since the Saskatoon Blades allowed 184 goals over a 68-game schedule in 1972-73.
The defence featured the likes of Keller, Brad Lukowich, Nolan Baumgartner and Jason Holland, who combined for 45 goals and 210 points. And they made a great midseason pickup when they acquired 20-year-old Keith McCambridge, who was a rock defensively, from Swift Current in the Buckberger deal.
In goal, the Blazers counted on Rod Branch and Randy Petruk.
Branch had been the No. 1 guy through most of the 1993-94 season but then took a backseat to Steve Passmore in the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup.
In 1994-95, Branch set a franchise record with a 2.60 GAA and tied another Kamloops record with five shutouts. He was 35-11-2 with a .900 save percentage in 50 games.
Petruk was the backup. A 16-year-old rookie from Cranbrook, B.C., who would turn 17 during the playoff run, Petruk got into 27 games, finishing 16-3-4 with a 2.91 GAA.
Come the postseason, Branch would go 10-4 with a league-best 2.19 GAA in 15 games. Petruk would get into seven games and finish 5-2 with a 2.70 GAA.
In the Memorial Cup, however, Petruk would start and finish all four of the Blazers' games.
The Blazers opened the playoffs in a first-round West Division round-robin series. They and the Portland Winter Hawks each went 3-1 to eliminate the Seattle Thunderbirds (0-4).
Kamloops then took out Portland, winning a best-of-seven semifinal series in five games. In the division final, the Blazers got past Tri-City 4-2.
That moved Kamloops into the WHL's championship final, against Brandon. It went six games, with the Blazers wrapping it up at home, thanks to a 5-4 overtime victory on May 7.
That gave them their third WHL title in four seasons, as close as a team can get to New Westminster's record streak of four in a row.
"I think when we're working hard, we're unbeatable,” offered Brown, the primary architect of this organization. "And when we're not working hard, we're just average.
"As far as team camaraderie and work ethic goes, this has to rank up there with the best ever.”
With the Blazers already in as the host team, the Wheat Kings, as WHL runner-up, also moved into the Memorial Cup tournament.
They had come awfully close to winning the WHL championship. After all, they had opened the final series by winning the first two games right in Kamloops. Alas, they would lose the next three games in Brandon and then lose Game 6 in overtime in Kamloops.
Brandon had not been in a Memorial Cup since 1979 when it lost the final 2-1 in overtime to the Peterborough Petes in the Verdun Auditorium.
The Wheat City was still the only city to have had a team in the final for the Stanley Cup, Allan Cup and Memorial Cup, and to never have won.
It wasn't that long ago that the Wheat Kings were the laughingstock not only of the WHL but of junior hockey in general.
This franchise had bottomed out in 1990-91, when it won only 19 games, and in 1991-92, when it posted just 11 victories.
But through it all general manager Kelly McCrimmon had a plan. He stuck to that plan and now it was paying off.
The Wheat Kings finished second in their division in 1992-93, with a 43-25-4 record, but were upset by the Medicine Hat Tigers in a first-round playoff series.
In 1993-94, Brandon again was second in its division (42-25-5) and this time made it to the East Division final.
And then came 1994-95.
The Wheat Kings, under head coach Bob Lowes, went 45-22-5 to finish first in the East Division.
Like the Blazers, the Wheat Kings had two 100-point men (Marty Murray, the league's most valuable player, with 128, and 62-goal man Darren Ritchie, with 114). And, like Kamloops, Brandon had nine players with at least 50 points -- Chris Dingman (83), Alex Vasilevskii (83), Mike Leclerc (69), Bryan McCabe (69), Wade Redden (60), Peter Schaefer (59) and Bobby Brown (51).
(Redden's father, Gord, had played in the 1959 Memorial Cup final with the Regina Pats. A postseason pickup from the Weyburn Red Wings, Gord scored the winning goal for Regina in the seventh game of the Western Canadian championship series for the Abbott Cup.)
McCrimmon made a key move in midseason by acquiring McCabe, a skilled defenceman, from the Spokane Chiefs. He and Redden gave Brandon an awesome one-two punch on the blue line.
Byron Penstock was the go-to goaltender in the regular season at 27-16-4 with a 3.16 GAA and four shutouts. Brian Elder was no slouch, either, as his 16-5-1 record and 3.12 GAA in 23 games would attest.
The Wheat Kings earned a first-round bye and then won a best-of-seven series from the Moose Jaw Warriors in five games. Next up, in the East Division final, were the Prince Albert Raiders. Brandon won that series in seven games.
Then, of course, the Wheat Kings were beaten by the Blazers in the championship final.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, under head coach Paul Maurice, were winning their first OHL title.
An expansion franchise granted on Dec. 11, 1989, and beginning play in 1990-91, the Jr. Red Wings had shown annual improvement.
They had won but 11 games in their first season, and improved to 23 the second season.
In 1992-93, they were legitimate contenders, going 37-22-7 and finishing second in the Emms Division. They followed that up with a 42-20-4 record and a first-place finish in 1993-94 when they lost Game 7 of the championship final to the North Bay Centennials.
This time, they rang up a 44-18-4 record, good for first place in the West Division (the OHL now was a three-division league). Their 92 points left them tied for second in all of the OHL (with the Sudbury Wolves), seven points in arrears of the Central Division-winning Guelph Storm.
The Red Wings offered up a well-balanced team -- their 306 goals scored was the third-highest such figure in the league and their 223 goals-against left them with the third-best defence.
Without a doubt, there were three key players.
The first was goaltender Jason Saal. He got into 51 of Detroit's 66 games and put up a 3.18 goals-against average.
The second was defenceman Bryan Berard. In his rookie season, he totaled 75 points, including 20 goals, in 58 games. In the end, he was the league's rookie of the year. He was also on the league's first all-star team as well as the rookie all-star team.
The third was centre Bill McCauley, who would finish 11th in the OHL scoring derby, with 102 points, including 41 goals.
And, Sean Haggerty was no slouch, either, as he proved with 40 goals and 49 assists in 61 games.
Still, this was the season in which Guelph was supposed to win it all.
The Storm finished with a 47-14-5 record and wound up with three all-star players to Detroit's one, along with the league's best defensive record.
But the Storm wouldn't win it all.
With the new division format, a team now would have to go through four best-of-seven series to win the championship.
Detroit began by sweeping the London Knights and Peterborough Petes.
Sudbury was next and this series went seven games, the Red Wings taking Game 7 by an 11-4 count.
And, in the final, it was as it should be -- Detroit versus Guelph. The Red Wings won it in six games, becoming the first American-based team to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions.
The Red Wings won the sixth game 5-4 on Berard's goal at 9:35 of the third period.
As for being a U.S. team, Berard told the Toronto Sun: "We don't think about that kind of thing. We're playing in the Canadian Hockey League. We don't say, ‘This guy is American, this guy is Canadian.' What makes this so great is that we're a team.”
Berard was brilliant in the playoffs, scoring four goals and setting up 20 others in 21 games. McCauley led the playoffs in assists (27) and points (39), with Haggerty second, at 37 points.
Saal played in 18 postseason games, putting up a 2.88 GAA, the best in the league.
At the same time, the Hull Olympiques, under head coach Robert Mongrain, were earning the right to carry the QMJHL's colors into the tournament. Mongrain had scored three goals for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs in the 1979 tournament.
And now he would try to help the Olympiques become the first Quebec-based team to win the Memorial Cup since Guy Lafleur and the Quebec Remparts won it in 1971. By now, this was become a far too familiar refrain in the QMJHL.
Hull had put together a 42-28-2 regular season, its 86 points leaving it 10 behind the first-place Laval Titan in the Lebel Division.
This was a Hull team that would beat you on offence -- plain and simple. Led by captain and centre Sebastien Bordeleau, a first all-star team selection, it scored 340 goals in 72 games, 38 more than Laval and 15 more than the second-best offence in the league. But on defence the Olympiques gave up 274 goals, only the sixth-best such figure.
Which is why goaltender Jose Theodore was so important. His 3.46 GAA was only the fifth-best among goaltenders who played in at least 30 games. But he was named the winner of the Shell Cup as the league's best defensive player and was named to the second all-star team.
Bordeleau's father Paulin had played for two Memorial Cup champions -- the Montreal Junior Canadiens (1970) and Toronto Marlboros (1973) -- and also coached the Laval Titan in the 1989 tournament. Sebastien was born in Vancouver while his father was with the NHL's Canucks.
Like father, like son. Paulin was a sniper, and so was Sebastien, who finished second in the QMJHL points derby, with 128, including 52 goals.
Hull's other big gun was centre Martin Menard, who finished with 100 points, while right-winger Michael McKay had 88 points, including 60 assists.
Again, the QMJHL was using best-of-seven series and a round-robin series in its playoff format.
The Olympiques began by ousting the St. Hyacinthe Laser in five games. They then moved into a six-team round-robin series and while they only managed to go 3-3 that was still good enough to move into the third round
There, they met up with the Beauport Harfangs, whom they sidelined in five games.
The championship final also lasted five games, with Hull winning out over Laval. The Olympiques won the fifth game 4-3 in overtime, with Harold Hersh getting the winner at 14:04 of the first extra period.
Bordeleau led the playoffs in goals (13) and points (32). His next closest teammate was Jonathan Delisle, with 19 points.
Theodore went 15-6 in the postseason, with a sparkling 2.80 GAA.
The Olympiques, however, didn't get off to a very good start in Kamloops.
The tournament opened on May 13 with Brandon hammering Hull 9-2 before 5,500 fans, outshooting the Olympiques 42-29 in the process.
(Attendance for every one of the tournament's eight games would be announced as 5,500, providing a total attendance of 44,000.)
It was the most one-sided decision in the tournament since the hometown Regina Pats whipped the Cornwall Royals 11-2 on May 8, 1980.
Ritchie led the Wheat Kings with three goals and McCabe had two goals and three assists. Schaefer, Colin Cloutier, Darren Van Oene and Scott Laluk had Brandon's other goals.
McKay and Delisle replied for Hull, which trailed 3-0 and 6-0 by periods.
Theodore left at 9:34 of the second period, having stopped 15 of 21 shots and with Brandon ahead 6-0. Neil Savary finished up.
The Wheat Kings followed that up by losing 4-3 to Detroit on May 14.
"We didn't play very well,” Lowes said. "Having a few gifts at the end made it close, but for the most part we weren't a very good team.”
The Red Wings broke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals -- from Berard, Dan Pawlaczyk and McCauley.
Cloutier got Brandon on the board at 11:44 of the third period only to have Jeff Mitchell restore Detroit's three-goal edge at 13:16.
Mike Dubinsky and Schaefer closed the scoring for Brandon.
This game gave scouts a good look at Berard and Redden, the two highest-rated defencemen going into the NHL's 1995 draft.
"I just want to do anything to help the team win,” Berard said, after scoring once and setting up another. "I'm looking for the Memorial Cup trophy and hopefully that'll come true.”
Redden had the misfortune of getting his stick caught along the boards in the first period and skating into it. He suffered a bruise underneath his rib cage but was back in action in the second period.
The Wheat Kings also lost Murray, their captain, when he took a puck in the face with five minutes to play in the third period. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously hurt and wouldn't miss any games.
The Olympiques fell to 0-2 in the second game on May 14 when they dropped a 4-1 decision to Kamloops.
"We took some stupid penalties,” said Theodore, who made 45 saves and was beaten for three power-play goals. "Kamloops played a great game and it's hard to score goals when you're on the defence all night. I had to bounce back tonight, but we still lost.”
Iginla had two goals for Kamloops, including an empty-netter at 19:26 of the third period. Doan and Keller also scored for Kamloops, which led 3-1 after the first period.
Delisle, who had 59 points and 218 penalty minutes in the regular season, continued his fine play with Hull's lone goal.
"We were really excited and juiced up to play,” Iginla said. "It was good to get the jitters out and get our first game over with.”
You can bet there was some nervousness on the Kamloops bench when Tucker went down clutching his left knee late in the first period. But he was back for the start of the second period and played regularly afterwards.
The Blazers improved to 2-0 on May 16, getting two goals from each of Domenichelli and Doan as they edged the Red Wings 5-4.
Tucker had the other goal for Kamloops, which led 2-0 and 3-2 by periods and then scored twice midway in the third.
Haggerty, with two, Matt Ball and Mike Rucinski scored for Detroit.
Petruk stopped 25 shots in upping his record to 2-0. Saal made 29 saves.
"It's tough being here in Kamloops,” Doan admitted later, "because we're expected to win. But it's a bonus, too, because we play that much harder.
"When the fans get behind us, it's such a great feeling to hear the 5,500 going nuts with all the towels and wearing white shirts.”
It was a big game for Domenichelli, who was one of four Hartford Whalers' draft picks in the game, the other three -- Ball, Tom Buckley and Rucinski -- all being on the Detroit roster.
"They said I have to get a little more involved,” Domenichelli said of reaction to his play in the Blazers' first game. "I knew this was a big game with everybody here.
"I had to prove to the Hartford Whaler organization that they didn't make a mistake on me and that I'm as good as, if not better than, the guys that were on the ice for Detroit.”
Hull fell to 0-3 on May 17 and was eliminated as it lost 5-2 to Detroit, which got three goals from Haggerty.
Haggerty scored Detroit's first three goals, getting one in each period. McCauley and Carl Beaudoin, the latter into an empty net, also scored for the winners.
Bordeleau, with the game's first goal, and Hersh scored for Hull, which was outshot 34-29.
On May 19, with a berth in the final on the line, the Blazers got another big game out of Iginla, Domenichelli and Tucker as they beat Brandon 6-4.
"Hnat and Darcy help on and off the ice -- they demand a lot,” said Iginla, who had two goals. "They don't want me to come out and slow them up, so I have to be ready every game.
"It's good that they demand that.”
Tucker set up three goals, with Maudie, Doan, Nash and Vologjaninov getting Kamloops' other goals.
Mark Dutiaume, with two, Schaefer and McCabe scored for Brandon.
Schaefer opened the scoring only to have the Blazers score three times before the period ended. Vologjaninov gave the Blazers a 4-1 lead early in the second period, but Dutiaume scored twice before the period ended to get Brandon back into it.
Iginla and McCabe traded goals at 9:23 and 15:31 of the third period before Nash put it away at 18:32.
When it was over, Lowes pointed to Maudie's goal, a shorthanded effort that broke a 1-1 tie at 12:55 of the first period, as perhaps the key moment.
"The shorthanded goal really changed the momentum,” he said. "There were too many times that we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Kamloops outshot Brandon 37-29 with Petruk and Elder going the distance in goal.
Brandon had left-winger Chris Dingman back in the lineup for the first time in five weeks. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Dingman had been out with a knee injury.
But the Wheat Kings lost Ritchie, their key sniper, with a strained left knee. He was listed as doubtful for the semifinal against Detroit. He dressed but didn't score.
But then only one of the Wheat Kings did score as they lost 2-1 to Detroit in the semifinal game on May 20.
Defenceman Justin Kurtz gave Brandon a 1-0 lead at 6:35 of the first period and the Wheat Kings nursed that edge into the third period.
It lasted until 6:54 when Milan Kostolny scored to tie it. And then, at 14:50, Ball scored the game-winner on a power play.
Saal stopped 30 shots to up his record to 2-1; Penstock made 30 saves in his lone Memorial Cup appearance.
The following day, on May 21, the Blazers unleashed a 50-shot barrage, 28 of them in a six-goal second period, as they whipped Detroit 8-2 to win their second straight Memorial Cup title and their third in four seasons.
Kamloops became the seventh team to win back-to-back championships. The others -- Oshawa Generals (1939-40), Toronto Marlboros (1955-56), Montreal Junior Canadiens (1969-70), New Westminster Bruins (1977-78), Cornwall Royals (1980-81) and Medicine Hat Tigers (1987-88).
No team had ever won three Memorial Cup titles in four seasons.
Petruk kicked out 25 shots as he lifted his record to 4-0. Saal was lifted at 13:37 of the second period and replaced by Darryl Foster with Kamloops ahead 5-0.
Tucker, Huska and Nash, each of whom played on all three Kamloops Memorial Cup winners, scored in the game.
Huska scored twice, with Tucker and Nash adding one each. Keller, Maudie, Lukowich and Jeff Antonovich added the other goals.
Mitchell and Eric Manlow scored for Detroit.
"Everyone knew it was our third,” Tucker said. "We just relished the moment.”
As mentioned, he, Huska and Nash ended up with three Memorial Cup rings -- from 1992, '94 and '95.
That doesn't quite equal the feat performed by defenceman Robert Savard, who played on three straight Memorial Cup winners -- the Cornwall Royals in 1980 and '81 and the Kitchener Rangers in '82.
But, hey, three titles in four years is quite an accomplishment by anyone's standards.
Doan, who had missed the 1994 title game with a knee injury, set up two goals in the 1995 final and finished with a tournament-high nine points. He was selected the most valuable player.
Saal was named the top goaltender, with Iginla taking the sportsmanship award.
The all-star team comprised Saal, Baumgartner, McCabe, Tucker, Haggerty and Doan.
The final game was refereed by veteran WHL official Kevin Muench of Moose Jaw. He would later retire from the WHL, saying that he wanted to go out on top and refereeing the final game of the Memorial Cup allowed him to do that.
Two weeks after the Memorial Cup, Kamloops president Colin Day fired Brown, the man who had put together three Memorial Cup winners. It was time, Day said, to go in a different direction.

NEXT: 1996 (Brandon Wheat Kings, Guelph Storm, Peterborough Petes and Granby Predateurs)

Wednesday . . .

AS MOOSE JAW TURNS: The Moose Jaw Warriors pledged $2.5 million towards a new arena complex and on Monday presented a cheque for $500,000 to city council. In each of the next 10 years, the Warriors will hand over $200,000 . . . There is always more on this story at the Moose Jaw Times-Herald’s website which is right here.

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THE MacBETH REPORT: LW Colton Yellow Horn (Lethbridge/Tri-City) has signed a try-out contract with Salzburg (Austria Erste Bank Liga). That tryout agreement runs through Aug. 31.

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THE COACHING/SCOUTING GAME: The Tampa Bay Lightning’s new ownership group, headed by ex-WHL players Oren Koules and Len Barrie, is redoing virtually every corner of the organization. That includes the scouting staff. Word is that former Hockey Canada head scout Jim Hammett of Kelowna will be named the director of player personnel, replacing Bill Barber, who resigned last month. Hammett has been the Rangers’ head amateur scout.

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A TIP OF THE TAKING NOTE CAP: A big thank you to Joe Pelletier, who runs greatesthockeylegends.com, for the plug he gave Taking Note on Wednesday. I would like to point out, though, that the Memorial Cup history that has been appearing here will expire after the story on the 1996 tournament. That’s all there is; there won’t be more. Simply because I never did get around to compiling the history past that date. . . . If you haven’t checked out, greatesthockeylegends.com, do it; it’s more than worth it, especially because he keeps you up to date on the publishing world as it relates to hockey books. And here’s a taste of Joe’s most-recent posting (although, as he points out, he normally is writing about hockey’s past, not its present or its future): “It sure will be nice to see Darcy Hordichuk and Nolan Baumgartner at the Stanley Cup victory parade next year in Vancouver. Good lord, the Canucks fired Dave Nonis for this? There was all that talk from ownership and new GM Mike Gillis about how the old regime was not willing to make bold moves to get the Canucks to the next level. At least Nonis brought in Roberto Luongo in a ridiculously lopsided trade. So far Gillis has brought in absolutely nothing to improve the Canucks scoring woes.” . . . As an aside to the Vancouver situation, it is awfully interesting to read the Vancouver Province on a daily basis, what with one columnist (Tony Gallagher) supporting Gillis and the other (Ed Willes) questioning the direction the new GM appears to be taking the franchise. Nothing like dueling columnists in the pages of the same sports section.

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ON THE MOVE: The Prince George Cougars have picked up G Kevin Armstrong, 20, from the Memorial Cup-champion Spokane Chiefs for a 2009 fourth-round bantam draft pick. The Chiefs’ depth chart right now shows Dustin Tokarski as the starter and James Reid, a Calgarian who turns 18 on Dec. 15, as No. 2. Reid, who was selected 190^th overall by the Everett Silvertips in the 2005 bantam draft, spent last season with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. He later was dropped by Everett and added by Spokane. "Kevin is a good goaltender who deserves an opportunity to play his 20-year-old season in the WHL," Chiefs General Manager Tim Speltz said. "With the success that Dustin Tokarski has had it is clear he will be our starting goaltender next year and with the experience James Reid acquired last year he is ready to be our second netminder." . . . Armstrong was 20-5-1-3, with a 2.17 GAA and a .915 save percentage, with the Chiefs last season. But he wasn’t able to unseat Tokarski, who had that incredible run through the postseason. . . . The Chiefs had acquired Armstrong from the Saskatoon Blades on Jan. 10, 2006. In that deal, the Blades dealt D Evan Haw, 19, Armstrong, who was 17, a third-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2007 bantam draft to Spokane for C Chad Klassen, 20, D Joe Logan, 19, D David Schulz, 19, and G Jim Watt, 19. . . . The deal sets up the Cougars to go with Armstrong and Ian Curtis, 18, as their goaltenders in the approaching season. Curtis was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in January. . . . With Armstrong as one 20-year-old, the Cougars still have room for two more. Swedish D Patrik Magnusson won’t be back, while F Morgan MacLean, who started the season with the Cougars, finished up with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . .

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Wondering what former WHL D Josh Garbutt is up to? Check it out here.

Smith to coach Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

The Kamloops Blazers are poised to introduce Barry Smith as their newest head coach.
An official announcement is to be made today, 1 p.m., in the Sports Action Lounge at Interior Savings Centre.
Craig Bonner, the Blazers’ general manager, wouldn’t confirm the hiring. However, a source familiar with the WHL team and its search for a coach told The Daily News on Wednesday morning that the Blazers and Smith had come to terms on a contract.
“This may have taken longer than what some people would have liked,” Bonner said. “But I feel good about it because we have pursued every available person out there.”
Smith, 47, is a veteran coach who spent the last five years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks. That included the lockout season of 2004-05.
Smith and fellow assistant Mike Kelly, who were considered the Canucks’ second and third assistant coaches behind Rick Bowness, were fired by new general manager Mike Gillis on May 22.
With Kamloops, Smith replaces interim head coach Greg Hawgood, who came on board Nov. 8 after the Blazers’ new ownership group fired GM/head coach Dean Clark. Hawgood, who has one year left on his contract, interviewed for the head-coaching position and may be kept on as an assistant coach.
Smith and Hawgood do have some history together – Smith was an assistant coach with the IHL’s Kansas City Blades in 2000-01; Hawgood played 46 games there that season.
Smith was one of the first candidates interviewed by Bonner, who came away most impressed. It seemed that Smith set the benchmark and it wasn’t reached by anyone else. On top of that, it’s believed that Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault, former Canucks head coach Marc Crawford and former Canucks general manager Brian Burke all called Bonner to make pitches on Smith’s behalf.
Smith, who will be the 14^th head coach in franchise history, has been a candidate for previous WHL head-coaching positions, including with the Spokane Chiefs when they hired Bill Peters prior to 2005-06.
A native of Stambaugh, Mich., Smith, a defenceman, attended the U of Alaska/Anchorage before embarking on a pro career that includes stops in the Atlantic Coast league and in the British Hockey League. His pro stats, as listed at hockeydb.com, show him with seasons in which he totaled 230, 191 and 139 penalty minutes in 56, 23 and 25 games, respectively. In one of those seasons, 1987-88 with the BHL’s Oxford City Stars, he had 160 points, including 109 goals, and 191 penalty minutes.
During a 10-season career in Europe, he served for six seasons as a player-coach.
He retired as a player and began a coaching career in 1992-93 with the ECHL’s Erie Panthers, with whom he spent four seasons, the last one as head coach. In 1996-97, he worked as the head coach of the USHL’s Waterloo, Iowa, Blackhawks, a junior A team. Until today, that has been his only junior coaching experience.
After a season in Waterloo, he was an assistant coach for three seasons with the ECHL’s Baton Rouge Kingfish.
Smith signed on with the Canucks on Aug. 23, 1999, and was an assistant coach with three AHL teams – the Syracuse Crunch, Kansas City Blades and Manitoba Moose – for one season each before moving up to the big club for 2003-04.
Smith and his wife Carolyn, who live in Whitefish, Mont., in the offseason, have three sons – Maxl, Gage and Hutton.
x x x
Bonner said that he did explore the possibility of hiring Don Nachbaur, who has one year left on his contract as head coach of the Tri-City Americans.
“Don Nachbaur is not the next head coach of the Blazers,” Bonner said.
Nachbaur has a son who is an up-and-coming player and Bonner heard that he may want to play in Canada. Upon hearing that, Bonner approached Tri-City general manager Bob Tory to see if there was anything to that.
“I was just feeling him out to see if there was any chance that we could move forward,” Bonner said. “The bottom line was that there wasn’t. (Nachbaur’s) under contact there. I think it’s my job as the general manager to pursue every possibility and that’s what we did.
“The reality is that he wasn’t available.”

Blazers get their coach

The music has stopped. The dancing is done. . . . And that can mean only one thing. . . . The Kamloops Blazers are set to introduce their new head coach. . . . Introductions will take place Thursday, 1 p.m., at the Sports Action Lounge inside Interior Savings Centre. . . . Barry Smith, please stand and take a bow. . . . Yes, the 47-year-old Smith, fired in the spring after five years – four seasons and one lockout season – as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, has signed on as the Blazers’ newest head coach. The official announcement will be made Thursday. While Blazers general manager Craig Bonner wouldn’t confirm having signed Smith, a source familiar with the WHL team have told me the deal is done.

Bonner, however, did confirm that he inquired into the availability of Don Nachbaur, who has one year remaining on his deal as head coach of the Tri-City Americans. Bonner said he felt a responsibility to check out all avenues as he looked for a head coach and that he spoke with Tri-City GM Bob Tory about Nachbaur. The fact that Nachbaur has a year left on his contract pretty much stopped that thought in its tracks. . . . Never say never, but it’s doubtful that Nachbaur would have left Tri-City, the team he guided to the WHL’s regular-season championship last season. His name is being bandied about in NHL circles and it was thought that the Los Angeles Kings may have had some interest in him. While that hasn’t happened, you can bet that NHL teams know Nachbaur is out there. . . . You have to know, though, that Tory wouldn’t have stood in Nachbaur’s way had he asked out of his contract, and that says a lot about that organization. You do have to wonder, however, just what the compensation might have been. When the Blazers signed Bonner as GM, he was under contract to the Vancouver Giants. Kamloops surrendered two third-round bantam draft picks to sign Bonner, an untested general manager. What, then, might it have cost to sign one of the WHL’s top coaches? How about two first-round bantam picks, just for starters?

The signing of Smith by the Blazers means that each of the WHL’s 22 teams has a head coach under contract at the moment. . . . Smith replaces Greg Hawgood, who took over as interim head coach on Nov. 8 following the sacking of GM/head coach Dean Clark by the Blazers’ new ownership group. Hawgood, who has one year left on his contract, was interviewed by Bonner for the head-coaching position and may stay on as an assistant.

More later . . . including the signing of Colton Yellow Horn. . . . Now it’s back to washing windows. No, Van the Man isn’t playing in the background.

The Memorial Cup: A history . . . 1994

1994 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Blazers, North Bay Centennials, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Laval Titan
at Laval (Colisee)

Some Memorial Cup tournaments are memorable; some aren't.
Organizers can only hope going in that their tournament will be remembered for all the right things -- Dan Hodgson's 13 assists for the Prince Albert Raiders in 1983, Guy Rouleau's two six-point games for the Hull Olympiques in 1986; Joe Contini of the Hamilton Fincups scoring goals six seconds apart in 1976; Bruce Boudreau's five-goal game for the Toronto Marlboros in 1975; Rick Kowalsky of the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds scoring three game-winning goals in 1991; and, Zac Boyer of the Kamloops Blazers doing the same thing in the same tournament.
Then there was the 1979 tournament which might have been remembered for the pregame brawl between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. Except that the final game -- won 2-1 in overtime by the Peterborough Petes over the Wheat Kings -- erased most memories of the sticks and gloves scattered all over the ice.
And then along came 1994.
Oh yes, hockey fans remember this one.
Unfortunately, they don't remember it because Kamloops won its second Memorial Cup in three seasons.
Rather, this one is remembered because of a postgame confrontation in a parking lot.
There were signs that things might get ugly in this tournament.
The Laval Titan would be the host team, having won that right by finishing with the QMJHL's best regular-season record.
Things went well enough in the playoffs, too, as the Titan rattled off 14 victories in their first 17 games. The last two of those victories were in the championship final against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, a team coached by Gaston Drapeau, a 51-year-old veteran coach who had never won a QMJHL championship.
Incredibly, the Sagueneens turned it around and beat the Titan, of head coach Michel Therrien, in each of the next four games.
(When Therrien played with the Quebec Remparts in 1981, Drapeau was his coach.)
Never mind that three of the last four games were decided in overtime, with Chicoutimi winning each of them. This was not a happy Laval bunch and Jean-Claude Morrissette, the general manager and one of six brothers who owned the Titan, chose to let the world know all about it.
As Bill Beacon of The Canadian Press wrote:
"After Laval lost its final playoff game . . . Morrissette blasted the referees, suggesting they were either incompetent or biased against his team.
"The Titan had been hit with six consecutive penalties in the first period (of Game 6) by referee Sylvain Bibeau. Morrissette was also angry that referee Luc Lachapelle had allowed a controversial overtime goal in the previous game.”
Beacon went on to quote Therrien: "What (Morrissette) said was the truth. It was unacceptable and I support what he said 100 per cent.”
All of which was a rather strange way of doing business, especially when one considers that the tournament would be held in Laval's home rink and officiated by QMJHL referees -- including Bibeau and Lachapelle.
Still, Therrien said he didn't expect the referees to try extracting their pound of flesh during the tournament.
"No responsible adult would take revenge on young people,” Therrien told Beacon. "The ones who would pay are the 22 players who are trying to realize a dream.
"I would never accept that.”
However, as we shall see, Morrissette's verbal attack was only a harbinger -- a small harbinger -- of what was to come.
The Titan and Sagueneens would be the latest teams to try to end Quebec's national championship drought -- a Quebec-based team hadn't won the Memorial Cup since Guy Lafleur led the Remparts to the top of the mountain in 1971.
Laval was in the Memorial Cup tournament for a second straight season and the Titan brought back 11 players off that team, including goaltender Emmanuel Fernandez.
He had posted a spectacular 3.09 GAA in 51 regular-season games. He had also picked up five shutouts along the way. In the playoffs, he was simply amazing, going 14-5 with an incredible 2.63 GAA.
Also returning were Daniel Goneau, Yannick Dube, Michael Gaul, Marc Beaucage, Frederic Chartier, Sylvain Blouin, Jason Boudrias, Brant Blackned, David Haynes, Francois Bouillon and Patrick Boileau.
The best of the Laval forwards was Dube, a centre who led the QMJHL in goals (66) and points (141). Goneau, a left winger, was the best draft prospect. He had totalled 86 points, including 57 assists.
The Titan had the QMJHL's best regular-season record (49-22-1), scored more goals (346) than did any other team, and gave up 247, the league's second-best defensive record.
This season, the QMJHL used best-of-seven series and a round-robin series in its playoffs.
The Titan opened by taking out the Victoriaville Tigres in five games in a best-of-seven series.
Laval then went into a round-robin series with five other teams -- it was a home-and-home series -- and finished at 4-2, good enough to advance.
In a best-of-seven semifinal series, the Titan beat the Beauport Harfangs in four games.
That moved the Titan into the championship series against Chicoutimi.
There wasn't much doubt just who was Chicoutimi's best player.
That honour befell goaltender Eric Fichaud, who led the QMJHL in games played (63), minutes played (3,493), wins (37) and saves (1,707). In the playoffs, he went 16-10 with a sparkling 3.31 GAA.
(It is somewhat ironical, perhaps, that Fernandez and Fichaud are next to each other in the Goaltender Register section of the National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book.)
The Sagueneens had been second in the QMJHL's regular season, their 43-24-5 record good for first place in the Frank Dilio Division.
They scored 340 goals, second to Laval's 346, while allowing 254, the QMJHL's fourth-best defensive record.
Michel St. Jacques finished tied for third in the points derby, with 126, including 58 goals. Danny Beauregard was right there, too, with 121 points, while rookie Alexei Lojkin, from Minsk, Russia, had 107.
Come the postseason, the offensive stars were Beauregard and Lojkin. They finished tied atop the playoff scoring race, each with 43 points in 27 games. Beauregard had 16 goals; Lojkin had 34 assists.
Yes, the Sagueneens played 27 playoff games just to reach the Memorial Cup.
They began by going seven games with the Granby Bisons and then went 4-3 in the six-team round-robin series.
Their semifinal series with the Hull Olympiques also went seven games, and they they took six games to eliminate Laval in the championship final.
The favorites in this tournament were the WHL's Kamloops Blazers of head coach Don Hay. A firefighter by profession, Hay was enjoying a leave of absence from the Kamloops Fire Department and he was finding out that he definitely had what it takes to be a first-rate coach.
The Blazers made their 11th consecutive appearance in the WHL's West Division final in the spring of '94 and went on to win the division for the seventh time in that period.
They had finished the regular season at 50-16-6, for 106 points. Kamloops was the only one of the league's 16 teams to earn more than 100 points.
The Blazers' leader was centre Darcy Tucker, a feisty sort who played a whole lot bigger than his 5-foot-10 stature would seem to allow. He finished second in the points derby with 140, including 52 goals.
Offensively, he got help from Rod Stevens (109 points, including 51 goals) and Jarrett Deuling (103 points).
They picked up veteran centre Louis Dumont in a midseason deal with the Regina Pats. He would total 97 points, including 44 goals.
The Kamloops lineup also included a trio of young up-and-comers in centre Hnat Dominechelli (67 points in 69 games) and right-wingers Jarome Iginla (29 points in 48 games) and Shane Doan (48 points in 52 games).
And they had perhaps the best young defence in the CHL, with veteran Scott Ferguson surrounded by the likes of Nolan Baumgartner, Jason Holland, Aaron Keller, Jason Strudwick and Brad Lukowich.
In goal, Rod Branch and Steve Passmore pretty much split the time. Passmore had a league-leading 2.74 GAA in 36 games. Branch was at 3.25 in 44 games.
The combination resulted in the Blazers leading the WHL in defence, allowing only 225 goals. The WHL hadn't seen defence like that since the Medicine Hat Tigers gave up 224 goals in 1984-85.
In the playoffs, Passmore would see by far the bulk of the playing time. And he would play every minute of four Memorial Cup games.
Kamloops opened the postseason by winning a best-of-seven division semifinal from the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games. And, in the division final, the Blazers got past the Portland Winter Hawks in six games.
The championship final, against the Saskatoon Blades, went the distance, the Blazers winning the seventh game 8-1 before 5,500 noisy fans in Riverside Coliseum.
Meanwhile, the North Bay Centennials were winning that city's first OHL championship.
Originally in St. Catharines, the franchise moved to Niagara Falls for the 1976-77 season and then relocated to North Bay prior to the 1982-83 season.
North Bay had reached the championship final once before, losing in seven games to the Oshawa Generals in the spring of 1987.
Behind the Centennials' bench in 1993-94 was veteran Bert Templeton, who would be that season's coach of the year. Templeton had coached the Hamilton Fincups to the 1976 Memorial Cup title.
The Centennials put up a 46-15-5 regular-season record, finishing atop the Leyden Division and setting a franchise record with 97 points.
North Bay scored more goals (351) than any other team in the OHL and also led in team defence as goaltenders Sandy Allan and Scott Roche allowed only 226 goals. Allan would be named to the third all-star team, but Roche, a first-year player, would play all three Memorial Cup games.
"A year ago, we finished seventh in our league and the prospects didn't look that bright,” Templeton said. "When you look at where we were a year ago to where we are now, we surprised a lot of people.”
The Centennials' lineup included right-winger Vitali Yachmenev, from Chelyabinsk, Russia, who led the OHL with 61 goals. He finished with 113 points and was named the OHL's rookie of the year.
Left-winger Jeff Shevalier had 101 points, including 52 goals, and was named to the first all-star team.
The best of the defencemen was Brad Brown, who totalled 32 points and 196 penalty minutes.
The Centennials opened the postseason with a first-round bye and then eliminated the Belleville Bulls in six games. The division final lasted five games before the Ottawa 67's were sent packing.
In the championship final, the Centennials met up with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, who had finished on top of the Emms Division with a 42-20-4 record.
The final went the distance, with the Centennials winning the seventh game 5-4 in overtime.
The Centennials were at somewhat of a disadvantage simply because Game 7 of the OHL final was played on May 11 and, with the Memorial Cup to open on May 14, they spent the next day riding the bus to Montreal.
"We enjoy the bus -- it's home to us,” Templeton said. "It was our choice. We took the bus to Detroit and that's farther than Laval.
"If I had a preference, I'd like a couple of days rest. But we start right away and we have to be ready.”
The Centennials opened the tournament on May 14 by dropping a 5-4 overtime decision to Laval before 1,836 fans in the 3,003-seat Colisee.
Haynes, with just four goals in 61 regular-season games, potted the winner at 6:45 of the extra period.
The game belonged to Dube, however, as he figured in all of Laval's goals, scoring twice and setting up the other three.
Alain Cote and Chartier also scored for Laval.
Michal Burman, Bill Lang, Denis Gaudet and Yachmenev replied for North Bay. Yachmenev scored on a breakaway at 18:04 of the third period to force the overtime period.
The Centennials fell to 0-2 the next day when they were beaten 3-1 by Chicoutimi before 1,912 fans.
"Obviously, we're in a bad spot,” Templeton said. "But we're not losing because we're not trying. We can play better.”
The star in this one was Fichaud, who made 39 saves.
"The game was decided by the inability of our people to put the puck in the net,” Templeton said. "I give credit to their goalie.”
Beauregard, Andre Roy and Allan Sirois, into an empty net, scored for the Sagueneens. B.J. MacPherson had North Bay's lone goal.
It was the aftermath of the second game of May 13 that drew most of the attention.
On the ice, Kamloops outshot Laval 49-20 in posting a 5-4 victory in front of 1,843 fans.
Fernandez was outstanding, making 44 saves, including 21 in the first period.
"I was getting a lot of shots and I wasn't getting much help from my defence on rebounds,” Fernandez said. "You could tell we weren't ready.”
Deuling, Stevens, Ryan Huska, Tucker and Domenichelli scored for the Blazers.
"We had the shots, but we have to find a way to bury them,” said Dumont, who set up three goals. "But that was a good goaltender against us.”
Goneau and Beaucage had two goals each for the Titan.
Things turned sour in a big way in a parking lot following the game when Lachapelle, who had refereed the game between Kamloops and Laval, was injured.
Lachapelle, who filed a complaint with police, was left with cuts to his face and head and a slight concussion after being struck by flying glass when the window of the car in which he was riding was smashed.
According to QMJHL referee-in-chief Doug Hayward, Lachapelle and linesman Sylvain Cloutier were leaving the Colisee when their path was blocked by four men.
According to a report by The Canadian Press:
"Hayward said Cloutier told him a man approached Lachapelle on the passenger side of Cloutier's car and that, as the referee was lowering his window, another man punched the glass.
"Lachapelle . . . was treated at the scene in an ambulance and then taken to hospital, Hayward said.”
Lachapelle had handed out 15 minor penalties during the game, nine of them to Laval. The Titan were 2-for-6 on the power play; the Blazers were 2-for-9.
After the game, Therrien wouldn't comment about the officiating.
The following day, May 17, Morrissette resigned as Laval's general manager.
"I have resigned,” he said. "I have to respect the Memorial Cup committee, the league and my own organization. It's the only conclusion I could come to.”
Morrissette was one of three nominees as the CHL's executive of the year. However, he withdrew his name prior to the awards banquet. The award was presented to Kamloops general manager Bob Brown.
Morrissette was later charged with assault and causing property damage under $1,000. He was alleged to have broken the car window with his fist.
A CHL disciplinary committee fined the Titan $10,000 and barred Morrissette from the Colisee for the remainder of the tournament. He was also hit with a three-year suspension from all CHL events. The QMJHL later suspended him from all league activities with any team for the 1994-95 season.
After hearing from the disciplinary committee, Morrissette said: "People asked me what I expected and I said, ‘Life plus a day.' But they wanted to make sure this didn't happen again.”
At the same time, Therrien was placed on probation for the rest of the tournament.
Bob Hartley, Laval's head coach at the 1993 tournament, was named the Titan's interim general manager. He had spent the 1993-94 season as an assistant coach with the American Hockey League's Cornwall Aces, a farm club of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques.
Through all of this there was also discussion of what to now had been dismal attendance at the Colisee. None of the first three games had drawn more than 2,000 fans.
Between the assault on Lachapelle and the lack of fans, this was not going the way the QMJHL had hoped it would.
"I feel bad,” QMJHL president Gilles Courteau said. "This isn't what we expected.
"We've always had good crowds when we hosted the Memorial Cup, whether it was in Hull, Chicoutimi, Quebec . . . I don't know why it's so difficult this time.”
Morrissette was disappointed, too.
"It's a shame,” he said. "We've been a very successful organization but we haven't been successful at bringing people in.
"It's the smallest attendance in Memorial Cup history and that hurts me deeply. Everyone worked hard to make this successful. The City of Laval spent about $500,000. Yet people didn't come out.”
Attendance picked up a bit on May 17 as 2,621 fans watched Kamloops shut out Chicoutimi 5-0 to earn a bye into the tournament's championship game.
Tucker sparked the Blazers with three second-period goals. Chris Murray and Keller added one each for Kamloops, which outshot the Sagueneens 51-25.
"It was probably the easiest shutout I've ever had,” Passmore said.
The Blazers really had things rolling now and, on May 19, they beat North Bay 5-1 before 2,740 fans. That left the Centennials at 0-3 and out of the playoff picture.
Again, Tucker led the way for the Blazers. This time, he had a goal and two assists and now led the tournament in goals (five) and points (eight).
Stevens, Domenichelli, Murray and Tyson Nash also scored for the Blazers, who held period leads of 2-1 and 3-1 as they outshot the Centennials 41-17.
Lang scored for North Bay.
The game was refereed by Lachapelle in his first appearance since the incident four days earlier.
This left Chicoutimi and Laval to meet on consecutive nights, closing out the round-robin portion of the tournament in the first game and following that up with the semifinal game.
In the first game of the doubleheader, on May 19, the Sagueneens got second-period goals from Beauregard and Lojkin and 33 saves from Fichaud in a 2-0 victory before 2,979 fans.
Prior to the game, the Titan players taped the letters J.C. on the backs of their helmets. This was in support of the suspended Morrissette.
"We were flat,” Therrien said. "All the ingredients were there for an emotional game and then we didn't have one.”
The Sagueneens now had beaten the Titan in five straight games. And by beating the Titan in the round-robin game, Chicoutimi had won the designation as home team in the semifinal game even though it was to be played in Laval's arena.
The home-team designation didn't do the Sagueneens much good, however, as they were beaten 4-2 by the Titan in the May 20 semifinal game.
Laval held period leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in front of 2,953 fans.
Gaul, with two, Goneau and Beaucage scored for the Titan, with Roy and Steve Dulac scoring for Chicoutimi.
The Titan became the first QMJHL team to move into the final since the Drummondville Voltigeurs lost 5-1 to the Spokane Chiefs in 1991 and only the second QMJHL team in the final since 1986. That year, the Hull Olympiques lost 6-2 to the Guelph Platers.
On May 22, Kamloops won the Memorial Cup for the second time in three years, getting goals from five players in beating the Titan 5-3 in front of 3,119 fans.
"I went in there with high expectations and was expected to do well,” said Tucker, a draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens who was named the tournament's MVP. "I was in the backyard of the team that drafted me.
"I knew how much pressure there would be from the media and I knew the Canadiens would be watching. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well.”
He scored what turned out to be the winning goal, one that gave Kamloops a 4-1 lead in the second period. It was his tournament-high sixth goal.
Tucker was one of seven players who had also been on the 1992 Memorial Cup champions. The others were Nash, Huska, Deuling, Ferguson, Murray and Stevens. Only Stevens was graduating, meaning the others might be heard from in 1995.
Dumont scored the only goal of the first period, at 12:20, and the Blazers went up 2-0 early in the second on goals by Huska (1:37) and Mike Josephson (2:02).
Goneau got Laval on the board with his fourth goal of the tournament at 3:08, but Tucker restored Kamloops' three-goal lead at 12:03.
Cote and Goneau pulled Laval to within one in the third period, scoring at 13:09 and 14:03.
That's when Hay called a timeout.
"He just said that we were going good until we let a couple of checks get away and unfortunately the shots went in,” said Dumont. "He just said we had to screw our heads back on.”
The Blazers hung on until Bob Maudie wrapped it up with an empty-net goal at 19:08.
And guess who refereed the final game?
Yes, it was Lachapelle.
Laval was 1-for-7 on the power play; the Blazers were 0-for-7.
While Tucker was hauling away the MVP award, Dube got the sportsmanship award and Fichaud was selected the top goaltender. The all-star team comprised Fichaud, Keller and Baumgartner on defence, and Tucker, Cote and Stevens on the forward line.
While Laval was hoping to win the QMJHL's first title since 1971, the Blazers became the 11th WHL team to win in the 23 years since a round-robin format was adapted. It was also the WHL's eighth title in 12 seasons.

NEXT: 1995 (Kamloops Blazers, Brandon Wheat Kings, Detroit Jr. Red Wings and Hull Olympiques)

Tuesday . . .

FREE-AGENT GOOFINESS: It was the lockout (non)season of 2004-05 and Darryl Sydor, then a defenceman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was helping the Kamloops Blazers’ coaching staff. One day, Sydor and I were discussing the lockout, the collective bargaining agreement, the NHL Players’ Association stance, the direction of the game, etc. And I distinctly remember saying that it didn’t matter what was in the CBA when it eventually got done because, in the end, the players would have the owners begging for mercy. . . . Well, after another July 1 in which some of the owners went two strides north of crazy, I’ve got to think more than a few hockey people are shaking their heads and wondering (again) just what exactly is going on. . . . Hey, the salary cap’s floor now is higher than the ceiling was coming out of the lockout. The cap for 2005-06 was US$39.0 million; the floor for 2008-09 is $40.7 million. . . . Some teams are going to have to spend up just to get to the floor. And the ceiling ($56.7 million) is high enough to allow an $11-million player. But who would have thought the closest thing to that player would be Mats Sundin? . . . I was listening to XM Radio this afternoon while washing my car and someone (sorry, didn’t catch the name) from ESPN Radio was chatting with Ron Rimer and mentioned that he recently had chatted with Dave Checketts, the owner of the St. Louis Blues. The chap from ESPN pointed out that when Checketts purchased the Blues a couple of years ago this wasn’t the road the NHL was supposed to be heading down. In fact, the chap from ESPN said, he wondered if Checketts would have bought the Blues had he known what was waiting for him and the franchise. . . . I mean, Mats Sundin at $10 million a season when he doesn’t seem to know if he wants to continue playing? And how old is he? . . . An eight-year contract for defenceman Brian Campbell? Hey, he’s a good defenceman but is he headed for the hall of fame? . . . Defenceman Jeff Finger at almost $4 million a year? No disrespect, but is Finger worth twice as much per season as Kurt Sauer? . . . Has it dawned on you yet that the NHL is headed down the river of no return, which is the same river it was sailing on prior to the lockout? . . . And when exactly is the date of the next lockout?
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How about $100 million over 10 years for winger Marion Hossa? The rumour Tuesday night had the Edmonton Oilers making that offer. It’s also believed that the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and perhaps the Vancouver Canucks were in the hunt for Hossa.
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AS MOOSE JAW TURNS: You just had to know that things wouldn’t go swimmingly in Moose Jaw where it seems the citizens are headed for a full-scale donnybrook. They’ve already experienced a small dust-up at a recent city council meeting, where pushing led to shoving. Now, it seems, they may be headed to a bench-clearing melee or, at the very least, a line brawl. . . . Yes, it’s all over the $61.2-million question — to build, or not to build, a multiplex that would house the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. . . . Opponents of the plan are ramping up their attack and now — egads! — the lawyers are involved, something that only can mean one thing: delay, delay, delay. . . . The Moose Jaw Times-Herald has a brief update here and promises there is more to come in Wednesday’s paper. . . . The comments that follow that story tell you all you need to know about how emotional this issue is in that community.
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THE MacBETH REPORT: Garth MacBeth reports on end-of-June signings from Europe and elsewhere. . . . D Josh Garbutt (Brandon/Kamloops/Prince George) signed with Manchester (UK Elite Hockey League). He was with Tulsa and Rio Grande Valley (Central Hockey League) last season. . . . F Rick Kozak (Prince George/Brandon/Kamloops) signed with Hull (UK Elite Hockey League). He was with Mississippi (Central Hockey League) last season. . . . F Maxim Bets (Spokane) signed with HK Gazprom-OSU Orenburg (Russia Vysshaya Liga, the second league). He had six goals and seven assists in 36 games with Mechel Chelyabinsk (Russia Vysshaya Liga) last season. Chelyabinsk is his hometown. . . . F Jay Henderson (Red Deer/Edmonton Ice) signed with Innsbruck (Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had 22 goals and 24 assists in 55 games with Frankfurt (Germany DEL) last season. He joins fellow WHLers F Dustin Johner (Seattle), F Martin Hohenberger (Victoria/Prince George/Lethbridge), D Gerhard Unterluggauer (Brandon), and head coach Ron Kennedy (Estevan/New Westminster as a player, Medicine Hat as a coach) in Innsbruck. . . . F Greg Watson (Prince Albert) signed with HC Pustertal Brunico (Italy Serie A). He had 20 goals and 17 assists in 32 games with Fassa (same league) last season. . . . F Adam Taylor (Kootenay) signed with the China Sharks (Asian Hockey League), based in Beijing. He split time between Rochester (AHL) and Florida (ECHL) last season.
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THE COACHING GAME: Former Saskatoon Blades head coach Brad McCrimmon won’t be back with the Atlanta Thrashers. He had been their associate coach. A source told me Tuesday that the Thrashers, who bypassed McCrimmon when they signed John Anderson as head coach, told the former Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman that they were going in a different direction. You can bet that McCrimmon, the older brother of Brandon Wheat Kings owner, GM and head coach Kelly McCrimmon, won’t be unemployed for long.

Recchi on verge of finding new home

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Mark Recchi will have a new NHL address and it may happen as soon as today.
The Kamloops native, who is one of five owners of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, told The Daily News on Tuesday night that he is close to signing a contract that would result in his playing a 19th season in the NHL.
“I’ve been talking,” Recchi said, adding that something will happen “probably (today), I would say.”
Recchi, who turned 40 on Feb. 1, split last season between the Pittsburgh Penguins, who waived him after 19 games, and the Atlanta Thrashers, totaling 48 points in 72 games. With Atlanta, he had 40 points, including 12 goals, in 53 games.
Recchi earned US$1.75 million last season, down from $2.28 million in each of the two previous seasons.
Asked if there was any chance he would return to Atlanta, Recchi replied: “Uhhh . . . no.”
Recchi said he and Rick Curran, his agent of 22 years, have heard from “a couple of teams, which is really all you need. So it’s been good.”
A deal could have been done, he added, but “I’m a little bit picky at this point, too.”
“At some point,” Recchi continued, “there would probably be more teams but I don’t want to be on a bad team again. I know what my role is now and I want to be on a good team that has a chance. I want to help out leadership-wise.”
Besides, he said with a laugh, “I’m not really a priority.”
Like a lot of observers, Recchi watched with interest as NHL teams handed out close to US$400 million Tuesday, the first day of the free-agent signing period.
“Oh my gawd . . . it’s incredible,” said Recchi, whose richest contract was a five-year, $25-million he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers on May 11, 1999.
Recchi chose not to comment, but it’s believed the Flyers, a team with which he spent more than seven seasons, are one of the teams he was in contact with yesterday.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

Blazers eyeing Nachbaur?

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Don Nachbaur is the man the owners of the Kamloops Blazers would like to have coaching their WHL team.
The Daily News learned Tuesday that Nachbaur, who is under contract to the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, apparently tops the three-candidate shortlist compiled by Blazers’ general manager Craig Bonner.
Neither Bonner nor Nachbaur, who was the Western Conference’s nominee as coach of the year last season, returned messages last night.
However, a source familiar with the situation said that Nachbaur tops the list.
Bonner said last week that he had a three-man short list and that he and the ownership group were preparing an offer to be presented to their top candidate.
Bonner has acknowledged that Barry Smith, who was fired in April after five years as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, is on that list.
But a source said last night that Smith is not the No. 1 candidate.
As for Nachbaur . . .
“He is under contract so I’d rather not say anything,” Tri-City general manager Bob Tory said. “He’s under contract for another season.”
Asked if the Blazers had asked for permission to speak with Nachbaur, Tory said: “Not formally.”
Like most, if not all, WHL coaching contracts, Nachbaur’s deal includes an escape clause, but only if he were to move up hockey’s ladder. The clause in Nachbaur’s contract runs from June 1 to July 1, meaning it has expired.
“He has a window for one month for a pro job but not a lateral move . . . that window has expired,” Tory said.
Tory added that he likely would extend that window should Nachbaur receive an offer from an NHL team.
“Don has been with me long enough that if his wishes were to move on I’d never stand in his way,” Tory said, “but I’d want the NHL team to go through the proper channels.”
Nachbaur has completed six seasons as the Americans’ head coach. Earlier, he and Tory also worked together with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Mark Recchi, one of the Blazers’ five owners, said last night that the team is getting “close” to signing a coach.
“We’re getting there,” Recchi said. “(Bonner) is close to making a decision. He’s done his due diligence . . . I think he’s talking to a couple of guys still.
“Whatever guy we get is going to be very good. Either one is going to be great.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

The Memorial Cup: A history . . . 1993

1993 MEMORIAL CUP
Swift Current Broncos, Peterborough Petes, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Laval Titan
at Sault Ste. Marie (Memorial Gardens)

The debate prior to the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament pertained to which team should be the favourite.
"It's a mystery to me why Swift Current wasn't picked No. 1,” Dick Todd, general manager and head coach of the OHL-champion Peterborough Petes, said of the Broncos. "They had 100 points during the regular season. We didn't.”
Graham James, the Broncos' general manager and head coach, wasn't so sure. He knew the Broncos were good, but . . .
"Even though we may not be the overwhelming favourite here, I don't think we're sneaking in the back door, either,” he said. "When you look at the guys we have, even with Doink The Clown coaching, we'd have a good team.”
Ted Nolan, head coach of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, differed from Todd. Nolan felt Todd's Petes should have been the favourites; after all, weren't they the CHL's No. 1-rated team for the final 24 weeks of the season?
Meanwhile, Swift Current captain Trent McCleary thought the Greyhounds should be favoured. After all, they were making their third straight appearance in the tournament, 14 of their players had played in the 1992 tournament and eight of those also played in the 1991 event, and they would play the 1993 tournament on home ice.
Around and around it went . . .
One thing, however, was for certain.
No one had the Laval Titan, of general manager and head coach Bob Hartley, in the favorite's role.
A Quebec-based team hadn't won the the Memorial Cup since 1971 when the Quebec Remparts, with Guy Lafleur in the lineup, had done it. Not one of Hartley's players had even been born when Lafleur weaved his magic that season.
"We're tired of answering the same questions,” Hartley said.
Not only that, but the Titan had won but two of 11 games in three previous Memorial Cup appearances (1984, '89 and '90).
If you had to pick a favorite -- if you absolutely had to pick the winner -- well, chances are you would have pointed to the Greyhounds.
They were the host team because they had won what the OHL had billed as its Super Series.
It was the OHL's turn to play host to the tournament and rather than take bids, the league chose to have its division winners meet in a best-of seven series.
Peterborough finished atop the Leyden Division, at 46-15-5, with the Soo topping the Emms Division, at 38-23-5.
The Petes were favored in this series, having finished with a franchise record 97 points, 16 more than the Greyhounds. But the team from the Soo surprised most onlookers by sweeping the series.
And so it came to pass that the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament was held in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Greyhounds were in this affair for the third straight season, the first team to make three consecutive trips to the national championship since the Petes (1978, '79 and '80).
As mentioned, eight players appeared in all three tournaments -- goaltender Kevin Hodson and skaters Ralph Intranuovo, Drew Bannister, Rick Kowalsky, Jarret Reid, Tom MacDonald, Mark Matier and David Matsos.
As well, Aaron Gavey, Jeff Toms, Perry Pappas, Gary Roach, Brad Baber and Briane Thompson were back for a second kick at the cat.
Hodson was coming off a brilliant regular season in which he had set a franchise record with a 3.10 GAA.
Offensively, the Greyhounds were without any 50-goal snipers or 100-point men.
Reid, a centre, was the big gun, if they even had one. He had 36 goals and 96 points in the regular season and followed that up by leading the league with 19 goals and 35 points in 18 postseason games.
Left-winger Chad Penney played a key role, too. Acquired from the North Bay Centennials early in the season, he had 73 points, including 29 goals, in 48 games with the Soo.
Still, as in the previous two seasons when they won the league championship, the Greyhounds didn't make any noise in the department of postseason awards. They didn't earn so much as one spot on any of the OHL's three all-star teams. The best they could do was placing centre Steve Sullivan on the all-rookie second team.
In the meantime, the Petes were adding to their trophy case.
Chris Pronger, who was named the league's top defenceman, and right-winger Jason Dawe were first-team all-stars; goaltender Chad Lang, defenceman Brent Tully and centre Mike Harding were named to the second team; and, Todd, who was in his 12th season as head coach, was selected to the third team.
(Todd would leave after the Memorial Cup to become an assistant coach with the NHL's New York Rangers. The head coach with the Rangers? Mike Keenan, a former head coach of the Petes. Keenan and Todd would win the Stanley Cup in their first season together.)
Left-winger Matt Johnson was on the all-rookie first team.
Harding supplied a franchise record 136 points, including 54 goals, during the regular season, while Dawe added 126 points, including 58 goals, and Dave Roche chipped in with 100.
The Petes led the league in defence that season -- so what else is knew? -- as they gave up just 239 goals.
The Greyhounds surrendered 260 goals, while scoring 334, 18 fewer than the Petes.
Dawe won the playoff scoring race, totaling 51 points in 21 games as the Petes went 12-9. The big story, though, was Pronger. After scoring 15 goals in 62 regular-season games, he had 15 goals and 25 assists in 21 postseason games.
After the Super Series, the Greyhounds rolled over the Owen Sound Platers 4-0 and the Detroit Jr. Red Wings 4-1 to reach the championship final.
And the Petes took out the Sudbury Wolves 4-3 and Kingston Frontenacs 4-1 to set up a rematch with the 'Hounds.
The final was a different story than the Super Series, with Peterborough finishing off Sault Ste. Marie in five games. It was the first time the Greyhounds had lost a playoff series under Nolan, whose record now was 11-1.
But both teams were in the Memorial Cup and it was the Greyhounds who would enjoy home-ice advantage.
"We're different from the traditional host team,” Nolan said. "We're not only hosts, we earned the right to be here.”
The Broncos, who played in the smallest city (16,000 people) and the smallest rink (2,257 seats) in the CHL, were making their second Memorial Cup appearance and they came in with a perfect record -- they won the 1989 championship in their only other appearance. Only McCleary was still around from that 1989 team -- he had played three regular-season games.
Swift Current also represented the league that had won five of the last six tournaments.
The Broncos, as was their tradition under James, were a collection of skaters and gunners. They scored 384 goals -- 37 more than any other WHL team.
Centre Jason Krywulak led the WHL in goals (81, including a major-junior record 47 on the power play), assists (81) and points (162). Rick Girard added 71 goals and 70 assists and Todd Holt reached 113 points, including 56 goals.
Three other forwards put together impressive numbers in an abbreviated schedule -- Andy Schneider had 85 points, including 66 assists, in 38 games; Dean McAmmond totaled 71 points in 48 games; and, Tyler Wright had 65 points in 37 games.
When the postseason was over, the top six scorers were Broncos -- Schneider, with a league-high 26 assists and 39 points, had at least one point in each of the 17 playoff games; Krywulak (37 points); McAmmond (35 points, including a league-high 16); Wright and Girard (26 points apiece); and, Holt (22 points).
Defensively, well, their theory was you didn't have to play defence if you had the puck all the time. Still, they weren't nearly as bad as their reputation would have you believe. In fact, led by big Brent Bilodeau, they allowed only 267 goals, a figure bettered by only four teams.
They finished the regular season at 49-21-2, giving them 100 points and the league's best record.
After a first-round bye, the Broncos took out the Medicine Hat Tigers in six games and then swept the Regina Pats in the East Division final.
They ran up against a gritty bunch of Portland Winter Hawks in the championship final. Swift Current trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the series but took it to seven games. The Broncos won the final game 6-0 at home with goaltender Milan Hnilicka, perhaps their most under-rated player, posting his second playoff shutout.
Hnilicka, from Kladno in the Czech Republic, played in an amazing 65 regular-season games, posting a 3.36 GAA and two shutouts.
"If we can bottle this game and take it to Sault Ste. Marie,” James said after Game 7 of the WHL final, "I think we have a good chance.”
There wasn't much doubt about Laval's top player -- right-winger Martin Lapointe, the team captain, played in only 35 games but had 38 goals and 51 assists. He had opened the season with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, returning to Laval just before Christmas.
"I cannot tell you enough about Martin Lapointe,” Hartley said. "He is one of the best players in Canada.”
Lapointe didn't cool off in the playoffs, either. He led the QMJHL in goals (13), assists (17) and points (30), all of this coming in just 13 games.
Centre Eric Veilleux led the Titan in regular-season points, with 125, including 55 goals. He added 20 points in the playoffs.
The key on defence was Philippe Boucher, a midseason acquisition from the Granby Bisons who finished the season with 77 points in 65 games. In the 13 playoff games, he added 21 points, including 15 assists.
The Titan would be without defenceman Benoit Larose, the QMJHL's nominee as the country's top defenceman. He was knocked out of action during the playoffs by a blood clot in one leg.
In goal the Titan counted on the magnificent Emmanuel Fernandez, a second-year player who went 26-14-2 with a 3.60 GAA. In the postseason, Fernandez was all but unbeatable, putting up a 12-1 record with a 3.08 GAA.
After going 43-25-2 in the regular season and finishing atop the Robert Lebel Division, the Titan opened postseason play against Verdun College-Francais. The Titan won that series in four games.
Next up were the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who also went under in four games.
In the championship final, the Titan met up with the Sherbrooke Faucons, who had finished first in the Frank Dilio Divison with a 44-20-6 record. No matter. Laval won the final in five games.
The Titan went into the Memorial Cup quite familiar with pressure situations -- their last four QMJHL playoff games had gone into overtime and they had won three of them.
Things got under way on May 15 with the Greyhounds beat the Titan 3-2 in front of 4,156 fans.
Penney broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal at 16:11 of the second period. It was his second goal of the game. Wade Gibson had the Greyhounds' other goal.
Jason Boudrias and Boucher scored for Laval.
The following afternoon, Swift Current opened play with a 5-3 victory over the Greyhounds, disappointing the majority of the 4,194 fans in attendance.
The teams were even at 2-2 early in the second period when the Broncos caught fire and scored three straight goals -- an even-strength marker by Holt and two goals from Krywulak, one shorthanded and the other on the power play -- with Schneider setting up all three.
Ashley Buckberger and Girard also scored for the Broncos, who got 41 saves from Hnilicka.
"A lot of them weren't really dangerous shots,” Hnilicka said rather modestly.
Pappas, with two, and Intranuovo replied for the Greyhounds.
Nolan wouldn't use fatigue as an excuse, despite the fact his club had played the previous night.
"That wasn't a factor,” Nolan said. "In our league, we're used to playing Friday night and Saturday afternoon. We're not saying we're fatigued.”
The opening weekend concluded with Peterborough beating Laval 6-4. The 4,044 fans in attendance witnessed a game-ending line brawl.
The donnybrook, which featured several fights, resulted in 10 major penalties and eight game misconducts.
"No one likes to see it,” offered OHL commissioner David Branch, "but I would suggest this is more of an aberration than the norm.”
As for what he witnessed, Branch said: "The Quebec team, for whatever reason, decided to play that style. The referee (David Lynch) made the calls and did what he could.
"The guy behind the bench dictates the ultimate outcome of the game.”
Hartley didn't agree.
"There were 4,000 fans sitting here to see a quality hockey game but that show was not given by the players,” he said.
Later, the disciplinary committee would hand out $1,500 in fines. Both teams were fined $500 for failure to control players, with Laval being hit for an extra $500 because members of its training staff had grabbed one Peterborough player and pushed another.
Peterborough opened by scoring four goals before the game was 15 minutes old. The Titan, outshot 48-44, were never able to get back in this one.
Dawe, with two, Tully and Ryan Black scored the first-period goals for the Petes, with Roche and Bill Weir adding the others.
The Titan got two goals from Veilleux, who had been cut for 22 stitches in the mouth area by Gavey's stick in the tournament opener, and singles from Stephane Desjardins and Boucher.
Laval now was 0-2 and history was more often than not the subject of the questions.
"Our team is not responsible for that,” Hartley said. "We do not live in the past.”
Hartley also found himself being questioned about an incident that occurred in the Soo some three years earlier.
He just happened to be coaching a Quebec team when separatism, language, the constitution and many other political items were on a lot of agendas.
And now he was in Sault Ste. Marie, a city whose council in 1990 had passed a resolution declaring English the official language of city business.
Yes, Hartley was asked about this, even though it was three years after the fact.
"I don't want to talk about what Sault Ste. Marie did,” Hartley replied. "I'm not going to answer any questions about language.
"That is a political thing. This is sport.”
Going into the next game -- Peterborough versus Swift Current on May 18 -- the Petes and Broncos were unbeaten. To the winner would go at least a berth in the semifinal game.
"It seems like we just started and we could be in the final,” James said. "That's why we tell the guys the first game is so important. It gives you options. A lot of times it only takes two wins to get to the final. You have to defeat the other team which has the potential to win two games.”
The Petes came out flying, however, and routed the Broncos 7-3 in front of 4,095 spectators.
The teams were tied 2-2 just past the midway point of the first period when the Petes scored twice -- Roche at 11:50 and Dale McTavish, with his second of the game, at 12:50 -- to pull away.
Roche finished with two goals, too, while Tully, Pronger and Harding added one each.
The Petes suffered two injuries in the game. Tully, whose goal came 16 seconds into the game, left with some dizziness after being hit by McAmmond early in the first period. Tully also needed three stitches to close a cut on his chin. Stillman was gone early in the third period with a bruised left shoulder.
The Broncos got two goals from Holt and a single from Schneider.
Hnilicka was gone at 8:58 of the third period, replaced by Ian Gordon after Pronger scored the game's final goal. The Petes outshot the Broncos 32-25.
"We always seem to do things the hard way,” Bilodeau said. "The good thing is that we usually respond to pressure.”
James agreed.
"We've been in these situations before,” he said. "We can't play much worse than we did in a lot of areas, but we usually respond to a poor performance.”
Not this time.
Instead, they were shocked 4-3 by Laval in front of 3,985 fans on May 19.
"We allowed two goals on one shift -- and that proved to be the game,” Krywulak said.
Laval, which ended a six-game QMJHL losing streak against WHL teams, got two goals from Yannick Dube within 24 seconds in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
"All tournament I have had the chances,” said Dube, who hadn't scored prior to this game. "I got the chances again and there was no way I was going to miss them.”
Lapointe and Veilleux also scored for Laval, which outshot the Broncos 35-33.
Wright, Holt and Schneider replied for the Broncos. Holt left the game in the second period with a bruised collarbone and strained neck muscles. He already was slowed by a sprained ankle and lower back problems.
"It almost looks like we're dead tired when we take to the ice,” Rob Daum, the Broncos' assistant general manager and assistant head coach, said. "If we wore down as the game progressed, I could understand that, but we haven't been able to do anything from the start.”
To win the Memorial Cup, the Broncos were now faced with playing three different teams over the next three days and having to win all three games.
"It's difficult to envision coming back against three top teams in three nights,” James admitted. "It's certainly something we didn't desire, but we have no choice now.”
The round-robin concluded on May 20 with the Soo beating the Petes 7-3 before 4,433 fans.
Penney, with two, Reid, Kowalsky, Gavey, Toms and Intranuovo scored for the Greyhounds, with linemates Dawe, Harding and Roche scoring for the Petes.
The victory left both teams with 2-1 records but, because they beat the Petes, the Greyhounds were into the final for a second straight season.
"This is a great feeling,” Intranuovo said. "This is the third time in a row we've been to the Memorial Cup and now we're getting a second chance at the final.
"I know how it is to lose. I want to finish my junior career on a high note.”
Swift Current and Laval, both 1-2, now would play a tiebreaker, with the winner meeting Peterborough in the semifinal game.
By now, the Broncos were completely distracted by what they saw as inferior officiating.
"We worked on cheating a bit,” James said of his team's May 20 practice. "We worked on preventing guys from skating, which seems to be the name of the game here.
"When you're tackling guys and hauling them down, it's cheating. The way they're calling it here, it seems to be within the rules.”
James also knew that the Broncos would have to adapt or it would be over for them.
"We're here, so we have to adapt to the way the game is being played,” he said. "We have to do a better job of grabbing on to people. There seems to be no limit to the interference.
"As they say, when in Rome . . .”
The tournament ended for the Broncos on May 21 when they lost 4-3 to Laval in front of 3,910 fans.
The Titan held 2-0 and 3-1 leads only to have the Broncos tie it 3-3. Swift Current's title dreams ended when Patrick Cassin scored with 34.1 seconds left in the third period. That would be Cassin's only point of the tournament.
"I just wanted to go to the net,” Cassin said after scoring off a pass from Marc Beaucage. "I put my stick on it and it went in.”
Dube, with two, and Veilleux scored for Laval, which had problems solving Hnilicka, who stopped 33 shots.
Bilodeau, defenceman Darren Perkins and Holt, with his fifth goal of the event, scored for Swift Current.
"There are so many highs and lows in a season,” Krywulak said. "We went from being one game away from the final to having our season over.”
Bilodeau added: "It's our own fault. We had an opportunity, we didn't grab it and we paid for it.”
The Broncos, normally a high-flying offensive team, were outshot 14-0 in the first 17 minutes of the first period.
"We came here and we didn't play as well as we could,” said Daum. "That's the bottom line.”
Laval took the exit door the following night, losing 3-1 to Peterborough in the semifinal game as the Petes established a Memorial Cup record by advancing to their fifth final. They and the New Westminster Bruins had been tied at four appearances each.
Laval's Michael Gaul ended a scoreless game with the only goal of the second period before 4,101 fans. But the Petes won it with three third-periods goals, two of them by Harding and the last an empty-netter by Tully.
The Greyhounds, who went 0-3 two years previous and then lost in the 1992 final, completed the climb by beating the Petes 4-2 in the final on May 23 before 4,757 celebrating fans.
"The crowd was as big a part of this as the players,” Nolan said. "They supported us from Day 1. It was incredible.”
If there was a hero of this championship game it had to be Intranuovo, who spent the night before the final in hospital passing a kidney stone.
"I was really scared,” he said. "I was crying in the hospital, thinking I might not be able to play. The pain was so bad.
"I said, ‘Please, make the pain go away.' If it was going to come back, I hoped it would be another day. I wanted to play in the Memorial Cup final.”
He did. And he set up the first goal and scored the second.
Hodson stopped 45 shots as his mates held period leads of 3-0 and 4-0.
Sullivan and Penney also scored for the Soo, with Toms picking up three helpers. Black and Weir scored for the Petes.
No member of the Greyhounds was any happier than Kowalsky. He had scored three game-winning goals in the 1992 tournament, but it was his errant pass that led to the winning goal in a 5-4 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
"I tried to put that out of my mind because I didn't want it to affect me,” Kowalsky said. "I had enough difficulty trying to sleep over the summer.
"It was tough to see Kamloops carrying the Cup. It drove us to come back and win it. To do that is an incredible feeling.”
Dawe was quick to credit Hodson.
"He was unbelievable,” Dawe said. "What can I say? He stopped everything we threw at him, except two goals.
"This is one of those things you have to forget. That's hockey. We had lots of opportunities to score and we never capitalized. That's life.”
The tournament drew 37,675 fans to its nine games, for an average attendance of 4,186. Not bad for a facility that seated 3,603.
The Greyhounds became the second host team to win the Memorial Cup, the other being the 1983 Portland Winter Hawks.
And, in the end, the Greyhounds finally earned some respect in the awards department.
Intranuovo was named the most valuable player and Hodson was selected the top goaltender. Hodson, Bannister, Intranuovo and Penney were on the all-star team, along with Gaul and Lapointe. Dawe was selected the most sportsmanlike player.
Harding wasn't named to the all-star team although he led the tournament in points, with 13.
As the tournament ended, the Soo's police force was on alert. But a quiet time was had by all.
"It was all good partying,” said a police spokesperson. "There was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Everything went very well.”
Indeed, it had.

NEXT: 1994 (Kamloops Blazers, North Bay Centennials, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Laval Titan)