Memorial Cup set

The Moncton Wildcats downed the Saint John Sea Dogs last night to win the QMJHL title 4 games to 2. So with that, the field and schedule for the Memorial Cup is set:

Fri May 14: Brandon Wheat Kings (host) vs Windsor Spitfires (OHL champ), 7pm
Sat May 15: Calgary Hitmen (WHL champ) vs Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL champ), 2pm
Sun May 16: Brandon vs Moncton, 2pm
Mon May 17: Calgary vs Windsor, 7pm
Tue May 18: Moncton vs Windsor, 7pm
Wed May 19: Brandon vs Calgary, 7pm
Thu May 20: 3rd/4th place tiebreaker game (only if necessary), 7pm
Fri May 21: Semi-final (2nd vs 3rd), 7pm
Sun May 23: Final, 2pm
(all times Central)

As usual, the two teams from the host league have the best schedule. Neither Brandon nor Calgary need to play on back-to-back days this year - something Moncton and Windsor will need to do once each.

Despite my pro-WHL bias, I think the pre-tournament favourite probably has to be Windsor. They are the defending champs and their roster boasts 12 players who were on last year's team - a year older, better, and with that winning experience. And in those 10 or so players that weren't there last year, they have added a couple big-time players like Cam Fowler and Zack Kassian. I think they have to be favoured.

That said, this tournament is all about one-game showdowns. I might pick Windsor to take Brandon or Calgary out in a best-of-seven series but for the Wheaties and Hitmen, beating Windsor is just about being the best in one game on Friday or Sunday. And I think both Brandon and Calgary stack up well enough that they can beat the Spitfires for 60 minutes.

I don't know much about Moncton....what I do know though is that it seems like the QMJHL has a boom-or-bust history when it comes to the Memorial Cup. Their team is either good enough to win, or bad enough for last. The "Q" has only won one of the last nine Memorial Cups and haven't been in the Sunday final since 2006, but before that they did have a stretch of putting at least one team into the final for seven straight years. We'll have to wait until Saturday to see how the Wildcats stack up against the Hitmen before we'll have a feel for how good they'll be this year.

One last thing: the last seven times the WHL has hosted the Memorial Cup, a WHL team has won the title. Not since 1986 has a WHL-hosted Memorial Cup seen the champion come from another league; the WHL champ has won five times and the WHL host has won three times (Kamloops in 1995 was both the WHL champ AND the host). So, good karma for Brandon and Calgary? Let's hope so.....