“MOOSEHEADS MARCH” TO WIN MEMORIAL CUP

OLIVER FLINT/Ollie’s World of Writing

SASKATOON- The Halifax Mooseheads came out strong in Sundays Memorial Cup Final against the Portland Winterhawks winning 6-4 in regulation and capturing the MasterCard Memorial Cup. This is the first Memorial Cup win for the Mooseheads in franchise history and the first appearance in the tournament. Nathan MacKinnon of the Halifax Mooseheads was the player of the game with his first career hat trick goal into an empty net with only 22 seconds left in the game.

The Mooseheads landed first in the Quebec Major Hockey League winning the President’s Trophy and sending them to the Memorial Cup Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

“From the get go, we knew it was going to be a tough road for the team, never playing in the championship before, but I had a good feeling about these guys, and it paid off” stated Moosehead Head Coach Dominique Ducharme during the post-game interviews.

Konrad Abeltshauser scored the opening goal after 6:31, blasting a point shot past Mac Carruth with the Mooseheads on the power play.  Nathan MacKinnon doubled the lead 1:29 later, snapping home a shot from the slot for his fifth goal of the tournament. Many Winterhawk players were looking for redemption against the top rated Halifax Mooseheads after an embarrassing 7-4 loss to the Mooseheads in the round robin stage of the tournament; this caused a very aggressive game style in the early stages of the game from the Winterhawks.

Halifax native Nathan MacKinnon was named the Memorial Cup Final MVP with 3 goals totaling 5 points in Sunday’s game. Head coach Dominique Ducharme said that even though he’s used to seeing his two stars Drouin and MacKinnon rise to the challenge on a nightly basis, their effort on this night is above and beyond.

After the first intermission, the Winterhawks came out a whole different team, outshooting the Mooseheads 18-6 and scoring twice in the period while having another goal waived off mid-way through the second period. 4-2 was the closest the game ever got. Nathan MacKinnon open net, hat trick goal in the third sealed it for the Mooseheads. 

Andrey Makarov of the tournament host Saskatoon Blades was named recipient of the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the tournament’s Top Goaltender, and Bo Horvat of the OHL Champion London Knights’ earned the George Parsons Trophy for Sportsmanship.

The Memorial Cup is now on route to its new home of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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