Defending champ is guaranteed a spot and hosts it?
Seems simple to me, if they also win their league let the team who finished 2nd come. At least all 4 teams will have made the finals or at least deserve to be there to defend the title.
Not all franchises can host the Cup. To see Shawinigan being able to host it is an anomaly.
And having the defending champ would be worst than having an actual host. It's not usual to see a team being a contender two years in a row.
Even though Shawinigan lost in the second round, they were still the second best team in the Q all year. They deserved to be there.
I understand the partying and drinking out of the cup and all but come on, show some respect! That is a disgrace to our history and the game itself.
Exactly .... I can't believe how bad it looks .... I hope that we find out it accidently fell out o a vehicle or out of a hotel roof, otherwise how the hell could it get so beat up?
Exactly .... I can't believe how bad it looks .... I hope that we find out it accidently fell out o a vehicle or out of a hotel roof, otherwise how the hell could it get so beat up?
It's the hardest trophy in hockey to win, and it's a tribute to our nation's dead soldiers. These are young men who should understand that and treat it with the respect it deserves. I understand some guy fessed up to it on twitter (Gord Donelly's kid). he claims he lost his balance and dropped it. At that point it was already missing the hockey figures on either side of the bowl. Even though this clown says it was an accident, if you're treating something with respect this doesn't happen. Now there will be players on that team who won't get their day with the trophy because it has to go back for repairs and miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate with the friends and family who helped make a championship possible.
I want to hear some possible solutions for the fourth team? You cant really have a three team tournament.
Why dont I hear the same complaint when an NCAA team wins the National Title despite not winning their conference tournament?
The reason why theres a host team because the host team is the draw and brings money to the tournament. Simple as that. Shawinigan was a very good team that just had a speed bump at the wrong time of the season.
You could have the three champions seeded based on regular season performance. Then, you have #2 host #3 in a best of 3 series. The winner would play against #1 in a best of 5, hosted by #1.
There is always a way to make it work. Having a team that didn't earn their way to the party just isn't right.
Did you read the post? They were a HOST team that DID NOT win their league. They didn't deserve to be in the tournament - just like 90% of host teams in the Memorial Cup.
What's all this insecurity about being a Q team? I couldn't care less if they were from the moon.
The problem is you DO need a host team, I dont understand how people dont get that.
The planning for the memorial cup when Moncton hosted started a year in advance from the day it was announced they were hosting.
A tournament of this calibre takes SO much more planning than anyone realizes, from not just a hockey perspective, but also a marketing and advertisement standpoint.
If a city only found out the day all Playoffs were done, and only had a couple of weeks to plan where everyone is going to stay, ice times, marketing for the tournament, etc.. then we would see an AWFUL, just awful tournament put together.
There absolutely 100% NEEDS to be a host team, as there is just so much more planning involved than anyone here realizes.
The problem is you DO need a host team, I dont understand how people dont get that.
The planning for the memorial cup when Moncton hosted started a year in advance from the day it was announced they were hosting.
A tournament of this calibre takes SO much more planning than anyone realizes, from not just a hockey perspective, but also a marketing and advertisement standpoint.
If a city only found out the day all Playoffs were done, and only had a couple of weeks to plan where everyone is going to stay, ice times, marketing for the tournament, etc.. then we would see an AWFUL, just awful tournament put together.
There absolutely 100% NEEDS to be a host team, as there is just so much more planning involved than anyone here realizes.
Odd that the Stanley Cup finals somehow seems to manage.
You could have the three champions seeded based on regular season performance. Then, you have #2 host #3 in a best of 3 series. The winner would play against #1 in a best of 5, hosted by #1.
There is always a way to make it work. Having a team that didn't earn their way to the party just isn't right.
PLEASE read my post after this. Its people like you that frustrate the hell out of me.
You need to learn how much planning goes into this tournament. The year Moncton hosted was the busiest year of my life, work-wise, trying to help put this tournament together.
It is literally IMPOSSIBLE to put together a quality tournament such as The Memorial Cup in just a few weeks
Hell even minor hockey PeeWee tournaments take more than a few weeks worth of planning.
How is the Stanley cup finals even remotely similar to the memorial cup, please explain.
Im excited to hear this.
Maybe you can give some insight into what is needed besides booking the arena for a couple weeks? Obviously there's more than that but I'm talking about stuff that doesn't apply to any other hockey series.
I guess I just don't see the "impossibility" of planning a 4 team tournament in a week or so...
Maybe you can give some insight into what is needed besides booking the arena for a couple weeks? Obviously there's more than that but I'm talking about stuff that doesn't apply to any other hockey series.
I guess I just don't see the "impossibility" of planning a 4 team tournament in a week or so...
Booking the arena for a couple weeks is much harder to do than people realize when its last minute like that. If the team thinks they have a chance at the memorial cup and book the ice times "just in case", and then dont make it to the Memorial cup then your looking at a sizeable amount of lost revenue that many teams dont want to waste.
Some teams also cannot afford to host the Memorial Cup, or have the facilities to be able to do so. For example Moncton, unless we get the new arena we are hoping for, will likely never be able to host the Memorial Cup again, even though the event was considered a success. The reason being was that our arena is not suitable for quality camera views that the tournament committee was looking for.
Also, TV contracts need to be placed with the cities, which takes much longer than a week or so to come to an agreement on. This gets a little harder to explain but I can go into detail if you like.
Theres also the smaller things such as advertising and marketing, Hotel arrangements, staffing, etc.. Things that still take longer than a week.
Long story short its an expensive tournament to host, something that not all cities can handle.
They didn't earn it, I kinda think they should just do Semi-finals, they just do it because one is WHL, QMJHL and OHL champions, complicated I know, pretty much why I hate host cities, I don't even know what they should do, but the only ones that deserve to be there is the team that makes it.
Actually, they should just do every year and just say that a WHL/QMJHL/OHL team will host it, the finalist is the 4th team, that sounds more fair to me, but they host it unexpectedly.
Team with the best regular season + PO record combined that doesn't win make it in?
Maybe you can give some insight into what is needed besides booking the arena for a couple weeks? Obviously there's more than that but I'm talking about stuff that doesn't apply to any other hockey series.
I guess I just don't see the "impossibility" of planning a 4 team tournament in a week or so...
The Memorial Cup is a big event. Teams prepare months in advance. There are lots of activities and things to plan outside hockey. You can't sell tickets 50-80$ for 6 games in 7 days in a matter of a week or so. It takes a lot of marketing across Canada. There are a lot of people who comes from far away. They can't plan leaving their job for a week at the last minute to attend the Memorial Cup. That kind of tournament needs planning, months in advance, just like a World championship.
If you see the event in person one day, you'll understand...
Did you read the post? They were a HOST team that DID NOT win their league. They didn't deserve to be in the tournament - just like 90% of host teams in the Memorial Cup.
What's all this insecurity about being a Q team? I couldn't care less if they were from the moon.
...Other than being a Q team, what's the problem with Shawinigan?
Look, adress the EXACT SAME BLAME to another team, then comeback to me.
Dillon Donnelly @D_Donnelly2
Breaking the memorial cup was an accident. I picked it up lost my balance and dropped it, there was no intention to break it, I'm sorry
Dillon Donnelly @D_Donnelly2
Breaking the memorial cup was an accident. I picked it up lost my balance and dropped it, there was no intention to break it, I'm sorry
I don't buy it. Look at the handles, undamaged. They are the same hight or very close to it and should of had some damage - I don't see any. With the amount of damage, that is a lot of force.
