For the second time in four years the Hamilton Bulldogs are the alphas of the Ontario Hockey League and have punched their ticket to the Memorial Cup.
Avery Hayes had a hat trick and Mason McTavish scored two goals as Hamilton beat the Windsor Spitfires 6-1 Wednesday night at FirstOntario Centre to win the OHL Championship in seven games.
Hamilton’s Mason McTavish scored the ice-breaker just 2:04 into the game. It brought an OHL final record 11,779 fans at FirstOntario Centre to their feet when he took a cross ice pass from Patrick Thomas in the slot and blasted a one-timer behind Windsor netminder Mathias Onuska.
It was McTavish’s fifth goal of the series and the 15th tally of the playoffs for the Anaheim Ducks prospect in what was a penalty free first period.
The Bulldogs doubled their lead to 2-0 with 7:03 remaining in the second period when Avery Hayes tipped a point shot for his 13th goal of the post-season.
The goal was confirmed after video review for a potential high stick and even stood after Spitfires head coach Marc Savard challenged for goaltender interference.
Hayes doubled down 6:18 into the third frame when McTavish won an offensive zone face-off back to Logan Morrison who put it in his teammate’s wheelhouse for a quick one-timer.
“I knew I was due for one,” said Hayes of winning the league’s J. Ross Robertson Cup. “The puck hadn’t been bouncing my way all series so it feels good to have the puck to bounce my way and to have it in Game 7 and to win the series feels so go.”
The Bulldogs put the hammer down with just under seven minutes to go when Arber Xhekaj sent a cross crease pass to Jan Mysak who made no mistake and potted the puck into a wide open net.
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Despite having a handful of quality scoring chances throughout the contest, the Spitfires could not solve Dogs goalie Marco Costantini until late in the third when Alex Christopoulos broke the shutout bid with 6:22 to play.
McTavish and Hayes added empty net goals late in the period to round out the scoring.
Morrison, who had two assists in the victory, was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP after he recorded at least one point in each of Hamilton’s 19 playoff games.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee. “It takes a village to accomplish something like this and I’m just grateful to be a part of this moment.”
“This group is so special,” exclaimed Hamilton general manager Steve Staios. “The adversity that this team had faced being off for so long due to COVID-19 then we come back and have to deal with a multitude of injuries, but this team just continued to persevere.”
Now, it’s off to Saint John, New Brunswick for the 2022 Memorial Cup and Staios says they have one thing in mind, “go and win it.”
Hamilton will square off against the Western Hockey League champions, the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the host Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Bulldogs will open the tournament on Monday against the host team before facing Shawinigan on June 23 and Edmonton on June 24.
Hamilton hockey teams have won the Memorial Cup twice.
Led by the likes of Pit Martin, Lowell McDonald and 1972 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson, the Hamilton Red Wings were the first to do it in 1962 by defeating the Edmonton Oil Kings four games to one.
The tournament was held at Hamilton’s old Barton Street Arena, as well as arenas in Guelph and Kitchener.
In 1976, the Hamilton Fincups celebrated a Memorial Cup victory by defeating the New Westminster Bruins 5-2 in the tournament final at the old Montreal Forum.
Fincups captain Dale McCourt was named the tournament MVP and was awarded a TV set for his efforts, and teammate Joe Contini scored a natural hat-trick within 72 seconds in the final game which still stands as a Memorial Cup record.
OHL Championship
Game 1, Fri., June 3 at Hamilton (Spitfires 4, Bulldogs 3, OT)
Game 2 , Sun., June 5 at Hamilton (Bulldogs 5, Spitfires 4)
Game 3, Mon., June 6 at Windsor, (Spitfires 6, Bulldogs 3)
Game 4, Fri., June 10 at Windsor (Bulldogs 3, Spitfires 2, OT)
Game 5, Sun., June 12 at Hamilton (Bulldogs 3, Spitfires 2)
Game 6, Mon., June 13 at Windsor, (Spitfires 5, Bulldogs 2)
Game 7, Wed., June 15 at Hamilton, (Bulldogs 6, Spitfires 1)
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