28 | May | 2012 | Daniel .. Toronto, Canada

Archive for May 28th, 2012

The Shawinigan ‘Cataractes’ win the Memorial Cup beating London Knights in OT 2-1

Shawinigan, Quebec - The Shawinigan Cataractes beat the London Knights 2-1 in OT to capture the Mastercard Memorial Cup as they hosted the tournament in hometown Shawinigan, Quebec Sunday night.

In a hard-played Memorial Cup final, Shawinigan Cataractes were down 1-0 in the first period, but came back to win the Mastercard Memorial Cup in the first overtime at 17:51, and capture the title for the first time in 43 years.

If you only recorded and extra hour of the game you missed the final goal, but the over 5000 in attendance didn’t miss a beat as the hometown crowd went ballistic, at the Bionest Centre which only seats 4,125.

One annoying thing at the Memorial Cup was the fans that were allowed to bring air horns into the arena. As far as I know they are not allowed in any NHL arenas, but clapping and cheering is encouraged. They should be banned everywhere.

Anton Zlobin a Russian for Shawinigan, scored his first goal to tie the game in the second period, but came back to notch the winner in OT at 17:51.

The Knights only goal came early in the first by Ryan Rupert who has a brother on the team who have played well during the season together.

The Knights did have a four day layoff before the final, after winning the round robin, and may have rested them too much. Although the Cataractes were on a roll, as the final was their fourth game in five days.

Knights owner and previous coach of The Knights, Dale Hunter was sitting on the sidelines, as he just resigned as coach of the NHL’s Washington Capitals to be back with his own club. He relinquished the coaching duties to his brother Mark Hunter who he claims had done a wonderful job throughout the season.

Everyone has been asking and wondering what the name of the team means. ‘Cataractes’ is a french word and yet it doesn’t match the sweater.

From Wikipedia: The name ‘Cataractes’ often confuses English-speaking hockey fans. The name literally translates as ‘Cataracts’ meaning ‘Waterfalls,’ the team is named for Shawinigan Falls, a prominent waterfall in the city, even though they do not have a waterfall on their uniform.