Portland VS Halifax: Memorial Cup Final

no goal

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faxplease

I have been watching and following junior hockey since 1979 ... I simply dont recall a big game ...championship game where one player (non goalie) ...one player was the difference - absolutely dominating performance by McKinnon

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Scott Sepich

The Hawks had one more push, scoring twice in the last six minutes to pull within 5-4, but Nathan MacKinnon scored his third goal of the game into an empty net to give the Mooseheads their first Memorial Cup title.

“The guys are pretty upset,” said Portland acting head coach Travis Green about coming up one win short. “They played hard all year and losing a game of this magnitude is tough.

“We didn’t have the first period that we wanted but showed a lot of heart to get back into it. As a coach I have to be proud of the way our team fought back.”

What can you say?

That 3 goal lead the 'Hawks spotted the Moose is gonna sink you almost every time.  This one was different, in that generally when giving up the first 3 goals you can point to mistakes:  the goalie should have had this one, the D man had a bad pinch - sending the opposition on a odd man break, etc.  It felt to me that all of the Halifax goals were just really good players making unstoppable plays.   I'm not sure you can point to much and say, "If player X would have done a better job...."

The 2nd period was fun -  bringing the 'Hawks right back into the game.  I had to remind some folks that this team was capable of scoring 3, 4, 5 - or more - goals in a game.  They had done it all year.  The 4 they ended up with wasn't enough on this night.

Of course you can play 'what if' - Taylor Leier was having a hell of a tournament prior to his injury.  Bittner didn't seem to click on that line, although they didn't have much time to adjust to each other.  Preston Kopeck was having a pretty good playoff run as well - played his role just as he was asked to.

There was the crossbar that Bjorkstand rung - 1" lower on the shot, and its a tie game.  I really thought that Rattie disallowed goal was going to stand: anywhere else on the ice, if the puck goes off of a player from the other team, the hand pass is canceled.  Ethier one of those plays goes in the 'Hawks favor, and we might have a different outcome.

They made it to the last possible game, and were in it for 59 minutes.  In any other league, 16 wins = hoist the cup and go home.  58 other CHL teams would love to trade places with the 'Hawks.  Its just gonna be hard to realize how special that WHL championship is after coming so close to the Memorial Cup.
 

Portland VS Halifax: Memorial Cup Final preview

The Winterhawks victory over London puts them in the Memorial Cup Championship Game.  Its been an interesting tournament, and the main thing to consider is everything is based off of such a small sample size.  That being said, lets look at these teams and where they are trending.

How Portland got here:

7-4 loss to Halifax

6-3 win vs London

4-2 win vs Saskatoon

2-1 win vs London

 Goaltending is critical in any situation, but its never more critical than a single elimination tournament.  In 4 games, Carruth allowed 7,3,2, and 1 goals - in that order.  The logical conclusion would be to give up zero on Sunday, so you heard it here first.  He was bad in that first game, vs Halifax, and he'll be the first to tell you that. Most of us thought he would rebound from that game, and he has.

Dylan Bumbarger made the point coming into this tournament that the round robin portion was essentially a series of "Game 1's" - and the 'Hawks were 2-2 in Game 1's this playoff year.  That includes a loss to Everett, who had half the wins that Portland earned.  They also were 4-0 in Game 2's, which demonstrates their ability to make adjustments & correct mistakes.  London was the only team they've seen twice, and took care of business.  They have game tape vs Halifax, and know exactly what mistakes were made.

Special teams have been an issue all week.  By my math, Portland's powerplay is clicking at 12.5% right now, after going 24.5% on the powerplay in the WHL playoffs and 23.4% in the regular season.  I've heard a lot about bad ice, which really hurts the kind of flashy plays these guys thrive on, but you'd like to think they can adapt.  A goal (or 2) would go a long ways in the final.

The penalty kill has been even more of a problem:  a 64.3 % kill rate is a failing grade.  The PK was 93.7% in the playoffs and  87.9% in the regular season, and its my opinion that killing penalties was the #1 reason for team success this year.  The 'Hawks gave up 4 PPG's against in the entire WHL playoffs (while scoring 5 shorthanded), and have given up 5 this week.

A stellar special teams performance, and we are likely celebrating a Memorial Cup win on Memorial Day.

How Halifax got here:

7-4 win vs Portland

5-2 loss to Saskatoon

9-2 win vs London

I think the Mooseheads are smoke & mirrors.

They won 2 games, against Portland & London.  As we touched upon earlier, Carruth was terrible in that game.  Its been thrown around that 5 of those goals were bad - if he stops those, that game is 4-2 the other way.

The London game featured a complete goaltending disaster.  To recap, London committed to Stolarz for the OHL playoffs, and he was good.  In the league finals, they went down 3-1, and went with Patterson for the final 3 games - which they won.  No one knew who they would go with for Game 1 vs Saskatoon.  London played 2 round robin games featuring both goalies, and 1 game where the starter finished.  Give credit to Patterson for a good game VS Portland in the elimination round, but that's a different topic.

The other game Halifax played, they lost 5-2 to Saskatoon:  a team that had lost their last 13 postseason games.  What did the Blades have going for them?  Competent goaltending.  The only game that Halifax was in this week where they saw decent goaltending, they scored 2 goals & lost.  

The simple answer is to employ an above-average goalie performance against them, and the 'Hawks have the guy for that.

 Conclusion:

This game features a team that's played every other day since the tournament began VS a team that last played on Tuesday, going on Sunday.  You hear all the time about getting into a rhythm, they love to play every other day.  

The loss of Taylor Leier is pretty big, and the good fortune the 'Hawks have enjoyed with few major injuries this season were huge in their success.   Bittner hasn't clicked on the 2nd line just yet, but we've seen what he can do when given the opportunity, and the future is really bright with this kid.  Portland's depth is solid:  they've got kids in street clothes good enough to star on a lot of WHL teams.

This is a matchup where one goalie has 17 league playoff games of experience, and the other has 18 games of league finals experience.  Fucale is a much hyped 17, who is getting 1st round draft talk.  He might turn out to be something truly special, and that's great - but on Sunday he's still going to be a 17 year old goalie up against an overager with a pro contract in his pocket.  I like these odds.

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Portland V Halifax: Memorial Cup game 1

video highlights

Halifax’s speed spun circles around Portland (video)

MacKinnon took over game vs. Portland (video)

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scooterpbp

So, before I read anything below, would it surprise any of you that I predict right now we win the Cup? 

Dylan Bumbarger, community blogger

I can see the case for it

Dylan Bumbarger, community blogger

only problem now is they're in the position where a bad luck game sinks you 

chlfan

As long as the bad luck game does not happen in an elimination game, the Hawks should be OK.

Scott Sepich:

"It's obviously not the start we wanted," said Portland acting head coach Travis Green. "I thought we played really well for 25 to 27 minutes, but then the game got away from us for about 10 minutes there."

It was an especially rough night for Hawks goalie Mac Carruth, who allowed seven goals on 35 shots. The four-year WHL veteran posted a 1.63 goals-against average in the playoffs, but never looked comfortable Saturday as shots he normally stops kept finding a way to trickle past him.

When asked if he ever considered lifting Carruth for backup Brendan Burke, Green simply said, "No."

Windsor Star

Nathan MacKinnon scored at even strength, on the power play and while shorthanded in the second period Saturday as the Halifax Mooseheads exploded for five straight goals to defeat the Portland Winterhawks 7-4 in the first game at the MasterCard Memorial Cup for both teams in Saskatoon.

The slick centre from Cole Harbour, N.S., also added an assist to his hat trick, while Martin Frk, with a goal and an assist, Jonathan Drouin, Luca Ciampini and Stephen MacAuley also scored for Halifax. Zachary Fucale made 37 saves to get the win for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions, who got two assists from MacKenzie Weegar.

Willy Palov

Once the teams settled down during the first intermission, the game really opened up. Troy Rutkowski gave the Winterhawks their first lead of the game when his wrist shot from the point beat Fucale through a screen 39 seconds into the second period. Ty Rattie then put Portland ahead 3-1 92 seconds later with a nice backhand after cutting into the slot.

But Halifax's Jonathan Drouin responded just 65 seconds when he chipped a rebound over Carruth to cut the lead to 3-2. Nathan MacKinnon squared the game at 3-3 80 seconds later when he tipped Brendan Duke's point shot. The goal capped a combined four-goal outburst that lasted fewer than four minutes.

 I think this game is as simple as Carruth had a bad game.  I've been on record backing the guy, especially after Game 5 of the Finals.  Mac Carruth is the reason that the 'Hawks are in the Memorial Cup.  The way he plays the game is comprised of many double edged swords, chriping, being involved physically, actively playing the puck, etc etc etc.  He's a character - one that doesn't come around very often.  Kid is polarizing, but the numbers speak for themselves - and you don't become the playoff wins leader in a league like the WHL on accident.  You dance with the one that brought you.

Carruth will respond. Most of the post-game reaction that I put stock into agrees.  Getting smacked in the face might be the best thing that could happen to this team early in this tournament: now they have some adversity to deal with.  They can run with that "backs against the wall" mentality.

I didn't see anything wrong with the 'Hawks that isn't correctable for Monday night.  I heard a few references to the team we saw tonight being last years 'Hawks - and that seems accurate.  They haven't slumped in this years playoffs, and they won't start now.

 "It's simple mistakes, a couple giveaways and loose guys that needed to be picked up, plus penalties we shouldn't have taken," Rattie said. "It's all things that can be fixed, and we'll be better Monday."