MONTREAL, QC.— Okay, so it’s just junior hockey.
Or so you would think.
Singular street-corner towns and bubbling, high-powered metropolii alike have witnessed the phenomenon that is regularly referred to as the MasterCard Memorial Cup. The most recent instalment was held in Mississauga, running from Friday, May 20th and culminating into the nerve-wrecking championship conclusion last night that saw the Saint John Sea Dogs fight off the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in order to win the game by a count of 3-1, capture the CHL honours and, in doing so, become the first Atlantic-based hockey team to win the Memorial Cup.
While far from the excess of glitz and glamour that the Stanley Cup playoffs pride in showering on the battles between division, conference and league rivals, for nine days, four teams from across the country that may or may not have ever had any history or bad blood between them suddenly become mortal enemies.
But on the fan spectrum of things, this could not be farther from the case.
Hockey-passionate people anywhere from a two-hour drive to a five-hour plane ride from the Memorial Cup site wear their team’s colours proudly at this tournament, and said team may not even necessarily be participating in the festivities. At the Hershey Centre everyone from the Guelph Storm (and Bertuzzi and Doughty, long-graduated, found their names on the backs of jerseys) to the Kelowna Rockets and even the Chicoutimi Saguenéens were represented, as their fans spoke proudly of next year’s plans for their team, and surprisingly, somewhat even more excitedly of their picks to take home all the bragging rights this season.
The streets are mostly bare until about 5 p.m., when the city’s buzz settles on one sporting centre. Live bands, beer tents and a myriad of other festivities highlighted 5500 Rose Cherry Place for those nine days, where everyone who attended became related in some sense. Owen Sound Attack fans sat directly next to some of the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors crew, sharing opposing memories of the seventh and deciding game of the OHL final between the two teams. There were fellow Saint John supporters passing by giving yours truly and her friend thumbs-up for excessively bright Dollarama-bought blue wigs or, even better, friends of Toronto-based Sea Dogs’ alumni deciding on a photo op with this blogger and her Howes shirt because yes, the world is that small. Hockey celebrity sightings are commonplace to the point where if one period has passed by and you haven’t seen about five people from the NHL or CHL world (in succession of one another, no less, mostly to leave room for the conspiracy theorists’ imaginations), you definitely need to change seats.
And when it’s game time, when that multi-coloured array of jerseys picks the side they’re cheering for, you’ll know it. If you’re not yelling at the top of your lungs yourself, shame on you. Teams with everything and nothing to prove put forth their established players with their feel-good stories (Jacob DeSerres, anyone?) and face off in a flurry of high-powered action that proves that this, and not their respective provincial league championships, is what they strive to accomplish the right to challenge for all year.
After all, it’s just junior hockey.
See you in Shawinigan.