'O' And 'Dub' Get It On In Memorial Cup Final

• The best from the Western Hockey League will meet the beast from the East, the Ontario Hockey League champions, in the Memorial Cup final. Adam Henrique scored at the 4:31 mark of overtime leading the Windsor Spitfires to a 3-2 victory over the Drummondville Voltigeurs. So it's the Kelowna Rockets and Windsor Spitfires in Sunday's final (AM-1150 pre-game show at 1 - play-by-play at 1:30).
• A good start by both teams as the first whistle doesn't come until 4 and a half minutes into the opening period. Two quick goals just over two minutes apart from Taylor Hall and Ben Shutron had the Ontario Hockey League champions heading to the dressing room with a 2-0 lead.
• My favourite Voltigeur scored early in the second period to make it a one goal game. Samson Mahbod snapped a low shot past Spitfires goaltender Andrew Engelage to make it a hockey game. Had the Spitfires scored the next goal to make it 3-0, it would have been lights out for the 'Q' champs.
• Why is Mahbod my favourite Voltigeur? On the second day we arrived in Rimouski I made small talk with him as we were sitting in the stands. He was a great help as I asked him how to pronounce the Oceanic players names before game one between Rimouski and Kelowna.
• Taylor Hall is a smart player. After shooting the puck after the whistle, Hall gets a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. When Drummondville defenceman Dmitry Kulikov takes exception to the late shot and touches Hall, the 17 year-old goes down like Kulikov has the strength of Hercules.
• You won't often see a delay of game penalty as a result of a player shooting the puck from his defensive zone over the glass at the other end of the rink. Spitfires defenceman Mark Cundari did just that in the second period by firing the puck down the ice from inside his own blue line with such velocity that it went over the glass behind Voltigeurs goaltender Marc Cousineau. Ok, now I officially hate the rule. To say Cundari was attempting to fire the puck over the glass by drilling it to the other end is laughable.
• The save of the Memorial Cup came in overtime when Drummondville goaltender Marco Cousineau slides across to get his left leg down on Spitfires forward Greg Nemisz, robbing him of a sure goal. That was one of many reasons why Cousineau was named the first star.
• You have to enjoy Voltigeurs head coach Guy Boucher's spunk. Often animated behind the bench, he likes to often joke with the media at news conferences, win or lose.
• The Kelowna Rockets are almost the unforgotten team in this tournament. They haven't taken to the ice for a game in four days now. If you just landed here in Rimouski from outer space, you'd swear this was a three team tournament.
• One stat the Western Hockey League has to look at is adding shots by an individual player on the game sheet. The QMJHL provides that statistic for every game that is played. It's an interesting stat to see who was trigger happy at the end of the night.
• What's with the Quebec referee calling a penalty late in the game in a 2-2 tie? Jean Hebert makes the call against Drummondville, then misses an infraction nearby when a Voltigeur is pulled down. I hate when the referee goes out of his way to look for fouls against the league he represents in an effort to look impartial.
• Three fans from Brandon, Manitoba made it down to the Memorial Cup. All three had their shirts off, were painted with yellow from the neck to their waist and were chanting 'Go Wheat Kings Go'. The three likely had their shirts off because they felt like it was a summer day back in Manitoba. Today's temperature in Rimouski was +14.
• Even the referee's have their fans. Four guys dressed up as referee's with flashing goal lights made their presence known Friday night at the Colisee. They were shown on the score clock chanting 'Go Ref's Go".
• My understanding is the Rockets will leave Rimouski Monday morning at 11:20 local time. That means we should fly in to Kelowna International Airport at around 4:30 Monday afternoon BC time.