Top 5 wacky MasterCard Memorial Cup moments
They are Memorial Cup moments junior hockey fans will never forget. They're the ones that might not happen on the ice - the great goal or big save - but are extremely memorable nonetheless. Here are the five wackiest moments of the Canadian Hockey League's championship tournament (or at least the weirdest moments we could find with accompanying video).
A LITTLE PIECE OF VICTORY
Watching this video clip never ever gets old. Maybe it's the look of sheer horror on the face of Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton as the coveted Memorial Cup breaks in his hands as he's trying to pass the trophy to teammate Trevor Glass. Maybe it's the sight of Bruton and Glass standing there dumbfounded as the fans in the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium boo them mercilessly. Or perhaps it’s the part where Brunton tries to "fix" the broken Cup. The part where Glass hoists the lonely base is pretty classic too, so we’ll give our vote to "all of the above".
WHOA CANADA:
What better way to celebrate the national anthem and the 1996 tournament in Peterborough, than to have local "rock legend" and Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach sing O' Canada? It made sense at the time since his brother, goaltender Zac Bierk, was the starter for the host and OHL champion Peterborough Petes. For those of us lucky to have been in the arena it was definitely one of those moments where you looked around and asked, "Um, what the H.E. double hockey sticks just happened to O' Canada?" Super tight pants, a swinging microphone, big hair, over the top rock and hockey.
THE OL' BRAWL GAME:
It's not every day you see a fight at the Memorial Cup, let alone a full-on line brawl. But that's what happened between the Spokane Chiefs and Chicoutimi Sagueneens at the 1991 Memorial Cup in Quebec City. For those of you familiar with the work of one Kerry Toporowski -- he of the 859 PIMs in 130 career WHL games with Spokane – the fact that there was a Memorial melee will come as no surprise. The part where Toporowski drops a few elbows to the head of Chicoutimi's Eric Duchesne is particularly heartwarming. Old-time hockey! Eddie Shore!
HAVE CUP, WILL TRAVEL
The trophy itself was dedicated to honour to the brave soldiers who died during World War I and as such the tournament has a long, proud history with Canada's military. This was never more apparent than during the 2007 Memorial Cup in Vancouver when the host committee brought the trophy to town via the Halifax-class frigate HMSC Vancouver, search and rescue helicopter, an armoured vehicle with a police escort and the large hands of Edmonton Oilers coach Pat Quinn, who looks like he's just stepped out of an SCTV skit.
A SPRINKLING OF FUN
Windsor Spitfires forward Conor O'Donnell was definitely not the most gifted player at the 2009 Memorial Cup, but he was the only member of the Spitfires to win over the hearts of the hometown crowd in Rimouski, Que., when he was shown on the video scoreboard doing the Sprinkler. This was a common occurrence in Windsor, but to take his show on the road in a hostile environment showed he had guts. (Either that or no one with the Spitfires bothered to telling him they were taking that clip to Rimouski).
And just in case you thought Memorial Cup scoreboards were his forte… he probably does birthday parties, too.
Sunaya Sapurji is the junior hockey editor at Yahoo! Sports. You can contact her at: sunaya@yahoo-inc.com
