Tag: hockey

Saginaw Spirit – 2024 Memorial Cup Champions

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Saginaw hosted the 2024 Memorial Cup and we were lucky to have tickets for the Championship game on Sunday night.

The Memorial Cup is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played among the champions of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL), and a host team, which alternates on an annual basis between the three member leagues.

[…]

The Memorial Cup is sometimes referred to as one of the hardest championships to win in hockey, factoring in the number of teams across the CHL’s member leagues nationwide, the Memorial Cup tournament being played between their top teams, and the limited eligibility period for players to compete at the major junior level.

Wikipedia

The Spirit held a 3-0 lead at one point and the London Knights tied it up in the third period. Then Saginaw scored the 4-3 game winner with 21 seconds left in the game. It was amazing!

The Spirit came to Saginaw in 2002 and this is the city’s first Memorial Cup. The CHL web site has a great game highlights video.

Goodbye Joe

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Last night I attended one last Detroit Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena with some friends. Next year the team will be moving to the brand new Little Caesars Arena. They lost 5-4 to Toronto, but the team is rebuilding and it’s been a down year, so it wasn’t that surprising. It’s just a little bittersweet that the final year at “The Joe” is the first year since the 1989-90 season that the Wings will miss the playoffs. I don’t really know a spring without them playing after the regular season; I was 10 years old the last time this happened!

I’ve been to several games over the years and have posted about some of them on this blog:

My Mom is a big Wings fan, so I took her to a playoff game in 2015…

mom-wings.jpg

The NHL game has changed a lot throughout this Red Wings playoff streak. A former player, Kris Draper, recently published an excellent article titled There Will be Blood to The Players’ Tribune, which tells stories that contributed to many of the changes.

There have also been some strikes and lockouts during the playoff streak. Due to the lockout during the 2004-05 season I was able to experience one of my favorite professional sports related memory. On New Year’s Eve that year, my Dad and I found ourselves playing poker with Darren McCarty in a St. Ignace casino. If it hadn’t been for the lockout he never would have been there.

So there have been a lot of great Red Wings memories and visits to Joe Louis Arena. It was fun to get in one last trip. Detroit hockey is long overdue for a new home as the building is quite old and outdated. Every guy who has been there can tell you how weird it is to piss in the community trough urinals. Compared to any arena these days, it really is a shit hole.

A Sporting Thanksgiving

Nick Momrik2 Comments

As posted previously, I attended a few professional sports events over the Thanksgiving holiday. Last Wednesday (Nov. 23) my parents left Rogers City bright and early. I’m not sure why they came down so early, but I wasn’t too happy that they interrupted my Xbox 360 time since I had just hooked it up the night before. Luckily they went off to do a little shopping and I had a little more time by myself. We met up with my brother and ate lunch at the mall.

Warning! This post might be a novel since it’s been weeks since my last “real” update.

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Red Wings Can't Be Beat

Nick Momrik1 Comment

I haven’t watched any Red Wings hockey games yet this year, but I’ve been following the scores. They’re 12-1-0 which puts them 6 points ahead of the 2nd best team in the NHL!! They have 24 points which is 33% more than 2nd best Vancouver with 18.

Everyone thought it would be a down year for the Wings. Quite the opposite. Before last year’s lockout the Red Wings were the highest paid team in the league, so the new salary cap was supposed to cripple the team from Motown. The team had to get rid of some quality players, but they seem to be doing just fine. Manny Legace has finally got his chance as a starting goalie and he’s having a hell of a year.