Mississauga, Relevancy, and the Memorial Cup

On this installment of "What I Am About To Say Will Probably Get Me Killed!", something I learned while blogging about the Great Canadian Game: Never dis the Great Canadian Game! However, if you live in Mississauga and you want to mention more than a few things about junior hockey, you are not alone.

Sportsnet announcers Rob Faulds, Peter Loubardias, and Sam Cosentino are excited about the 2011 Memorial Cup in Mississauga. Counting the artist that put together the colourful front cover of the Wednesday edition of the Mississauga News, the number of people I know who are excited about the Memorial Cup reached a grand total of five and a half. Our great Mayor Hazel McCallion counts as one and a half (it's so possible)!

Owen Sound won this year's installment of the OHL Championship against the Mississauga...the St. Michael...no wait, let me get this right: The St. Michael's Majors of Mississauga in a thrilling and irrelevant seven-game series. No one will remember who won the OHL championship if the team you are playing against will not only host the season-ending tournament for the more prestigious and newsworthy trophy, but win it all because they bought their way in. With no exit ramp off the neighbouring 400-series highway, traffic along Matheson and Kennedy streets will become even more congested during the upcoming junior hockey bash. Adding insult to injury, Mississaugans ignored their hockey team with the scant hope of hosting the games to generate a cash flow, and give people a reason to come to the Hershey Center. Mississauga had another junior team before the Majors departed the cozy confines of Maple Leaf-happy Toronto for better attendance figures, and exposure.

Don Cherry's Mississauga Icedogs where a stable for future NHL talent like Chris O'Sullivan and Jason Spezza, but low expectations, the refusal to draft European players, and the personality of the team's fanatical owner put off city dwellers off the first installment of junior hockey (In the opinion of the writer, the idea of junior hockey working in Mississauga probably wouldn't get off the ground save the discovery northern neighbours Brampton were about to get a team. Call this keeping up with the Jones'). Failed Memorial Cup bids couldn't save the IceDogs from leaving for the Niagara valley where they continue to suffer from packed stadiums, relevancy in the eyes of their growing support base, and being the only game in town...?

Meanwhile, back in Mississauga, I drove past Matheson boulevard to catch a glimpse of the early fanfare along the street that will welcome Canadians from across the country to the stadium: Nothing. No pennants, no balloons, and no sign of anything culturally significant happening just outside the stadium property. There is a commercial featuring the Majors' players in a tune-up for the Memorial Cup tournament: I must admit, if they used actors and dressed them up as hockey players, I would still have no clue who they are. I can't really blame the players for trying; after all, in the age of free agency, salary cap restrictions, and professional egomaniacs, it is the TEAM people cheer for and celebrate...if they are winning...something relevant. The Memorial Cup is that last relevant thing Canadians seek after.

The tournament format, however, does its best to hamper the efforts of the Cup to bring a sense of relevancy and importance to the great game of hockey in this country. Four teams, three of which are the champions of all three of Canada's junior leagues the Quebec Major, Ontario, and Western junior leagues, join the host team to play in a round-robin tournament, with three teams going to the playoffs. As the first place team receives a bye to the final, the second and third place teams play in a 'semi-final' with the winner playing the bye team in the penultimate game. Short of "Everybody Gets A Trophy Day" tournaments, this always make me cringe.

1. Invariably, the host team always maxes out its credit card to buy junior hockey's best talent in lieu of winning the bid to host the Memorial Cup tournament, so regardless of winning the championship of the junior league you know the "best team" will be there.
2. The round-robin process is a mess in itself. The organizers already determined which two teams will play back-to-back games; you receive bonus points if you figured out one of those teams will not be the St. Mike's Majors. If you must play with four teams, at least give teams a carrot for winning their first game. The following example will require two stadiums in the same city: Play games A and B at roughly the same time, and give the winners a day off. Game C will feature the losers the next day, and Game D will have the winners of A and B coming together. The last day of the round-robin will feature match-ups of teams that didn't play against each other before, but playing one after the other.
3. The Canadian playoff system is a joke: Everyone but the last place team gets in, but two teams are equally horrible there is a "not quite" playoff between both to determine which of the "not quite" playoff teams goes to the "playoffs"? How can we shake our heads and point fingers at the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks for qualifying for the NFL playoffs because they won their division, which is the only time in a non-strike year this occurs, and in the same breath call CFL football "God's gift to professional sports" where losing teams enter the playoffs and win the Grey Cup ALL THE TIME?! Well, things could be worse; they could use the curling playoff format o_O
   
4. Four teams doesn't really work for me, and neither do byes. If you want the regular season count for something, why not give the best junior team in all the leagues an honourary invite to the Memorial Cup tournament. Plus, everyone likes dynasties, so give last year's champions an invite as well. So you have the host team, OHL champion, QMJHL champion, WHL champion, the defending champion, and the year's statistically best team all in the same tournament! Six teams playing fifteen games with five minute overtimes (3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for OT win, 1 for OT loss, 0 for being a noob), and then four teams play in a PROPER knockout tournament for the MemCup.
5. Why do they bother with CHL team ranking? It's not like you get anything for being first in the nation anyway, or should you?
   
6. What's the deal with the "Semi-Final"? There is only one 'semi-final'; what happened to the other one? Call it what it is: Playoff, wild card playoff, divisional playoff, whatever you like. Don't get all fancy throwing around "semi" because it makes the game sound more important than it is. Semi means half, so naturally you assume there is another half when there isn't. Confused? I sure am...

The St. Michael's Majors of Mississauga better win this tournament to make junior hockey in the GTA a worthwhile investment. The Battalion of Brampton are suffering from sparse crowds as well, and national exposure, big money, and championship recognition will do wonders for a hockey team, and its neighbouring rivals. If they don't win, count on next year being the last time you see the Majors in my hometown.

Maybe they will call them the "Ontario Majors of St. Michael playing out of somewhere in Michigan"...don't laugh, it's happened before (Hi Jets fans).