Hey everybody, in this blog i'm gonna be doing a live blog covering the memorial cup final between the Halifax Mooseheads and the Portland Winterhawks. It's gonna be a good game and I hope you enjoy it.
To start out I'm gonna do a prediction and do a little talking about the 2 teams. In this game we have the projected top 3 picks in this draft (Jones, MacKinnon, Drouin) so we should have a lot of offense and obviously a high scoring game. In the round robin game between these two the Mooseheads won 7-4. The major story in that game was MacKinnon and his second period hat-trick. I think we will see more of that this game because he has had a good tornament and it's his last chance to prove that he should be the 1st overall pick at the draft this June and not Jones. For the Winterhawks to win this game they will need to make sure they shut down MacKinnon, Drouin and Frk and get lots of shots at Fucale. Your not going to get a lot past him so you need to capitalize on your chances.
As for the prediction, I think the Mooseheads will prevail and win their first memorial cup at a score of 7-3. MacKinnon and Drouin will get 2 goals each and Frk, Abelshauser and Boudreau will each get one. For Portland I think Ty Rattie will get 2 and Derrick Pouliot will get 1 goal.
So lets get started..........
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1st period:
6:31: Halifax is playing better than Portland so far. They've had a couple chances but nothings gone in. Halifax is now on the power play and has pressure. Douin gets the puck and makes a pass to the point to Abelshauser. He takes a shot and scores top shelf. Halifax is winning 1-0.
8:00: MacKinnon is coming down towards Portlands net. Dekes around a couple player and then takes a weak shot from the top of the circle and scores. It's a weak goal but a good play by MacKinnon. Halifax is now up 2-0.
16:00: This is getting pathetic. Are these two teams even from the same league? Halifax is by far the better team in this game. Halifax scores again with a awesome passing play by Drouin and MacKinnon. Frk finishes it with a laser of a shot going top shelf. Wasn't this guy ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of last year in the draft rankings? I think Detroit got a steal with him.
Summary:
The 1st is over and what else can I say? Halifax is dominating so far and if it continues like this it's gonna be a huge blowout. So far my predictions have been good. Abelshauser, MacKinnon and Frk all got goals like I said. Let's hope for Portland's sake Halifax cools down a bit.
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2nd period
10:00: Well, that chanced quickly. Now it's Portland controlling the play and Halifax is starting to get verconfident and are playing sloppy. Nicholas Petan scores short-handed on a nice feed from Rattie to bring Portland to within 2 goals. This goal is completly the fault of the Halifax defense who failed to clear the puck and to cover their man.
15:00: Portland is still dominating and Halifax gets a lucky break when Ty Ratties goal gets called back. Luckily the NHL made the right call when they reviewed this because it was obvious that Rattie threw the puck into the net and it went off Fucale's skate and not Rattie's stick.
18:00: Portland comes to within one with a nice goal by Seth Jones. Nice effort by Jones to get by MacKinnon and make the passing play with Rattie behind the net. He needed this goal because MacKinnon was outplaying him so far this game.
Summary:
Well Portland needed to respond this period if they wanted a chance and they did. They brought it to within one and the 3rd period should be interesting to see. it will pretty much come down to which team wants it more.
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3rd period:
7:30: This period has been pretty even. There's been chances both ways but Halifax pulled through with a goal by MacKinnon. This is a good play by MacKinnon to not give up on the play. Nice kick pass to his stick to score. Halifax pulls ahead 4-2.
11:00: Halifax pulls ahead 5-2 on Abelshauser's 2nd of the night. Good play by Abelshauser to muscle his way to the net and a good backhand to get past Carruth to solidify the Moose's lead. All looks good for Halifax, they just have to play good defensive hockey and they'll be on their way to the memorial cup.
14:30: Portland gets life! Brendan Leipsic scores on Petan's rebound to bring Portland to within 2. Portland has life now and Halifax needs to solidify their defense for the last 5 minutes and preserve their lead.
18:45: Haifax is in trouble. Rattie scores on a nice passing play that Fucale had no chance on. Portland has all the momentum with 1 minute left. Portland has pulled their goalie and has an extra attacker.
19:30: Halifax won. well basicly. MacKinnon scores on the empty net muscling his way past the whole Portland team to get his hat trick and win the memorial cup for Halifax.
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Halifax won their first ever memorial cup. MacKinnon won tornement MVP for carrying halifax to the win and getting 2 hat tricks in the tornement. All in all it was a good game and very entertaining. My prediction was a little off but it was only a prediction right? I got Frk's goal, one of Abelshauser 's, 2 of MacKinnon's and Ty Rattie's so I`m happy.
Thanks for reading
Watching these players matches live always fun for me especially. I enjoy while watching the matches with my friends. The australianwriting do pre and post-session after every match and talks about the pros and cons.