On May 31st, 2024, the WHL’s champions, the Moose Jaw Warriors, were pitted against the host club, a very respectable OHL squad in the Saginaw Spirit, to clinch a duel with the London Knights in the final match in junior hockey’s most esteemed tournament. Both clubs had a lot on the line, making their first appearances ever at this tournament after having had their respective greatest ever seasons in 2023-24. It was a great matchup when these teams opened the Memorial Cup against one another and we had to wonder if there was more in store for us.

Just like the last game of the round robin between Saginaw and London, the pomp and circumstance before the matchup felt even bigger than usual via the inclusion of Medicine Hat Tigers Cayden Lindstrom (2024 Draft eligible) and Gavin McKenna (2026 Draft eligible) and Lethbridge Hurricane Noah Chadwick (Toronto Maple Leafs) in the ceremonial opening puck drop in recognition of their award nominations prior to the CHL’s convocation tomorrow, but yet again, that would be quickly forgotten about once matters got underway with so much on the line. The game began with Saginaw having a couple of possessions where they facilitated their cycle but never found or created a real shooting lane. Eventually, they would get on the board first, however, as they kept throwing pucks at the net when things weren’t going their way, which opened things up. A puck battle ensued after one such sequence, wherein RW Ethan Moore kicked the puck to LW/C Sebastian Gervais who found C Ethan Hay (Tampa Bay Lightning) in front of the net, with Hay beating Moose Jaw G Jackson Unger to open the scoring for the host club. Moose Jaw would try to respond via creating rush chances off of Saginaw mistakes and it seemed as though they quickly had an answer back via a goal by Moose Jaw D Lucas Brenton; however, Saginaw head coach Chris Lazary successfully contended that the goal should be negated by interference on Saginaw G Andrew Oke. Nevertheless, C/RW Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken) did what he does as the CHL’s leading point scorer this season, intercepting a pass by Saginaw C Joey Willis (Nashville Predators), with C Brayden Yager (Pittsburgh Penguins) joining him on the odd-man rush but Firkus finished the job himself on a slick backhander as part of a great first period performance by him. The rest of the period would see some intrigue via Saginaw D’s Zayne Parekh (2024 Draft eligible) and James Guo showing some impressive tenacity and reliability in their own end and Moose Jaw RW Rilen Kovacevic having a good look in close, but being denied by Oke. Moose Jaw C/RW Brayden Schuurman got called for delay of game at 18:19, but Saginaw did not capitalize due to the effectiveness of the Moose Jaw PK at positioning themselves well to prevent quality shots from getting through to Unger. The SOGs would be 9-6 in favor of Saginaw after twenty minutes.

Oke would be tested early and often in the beginning of the middle stanza, most notably denying Moose Jaw C Matthew Savoie (Buffalo Sabres) on a shot from the slot as D/captain Denton Mateychuk led the offensive press/intensive cycling effort to kill off what was left of Schuurman’s penalty and keep the pressure going. After Oke tied the puck up, Saginaw would respond by applying pressure back in their direction and tested Unger quickly. After one such possession didn’t yield a goal, Saginaw would re-gather on the next sequence and their efforts would turn into a 2-1 lead as D Jorian Donovan found LW/C Michael Misa (2025 Draft eligible) with a cross-ice pass, with the exceptional status player blasting one from the point and having it be tipped in by D/captain Braden Hache. Moose Jaw would respond with a possession wherein Schuurman hit the post, but this would be the best look that they got. Subsequently, Saginaw D Rodwin Dionicio (Anaheim Ducks) found LW Josh Bloom (Vancouver Canucks) along the wall on his strong side, with him hitting C Owen Beck (Montreal Canadiens) down low and the future Hab delivering on an excellent shot to grow the lead to 2. It seems as though that Moose Jaw was just flat-footed and not able to stop Saginaw in transition, which opened up good play in the offensive zone when Saginaw was able to get penetration. This was a huge defining point in the opening minutes. On the next goal just over five minutes later, Saginaw was good at stacking bodies to draw away attention from potential shooters. Moore was a beneficiary of this, as he was left completely alone on the weak side of the ice on the left wing, and blasted one past Unger to make the score 4-1. Hay was credited with the primary assist, while Gervais received credit for the secondary helper. Two minutes later, Dionicio found Moore at the absolute edge of the neutral zone with a terrific long bomb of a stretch pass. Moore then got the puck to Hay in the slot and Hay didn’t hesitate to snipe it past Unger to make the score 5-1. Finally, the last goal of the period was scored at 14:24, with Gervais working it in at the goal mouth with assists credited to Hay and Dionicio, as this unit continued to dominate. Some intrigue was had when Oke had to be removed from the game due to equipment issues and was temporarily replaced by backup Nolan Lalonde (Columbus Blue Jackets). A fracas towards the end of the period gave Moose Jaw 1:22 of time on the man advantage (with Hache in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, while Brenton and Saginaw C/Vegas Golden Knights prospect Matyas Sapovaliv were sent to their respective dressing rooms for the remainder of the middle frame for unsportsmanlike conduct and cross-checking respectively), but Moose Jaw didn’t do much with it. In fact, Parekh had the best opportunity of the effective “power kill” as he got in close on Unger with speed but was denied thanks to Savoie doing well to contest him. Ultimately, shots were 21-11 in favor of Saginaw in the second period and 30-17 overall in the game after forty, with the score sitting at 6-1. Moose Jaw did erase a four goal deficit in the tournament opener (though the WHL champs ultimately fell short) so a situation like this did not entirely necessitate writing them off, but it certainly looked grim.

The third period never provided Moose Jaw with much of a chance to mount a miracle comeback. At the 1:10 mark, after the remainder of Hache’s penalty had been killed off, Dionicio intercepted the puck inside Moose Jaw’s zone and immediately struck to make it 7-1. The remainder of the final stanza largely consisted of Saginaw playing a distinct brand of conservative hockey wherein they controlled and protected the puck from Moose Jaw to prevent them from creating anything on offense. The only real standout event was a Mateychuk shot that was blocked and turned into a good rushing counterattack by Saginaw but did not yield a goal. Ultimately, Dionicio’s goal stood as the last one of the game, and Saginaw were triumphant, booking their first ever appearance in a final round in any competition in their history. Hay was awarded Player of the Game for his 2g, 2a, +4 performance as an essential linchpin down the middle on Saginaw’s fourth line, which had a terrific performance, combining for ten points.

It feels all too appropriate that the CHL’s arguable two best teams this year will face off yet again with the Memorial Cup on the line. They became very familiar with one another this season, generated a lot of tension between one another, and played some outstanding hockey. If it delivers on the expectations that have been built up, Sunday night’s matchup will go down as one of the greatest games in major junior hockey history. Hopefully, it’ll be as good as every fan and analyst hopes for.