Portland Winterhawks right winger Ty Rattie skates away from Halifax Mooseheads goaltender Zachary Fucale after scoring a goal that would be disallowed during the second period Sunday.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — Nathan MacKinnon had three goals and two assists to lead the Halifax Mooseheads to their first Memorial Cup title, 6-4 over the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday night.
Konrad Abeltshauser scored twice and had an assist, Martin Frk added a goal and two assists, and Jonathan Drouin assisted on Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Halifax’s first five goals.
The Mooseheads finished the regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup a combined 77-8-4.
For the Winterhawks, the game also represented a chance to redeem themselves after losing 7-4 to the Mooseheads in round robin play.
With plenty of stars of their own, the Western Hockey League champs got outstanding efforts from Ty Rattie and Nicolas Petan, who both finished with a goal and three assists.
Seth Jones and Brendan Leipsic also scored, and Mac Carruth made 35 saves in goal.
However, it was not enough on this night.
“They are a very good team, and they have very skilled players,” said Winterhawks’ defenseman Derrick Pouliot, who was named to the tournament All-Star team after collecting two goals and seven points in five games. “They played a great game tonight, and it’s a really tough loss.”
Pouliot and his Winterhawks teammates can hold their heads high after enjoying their best regular season in franchise history, capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup in their third consecutive appearance in the WHL final, and making it all the way to the Memorial Cup final.
“I’m extremely proud of our team,” he said. “Our coaching staff has done a great job, we have a great group of guys in that room … It’s just tough.”
MacKinnon led the four-team Canadian Hockey League tournament with seven goals and received the Stafford Smythe Memorial trophy as the most valuable player.
“We’re champions. We’re the best team in Junior hockey now,” said MacKinnon, who finished with a tournament-leading seven goals and 13 points in four games, including a six goals and nine points in the team’s two games against Portland. “We came to play every night, everybody chipped in and tonight we got the job done.”
Zachary Fucale made 40 saves for Halifax, the third QMJHL team in a row to win the Memorial Cup following Saint John in 2011 and Shawinigan last year.
“Best moment ever,” said Drouin, who tied a Memorial Cup record with his five-assist performance in the game. “That trophy is the hardest to win in hockey, and to accomplish it with this group of guys is really unbelievable.”
The Mooseheads opened up a 3-0 lead in the first period while firing 19 shots on Carruth.
The Winterhawks came out a far different team in the second period, outshooting the Mooseheads 18-6 and scoring twice in the period while having another waived off.
Nic Petan got the Winterhawks on the board with a shorthanded marker 10:36 into the second period.
Rattie thought he had pulled the Hawks within one goal 14:16 into the frame. The puck flipped up over the net and Rattie gloved it down in the crease and swiped it in. However, after review, it was determined Rattie never touched the puck with his stick before it crossed the line and the goal was waived off.
Jones did pull the Hawks within one late in the second period, taking a centering feed from Rattie from behind the net and burying it past Fucale.
MacKinnon got his second goal of the night, picking up the puck on a bounce off the end boards, curling out front while fighting off the check and chipping a shot over Carruth’s shoulders.
Abeltshauser got his second goal of the night 11:11 into the third period to put Halifax up 5-2.
The Winterhawks kept making it interesting.
Brendan Leipsic pulled the Hawks within two with 5:28 to play in the period, burying a rebound off a shot from Petan off the rush.
Rattie scored with 1:16 to play to bring the Hawks again within one, but
MacKinnon put the game away with an empty-net goal to complete the hat trick and clinch the Memorial Cup for the Mooseheads.
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