Kings of the Rink: Memorial Cup MVPs

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2005

By Lucas Aykroyd

Patrick Roy, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Parent, and Bobby Orr provided some of their greatest hockey in pressure-packed playoff situations. They’re members of a very exclusive fraternity as the only players who have won multiple Conn Smythe Trophies as NHL post-season MVPs. But the equivalent CHL fraternity is still waiting for its first member.

The Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to the Memorial Cup MVP, and no player has won it more than once. That’s not entirely surprising. Roy captured his first Conn Smythe in 1986 and his last in 2001. But in a typical junior career of three or four seasons, only a select few, like Darcy Tucker of the Kamloops Blazers (1994 MVP), even get to play in multiple Memorial Cups.

Of course, winning a championship is always the main goal. Still, being named the Memorial Cup MVP is particularly memorable because, as that Hockey Night in Canada song says, the chance may never come again.

Prospects Hockey chose to revisit four remarkable performances from each decade in which the MVP trophy has been awarded.

Richard Brodeur
Cornwall Royals
Tournament: 1972

Quebec is famous for producing top-notch goaltending talent, and Richard Brodeur lived up to that reputation with his play during the 1972 tournament in Ottawa. Not only did the Longueuil native become the first Stafford Smythe recipient ever, but he also posted a 1.67 GAA that remains a record. Still, Cornwall’s road to victory wasn’t easy.

“Before the season, everybody thought the Quebec Remparts were going to be the QMJHL’s top team,” Brodeur recalled. “But we came in first. Then we weren’t supposed to win the league finals, but we beat the mighty Remparts again. When we got to the Memorial Cup, we had to face the Peterborough Petes as well as the Edmonton Oil Kings, who had a great team. It was a round-robin tournament, and it was the first time they used that format.”

Edmonton and Peterborough reinforced their rosters by adding big-name goalies from other teams. John Davidson suited up for the Oil Kings, and Michel “Bunny” Larocque and Gilles Gratton joined the Petes. But Cornwall coach Orval Tessier decided to ride Brodeur all the way, even though the 19-year-old workhorse was nursing a shoulder injury and had lost 15 pounds during the QMJHL playoffs.

Tessier’s confidence paid off. Brodeur looked shaky in an opening 4-2 loss to Peterborough, but earned a 40-save shutout against the Oil Kings to carry his Royals into the finals. There, the charismatic flopper withstood the heat versus Peterborough, braving 28C weather and 47 shots to secure a 2-1 triumph. “During the post-game ceremonies, our guys said, ‘Go, go, go!’ I said, ‘What?’ ‘You’ve just been named MVP.’ That was cool, but I was too tired to realize it until later.”

Ironically, while starring for the Vancouver Canucks, “King Richard” would help eliminate his old coach’s Chicago Blackhawks in the 1982 Campbell Conference finals. “Orval told me afterwards: ‘Next year, you better be wearing two masks, because I’m going to hit you in the back of the head if you’re still playing!'” Brodeur played in the NHL until 1988, and he would never forget his first big triumph in 1972.

Adam Creighton
Ottawa 67’s
Tournament: 1984

Heading into this tournament in Kitchener, NHL scouts were drooling over a big, savvy center with a long reach. But it wasn’t Adam Creighton. Instead, it was Mario Lemieux, who was coming off a record-setting 282-point QMJHL season. The captain of the Laval Voisins seemed unstoppable, but Lemieux wasn’t necessarily a legend to his Memorial Cup opponents.

“Media coverage was totally different back then,” said Creighton. “Before the tournament, I didn’t really know who Mario Lemieux was, and I’m sure he didn’t know who I was either.”

Creighton had his own personal motivation for victory: his father Dave had captured the 1948 Memorial Cup with the Port Arthur West End Bruins. “He would always tell me he’d never won the Stanley Cup, so I wanted to do at least as well as he had. I figured this would be my only chance. I had to be at my best.”

Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea matched the 19-year-old pivot up against Lemieux, Dean Evason of the Kamloops Junior Oilers, and John Tucker of the Kitchener Rangers. Creighton seized the challenge, working with linemates Gary Roberts and Don McLaren. The hard-skating 67’s started well with a 6-5 win over Laval and a 5-1 thrashing of Kamloops, but then fell 7-2 to the host Rangers.

In the semi-finals against Kamloops, Creighton showed the form that had earned him 91 regular season points. Despite being taunted by the Kitchener crowd, whose team had lost to Ottawa in the OHL finals, he had two goals and three helpers in a 7-2 win. His total of 12 points following the final 3-1 victory over Kitchener made him a clear MVP choice.

Creighton went on to a solid 708-game NHL career with five teams, enjoying his best years under Mike Keenan in Chicago. He retired from hockey in 1999. He now lives with his family in Port Colborne, Ontario, scouting for the Boston Bruins and working with his father in the golf industry.

Scott Niedermayer
Kamloops Blazers
Tournament: 1992

Today, Scott Niedermayer has won every major prize he dreamed of winning. The Cranbrook native has three Stanley Cups, Olympic and World Championship gold medals, a World Cup title, and a Norris Trophy. But at age 18, all he owned was a 1991 World Junior gold. That would soon change.

Niedermayer started the 1991-92 season with the New Jersey Devils, but was demoted to Kamloops in what he calls “one of the toughest adjustments I’ve had to make in hockey.” Fortunately, the smooth offensive defenseman quickly refocused on the goal of propelling Kamloops toward its first-ever Memorial Cup.

Two years earlier, the Blazers had reached the tournament as Canada’s #1-ranked junior team, but fell short. This time, returning veterans like Niedermayer, Darryl Sydor, and Corey Hirsch were determined to get it right.

Competing in front of raucous Seattle crowds, coach Tom Renney’s club beat Verdun College Francais and the host Thunderbirds (twice). Late in the final game, Niedermayer broke up a 3-on-1 and made a dramatic play to defeat the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, who had trumped Kamloops in the Memorial Cup opener.

“Our guy Ed Patterson got the wind knocked out of him on the backcheck and headed to the bench,” Niedermayer recalled. “I took a peek at the clock, and then saw Zac Boyer had snuck out of our bench and gotten in behind their defense.” He headmanned the puck to Boyer, who tallied the breakaway winner with 14.6 seconds left. Niedermayer’s seventh tournament point earned him MVP honours.

“It taught me how to handle pressure and showed me what it takes to win a championship,” Niedermayer said. “I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.”

Brad Richards
Rimouski Oceanic
Tournament: 2000

Brad Richards led the QMJHL with 186 points in 1999-2000, but the dangerous center didn’t get the same kind of respect as Sidney Crosby. Even when the Rimouski Oceanic swept into the Memorial Cup in Halifax after losing just two playoff matches, a member of the Barrie Colts said the PEI-born 20-year-old “wouldn’t last five games” in the OHL.

That was a huge mistake. Richards tallied four points in a 6-2 win over Barrie in the championship game. “Sometimes you’ve got to watch what you say in the papers because it motivates the other team,” Richards told reporters afterwards.

His tournament-leading 10 points made him a worthy MVP winner. But this wasn’t simply about making dazzling plays with linemate Juraj Kolnik. Off-ice concerns could easily have broken Richards’ focus.

His parents were involved in a head-on collision en route back to PEI after watching Rimouski’s semi-final victory over the Halifax Mooseheads. Fortunately, they eluded serious injury. A year and a half earlier, Richards had served as a pallbearer for Oceanic broadcaster Michel Germain’s young daughter, who died in a car crash.

Performing heroically under these conditions reflected the resolve of the player who would later capture the 2004 Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy with Tampa Bay, in addition to the 2004 World Cup.