Twice as Nice: Winning Back-to-Back Memorial Cups

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2005

By Lucas Aykroyd

Winning one Memorial Cup is hard enough. So how about back-to-back titles? Since most major junior careers last only three or four seasons, the odds of “doing the double” are slim indeed for any player or team.

“You have to consider the graduating factor,” says Trevor Linden, who captured the national junior championship with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 1987 and 1988. “You lose guys to pro and college and that sort of thing. It’s a big challenge.”

Linden knows what he’s talking about. This gritty right winger’s play in the 1987 Memorial Cup final versus the Oshawa Generals spoke volumes about his character and contributed to Vancouver’s eventual decision to select him with the second overall pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. The 17-year-old Linden tallied two first-period goals in that game to lead the way in a 6-2 victory.

But despite that dominant finish, few could have predicted that Linden’s Tigers would claim the cherished trophy a second straight time with returnees like Mark Pederson, Wayne McBean and Mark Fitzpatrick. “I think we had less pressure in 1988, because we’d done it the year before,” Linden says.

Surveying the past 25 years, only three teams besides Medicine Hat have won back-to-back titles: the 1977 and 1978 New Westminster Bruins, the 1980 and 1981 Cornwall Royals, and the 1994 and 1995 Kamloops Blazers.

You might think that it would have been an easier feat to accomplish in the old days, with powerhouse NHL franchises like Toronto and Montreal sponsoring their own junior teams. But the record shows otherwise. After the Memorial Cup was instituted in 1919, only three other teams went two-for-two: the 1939 and 1940 Oshawa Generals, the 1955 and 1956 Toronto Marlboros, and the 1969 and 1970 Montreal Junior Canadiens.

Several teams managed to post consecutive runner-up finishes. For instance, the Regina Patricias fell both times against the Marlies in the 1950’s. From 1960 to 1965, the Edmonton Oil Kings lost five out of six finals. And 1972 and 1973 saw the Quebec Remparts lose twice, while the New Westminster Bruins prefaced their double with back-to-back defeats in 1975 and 1976. But history takes scant interest in bridesmaids.

“The difference between me and Stan Smyl is that I’ve never lost a Memorial Cup,” quips Marc Crawford, head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. “Stan lost two with the Bruins. I always used to rub that in with him: ‘What’s it like to lose a Memorial Cup, Stan?’ He’d just say, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever.'”

Crawford parlayed the lessons he learned with two-time champion Cornwall into a successful playing and coaching career in the NHL, AHL and Olympics. Frequently communicating today with Smyl, the bench boss of Vancouver’s AHL affiliate in Manitoba, Crawford remains vividly aware of the importance of chemistry on any winning team.

Of course, he recalls personal achievements like leading the 1981 Memorial Cup with seven assists and being named to the all-star team. But more notably, he can still rattle off all the names of his Royals teammates, from future NHL snipers like Dale Hawerchuk and Doug Gilmour to erstwhile junior sensations like Dave Ezard (the 1980 tournament MVP) and Gilles Crepeau (a two-time 40-goal man).

“Coach Doug Carpenter was probably the biggest factor in why we won,” Crawford says. “He made that team a really hard-working group. We didn’t have a complicated system, but we knew about discipline. That’s ultimately why we won those years.”

One striking aspect of Cornwall’s first championship squad in 1980 was its ability to rebound from the worst defeat in Memorial Cup history, an 11-2 shellacking in the round robin by the Regina Pats.

“In the finals of the Quebec League, we had lost 10-1 and 10-3 to Sherbrooke as well,” Crawford points out. “They were the team that probably should have won the Quebec League that year. So we were somewhat used to coming back after bad losses, and we had that resiliency.”

Resiliency was also a hallmark of the 1977 and 1978 New Westminster Bruins. Known as junior hockey’s answer to the rough and tough Philadelphia Flyers, they played an intimidating style under coach Ernie “Punch” McLean.

“The game was a lot more physical back then,” Smyl says. “It was important to play physical, as we had the size to wear down other teams.”

“That was what teams were looking for,” adds McLean, who claims his 1975 and 1976 teams were even better than the championship squads. “They wanted tough hockey players, so that’s what we gave them. You know how many of my boys went on to play in the NHL.”

The list includes the likes of Smyl (the 1978 tournament MVP), Barry Beck (1977), John Ogrodnick and Brad Maxwell. These players filled key roles in 1977’s win over the Ottawa 67’s and 1978’s clincher against the Peterborough Petes.

The Bruins couldn’t be stopped on any level. Brian Kilrea, Ottawa’s longtime coach, has even claimed that in 1977 New Westminster arranged to have a group of tough bikers seated behind his team’s bench to intimidate them during a key tournament game at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. Whatever the case, a colorful atmosphere certainly pervaded the era when the Bruins won their consecutive Cups.

The Kamloops Blazers took a different approach as they posted back-to-back wins in 1994 and 1995. “When you put on a Blazers jersey, it’s like putting on the Canadiens’,” Jarome Iginla told the Montreal Gazette before the first tournament. “You’ve got to perform.” The Blazers had previously won the Cup in 1992 as well, a testament to their development system and the savvy of GM Bob Brown.

Along with Tyson Nash and Ryan Huska, Darcy Tucker played on all three teams. Now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tucker can still take pride in having captained the 1994 and 1995 teams under coach Don Hay.

The experiences of Shane Doan reflect the almost mystical aura that junior players attach to the Memorial Cup, just as their NHL counterparts do with Lord Stanley’s mug. Doan didn’t appear in any playoff games during the 1994 run and wanted to make sure he did the right thing during the title celebrations.

“I didn’t even touch the trophy the first time,” Doan says. “I didn’t want to touch the Memorial Cup. I was so happy that we won it and it felt great, but I didn’t feel like it was mine. The second time was phenomenal.”

That’s an understatement. Playing on home ice in front of sellout crowds, Doan paced the 1995 tournament with three goals and six assists, earning MVP honors and cracking the All-Star team. Nolan Baumgartner and Hnat Domenichelli were among the other stalwarts on that Kamloops team.

Overall, when you examine the traits that back-to-back Memorial Cup winners share, it looks like all you need is a combination of returning veterans, promising young talent, mental resiliency, physical toughness, team discipline, and outstanding individual performances.

No wonder teams that do the double are few and far between.