Toronto Marlboros captain and player of the game Michael Curtis scored the game-winning goal early in the second period to lead the Marlies to a 5-1 win over the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs in the championship game at the 2009 OHL Cup Showcase Tournament on Sunday evening at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.
The top-ranked Marlies complete the tournament with an overall record of 6-0-1 and cap off an incredible season that includes a GTHL championship. Marlies forward Lucas Lessio took home the Tim Adams Award as Most Valuable Player of the Tournament with a team-leading 11 points including five goals and six assists in seven games. This is the first OHL Cup title for the Marlies organization since 2005 when they were led by current London Knights star John Tavares and Sam Gagner of the Edmonton Oilers.
After a scoreless first period the Marlies opened the second frame with a flurry of four unanswered goals, the first off the stick of Evan Rodrigues who took a cross-ice feed from Luke Juha and lifted a wrist shot top corner over the glove of Chiefs goalie Taylor Speed 1:56 into the period. At 3:19 of the period, Michael Curtis picked up a rebound from a shot blocked by the Chiefs defence and caught Speed off guard when he buried the rebound for his fourth goal of the tournament. 13 seconds later Zach Mitchell picked up a loose puck in a goal-crease scramble and scored to make it 3-0 for the Marlies. Michael Curtis was credited with the assist for his second point of the game. Brett Ritchie broke up a two-on-one Chiefs opportunity and unleashed a stretch pass up the middle to a wide open Justin Rasmussen who went blocker side with his breakaway shot to extend the lead to 4-0 at 7:51. Jordan Drury put the Chiefs on the board heading into the intermission when he scored off a Corbin Bean two-on-one pass at 12:59 of the period.
Nursing a 4-1 lead in the third, the Marlies focused on defence and stayed out of the penalty box preventing the Chiefs from developing any scoring opportunities. Brett Ritchie iced the game when he made it 5-1 at 9:27 with his fifth goal of the tournament and second point of the game with a nice individual effort where he split the Chiefs defence and scored top corner. Malcolm Subban was the winning goaltender for the Marlies, while Chiefs forward Mitch Berzins was named player of the game in the loss.
Michael Curtis received the OHL Cup Championship Trophy from OHL Commissioner David Branch before being greeted by his teammates in celebration. “The way this team played all year we all deserved to hoist the trophy but it felt great to be up there to get it” said Curtis. “That was definitely my biggest goal ever, this was such a crazy season, and we have been waiting for this moment a long time.”
“These kids have come to play all season long and brought their best this tournament” commented Marlies Head Coach Ken Strong. “We may not have the most talented kids individually but we have a solid all-around team that plays together, we get great goaltending and we were rarely challenged five-on-five” added Strong, who has been behind the bench with a core group of Marlies players for seven seasons beginning in Minor Atom. In addition to this OHL Cup win, they have collected seven city championships and three OHF championship titles including a Bantam AAA All-Ontario win last season where they beat the same Elgin Middlesex Chiefs in the finals.
The Marlies road to the finals included a 5-2 quarter-final victory over the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and a semi-final win Sunday beating the York Simcoe Express 9-1.
The Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs entered the tournament as ALLIANCE Hockey Champions and the third-ranked team in the tournament. They beat the Mississauga Senators 3-2 in double overtime in their quarter-final game on Saturday before beating the Quinte Red Devils 2-1 in semi-final action on Sunday. Boone Jenner led the Chiefs in tournament scoring with 11 points including six goals and five assists in seven games. He was second behind tournament leader Nick Cousins of the Quinte Red Devils who led the way with 13 points including five goals and eight assists in six games.
Click here for the final game summary.
Click here to recap a live blog from the Hershey Centre with CBC Sports Our Game.
(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)
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