2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Mark Hunter’s dad cashes in on Cataractes win

SHAWINIGAN, Que. — There is no casino in town but the Hunter family got in some gambling during their rest.

London Knights coach-GM Mark Hunter, whose team had to wait three days for learn whom it would play in the MasterCard Memorial Cup and a fourth day to wait for Championship Sunday, was asked the boilerplate question about whether he was surprised to face the surging Shawinigan Cataractes instead of the Saint John Sea Dogs, the QMJHL champion.

Not at all. Turns out the family patriarch, 76-year-old Dick Hunter, padded his wallet thanks the 7-4 Cataractes victory.

"My dad, he actually took some wagers — he actually thought Shawinigan was going to win," Hunter said. "It's funny, he was adamant they were going to win because of their intensity and their energy. Their team's that ... let's just say it's going to be a good game."

London Free Press hockey writer Ryan Pyette was johnny-on-the-spot with the follow-up: who does Hunter Sr. like in the next game, the Cataractes-Knights championship?

"You'll have to ask him that," Mark Hunter said with a slight laugh. "He better say us if he wants a ride home."

The Memorial Cup in Shawinigan has been somewhat of a homecoming for the Hunters. It is firmly Quebec Nordiques country; the fact that team hasn't existed tangibly since 1995 is less than a niggling detail. Saint John's Nathan Beaulieu, a Montreal Canadiens first-round choice, was booed each time he touched the puck in the semifinal, likely no other reason than the fact he's a Habs pick. (The Cats fans have no problems with their own Habs prospect, Morgan Ellis.)

Dick Hunter and his late spouse, Bernice, had to straddle the divide that was the Battle of Quebec in the 1980s when Dale Hunter played for the Nords and Mark skated for the Montreal Canadiens.

"We couldn't cheer for one over the other," Dick Hunter told the Free Press earlier in the week. "We'd go to the Forum. Everyone would be getting fired up and I'd look at my wife and she'd just be sitting there with her arms folded, not saying a word.

"She just wanted to watch the boys play."

Their second-oldest Hunter son, Dave Hunter, was a hard-nosed winger for the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers first' three Stanley Cup champions. As players, Dale and Mark Hunter each fell two wins shy of facing their big brother in a Cup final. Mark's Habs lost a six-game semifinal to the New York Islanders in 1984 and Dale's Nords also lost in six to the Philadelphia Flyers in '85.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.