MasterCard Memorial Cup format: learn to like it

The Sportsnet television audience peaked at nearly 1 million during the MasterCard Memorial Cup final. So it's more than likely that there were several thousand fans who enjoyed the game even though the Shawinigan Cataractes were not even a league semifinalist — and several thousand who tuned in who were not aware and would not have cared who actually won the QMJHL.

Still, a non-league champion being called the best junior hockey team always causes knees to jerk. It is one of those uniquely Canadian conundrums that the host team, which is named at least one year in advance, could lose in Round 2 and then spend a month ramping up for a 10-day tournament. The league season is the marathon and the Memorial Cup is more akin to a longer Olympic sprint such as the 200 or 400 metres (yes, it would kill me to use a simpler simile).

From Cam Tait of the Edmonton Journal:

The obvious riposte is that junior hockey players are not put in the same situation because they are junior hockey players. Their bodies and minds are not as developed as 20- and 30-something pros, so they should not be put through the same grind. As a case in point, one of the Edmonton Oil Kings' NHL draft prospects, Mitch Moroz, said several of his teammates succumbed to what's likely a combination of mental and physical fatigue once the season ended. The Oil Kings, who were the youngest team in Shawinigan and first ousted, played that way, too.

From Chris O'Leary:

In all honesty, there were people at the Memorial Cup who candidly though the four-day break the London Knights had before the final was a killer. They spent more time on the road between their final round-robin game and the championship contest than they did on any road trip during the Ontario Hockey League season. (Yes, OHL types have it lucky.)

But the format isn't a reflection of a league whose players are 16 to 20 years old. The fact they play a 68- or 72-game regular season tells you how much concern there is about guarding against burnout. The blue-sky meritocratic arguments that only league champions should be in the tournament don't take in the economic reality of many Canadian Hockey League or of Canada itself.

The event's a cash cow for the CHL and host team, pure and simple. The cost of running a team seems to go up every season. It's difficult for franchises such as Shawinigan, Brandon or Rimouski, playing out of centres of fewer than 55,000 people, to keep up with the Quebec Remparts or Vancouver Giants or London Knights. A 10-day event with a full arena, people paying premium prices for tickets, consumers who wouldn't attend a game in January snapping up hats and T-shirts and tourists spending money in the city generates a lot of economic activity. The small-market Cataractes, if they organized it right finanically, probably took in as much revenue from this Memorial Cup as they could in half a season. That could keep them liquid for a couple seasons yet and improve its long-term stability in Shawinigan (pop. 50,060).

There is a symbiotic relationship for the CHL and those smaller markets willing to pay the freight for the Memorial Cup. The tournament's aesthetic is always stronger when the atmosphere around it feels cosy, like a village. That can't happen to the same extent in the few cities which have a 10,000-seat building.

Too much geography

On top of that, look at the country itself. Canada is underpopulated. The Memorial Cup, Junior A's RBC Cup or a Canadian Interuniversity Sport national tournament requires a host team to generate interest. A country of 33 million, compared to its 300-million-strong neighbour, has to accept this is the deal. The NCAA can put the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., 1,500 miles from the nearest Division 1 team and still get a crowd. The marketing reach of all four schools, the NCAA and the Tampa Bay Lightning, whose arena hosted the tournament, made it happen. The Frozen Four was also in early April so there was less of a scheduling conflict than, say, there would be if someone wanted to put the Memorial Cup in Calgary and Edmonton where junior and NHL teams play in the same building. Don't laugh, the Edmonton Oilers could play in May again.

It's not worth the aggravation to point out Shawinigan didn't belong or to hair-split and say they didn't deserve to be in it but cleared deserved to win it after coming in through the side door. The Cataractes beat all three league champs and Anton Zlobin scored the Cup-winning overtime goal on a broken foot.

The best-case scenario is when the host teams plays a drawn-out, well-contested six- or seven-game championship series. That way, at least they aren't getting huge leg up in recovery time between playoffs and the tournament. It's better if they lose, but that doesn't have to happen. Also, it makes it clear they were only a bounce or break here or there from winning the league. The games against the league champion become an extension of the series when that happens.

For instance, in '06 the host Moncton Wildcats entered through the front door after winning a seven-game QMJHL final over the Quebec Remparts. The Remparts, through, beat those 'Cats in the round-robin and final, unofficially winning 5-4. A year later, the Medicine Hat Tigers and host Vancouver Giants also played nine times in one month. The Hat won five, but Vancouver got the big one by winning the final. Similarly, in 2008 the Kitchener Rangers and Belleville Bulls had a best-of-9. Kitchener won the OHL final in seven. The Bulls won their round-robin tilt but the Rangers won their semifinal rematch. Last season, the Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors lost a seven-game OHL final to Owen Sound, but got them back at the tournament.

Even the host losing in Round 3 is palatable. At least it had a good run. Point being, a scenario like Shawinigan's will happen. It's just the way of the sports world. People get riled in Major League Baseball when a team with fewer than 90 wins makes the World Series. May the National Football League soon realize that a 7-9 or 8-8 division 'champion' getting home-field advantage for a playoff game against a wild-card team with a superior record is asinine.

So the CHL is not alone in having a rather cynical system to decide its champion. It also needs one. The championship teams can't complain. They had a chance to avoid their fate.

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