Sea Dogs, Bulldogs to meet in Memorial Cup final on TSN

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Two teams that skated through distinctly different paths in the playoffs will meet Wednesday in the final of the 2022 Memorial Cup.

The host Saint John Sea Dogs, who went 39 days between games after losing in the first round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs, will face the Hamilton Bulldogs, who posted a 16-3 post-season record en route to the Ontario Hockey League championship.

Watch the Memorial Cup Final LIVE on TSN1/3, the TSN App and TSN Direct at 5:30pm et/2:30pm pt.

It is the first Memorial Cup final since 2019, when the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies skated to the title at the tournament in Halifax. The 2021 and 2022 Memorial Cup events were wiped out because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sea Dogs earned a direct berth into the final after posting two wins and an overtime loss in preliminary-round action, while Hamilton required a 4-2 regulation win over the Edmonton Oil Kings to escape the preliminary round and then eked out a thrilling 4-3 overtime triumph over the Shawinigan Cataractes in Monday’s semifinal to advance.

“We are hanging around. One month ago, who knows what people were saying about us,” said Saint John head coach Gardiner MacDougall, who replaced Gordie Dwyer on May 22 after the Sea Dogs were upset by the Rimouski Oceanic to open the playoffs.

“They didn’t know if we would be a good representative of the tournament, maybe we would have only three games — that is all we were guaranteed. It is nice to still be here.”

Hamilton survived a seven-game series against the Windsor Spitfires to win the OHL crown and then dropped consecutive games to Saint John and Shawinigan to open the Memorial Cup.

That set the stage for a do-or-die preliminary contest against Edmonton on