Sea Dogs defeat Bulldogs to capture 2nd Memorial Cup in franchise's 17-year history

The Saint John Sea Dogs are Memorial Cup champions once again.

Considered a long shot at the beginning of the Canadian Hockey League championship due to a first-round loss in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs, the host Sea Dogs downed the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 in Wednesday's championship game.

Saint John scored twice in the first six minutes of both the first and second periods and rode the emotion of a wildly enthusiastic sellout crowd to win the championship for the second time in its 17-year history.

Mason McTavish, with two goals, and Jan Mysak answered for the Bulldogs, who advanced to the final with a 4-3 overtime victory over Shawinigan in Monday's semifinal.

WATCH | Sea Dogs muzzle Bulldogs to capture Memorial Cup:

Saint John goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise, acquired by the Sea Dogs at the QMJHL trade deadline, posted his third victory of the tournament with 25 saves. Hamilton's Marco Costantini stopped 21 of 26 shots in the loss.

WHAT <br><br>A <br><br>SAVE <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CityofChampions?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CityofChampions</a> <a href="https://t.co/ynput3sCbf">pic.twitter.com/ynput3sCbf</a>

The Sea Dogs also won the Memorial Cup in 2011 and their win on Wednesday marks the sixth time a QMJHL team has won the Memorial Cup in the last 10 tournaments.

The 2020 and 2021 Memorial Cup events were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sea Dogs defeated the Bulldogs 5-3 in the opening game of the tournament and used the same script Wednesday, scoring early.

Sevigny accepted a feed from Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Villeneuve and his blast hit the stick of Hamilton's Arber Xhekaj and whipped past Costantini 2:35 into the game.

The CAPTAIN, Vincent Sevigny