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The Memorial Cup is usually some pretty good hockey, but what made Guelph so great this season?
Even now, you can hear the pensiveness in Mike Kelly’s voice as he discusses the trade.
Yes, even now.
“My history has always been really conservative,” says the Guelph Storm general manager. “But the market had changed.”
Kelly’s willingness to ride the waves of change in early December, it’s pretty clear now, essentially rubber-stamped an OHL championship for his team and the favourite’s position at the 96th Memorial Cup competition.
Brad Richards is talking to the Rangers about winning the Cup.
It’s Brad Richards’ turn to be the old hand, tutoring his young New York Rangers teammates on what it’s like to win a Stanley Cup.
It wasn’t like that in 2004, when Richards and teammate Martin St. Louis won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“This whole playoffs it’s been fun to do that,” the 34-year-old Richards said Tuesday. “When I was in Tampa, Marty also, we didn’t really have a clue what we were doing.
“We were first time through it, leaning on other people, older people, asking them all the questions. It’s fun to try to gather the group and talk about things. This group has come together so much and they ask a lot of questions. They make fun of us a lot for doing that, too, but it’s fun to try to help out that way.”
The Rangers are two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup final after taking the opening two games of the NHL Eastern Conference final from the Canadiens in Montreal.
Team Canada beat Team Norway.
From a disallowed goal to a penalty kill in the final minutes, Team Canada didn’t enjoy a lot of easy moments in beating Norway 3-2.
But that’s exactly how coach Dave Tippett wanted it, as his team got the regulation victory it needed Tuesday to finish first in Group A at the world hockey championship.
“We played well, and I like that we got pushed right to the end,” Tippett said. “If it would’ve been a 5-1 or 6-1 game, maybe you get into bad habits, you just kind of float through it. This pushed us as a team, and the harder you get pushed as a team the better you get in a short amount of time. I like the fact that we won the game, obviously, but I like the fact that it was a close game.”