A bracket to create a nice racket
A March Madness-like tournament to crown the Memorial Cup champ would create a lot of hype
Memorial Madness?
Maybe that’s too disrespectful to the Memorial Cup, a trophy named in honour of those who died in the First World War.
Cup Craziness? That could work. Either way, it’s time for the Canadian Hockey League to rethink how it’s going to handle this year’s premier junior hockey event, currently set for either Sault Ste. Marie or Oshawa beginning June 17.
On Monday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association created some hoopla when it announced changes to this year’s March Madness men’s college basketball tournament by making Indianapolis the host for the entire 68-team showdown.
No more criss-crossing the country to different courts for games. Just one, safe, centralized location. Players will live, eat, play, practise and get tested for COVID-19 regularly in a bubble. It’s not clear yet if fans will be able to attend.
You have to admire the NCAA’S vision. Maybe the CHL should take note.
With its three member leagues idle, this would be the perfect year to play with the Memorial Cup format, given our present circumstances.
Now, of course, there are major differences between the NCAA and CHL. College basketball, for the most part, is actually being played while the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League haven’t even dropped the puck this season.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League started in October and then only allowed its Atlantic-based teams to play before halting all games. Plans are underway to get back on the ice by Jan. 22. But, with the way things are going, that might be pushing it.
Ithink there is an opportunity for the CHL to spice up the Memorial Cup, even if it’s just for one year, by taking the NCAA’S lead with their own bracket-style one-and-done tournament.
Puck purists are probably perturbed at the thought. But hear me out.
The OHL, WHL and QMJHL all hold their own regional tournament in a bubble in one of their member cities where everyone is safe and under one roof. All 20 teams qualify, and opening-round matchups are drawn randomly. That’s 10 games in each league with the losers ousted.
The second round sees the winners clash, still in their regional tourney, to produce a top five in each league. Those 15 teams then join the team hosting the Memorial Cup to form a Sweet 16.
If the host team is part of the top five, then another club from the OHL is added to the group, since it’s the host league this year. The knockout format continues with the Sweet 16 at the Memorial Cup locale until a champ is crowned.
It’s a big change.
But two of the three leagues haven’t even played a regularseason game and the QMJHL is running a bastardized version of its schedule. So, basing league playoff seedings off extremely condensed or altered campaigns hardly seems right.
I say park all the teams until spring, run two-week training camps and then do something exciting, like a March Madness-style tournament.
Because, if there was a year to try something new, this is it.
The Sweet 16 stage of the Memorial Cup would include 15 games.
Package that to Sportsnet, TSN or CBC and divvy up the dough from broadcast rights between all the ailing clubs, which have been hurting financially since being shut down last March.
Think of the hype, office pools and marketing opportunities.
Most importantly, the players could salvage some sort of a season, the league could get some much-needed momentum going into next season and junior hockey fans could finally watch their team go for a title in a safe environment.
CHL, git ’er done.