The Erie Otters (8) and the Victoriaville Tigres will join the host Guelph Storm at the 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup, which opens Saturday in Guelph, Ontario.
The Otters won the Ontario Hockey League championship Friday night in Erie by downing the Barrie Colts 2-1 in overtime in Game 5 of the OHL Championship Series. Erie wins the series 4-1 and will represent the OHL as champions, along with the host Storm, who already received a bye.
Erie and Guelph will be joined by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions, the Victoriaville Tigres, at the MasterCard Memorial Cup. The Tigres won the QMJHL title on Sunday night, downing the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2) 5-3 in Game 6 of the QMJHL Championship Series, thus winning that series in six games.
Erie, Guelph and Victoriaville will be joined by the Western Hockey League champions. The WHL Championship Series continues Monday night in Kootenay, with the Ice leading the defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Red Deer Rebels 3-2 in their series.
If a seventh game is necessary, it will be played Tuesday night in red Deer. The winner advances to Guelph as WHL champions.
The 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup opens Saturday afternoon and continues until the championship game Sunday, May 26 at noon.
2002 MASTERCARD MEMORIAL CUP SECTION AT WWW.MEMORIALCUP.NET
You can now find information on this year’s MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament at the special MasterCard Memorial Cup section at www.memorialcup.net.
The section, which will continue to grow throughout the tournament, features news and information on all the latest MasterCard Memorial Cup news, stories on the City of Guelph, records and statistics on the tournament, a calendar of events going on in and around the MasterCard Memorial Cup and more features to be added in the coming weeks.
You can also access the 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup site via www.chl.ca, the official website of the Canadian Hockey League, by clicking on the MasterCard Memorial Cup icon on the home page.
The tournament takes place May 18-26, 2002 in Guelph, Ontario, with all games at the state-of-the-art Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre. All round-robin games will be broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet, with the semi-final and final games live on both the CTV Television Network and on The Team Sports Radio Network.
The 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup section will be updated weekly until May 17, then daily throughout the tournament, so check in often for the latest news on the 84th Memorial Cup.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
The WHL championship series continues Monday night in Kootenay, with the Kootenay Ice leading the best-of-seven series 3-2.
If a seventh game is necessary, it will be played Tuesday night in Red Deer, with the winner of the series advancing to the 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
