Vancouver Giants Win The Memorial Cup
Posted May 27, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One night before the start of the Stanley Cup final, arguably the second most prestigious piece of hardware in the sport was engraved with a new name. A go-ahead goal from Michal Repik at 15:05 of the third period lifted the Vancouver Giants to a 3-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers and a sent the Memorial Cup west on Sunday.
The 18-year-old Czech forward scored a wrap-around goal on Tigers goaltender Matt Keetley before Spencer Machacek added one into an empty net. Mario Bliznak also scored the Giants while goaltender Tyson Sexsmith stopped 14 of 15 shots for the win. Darren Helm scored the only goal for the Tigers, while Keetley performed admirably, keeping the Western Hockey League champions in the game as long as he could by turning away 38 of 40 shots. The game went in front of a standing-room only crowd of 16,281 at Pacific Coliseum, and afterwards Giants forward Milan Lucic was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The two clubs were very familiar with one another as they were meeting for the 11th time this season and Medicine Hat downed the Giants 1-0 during round-robin play to earn a bye to the final. The Giants got there with an 8-1 win over the Plymouth Whalers in Friday’s semifinal.
The 2008 Memorial Cup will be held in Kitchener, Ontario.
