Kitchener, Ontario | |
Host team | Kitchener Rangers |
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Champions | Spokane Chiefs |
Duration | May 16–25, 2008 |
Number of games | 8 |
Number of teams | 4 |
Total attendance | 53,545 |
Television |
Rogers Sportsnet (Canada) NHL Network (USA) |
Memorial Cup Tournaments | |
← 2007
2009 →
|
The 2008 Memorial Cup was played in May 2008 in Kitchener, Ontario at the Memorial Auditorium. It was the 90th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Kitchener defeated competing bids from Oshawa, Saginaw, London, Sarnia and Kingston to host the Memorial Cup, with the official announcement being made on May 10, 2007. The tournament was competed between the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs, the QMJHL champion Gatineau Olympiques, the Kitchener Rangers as host of the tournament and OHL champions, and the OHL representative Belleville Bulls, who earned their place by reaching the OHL finals against Kitchener. The Memorial Cup tournament is a four team tournament with a round-robin format.
The tournament began on May 16, 2008, with a round-robin game between Gatineau and Kitchener and ended on May 25, 2008, with the Spokane Chiefs defeating the Kitchener Rangers 4–1 in the championship game to win the Memorial Cup.
The most memorable moment of the tournament occurred immediately following the championship game. As Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton was about to hand the trophy to Trevor Glass, the cup detached from the base and fell to the ice. This was not the original Memorial Cup, which resides at the Hockey Hall of Fame, but a replica. However, the video of the incident was widely featured on national news and television programs showing sports bloopers.