Saginaw and London faced off for the Memorial Cup final, winner take all. Or at least a cup. Saginaw, as expected playing at home, came out hot and the expectation was London would let them play hard and then come back harder.

We waited, and they didn't, we waited and Saginaw scored. We waited and London's Landon Sim laid a blatant chicken wing to the head on Zane Parekh. Owen Beck scored a few seconds into the five-minute major. Sim also got the gate.

Owen Beck will take heat for that wave of the bench, but everybody hates London, and Toronto fans should aspire to everyone hating Toronto this much.

The second period had London kill off the rest of the major, but we were all still waiting for them to get their second SOG. Instead, Saginaw scored again. But Kasper Halttunen gets one back.

In the third, London put on something like a hard pushback, but it's just too easy for a decent team to hold a lead and let you wear yourself out trying. All it takes is one to make it a closer game, even when the opposition is defending as well as anyone could. I think you call this kind of player a gamebreaker.

Sam Dickinson can be that too. It's particularly tasty to see him tie the game against draft-rival Parekh.

One problem London had in this game is that the famed "whistle in pocket, letting them play" that is often believed to take place in the NHL playoffs was on full display here. The Knights weren't drawing penalties with their speed and agility, they were just getting tripped and slashed and high-sticked. The only penalty other than the major was a puck over glass. They got away with things less blatant and dangerous than the hit on Parekh of course.

It looked like OT was in the cards when Easton Cowan couldn't control a pass and the shot was too easy to save.

But no. Josh Bloom for the Saginaw Spirit won the Cup.

Every time someone scores the game of their lives, someone else's heart gets broken.

That's junior hockey done now for this season.

Edmonton beat the Stars to take the Western Conference and will face Florida in the final. We now all get to face the first Canadian team in the final since... well, it hasn't even been that long, has it? No matter, that will be the story.

Draft, free agency, long-awaited team names and logos: Previewing a busy PWHL off-season | CBC Sports
Fans will have to wait more than five months to watch another PWHL game, but the league’s first off-season promises to be anything but quiet. New York will pick first in a seven-round entry draft on June 10 in Minnesota.
CBCKarissa Donkin

Not your usual citations in a sports article, worth a read just for the academic approach:

The Toronto Maple Leafs should not play hardball with its Core Four players
The Toronto Maple Leafs have important decisions to make this offseason. One of them should be to keep their word.
The ConversationRyan Clutterbuck

Today is the first draft profile, and Tij Iginla is the subject. You should listen when Brigs tells you that Iginla is going to be taken too high in the draft for Toronto, but he's a fun introduction to the not-Celebrini draft.

From The Branches