An All Canadian Memorial Cup

Much has been made this spring of the absence of Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup, with the Canucks and Senators bidding farewell back in round one, Canadian based teams were left to ponder what could have been for a long and rewarding skate into June.

Overseas, once again Canada's hopes have been dashed in the Quarterfinals, for the third time in three years Team Canada will not advance to the medal round of the World Championships, despite a fairly successful opening round, when they hand out the medals on Sunday Canada won't be on a blue line or perhaps even in the building to watch.

So, for those Canadians looking for some shinny on the indoor ponds of the home and native land, we offer up the Memorial Cup, the championship of Canadian Junior A hockey features four teams that can all be found above that 49th parallel, that despite an ongoing encroachment of American squads into the Quebec, Ontario and Western leagues over the last few years.

However for 2012, the Memorial Cup will remain in Canada, destined for a celebration in one of the hot beds of Canadian Junior hockey that have qualified for this years tournament.

The London Knights, Saint John Sea Dogs, Edmonton Oil Kings and host Shawinigan Cataractes are set to work their way towards the championship final next weekend, to get there however, a gruelling  path where challenges await.

A couple of early losses and the dreams of a Memorial Cup championship can be dashed, a winning streak builds the momentum that could very well carry a team to the top.

It all gets underway on Friday night, the Edmonton Oil Kings make their debut against the host team from Shawinigan, games nightly from Friday on provide Canadians with a sample of the state of Junior hockey today and a glimpse of some of the stars of the NHL to come, in some cases very shortly.

You can follow all of our items of note on the Memorial Cup from out anchor page.