2007 Memorial Cup
The 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup was played in May 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Pacific Coliseum. It was the 89th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The tournament was competed between the WHL champion, the Medicine Hat Tigers; the OHL champion, the Plymouth Whalers; the QMJHL champion, the Lewiston Maineiacs; and the host team and tournament champion, Vancouver Giants, who were competing in their second consecutive national junior championship. The Memorial Cup tournament was a four team tournament with a round-robin format. The Giants won their first Memorial Cup, defeating Medicine Hat 3–1 in the second all-WHL final in tournament history (the first was in 1989). The tournament set a new Memorial Cup attendance record with 121,561 fans attending the nine games. The previous record of 84,686 was set at the 2003 tournament in Quebec City.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Venue(s) | Pacific Coliseum Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Dates | May 18–27, 2007 |
| Teams | 4 |
| Host team | Vancouver Giants (WHL) |
| TV partner(s) | Rogers Sportsnet |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Vancouver Giants (WHL) (1st title) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 9 |
| Attendance | 121,561 (13,507 per game) |
The tournament was the first to feature two league champions based in the United States, from Lewiston, Maine and Plymouth, Michigan, respectively. The only previous Memorial Cup to feature two American teams was the 1998 Memorial Cup, featuring the WHL champion, the Portland Winter Hawks and the host, the Spokane Chiefs. The 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup was also the first to feature the two-referee system.
The Memorial Cup trophy's ties to Canadian military were evident when Canadian Forces units delivered it to the championship by sea, aboard HMCS Vancouver; by air, hoisted aboard a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter; and by land, via the armoured 39th Canadian Brigade Group Convoy.