2009 Memorial Cup
The 2009 Memorial Cup was a four-team round-robin format ice hockey tournament played during May 2009 in Rimouski, Quebec. It was the 91st annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced on April 3, 2008, that the Rimouski Océanic were chosen to host the event at the Colisée de Rimouski. Other participants include the Windsor Spitfires, champions of the Ontario Hockey League, the Drummondville Voltigeurs, champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and the Kelowna Rockets, champions of the Western Hockey League.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Venue(s) | Colisée de Rimouski Rimouski, Quebec |
| Dates | May 15–24, 2009 |
| Teams | 4 |
| Host team | Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL) |
| TV partner(s) |
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| Final positions | |
| Champions | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) (1st title) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 9 |
| Attendance | 41,440 (4,604 per game) |
Five other QMJHL teams submitted a bid to host the event, including the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, Halifax Mooseheads, Lewiston Maineiacs, Shawinigan Cataractes, and the St. John's Fog Devils. The Maineiacs bid partnered with the American Hockey League's Portland Pirates, with a plan to host the event in Portland's Cumberland County Civic Center. The QMJHL announced a five-member independent selection committee to evaluate the bids, headed by former New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord.
The tournament began on May 15, 2009 with Kelowna beating Rimouski 4–1. Windsor defeated Rimouski in the tiebreaker and Drummondville in the semifinal, becoming just the second team since the current Memorial Cup tournament format was adopted in 1983 to reach the final after losing its first two games. Windsor then captured the Memorial Cup, defeating Kelowna 4–1 on May 24, 2009, becoming the first team in Memorial Cup history to win the tournament after starting 0–2, and also the first to win coming out of the tiebreaker.