Montreal Canadiens: Will Bitten and Cale Fleury kick off the Memorial Cup
All three CHL representatives have qualified for the 2018 Memorial Cup and Montreal Canadiens prospects Will Bitten, and Cale Fleury start things off tonight.
The Montreal Canadiens will have two of their own at the 2018 Memorial Cup in Regina. Will Bitten and the Hamilton Bulldogs defied the odds and got through the OHL to the J. Ross Robertson Cup. It was relatively easy until the Conference Finals hit. Before then, all of Hamilton’s series only took five games to get through it.
Sault Ste. Marie gave them the hardest time which was expected as they were the league’s best team. However, a goal from Robert Thomas in the third period got the Bulldogs the lead, and they managed to keep it.
Bitten saw some of his offence from the regular season take a dip in the playoffs. The 19-year-old finished the post-season with 4 goals and 7 assists in the 21 games it took to win the cup. Part of that has to do with how he is being used. At times it saw Bitten play more of a conserved form of hockey, but he got back to his dynamic and shifty ways as the playoffs continued.
He’s still a threat wherever he plays, especially on the penalty kill. Not only is Bitten defensively responsible and aware enough to prevent man advantage scoring, but he also has the skill to score when given the opportunity. The 2016 third-round pick gave fans an example of that in Game 3 against the Greyhounds.
However, that area of the Bulldog’s needs to be improved and hopefully Bitten is a part of that boost.
The Host Team
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Cale Fleury is the second Habs prospect playing in the tournament. We haven’t seen him lace up in a while since his Regina Pats were eliminated in the first-round of the WHL playoffs. The Pats and the Swift Current Broncos, who went on to win the league, went back and forth in their series.
The Swift Current took Game 1, but Regina quickly responded with a victory in Game 2. It came down to a single game as the two teams met for a make-or-break Game 7. The Pats opened the scoring, but the Broncos responded for three unanswered goals. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the tying goal, and that was the series.
Fleury had 4 assists in those 7 games for the Pats and is itching to add to that total. It’s been a wild year for him after being traded from the Kootenay Ice, but the 20-year-old has only improved from it. His offensive touch from the blue line awarded him with a total of 12 goals and 51 points in 68 games.
Fleury has connected with Sam Steel on more than one occasion, and it will be interesting to see if they get that going in the opening match. That game, of course, is between the Regina Pats and the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Choosing a team to cheer for is going to be difficult, but the hockey should be great. One team is fresh off a championship while the other has been waiting to get going. Who will put on the best show? You’ll have to wait until 10 PM ET which can be found on Sportsnet.