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Sweet Sweet Repeat!

Written by: Jesse Michael on 24th May 2010

Sweet Sweet Repeat! | read this item

Brandon, Man. — The Windsor Spitfires are back-to-back Memorial Cup champions.

They accomplished the feat in stunning fashion, defeating the host Brandon Wheat Kings 9-1.

It was the first time since the Jarome Iginla led Kamloops Blazers in 1994-95 that a team was able to repeat as champs.

Adam Henrique opened the scoring 6:34 into the first period with his third of the tournament, squeaking a shot from the slot between the legs of Wheat Kings’ goalie Jacob De Serres.

Before the period was out, Eric Wellwood scored to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Going into the second, the feeling amongst everyone in attendance cheering for the host team was well aware that they needed the next goal to have a shot at catching the defending champions.

That didn’t happen, as Taylor Hall put a laser over top of De Serres’ glove hand to make it 3-0 Windsor.

Brandon got on the board just under four minutes later, when Matt Calvert – playing in his final game with the Wheat Kings – rifled one top corner to make it 3-1.

The flood gates opened up for the Spitfires after. Greg Nemisz, Marc Cantin, Cam Fowler, Zack Kassian, Henrique with his second, and Dale Mitchell filled the score sheet before the game was over.

Having locked up the win early in the third, Henrique said after the game that it was nice to reflect a little on the previous years spent in Windsor.

“We were obviously thinking about the back-to-back titles,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to have done it with a different group of guys. The group we have in the room is so special and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Taylor Hall explained that it was the different mix of players that helped them be so successful over the last two seasons.

“I think that’s our playoff experience coming into effect,” he said to OpenIceHockey after the game. “We have so many guys who have been through so much; World Juniors, Under 18’s and all that kind of stuff. Boughy [Bob Boughner] and the coaching staff gave some great tips and great leadership.”

Wellwood, who scored the game winner, spoke afterwards about how special it was winning two in a row.

“It’s a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “We realize what we’ve done. We’ve heard about the other teams to have done the same thing. I’m glad we can be apart of this.”

Eric’s brother, NHL’er Kyle Wellwood, talked about how proud he was of his brother.

“Certainly it’s an amazing feat and it’s definitely one of the top teams of all time in the CHL,” he said. “To have him apart of it playing for hometown team, it’s real nice.”

Henrique finished up by saying he’s enjoyed the ride.

“It’s been an unbelievable run and this is the right way to go out for us.”

De Serres made 43 stops for the Wheat Kings, while Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced in the win.

Topics: Adam Henrique, Brandon, Brandon Wheat Kings, Jacob De Serres, Jarome Iginla, Kamloops Blazers, Matt Calvert, Memorial Cup, Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires