Regardless of what happens in Sundays Memorial Cup final, the Halifax Mooseheads will have completed their finest season in franchise history. The franchise was formed in the spring of 1994 when league president Gilles Corteau said "It is with pleasure that I welcome the Halifax Mooseheads as the first ever Maritime team in the QMJHL". I covered that announcement for TSN and the start of junior hockey kicked off in Atlantic Canada. The next year, the Moncton Alpines were in the league, then came the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Moncton Wildcats, Bathurst Titan, PEI Rocket, the Johns then came in, being the St. Johns Fog Devils in Newfoundland and the Saint John Seadogs from New Brunswick. The Moncton Alpines were awarded a franchise in 1995 but were poorly run and their games drew barely a few hundred fans. The league took over the franchise after the 1995-96 season and handed it over to Robert Irving, who changed the name to Wildcats and that franchise has done very well since. In fact, Moncton held the Memorial Cup in 2006 and the Wildcats made it to the final before losing to the Quebec Remparts, who were coached by Patrick Roy. Looking at the junior hockey map in Atlantic Canada, it resembles the American Hockey League map that existed from 1971 when the Nova Scotia Vees came to Halifax and became the first Canadian team to win the Calder Cup. The Vees left in the summer of 1993. There was no hockey at the Halifax Metro Centre in the fall of 1993. From the first game in October of 199,4 the city fell in love with junior hockey and fell for the Moose. From that time on, "Moose Mania" became part of the Atlantic lexicon. Nineteen years is a long time and the Moose watched several Atlantic teams who came in after them win the Presidents Cup, emblematic of the league championship. They watched Bathurst with Roberto Loungo take the Cup in 1999, Moncton Wildcats in 2006 and recently in back-to-back years watched Jonathan Huberdeau and the Saint John Seadogs win the Memorial Cup and two straight league titles. Prior to this year, the Moose went to the league finals twice. In 2005, they played Sidney Crosby and the Rimouski Oceanic and in 2003, they led the the Hull Olympiques 3-2 before losing Game 6 in Hull and Game 7 on home ice. Theyve been to the Memorial Cup once before in their history. In 2000, they hosted the event at the Metro Centre. They made it as far as the semifinal in a tournament won by Brad Richards and Rimouski and featuring the antics of the Barrie Colts and Mike Jefferson, now known as Mike Danton. The Mooseheads have had good teams but when they were strong, there always seemed to be stronger teams. In their first season, their star was goalie Jean Sebastian Giguere, who was a throw-in in a trade. It was his goaltending that prevented Halifax from finishing in the basement. That was an accomplishment for a first-year team. One year, Alex Tanguay was on the team and Ladislav Nagy scored 71 goals, despite missing a month representing his native country at the World Juniors) but they ran into a very strong Bathurst team. But this year is their most remarkable season ever. They have yet to lose 10 games this season and have advanced to the Memorial Cup final. They started the season on a 16-1 note and finished with six straight wins at the end of the season. In the playoffs, the Mooseheads won 16 out of 17 games, including 14 straight. Those are amazing stats. By now, most have heard of Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin but this team has so much depth. MacKinnon and Drouin dont have to score because so many others can. In all, theyve got six players who scored 30 or more goals. Thats offence and thats balance. The unknown star to many Canadians is the goalie, Zach Fucale. He played big minutes last year as a 16-year old and starred this season. He reminds many of the 16-year old Giguere and may be the first goalie taken in this years NHL Draft. "This is the best team in Mooseheads history," said sports columnist Chris Cochrane, who has followed the team since opening day. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime team or once every 25 years. They are special." Drouin became a star during the World Juniors but Mooseheads fans remember him from last seasons playoffs when the favoured Quebec Remparts led 3-1 and Halifax beat them in Game 7 with Drouin scoring a bunch of goals, including the winner in the decisive game. MacKinnon has starred since day one and, in the first game of the Memorial Cup against the Portland Winterhawks, may have played one of the best games ever at the tournament. He scored three goals, showed some nifty passing skills and played defence in a showcase way. He has been compared to Sidney Crosby. Like Sid, he is from Cole Harbour, a standout at an early age but the more we see him, its the lower body strength he has that resembles Crosby. Haligonians have watched him and scored five goals in a game against the powerful Quebec Remparts. There is no guarantee that they will win on Sunday, after all this is a one-game showdown and anything can and may happen. But its been a tremendous year and regardless of the Sunday outcome, its been the best Mooseheads year ever. For TSN.ca Im Alex J. Walling Alex J. can be reached via email at: ajw@eastlink.ca Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysbywholesale.com/ . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Cheap MLB Jerseys Free Shipping . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Wholesale MLB Jerseys China . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times. SEATTLE -- Raul Ibanez doesnt know when his final game will be and hes playing like it wont be anytime soon. Seattles 41-year-old outfielder hit his 22nd home run to help Felix Hernandez win his ninth game in the Mariners 11-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. Ibanezs home run -- on a 0-2 pitch from Red Sox starter Jon Lester (8-5) -- broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth. It was his seventh go-ahead home run this season and extended his hitting streak to 13 games. "At some point last year (with the Yankees), I started acting like it was my last game," said Ibanez, who turned 41 on June 2. "I asked myself the questions, How would I act, what would I think about, how would I prepare? I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could. "Im 41. You cant play this game forever. I used that approach. Hopefully, I can share that approach with the younger guys, telling them, Hey, time goes by really fast. Enjoy this. " Ibanez needs eight more home runs to pass Ted Williams for the most home runs by a 41-year-old. Williams hit 29 at age 41 in 1960, his final season with the Red Sox. "Hes found -- almost -- the fountain of youth," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Hes at 22 home runs tonight. Obviously, it speaks to a lot of hard work." Hernandez (9-4) held the Red Sox to two runs and six hits over seven innings. He walked two, struck out six and maintained his 2.69 ERA, second lowest in the American League behind teammate Hisashi Iwakumas 2.60. "The offence came today," Hernandez said. "Raul do the same thing hes been doing for like two months, and we win the game." Hernandez allowed two or fewer runs for the 13th time in 19 starts. "He wasnt as tough as Ive seen him in the past when he was throwing 96-97, but he still is a great pitcher," Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "He goes out there and throws all his pitches for strikes and still gets of lot of swings and misses." Justin Smoak had three hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs for Seattle. Michael Saunders had two doubles and three RBIs. Seattle pounded out 15 hits in winning for the fifth time in seven games. Boston has lost three straight, matching its season high. Entering the game, the Mariners had just two hits in its previous 32 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and were on an 0-for-19 run. After three innings, the run had grown to 0 for 25. Kendrys Morales opened the fourth with a hard single to left. Kyyle Seager followed with a single that just ticked off second baseman Dustin Pedroias glove.dddddddddddd The ball trickled into right field, allowing Morales to reach third. With one out, Smoak finally broke the stretch of futility with double just inside the third-base bag. Morales scored and Seager advanced to third. Mike Zunino walked to load the bases and Saunders walked to drive in Seager. Smoak said failing to hit in the clutch is harder "because you want it so bad." "You put a lot of pressure on yourself instead of going up there relaxed looking for a good pitch to hit and putting a good swing on it," Smoak said. "Ive been watching Raul do it all the time, and (Kendrys) Morales and Seag." Boston responded in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs. Daniel Nava had a RBI single and Brock Holt raced home from third on a wild pitch to make it 2-2. Ibanezs leadoff home run in the fifth gave the Mariners the lead for good. He has hit eight home runs in his last 13 games and the Mariners have hit at least one home run in 16 straight games. "I felt I executed that pitch fairly well, enough to not have that result," Lester said of his cutter to Ibanez. "Obviously, he was sitting on it. Its frustrating because it is 0-2, but it was the pitch I wanted to go to." Ibanez has 203 doubles and 149 home runs as a Mariner. He is one home run from joining Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Alvin Davis as the only Mariners with at least 200 doubles and 150 home runs. Smoak, Ibanez, Brad Miller and Nick Franklin added RBI hits. Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia each had RBI doubles in the eighth. NOTES: With RHP Jeremy Bonderman designated for assignment Monday, the Mariners need a starter Thursday. "Well be pulling someone up for that," Manager Eric Wedge said. It could be RHP Erasmo Ramirez, coming back from a triceps strain, or RHP Brandon Maurer, who began the year with the big club. . 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