Saint John wins Memorial Cup, William Dufour named tournament MVP

Hey, remember that article from, like, three days ago about Islanders prospect William Dufour scoring four goals in a [some sponsor or another] Memorial Cup game to put his Saint John Sea Dogs in the championship game?

Well, that game was tonight. And Saint John won, beating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3, to take this year’s Memorial Cup. And Dufour had a goal and an assist and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Here’s the goal, scored about five minutes into the second period. It would turn out to be the game-winner (and that pass by Ryan Francis isn’t too shabby, either).

In the third period, Dufour got a sweet assist of his own on a goal by Josh Lawrence.

With eight points in four games, on seven goals and the assist, Dufour was named the tournament’s MVP. That trophy will look nice on his mantle next to the QMJHL MVP award he won this season, too. That’s probably about as good a year as you can have as a junior hockey player.

The championship is the second Memorial Cup for Saint John. Dufour, selected by the Islanders in the fifth round of the 2020 draft, joins other recent Islanders prospects who have won the Memorial Cup including Noah Dobson (twice), Michael Dal Colle and, uh, Griffin Reinhart...? Sure.

Congrats to William and the Sea Dogs on their season. We’ll see you at prospect camp.