Tyler Hinam is no different than most young hockey players from around here.
The Cole Harbour native grew up cheering for the Halifax Mooseheads and dreamed of playing in the QMJHL one day. His father Mark was also the Mooseheads’ director of marketing for five years but left for another job when Tyler was only three years old.
But what makes Hinam different is he got to raise the biggest trophies in junior hockey on Scotiabank Centre ice. The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies winger celebrated a President Cup in Halifax on May 11 and then lifted the Memorial Cup on Sunday after his team beat the Mooseheads 4-2.
“It’s incredible,” said Hinam, who finished tied for ninth in tournament scoring with five points in five games. “This is probably the biggest thing most of us are ever going to win in our hockey careers so to do it here with all my friends and family here in the building is amazing.”
Defenceman Ryan MacLellan of Antigonish was the other Nova Scotian on the Huskies roster. He dressed for their first two games but didn’t see the ice much.
Rouyn-Noranda defenceman Noah Dobson also relished the celebration after Sunday’s championship win. Some Halifax fans booed him relentlessly during the tournament, targeting him every time he touched puck.
It was a tactic that started during the QMJHL championship series and peaked when the Summerside native was booed as he received his playoff MVP trophy. But the New York Islanders first-round pick said the special attention only added to the satisfaction of the title wins.
“I didn’t hear too many boos tonight but I guess I get the last laugh,” he said. “I won two championships here the last two weeks so that’s pretty special.”
This is Dobson’s second straight Memorial Cup title. He won last year in Regina with the Bathurst Titan. His coach on that team, Mario Pouliot, left Bathurst to become head coach and general manager in Rouyn-Noranda and made Dobson his No. 1 target during the Quebec league trade period.
“It doesn’t get old, that’s for sure,” Dobson said of the back-to-back national titles. “It’s a pretty special feeling. I’m just really grateful to play on so many great teams. It’s a real special group here and I couldn’t be happier.”
Dobson logged a ridiculous amount of ice time during the tournament but especially in the final two games. He was on the ice for 39:24 in the semifinal against the Guelph Storm and played 36:29 in the final.
“That’s why you put in the work in the summer, so you have the energy,” he said. “I’ve always been a guy that’s been able to eat up some minutes.”
The Huskies were scheduled to arrive back in Rouyn-Noranda around lunch time on Monday. This is the franchise’s first-ever Memorial Cup win but it’s the second year in a row a team from one of the Quebec league’s smallest cities got to celebrate a parade.
The population in Bathurst is only 13,000 and there are 42,000 people in Rouyn-Noranda. The players say that intimacy makes for a special relationship with the fans.
“We have a small market but it’s a hockey city,” said Huskies forward Peter Abbandonato. “We’re all together and the chemistry we have in the dressing room is unheard of.
“We worked so hard for 90-plus games this season. We’ve pulled the same way and we skated hard every game. I can’t be happier for all of us.”
