Three best blues players have played in the Memorial Cup over the past decade – Hockey writer – St Louis Blues
St. Louis Bruce has a prospect, Juraj Pekarcik, who competes for the Memorial Cup, the trophy awarded three league titles to the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) best team, while a boarding city (QMJHL) between the Quebec Sea Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the West Hockey Leage (Whl) (Whl) and Ontario ontario and tario key and tario key and tario kimey (QMKey Leage). Pekarcik is playing against QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats, another blues prospect since 2023, when Blues forward Zachary Bolduc competed and won the Memorial Cup with Quebec Remparts.
These are the three best blues players to compete in the Memorial Cup over the past decade.
Robert Thomas
Bruce’s striker Robert Thomas won the Memorial Cup with the London Knights in his first OHL season in 2016. He also scored 66 points in his second season, but his 2017-18 performance It was great to lead him. That season, Thomas was traded by the Cavaliers to the Hamilton Bulldogs (now Brantford Bulldogs), and forward Connor McMichael was the second-round draft pick in 2021, a conditional second-round draft pick in 2020, 2025 and 2026, and a conditional third-round draft pick in 2022. In 49 games.
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His performance was enough to help the Bulldogs make the OHL playoffs, where he continued to show significant progress. In the 2018 playoffs, he scored 32 points in 21 games and helped the Bulldogs win their first OHL title in the Memorial Cup. They made it to the semifinals and then lost 4-2 to WHL’s Regina Pats. Thomas finished with three points in four games.
Despite missing the Memorial Cup final, 2018 was a year for Thomas. He ended the OHL playoffs as an MVP and won a gold medal at the World Youth Championship (WJC). He then won the Stanley Cup with Blues the following season.
Zachary Bolduc
Bolduc played with Rimouski Oceanic in his first two QMJHL seasons, scoring 30 goals and 52 points in his first game in 2019-20. That season, he won the QMJHL offensive rookie of the year, the QMJHL rookie of the year, and became the QMJHL Jeollocki team.
It didn’t stop there. He scored 27 points in his second season against the Ocean, which was shortened due to the pandemic. After that season, Bolduc won the Mike Bossy Trophy and won the QMJHL Best Career Prospect.
Bolduc was traded to Remparts in August before the 2021-22 QMJHL season. He scored 99 points in his 65 games in his debut game against Remparts and won a spot on the QMJHL second-place All-Star team. Bolduc’s Memorial Cup began in 2022-23 when he scored 110 points in 61 games and led the Remparts to the QMJHL championship, with 19 points in 18 games.
Bolduc helped Rempart win all the games, scoring six points in four games. This is a major achievement because Remparts has not won the Memorial Cup since 2006. Bolduc was named the second All-Star team in CHL and QMJHL.
Alexei Toropchenko
The Alexey Toropchenko has a lower memorial cup pathway than Thomas and Bolduc. Toropchenko’s OHL run lasted only two seasons. However, when OHL’s Guelph Storm entered the game, he scored nine points in 66 games in the 2017-18 season and 43 points in 62 games in 2018-19.
His best figures were during the 2019 OHL Playoffs and Memorial Cup. Toropchenko finished the 2019 OHL playoffs with 19 points in 24 games, ranking fourth in the playoffs with goals (13), helping them win their fourth OHL championship and qualify for their sixth Memorial Cup.
In the Memorial Cup, Toropchenko ranked in the top five of the top five (6 points) in the Championship and was a key contributor to defensive Sean Durzi and forward Nick Nick Suzuki. They reached the semifinals, against QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, and the Storm lost 6-4. Although Toropchenko did not win the Memorial Cup, he showed his potential.
Memorial Cup Experience their NHL performance
The Blues drafted some strong talents among the three former Memorial Cup players. Thomas was named an NHL All-Star in the 2023-24 season and scored a career-high 86 points that season. At Bolduc, we start to see his real potential after his 2024-25 performance, where he scored 19 goals.
On the other hand, Toropchenko learned his offensive skills from the Storm’s failure to reach the Memorial Cup final to improve his physical condition, which made him a key asset to the Blues’ bottom line. Hopefully he has more time on the extended contract signed with Bruce in October 2024, Toropchenko can take some time to take advantage of what he has worked for him in the Memorial Cup show and incorporate it into his NHL game.
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