Each year, the champions from each of the three leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League meet to determine Canada’s top major junior hockey team. The host league of the Memorial Cup enters two teams to make it a four team tournament. In the 1990’s, three teams from the Ontario Hockey League were crowned Memorial Cup champions. Each year during the decade that an OHL team won, it was on home turf. Interestingly, the representative from the QMJHL in each of the three seasons was the Laval / Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The 1990 Memorial Cup was won by the Oshawa Generals in double overtime against OHL runner-up Kitchener Rangers. The Generals went undefeated in the tournament that was held in Hamilton, Ontario. The Dukes of Hamilton were originally supposed to compete for the Memorial Cup as the host team. After finishing the regular season with just eleven wins, Hamilton bowed out. The other two teams at the 1990 Memorial Cup were the Laval Titan from the QMJHL and the Kamloops Blazers from the WHL. Iain Fraser of the Generals was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the Memorial Cup MVP.

Oshawa was led by Eric Lindros, Fred Brathwaite and Mike Craig. Brathwaite and Craig are still active in professional hockey today with Fred playing for Adler Mannheim in Germany and Mike playing for Villacher in Austria. The team finished first overall in the OHL during the regular season, earning them the Hamilton Spectator Trophy. They met Kitchener in the Robertson Cup finals and took out the Rangers in seven games.

1992-93 was destined to be the year of the Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League. However, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds had different plans. After the Petes won the Hamilton Spectator as regular season champs then won the Robertson Cup over the Greyhounds in the playoffs, they met the Sault again in the Memorial Cup final game and lost 4-2.

The 1993 tournament was held in Sault Ste. Marie with the Laval Titan once again representing the QMJHL and the Swift Current Broncos participating as the WHL champs. The Greyhounds were led by Steve Sullivan and Ralph Intranuovo and were coached by Ted Nolan. Sullivan is still in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins while Intravuovo, the Stafford Smythe Trophy winner in 1993, is playing in Italy.

In 1999, the host Ottawa 67’s were upset in the OHL’s Robertson Cup playoffs by the Belleville Bulls in the second round. Belleville went on to meet the London Knights in the finals and win in seven games. Ottawa redeemed themselves by beating the Calgary Hitmen in the Memorial Cup final, 7-6 in overtime. Along with Ottawa, Belleville and Calgary, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan also participated. Ottawa’s Nick Boynton was awarded the Stafford Smythe.

The 67’s were led by current NHL players Brian Campbell and Zenon Konopka. The team finished the 1998-99 Ontario Hockey League season second in the Eastern Conference and third overall in the league. Ottawa was coached by, of course, OHL legend Brian Kilrea.