"We Did It!"

The newspaper headline said it all Monday morning.
The Halifax Mooseheads, led by top prospect Nathan MacKinnon's hat trick, won the Memorial Cup on Sunday night, and earned their first national junior hockey championship.

MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin score 5 points each en route to a Mooseheads victory over the Portland Winterhawks. Top NHL prospect MacKinnon had a hat trick, including a title-clinching goal into an empty net, and Drouin had a five-assist performance as Halifax held off a late Portland rally, to defeat the Winterhawks 6-4 in the final.
Leading 5-2 with under six minutes to go, the Mooseheads watched as Portland cut the margin to 5-4 with 1:14 left.
That's when MacKinnon, a 17-year-old with maturity beyond his years, scored into an empty net to send Halifax to its first Canadian Hockey League title.
Konrad Abeltshauser added two goals and an assist, while Martin Frk had a goal and two assists for Halifax, which got 40 saves from Zachary Fucale.
"It felt like the longest game ever," Fucale said. "But now it seems as if it went so fast, as if the past two years just flew by. This feels as if it's not even real. This is crazy."
Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme said his best players excel when the games mean the most.
"Nathan, Jonathan and Fucale ... those guys, they like big moments," he said. "They like playing in big games. Those guys like facing big teams and big moments and big challenges. Tonight they just showed that they're big-time players."
"It's probably the greatest game I've ever played. It's just the greatest moment," Drouin said. "It's unbelievable. Winning the Memorial Cup with this group of guys is remarkable."
On Monday afternoon, fans braved showers at Halifax Stanfield International Airport to welcome the team home -- carrying the Memorial Cup, and league's 1st place winner's President's Cup.
Players met to thank their fans at a televised parade and rally at City Hall Grand Parade at noon hour on Tuesday. They later sat at a long line of tables to greet fans, pose for photos and sign autographs … for THREE HOURS!
A team from the QMJHL has won the Memorial Cup for three straight years.
-- It may not come as a surprise to you, Dear Reader, that some junior hockey fans in Central Canada (a.k.a. Ontario) persist in looking down their noses at the Quebec league, bragging that THEY have the best level of play.
This win might snuff the wind out of their sails.
Fans of the Halifax club can certainly agree with the tag line on their radio spots:
You just can't stop the Moose!

With extensive file material from:
CBC News and The Canadian Press.