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Ottawa Citizen

Hockey takes backseat for MacDougalls after family member's death

Hockey suddenly became secondary for the MacDougall family at the Memorial Cup on May 26. Article content Article content About 20 minutes before the Moncton Wildcats were to play the Medicine Hat Tigers in a round-robin game at the Canadian major junior hockey championship tournament in Rimouski, Que., Moncton general manager Taylor MacDougall was informed by Rimouski RCMP his father-in-law, Pat Buckley, had died from a heart attack while golfing in Rimouski earlier in the day. Article content Article content MacDougall's father, Gardiner MacDougall, is the Wildcats' head coach and started the media conference following Moncton's 3-1 loss to Western Hockey League-champion Medicine Hat addressing the tragedy. Article content Article content 'Taylor told me about five minutes before we started the game,' said a sombre Gardiner, who is from Bedeque, P.E.I. 'It is certainly a devastating loss. Article content 'It's the hardest game I have ever had to coach. Pat Buckley was an unbelievable sportsman, a top-notch golfer, a former university hockey player; he was a second father to my son, Taylor. They bonded like no other.' Article content Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins acknowledged the MacDougall family at the beginning of the Tigers' post-game media conference. Article content Article content 'First, I'd just like to pass along our condolences to the MacDougall family,' said Desjardins after being asked to start with his thoughts on the game. 'That's a terrible way to have to go into a game. Certainly, you cannot say words for that; how hard that would be. Article content Article content 'It just makes it really hard and it kind of takes away from the game for sure. I guess, for the game itself, which certainly is secondary…' Article content Records Article content The Wildcats, champions of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), fell to 0-2 (won-lost) with the loss and face a must-win situation in their final round-robin game against the host Rimouski Oceanic (0-2) on May 28. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals, while the losing team will be eliminated. Article content Medicine Hat and London, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) champions, went into a first-place showdown on May 27 with identical 2-0 records. The winning team will advance directly to the final on June 1 while the losing squad plays the winner of the Moncton-Rimouski game in the semifinal game on May 30. Article content The Wildcats, who recently won the franchise's third QMJHL championship and first in 15 years, opened the Memorial Cup with a 3-2 overtime loss to London on May 17, while Medicine Hat edged Rimouski 5-4 on May 16.