Memorial Cup: Championship game to feature a battle of Ontario

 

SAGINAW, MICH – For the first time since 2017, it’s going to be an all-Ontario final at the Memorial Cup.

The Saginaw Spirit scored six unanswered goals en route to a 7-1 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night at the Dow Event Center in semifinal play.

The Spirit will take on the London Knights in Sunday’s championship game.

Spirit coach Chris Lazary called Saginaw’s fourth line their “best line” in the win.

Saginaw’s line of Ethan Hay centering Lincoln Moore and Sebastien Gervais combined for 10 points in the victory.

“I’m real proud of specific guys in that room,” Lazary said. “Our fourth line hasn’t played much all tournament. For those guys to go out and put the team on their back and a leader like (Braden Hache) to pull those guys aside and telling them all week, ‘You’re going to do something big in this tournament for this group,’ tonight they were a huge reason why we won.”

For the Spirit, Sunday’s final will be a chance at redemption after falling to the Knights in the OHL playoffs and then dropping a 4-2 decision to the OHL club in Wednesday’s round robin finale.

For the Warriors, Friday’s setback wasn’t easy to take.

“It’s a tough one,” Warriors coach Mark O’Leary said of the loss. “It’s a tough way to go out. Saginaw played a heck of a hockey game. They forecheck hard and we couldn’t really get anything going, starting with our exits. Things were hard along the wall and we just weren’t able to get pucks going north as well as we’d like and spent a lot of time in our zone.”

Saginaw opened the scoring just over three minutes into the contest as Ethan Hay took a pass in the left circle and beat Jackson Unger after Sebastien Gervais and Lincoln Moore forced a turnover behind the Warriors net.

Moose Jaw thought they had the game tied just over a minute later as defenceman Lucas Benton beat a pair of Spirit defenders and stuffed the puck past Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke. The goal was ultimately challenged by the Spirit and waved off due to goalie interference.

Moose Jaw would eventually get on the board at 7:08 as Jagger Firkus skated into the Saginaw zone and beat Oke with a backhand that handcuffed the Spirit netminder stick side.

Saginaw took the lead 1:53 into the second period as Braden Hache beat Unger with a shot from the top of the left circle that deflected off a Moose Jaw stick.

Just under two minutes later, Owen Beck took a pass in the right circle and beat Unger high glove side.

Lincoln Moore made it a 4-1 game at 9:05 as he beat Unger from the bottom of the left circle on a one-timer after a pass from Hay.

Saginaw took a 5-1 lead as Hay skated into the slot and took a pass from Moore before beating Unger stick side at 11:22.

Sebastien Gervais capped off the second period scoring with 5:36 to go in the frame as he scored on a loose puck in the crease after Unger made the initial save on Rodwin Dionicio from the point on the play.

Saginaw made it a 7-1 game 70 seconds into the third period as Dionicio beat Unger with a shot from the slot glove side after a neutral zone turnover by Moose Jaw.

Hay had two goals and two assists for the Spirit in the victory while Dionicio also had a four-point night with a goal and three assists.

Gervais and Moore added a goal and two assists each for Saginaw.

Oke made 23 saves in the victory,

Due to an equipment issue for Oke, Nolan Lalonde saw a short stint in goal for the Spirit in the second period and stopped the lone shot he faced.

Unger stopped 30 shots for the Warriors.

Moose Jaw got into the semifinal thanks to a win over the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday night in the final game of the round robin for both clubs.

Game Notes

Lines

Saginaw
Josh Bloom-Owen Beck-Alex Christopoulos
Joey Willis-Matyas Sapovaliv-Calem Mangone
Michael Misa-Hunter Haight-Nic Sima
Sebastien Gervais-Ethan Hay-Lincoln Moore
Jorian Donovan-James Guo
Braden Hache-Zayne Parekh
Rodwin Dionicio-Will Bishop
Andrew Oke
Nolan Lalonde

Moose Jaw
Martin Rysavy-Brayden Yager-Jagger Firkus
Lynden Lakovic-Matthew Savoie-Atley Calvert
Ethan Semeniuk-Brayden Schuurman-Rilen Kovacevic
Pavel McKenzie-Owen Berge-Ethan Hughes
Denton Mateychuk-Kalem Parker
Lucas Brenton-Cosmo Wilson
|Aiden Ziprick-Vojtech Port
Jackson Unger
Dimitri Fortin

Scratches

Saginaw – Kaleb Papineau, Josh Glavin, Graydon Jones, Carson Harmer, Liam Storch, P.J. Forgione, Jacob Cloutier, Aidan Castle

Moose Jaw – Evan May, Landen McFadden, Noah Degenstein, Brady Ness, Connor Schmidt, Max Finley

Previous Coverage

Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 2024
Drummondville vs. Saginaw – May 26, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. London  – May 27, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. Drummondville – May 28, 2024
London vs. Saginaw – May 29, 2024

Memorial Cup: Knights unbeaten through round robin, off to tournament final

 SAGINAW, MICH – The first ticket to the championship game has been booked.

Thanks to a 4-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit, the London Knights will advance into Sunday’s final at the 2024 Memorial Cup in Saginaw.

Saginaw will have a chance at redemption though as the team will face the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors in a semifinal game on Friday night with the winner moving into Sunday’s title game.

A goal late in regulation time by Easton Cowan was the difference for the Knights.

“I was getting my chances throughout the first couple of games,” Cowan said. “I felt in the third period, I was really getting back to my game.”

“He’s got the skill and the will,” Knights coach Dale Hunter said of Cowan. “He’s a good skater, knows the game and pushes through.”

For the Spirit, the game came down to a costly mistake.

“We made one mistake tonight and it cost us the game,” said Saginaw forward Owen Beck. “

Moose Jaw earned a semifinal berth thanks to a win over the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday night.

Saginaw opened the scoring just short of nine monies into the contest. After a shot by defenceman Jorian Donovan was partially blocked by London’s Jackson Edward, Josh Bloom’s follow up chance from the slot deflected past Knights goaltender Michael Simpson off the skate of Alex Christopoulos.

Just under six minutes later, with the Knights on the power play, Kasper Halttunen cut into the slot from the right wing and proceeded to beat Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke stick side to tie the game at one.

London took a 2-1 lead just past the midway point of the second period as Denver Barkey went to the net on a rush and redirected a pass from Halttunen past Oke.

Saginaw tied the game with 5:40 to go in the middle stanza as Joey Willis beat Simpson with a shot from the right circle high short side.

The Knights took the lead with 1:25 to go in regulation time as Cowan brat Oke glove side on a breakaway after taking a pass from Sam O’Reilly on the left wing. O’Reilly skated the puck into the Saginaw zone after lifting the stick of a Saginaw player to maintain possession of the puck for the Knights.

“They made a sick play on the entry, Cowan’s a dangerous player, and they scored,” Lazary said.

Cowan capped off the scoring with an empty net goal in the final minute of play.

Cowan finished the night with two goals and an assist for the Knights.

Halttunen and Barkey added a goal and an assist while O’Reilly assisted on a pair of goals.

Simpson made 26 saves for the Knights.

Oke made 31 saves at the other end for the Spirit.

While Saginaw finished the round robin with a 2-1 record, Moose Jaw went 1-2 in round robin play.

Drummondville was the lone winless team in the event with a record of 0-3 in round robin play.

Game Notes

Lines

London
Denver Barkey-Jacob Julien-Ruslan Gazizov
Max McCue-Sam O’Reilly-Easton Cowan
Landon Sim-Kaleb Lawrence-Kasper Halttunen
Ryder Boulton-William Nicholl-Evan Van Gorp
Isaiah George-Jackson Edward
Sam Dickinson-Oliver Bonk
Jared Woolley-Henry Brzustewicz
Michael Simpson
Owen Willmore

Saginaw
Josh Bloom-Owen Beck-Alex Christopoulos
Joey Willis-Matyas Sapovaliv-Calem Mangone
Michael Misa-Hunter Haight-Nic Sima
Sebastien Gervais-Ethan Hay-Lincoln Moore
Jorian Donovan-James Guo
Braden Hache-Zayne Parekh
Rodwin Dionicio-Will Bishop
Andrew Oke
Nolan Lalonde

Scratches

London – Noah Jenken, Alec Leonard (injury), Sawyer Boulton (suspension – game 1 of 1), Kaeden Johnston

Saginaw – Kaleb Papineau, Josh Glavin, Graydon Jones, Carson Harmer, Liam Storch, P.J. Forgione, Jacob Cloutier, Aidan Castle

Previous Coverage

Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 202
Drummondville vs. Saginaw – May 26, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. London  – May 27, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. Drummondville – May 28, 2024

Memorial Cup: Warriors stay alive in dramatic fashion

SAGINAW, MICH – For both teams, it was a night in which they were facing elimination.

The second-last day of the round robin portion of the 2024 Memorial Cup had a flare for the dramatic as the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors got a late shorthanded goal to pick up a 5-3 win over the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs.

The Warriors stay alive thanks to a shorthanded goal by Aiden Ziprick with 94 seconds left to conclude the round robin with a 1-2 record.

“It’s pretty special,” Ziprick said of the goal. “I’ll definitely remember that for the rest of my life.”

“There was a little bit of a scrum in the corner there and I thought we might come out with the puck,” Ziprick said of the winning goal. “Denton made a good pass to me and the rest I just kind of blacked out

“It couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Warriors coach Mark O’Leary said of the winning goal.

“He’s a popular teammate,” O’Leary added. “He works hard everyday.”

O’Leary said the Warriors started the game “looking like ourselves.”

“It was out best start in terms of overall play,” O’Leary said. “We had everybody playing the right way. We got a little bit of momentum from that and we had some opportunities early on that we couldn’t cash in on.”

“For the first half of the game, we were really good,” O’Leary added. “We got a little pushback there and were on our heels a little bit, but you expect that from another team that’s won a championship.”

The start to the game was a concern for Voltigeurs coach Sylvan Favreau in the loss.

“I didn’t like the way we started the game,” Favreau said. “We found out style of play and our identity in the second and third period.

“We had tons of opportunities,” Favreau added. “To win championships, you need breaks to go your way and we certainly did in the third period. We were waiting for a power play opportunity. We have a great power play and obviously that stung us with a late goal.”

Moose Jaw opened the scoring as Vojtech Port went to the net and redirected a cross-crease pass from Atley Calvert past Drummondville goaltender Riley Mercer on a three-way passing play at 13:04.

Just over five minutes into the second period, Jagger Firkus beat Mercer from the left circle on a pass from Brayden Yager to make it 2-0 Moose Jaw.

The Warriors took a 3-0 lead when Denton Mateychuk converted on a loose puck after Yager couldn't get a clean handle on a pass jn the slot at 12:43.

Drummondville got on the scoreboard for the first time when Justin Cote beat Moose Jaw goaltender Jackson Unger with a one-timer from the right circle on a pass from Luke Woodworth at 14:46.

The Voltigeurs proceeded to pull within one when Peter Repcik beat Unger with a shot from the left wing that beat the Warriors netminder high stick side 57 seconds later.

Drummondville tied the game at three 3:13 into the third period when Mikael Huchette won a faceoff deep in the Moose Jaw zone to Alexis Gendron who proceeded to skate into the slot and beat Unger high glove side.

With Firkus in the penalty box late in regulation time, Ziprick skated into the slot and took a pass from Mateychuk before beating Mercer glove side with 1:34 to go.

Brayden Yager capped off the victory with an empty net goal with 10 seconds to goal to seal the win for the Warriors.

Mateychuk and Yager had a goal and two assists each to pace the Warriors offensively. 

Unger made 49 saves in the win.

Mercer stoppe 23 shots at the other end.

Cote had a goal and an assist in the loss.

The winner of Wednesday’s game between the Spirit and Knights will finish 3-0 and earn a spot directly in the final on Sunday.

Moose Jaw will face the loser of the Spirit/Knights game in Friday’s semifinal.

Tuesday’s loss eliminates Drummondville from the tournament as the QMJHL champs finish the tournament with a record of 0-3.

During Tuesday’s game, the Canadian Hockey League announced that London forward Sawyer Boulton has been suspended for one game for a warmup violation prior to the Knights game against Moose Jaw on Monday night. Boulton made contact with a Moose Jaw player as he left the ice late in warmups. The Knights have also been fined $1,000 as a result of the incident.

Game Notes

Lines

Moose Jaw
Matthew Savoie-Brayden Yager-Jagger Firkus
Lynden Lakovic-Brayden Schuurman-Atley Calvert
Martin Rysavy-Ethan Semeniuk-Rilen Kovacevic
Pavel McKenzie-Owen Berge-Ethan Hughes
Denton Mateychuk-Kalem Parker
Lucas Brenton-Cosmo Wilson
Aiden Ziprik-Vojtech Port
Jackson Unger

Dimitri Fortin

Drummondville
Justin Cote-Luke Woodworth-Ethan Gauthier
Alexis Gendron-Peter Repcik-Mikael Huchette
Kassim Gaudet-Sam Oliver-Noah Reinhart
Maxime Lafond-Lukas Landry-Renaud Poulin
Marc-Olivier Beaudry-Vsevolod Komarov
Matteo Rotondi-Mikael Diotte
Yan Gaudreau-Simon-Pier Brunet
Riley Mercer
Louis-Felix Charrois

Scratches

Moose Jaw – Evan May, Landen McFadden, Noah Degenstein, Brady Ness, Connor Schmidt, Max Finley

Drummondville – Maxime-Olivier Drolet, Maveric Lamoureaux (injury), William Dumont, Vincent Tremblay

Previous Coverage

Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 2024
Drummondville vs. Saginaw – May 26, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. London  – May 27, 2024

Memorial Cup: Knights win sets up OHL showdown for championship game spot

SAGINAW, MICH – It's going to be a battle of Ontario to determine one of two spots in the Memorial Cup final.

Thanks to a 5-4 win over the Western Hockey League champion Moose Jaw Warriors on Monday night, the London Knights remain unbeaten at the 10-day event.

The Ontario Hockey League champions will face the Saginaw Spirit, host team of the tournament to conclude the round robin with the winner earning a spot directly in Sunday's tournament final.

For London coach Dale Hunter, a 2-0 record is great, but the veteran bench boss told reporters following Monday’s win that “there’s always room for improvement.”

“It’s two games, it’s two good teams that we played, and it’s a battle,” Hunter added. “It’s all been tight games. That’s what this tournament is. It’s the best of the best.”

Warriors coach Mark O'Leary said there was "a lot to like" in the game despite the loss.

“Certainly, we were looking for a better start and we got that,” O’Leary added. “Not just results-wise, but we talk about a good start is getting into our game in a hurry and playing with that energy and enthusiasm and structure without the puck.”

O’Leary added that the difference in the game was partly Moose Jaw’s inability to capitalize on opportunities offensively.

“Overall, (London) did a better job of that,” O’Leary said.

Moose Jaw opened the scoring as Denton Mateychuk took a short pass as the trailer on the play from Atley Calvert and beat London goaltender Michael Simpson high stick side 3:39 into the game.

The Knights got in the board as Ruslan Gazizov forced a turnover and then took a pass in the slot from Jacob Julien and beat Jackson Unger glove side at 11:58.

London took the lead at 17:50 as Sam Dickenson took a pass from Denver Barkey and beat Unger high stick side.

Moose Jaw tied the game just over seven minutes into the second period as Ethan Semeniuk scored on a rebound after Aidan Ziprick's initial shot was stopped by Simpson at 7:01.

Sam O'Reilly gave the Knights a 3-2 lead as he cut in from the left faceoff circle and beat Unger high stick side from in tight at 9:02.

London made it a 4-2 game just as a Knights penalty expired. Landon Sim beat Unger from the left circle high stick side at 12:47.

Kasper Halttunen extended the lead to 5-2 with a power play goal, beating Unger high glove from the high slot at 16:14.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Semeniuk picked up his second of the day as he dumped the puck in on goal from just outside the blueline and it shorthanded past Simpson to make it a 5-3 game six seconds later.

With just under four minutes to go in regulation time, Martin Rysavy banged in a loose puck during a scramble in the London crease to make it a one-goal game late.

O'Reilly finished the night with a goal and an assist for London while Barkey and Easton Cowan assisted on two goals each in the victory.

Simpson made 26 saves.

Unger made 23 saves.

With the win, the Knights are guaranteed at worst a spot in Friday's semifinal with a 2-0 record.

Moose Jaw falls to 0-2 with the loss and needs a win on Tuesday to remain alive in the tournament and get into the semifinal game.

Moose Jaw will wrap up their round robin schedule on Tuesday night when they face the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs while London faces the host-Saginaw Spirit in the tournament’s final round robin game on Wednesday night.

The winner of Wednesday’s game between the Spirit and Knights will finish 3-0 and earn a spot directly in the final on Sunday.

The loser of the game will play in Friday's semifinal against the winner of the Moose Jaw/Drummondville game.

Game Notes

Lines

Moose Jaw
Matthew Savoie-Brayden Yager-Jagger Firkus
Lynden Lakovic-Brayden Schuurman-Atley Calvert
Martin Rysavy-Ethan Semeniuk-Rilen Kovacevic
Pavel McKenzie-Owen Berge-Ethan Hughes
Denton Mateychuk-Kalem Parker
Lucas Brenton-Cosmo Wilson
Aiden Ziprik-Vojtech Port
Jackson Unger
Dimitri Fortin

London
Denver Barkey-Jacob Julien-Ruslan Gazizov
Max McCue-Sam O’Reilly-Easton Cowan
Landon Sim-Kaleb Lawrence-Kasper Halttunen
Evan Van Gorp-William Nicholl-Sawyer Boulton
Isaiah George-Jackson Edward
Sam Dickinson-Oliver Bonk
Jared Woolley-Henry Brzustewicz
Michael Simpson
Owen Willmore 

Scratches

Moose Jaw – Evan May, Landen McFadden, Noah Degenstein, Brady Ness, Connor Schmidt, Max Finley

London – Ryder Boulton, Alec Leonard (injury), Kaeden Johnston, Noah Jenken

Previous Coverage

Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 2024
Drummondville vs. Saginaw – May 26, 2024

 

Memorial Cup: Hosts inching toward potential berth in championship game

 

SAGINAW, MICH – Out to prove they belong and can compete with the champions from around the Canadian Hockey League, the Saginaw Spirit are a win away from earning a spot directly in the final of the 2024 Memorial Cup.

The Ontario Hockey League club picked up their second win of the 10-day event on Sunday night at the Dow Event Center by beating the Quebec Maritime Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs.

The win came after the Voltigeurs stormed out of the game and took a first period lead over the hosts.

Spirit coach Chris Lazary said there was a feeling of determination within the team, even after falling behind by a pair of goals through one period.

“We’re on a mission,” Lazary said.

Lazary also said that, after the opening period, he went into the Spirit dressing room and told his team that if they duplicated the opening period “we’re good.”

“For most teams, maybe (being down) is deflating for them, but for us, it’s just like ‘We’re okay. We’re fine,’” Lazary added.

After a solid opening period, Drummondville coach Sylvain Favreau wasn't pleased with the final 40 minutes from his club. 

“I really liked our first period aside from the last minute or two,” Favreau said. “We played within our identity. I really liked our pace and the urgency that we played with. I’m really disappointed with the second period. Even though we scored a power play goal at the end, we sort of lost our identity, our pace of play. It was important to have a good third period and we had two costly mistakes.”

Drummondville got on the board first after a Saginaw turnover in the neutral zone led to a 2-on-1 in the Spirit zone. Luke Woodworth proceeded to beat Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke from the left circle on a one-timer of a pass from Ethan Gauthier nine minutes into the game.

With 2:26 to go in the period, the Voltigeurs took a 2-0 lead as Peter Repcik beat Oke from in close after a point shot from Vsevolod Komarov missed the net initially.

With just under eight minutes to go in the second period, Saginaw got on the board on a delayed penalty. Alex Christopoulos skated into the Drummondville zone, cut toward the slot and beat Riley Mercer high stick side at 12:04.

With 4:15 to go in the period, Saginaw tied the game as Hunter Haight dropped the puck to Michael Misa before taking a hit from a Drummondville player and then going to the net and redirecting a pass past Mercer.

Drummondville retook the lead with 45 seconds to go in the period as Justin Cote beat Andrew Oke high glove through traffic on the power play.

Saginaw tied the game again at 5:54 of the third period as Nic Sima went to the net and scored on a rebound of a shot by Zayne Parekh.

Haight gave the Spirit the lead with at 12:16 as he beat Mercer with a shot from the slot that handcuffed the Voltigeurs netminder.

Misa assisted on three of Saginaw's four goals in the victory.

Oke made 21 saves.

Woodworth had a goal and an assist for the Voltigeurs while Komarov assisted on a pair of goals for Drummondville.

Mercer made 27 saves in the loss for Drummondville.

Saginaw now holds a 2-0 record while the Voltigeurs are 0-2.

Drummondville will wrap up their round robin schedule on Tuesday night with a game against the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

Saginaw now has a pair of days off before capping off the round robin Wednesday night by facing the OHL-champion London Knights.

London and Moose Jaw are set to meet on Monday night.

Game Notes

Lines

Drummondville
Alexis Gendron-Peter Repcik-Mikael Huchette
Justin Cote-Luke Woodworth-Ethan Gauthier
Kassim Gaudet-Sam Oliver-Noah Reinhart
Maxime Lafond-Lukas Landry-Renaud Poulin
Marc-Olivier Beaudry-Vsevolod Komarov
Matteo Rotondi-Mikael Diotte
Yan Gaudreau-Simon-Pier Brunet
Riley Mercer
Louis-Felix Charrois

Saginaw
Josh Bloom-Owen Beck-Alex Christopoulos
Joey Willis-Matyas Sapovaliv-Calem Mangone
Michael Misa-Hunter Haight-Nic Sima
Sebastien Gervais-Ethan Hay-Lincoln Moore
Jorian Donovan-James Guo
Braden Hache-Zayne Parekh

Rodwin Dionicio-Will Bishop
Andrew Oke
Nolan Lalonde

Scratches

Drummondville – Maxime-Olivier Drolet, Maveric Lamoureaux (injury), William Dumont, Vincent Tremblay

Saginaw – Kaleb Papineau, Josh Glavin, Graydon Jones, Carson Harmer, Liam Storch, P.J. Forgione, Jacob Cloutier, Aidan Castle

Previous Coverage
Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 2024