Prince Albert faces elimination from
Memorial Cup
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| Noah Gregor had three points for the Raiders on Monday. |
The ending of Monday’s round robin game at the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S., might be a bad omen for the WHL champions.
The Raiders entered the third period locked in a 3-3 tie
with the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in a clash played before 9,186
spectators at the Scotiabank Centre.
Inside of the final five minutes of the third period, the
puck luck did not go the way of the Raiders. The Huskies scored two gritty
goals and put a third into an empty net for a 6-3 victory.
With 4:32 remaining in the third, the Huskies jumped ahead
4-3, when 19-year-old right-winger Tyler Hinam scored his second of the night.
Huskies star offensive defenceman Noah Dobson drove down the
right wing into the Prince Albert zone and threw a pass to the front of the
Raiders net. The puck sat loose in front of the Prince Albert goal and Hinam
beat everyone to the puck firing home what turned out to be the winning tally.
With 3:07 remaining in the third, the Huskies received another
bit of puck luck to go up 5-3. A centring pass from Huskies centre Peter
Abbandonato deflected off the skate of Raiders defenceman Zack Hayes right to Huskies
left-winger Joel Teasdale, who was in perfect shooting position right in front
of the Prince Albert net.
Teasdale blew home his second goal of the contest to put the
Huskies up two.
Dobson added an empty-net tally with 1:41 remaining in the
third to round out the Huskies three-goal surge and the 6-3 final.
The result ruined a great game for Raiders star overage centre Noah Gregor, who had a goal and two assists in the contest.
The result ruined a great game for Raiders star overage centre Noah Gregor, who had a goal and two assists in the contest.
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| Brayden Pachal had a goal for the Raiders. |
The Raiders fell to 0-2 at the tournament with the loss.
They will need to beat the OHL champion Guelph Storm, who are 1-1, in a round robin
game on Tuesday (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet) to earn a likely berth
into a standings tiebreaker game on Thursday.
Prince Albert could conceivably end up in Friday’s
semifinal, but would need to blowout the Storm on Tuesday and hope the Huskies
lose on Wednesday. The Raiders are hampered in any tiebreaking scenario posting
by far the worst goals for-and-against ratio after two games with four goals
for and 10 goals against.
If the Raiders lose on Tuesday, their season is over.
This marks the second time the Raiders are facing
elimination from the current post-season.
Their only other elimination game came back on May 13, when
overage centre Dante Hannoun scored in overtime in Game 7 of the WHL final in a
3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants. Of course, that victory allowed the
Raiders to win their second WHL championship and the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Monday’s result also marks the 12th straight time
the WHL champion has lost a game at the Memorial Cup tournament. The last time
a WHL champion posted a win at the Memorial Cup came back on May 29, 2015, when
the Kelowna Rockets hammered the host Remparts 9-3 in Quebec City, Quebec, in a
semifinal contest.
The clash between the Raiders and Huskies featured the
squads that posted the two largest regular season win totals in the CHL in
2018-19.
The Raiders posted the WHL’s best regular season record at 54-10-2-2 and were also rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
The Raiders posted the WHL’s best regular season record at 54-10-2-2 and were also rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
The Huskies topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a
59-8-0-1 record and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
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| Cole Fonstad had a goal for the Raiders on Monday. |
At the 4:34 mark of the opening frame, Hinam snuck home his
first of the contest from a bad angle standing along the right corner boards by
the icing line in the Prince Albert zone to give Rouyn-Noranda a 1-0 lead. It
was an uncharacteristic shot allowed by Raiders star netminder Ian Scott.
Just under four minutes later, Raiders star left-winger Cole
Fonstad scored on a wraparound to even things up at 1-1. Fonstad’s shot just
snuck under the skate of Huskies star netminder Samuel Harvey, who didn’t have
a strong seal on the post of his net.
At the 13:47 mark of the first, the Raiders jumped ahead
2-1, when Gregor found captain Brayden Pachal pinching down from the point on a
backdoor feed. Pachal, who rounded into an offensive defenceman this season,
fired the puck into an empty right side of the Rouyn-Noranda goal.
With 1:28 remaining in the first, the Huskies scores a
picturesque power-play goal to even things up at 2-2. Felix Bibeau and Rafael
Harvey-Pinard combined to set up Teasdale for an open backdoor chance to the
right side of the Prince Albert net.
Teasdale made no mistake knocking home his first goal of the
contest.
At the 12:59 mark of the second, the Huskies jumped ahead
3-2. Huskies import left-winger Jakub Lauko centred a pass from behind the
Prince Albert net to Bibeau, who was alone in front of the goal.
Bibeau quickly wired home a shot to put Rouyn-Noranda up
one.
The Raiders evened things up at 3-3 with 2:17 remaining in
the second, when Gregor took a smart drop pass from Fonstad and snapped home a
shot from the right slot.
That set the stage for the Huskies goal surge late in the
third period.
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| Raiders netminder Ian Scott deal with some bad breaks on Monday. |
Monday’s game was a much improved performance by both teams
from their respective opening contests at the event. The Raiders fell 4-1 to
the host Mooseheads on Friday. The
Huskies dropped a 5-2 decision to the Storm on Saturday.
Prince Albert was way better than the 6-3 final in
Rouyn-Noranda’s favour on Monday.
Before any possible tiebreaking scenarios can be discussed,
the Raiders need to post a win on Tuesday. If the Raiders don’t win on Tuesday,
they will be the first club heading home from this year’s Memorial Cup as their
spectacular 2018-19 campaign will have come to an end.
Hangover not kind for 2018 Memorial Cup
teams
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| Titan goalie Evan Fitzpatrick makes a save in last year’s Memorial Cup. |
None of the
four teams from last year’s CHL championship tournament qualified for this year’s
event currently going on in Halifax, N.S.
Actually,
three out of the four clubs had dreadful rebuilding campaigns.
The
Acadie-Bathurst Titan won the Memorial Cup a year ago as the QMJHL champions. They
finished second overall in the QMJHL regular season with a 43-15-8-2 record.
After going
through a huge turnover on their roster and seeing head coach Mario Pouliot
leave to become the head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda
Huskies, the Titan finished last this season in the QMJHL at 8-54-5-1.
The Swift
Current Broncos entered the 2018 Memorial Cup as WHL champions. The Broncos
finished second overall in the WHL regular season in 2017-18 with a 48-17-5-2
record.
After
undergoing a massive turnover in the organization, the Broncos finished last in
the WHL this season with an 11-51-4-2 record.
The host
Regina Pats fell 3-0 in the Memorial Cup championship game to the Titan a year
ago. The Pats finished seventh overall in the WHL regular season with a
40-25-6-1 record in 2017-18.
Regina had
serious roster turnover and finished third last in the WHL this season with a
19-45-1-3 record.
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| Glenn Gawdin finish off his CHL days at last year’s Memorial Cup. |
The
Hamilton Bulldogs entered the 2018 Memorial Cup as champions of the OHL. The
Bulldogs had the third best record in the OHL regular season in 2017-18 with a
43-18-4-3 record.
The
Bulldogs were the only participant from last year’s Memorial Cup that managed
to earn a playoff berth this season. Hamilton posted a 29-34-3-2 record to
finish in eighth and capture the final post-season berth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference.
Hamilton
was swept 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series against the Ottawa
67’s.
The four
participants at last year’s Memorial Cup showed just how quickly life can
change in major junior hockey. The Titan, Broncos and Pats are expected to feel
the effects of loading up to make it to that event still in the upcoming
2019-20 campaign.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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