Kitchener one win away from Memorial Cup
title game
At the moment, the OHL champions are one win away from playing in the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion. On Monday at Prospera Place in Kelowna, the Rangers were powered by a huge performance from captain Cameron Reid, who recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.
Reid, who was selected in the first round and 21st overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, powered the Rangers to a 6-2 victory over the WHL champion Everett Silvertips in a preliminary round contest at the Memorial Cup played before a sellout crowd of 6,007 spectators. With the win, the Rangers improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round having outscored their foes 11-2 and are guaranteed to play in the event’s semifinal contest on Friday.
If the Rangers are able to beat the QMJHL champion Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Tuesday (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN), Kitchener would advance straight to the event’s championship game on Sunday. The Sagueneens are 1-1 in the preliminary round.
Chicoutimi picked up a big 3-2 win in overtime over the host Kelowna Rockets in a preliminary round contest on Sunday at Prospera Place. At the 5:28 mark in a three-versus-three extra time session, Sagueneens standout right-winger Liam Lefebvre scored his second of the contest one-timing home a shot from a sharp angle to the left side of the Kelowna net to win that encounter for Chicoutimi.
In Monday’s clash between the Rangers and Silvertips, the Rangers showed off their skill on the offensive end and composure in the defensive end holding off various Everett push backs. Rangers starting 19-year-old rookie import netminder Christian Kirsch stopped 40 shots to backstop Kitchener to victory.
Reid got the party started for Kitchener driving home a shot to the top right corner of the Everett net off a rush down the left wing to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the opening period. At the 10:22 mark of the first period, Rangers star 20-year-old right-winger Jack Pridham found a loose puck in front of the Everett goal during a net scramble and fired the puck home for a power-play goal to give Kitchener a 2-0 lead.
The Silvertips proceeded to gain some traction scoring on a power play of their own just 2:10 later. Silvertips standout 20-year-old left-winger Rylan Gould had the puck at the left side of the Kitchener net. He directed a shot pass towards star import left-winger Matias Vanhanen at the right side of the net, and the pucked deflected off Vanhanen into the Kitchener goal to cut the Rangers lead to 2-1.
Everett mounted all sorts of serious pressure in the Kitchener zone coming out of the gates to start the second period. At the 8:21 mark of the frame, a net scramble occurred in front of the Kitchener net, and Gould found a loose puck in the goal crease and popped it home for the equalizer to force a 2-2 tie.
Just when it seemed all the momentum was on Everett’s side, it all of a sudden swung sharply into Kitchener’s corner. Just 25 seconds after Gould tied the game, Rangers star left-winger Christian Humphreys fired home a mid-range shot through a screen to put the OHL champs back in front 3-2.
With 8:09 remaining in the second, a big fight broke out between Silvertips right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan and Rangers defenceman Andrew MacNiel. The bout was a crowd pleaser lasting at least 40 seconds with both players getting in some serious shots before the officials broke it up.
The fight seemed to add on to the momentum the Rangers had. With 6:54 remaining in the second, a cross-ice pass from Rangers centre Haeden Ellis deflected off a Silvertips player to 19-year-old Rangers right-winger Gabriel Chiarot, who was all alone at the left post of the Everett net. Chiarot deposited the puck into an empty cage to push the Rangers lead out to 4-2.
Just 77 seconds later, Pridham one-timed home a shot from just above the left faceoff dot in the Everett zone to make the Rangers lead stand at 5-2.
The Silvertips tried to mount a push back in the third holding a 13-6 edge in shots on goal for the frame. The Rangers were intent on closing out the contest defensively.
In the process, Kitchener did get one more goal. With 2:53 remaining in the third, Chiarot had the puck on the right side of the Everett zone, and he put a pass across the front of the Everett net to Rangers standout left-winger Cameron Arquette. Arquette put home a backdoor tap to round out the 6-2 final score in favour of the Rangers.
Anders Miller turned away 22 shots to take the loss in net for the Silvertips. Everett fell to 1-1 in preliminary round play.
Overage defenceman Matthew Andonovski had a pair of assists and was a plus-three for the Rangers.
The Rangers topped the OHL’s Western Conference and finished second in the OHL’s regular season standings with a 47-14-5-2 mark. Kitchener motored through the OHL Playoffs posting an impressive 16-2 record to win their first league title since the 2007-08 campaign. The Rangers were rated seventh in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.
The Silvertips topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Everett’s 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records. The Silvertips motored through the WHL Playoffs posting an impressive 16-2 to capture their first league title in team history.
Everett closes out the preliminary round when they face the Rockets on Wednesday (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). The Rockets are 0-2 in preliminary round play and need to beat the Silvertips on Wednesday to be part of the playoff round and ensure it will begin with a tiebreaking game on Thursday.
Out of all the four teams at the Memorial Cup, the Rangers are currently in the most advantageous position.
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