Host Kelowna eliminated from tourney with
0-3 mark
On Wednesday, the two sides went at it in the final preliminary round contest of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion. The Rockets, who are the host team for the event, needed a win to avoid elimination and move into the playoff round.
The Silvertips also took the ice without star 16-year-old defenceman Landon DuPont. DuPont took warm-ups on Wednesday, but was unable to go for the encounter with the Rockets. He was the receiving end on a lot of hits when the WHL champion Silvertips dropped a 6-2 decision to the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers.
Everett entered the Memorial Cup without star defenceman and captain Tarin Smith due to an upper body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for a lengthy stretch. Smith was injured in Game 4 of a 6-3 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland as Everett closed out the first round series in the WHL Playoffs between the two clubs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Rockets came into Wednesday’s clash with some extra confidence having dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker in overtime to the QMJHL champion Chicoutimi Sagueneens this past Sunday.
The Kelowna took the ice on Wednesday at their home rink in Prospera Place with their hometown crowd chanting, “Let’s Go Rockets.”
While it seemed the cards were lining up for the Rockets to pull out an upset, the Silvertips didn’t allow that to happen. Everett started Wednesday’s contest getting X-factor goals from defencemen Kayd Ruedig and Jaxon Pisani in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. The Silvertips proceeded to cruise to a 4-0 victory from there.
With the win, the Silvertips completed the tournament’s preliminary round with a 2-1 record. They advance to play in the event’s semifinal game on Friday at Prospera Place against the 1-2 Sagueneens (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). The winner of that contest advances to this coming Sunday’s championship game at Prospera Place to face the 3-0 Rangers (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).
The Rockets completed the preliminary round with an 0-3 record having been outscored 12-2 by their foes causing their elimination from the event. Kelowna came into the Memorial Cup as sizable underdogs. The Rockets finished third in the WHL’s Western Conference and seventh overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a solid 38-21-6-3 record.
Kelowna swept the rival Kamloops Blazers 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. The Rockets then fell 4-1 in a Western Conference Semifinal Series to the Silvertips.
They made their first appearance at the Memorial Cup since last winning the WHL championship in the 2014-15 campaign. The Rockets made it to the Memorial Cup tournament championship game in 2015 held in Quebec City falling to the OHL champion Oshawa Generals 2-1 in overtime. Kelowna won the 2004 Memorial Cup title as the event’s host squad.
With the loss to the Silvertips on Wednesday, the Rockets managed to win one of 10 head-to-head encounters with Everett in the 2025-26 campaign including action in the regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament. Kelowna’s one win came in Game 4 of a WHL Western Conference Semifinal Series played on April 15 at Prospera Place. The Rockets entered the third period down 3-0 in that contest and rallied for a 4-3 overtime victory.
Following their loss to the Silvertips on Wednesday, the Rockets players took to the ice to make one last salute to their fans before departing to their dressing room.
At the start of the contest, the Rockets came out with a lot of energy looking to make an impact in the physicality department. Moments into the game, Rockets star captain Carson Wetsch came out throwing a series of three big hits with the last seeing him nail Ruedig to the ice.
Ruedig proceeded to have a massive game recording one goal, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department. He opened the game’s scoring at the 7:22 mark of the first period by floating a shot from the right side boards towards the Kelowna net that deflected off Rockets defenceman Rowan Guest into the cage.
Just 25 seconds later, Pisani, who is a rookie who turned 17 in late March, fired a shot from the left point to the top right corner of the Kelowna net to push the Silvertips lead out to 2-0. The tally was Pisani’s first goal in any type of CHL competition.
After Pisani’s tally, the Rockets pretty much abandoned their physical game plan and went into chase mode looking for offence. With 8:30 remaining in the first, the Rockets thought they got some offence when star rookie import left-winger Vojtech Cihar appeared to score during a net scramble. The officials went to a video review and reversed the call on the ice ruling Cihar kicked the puck into the Everett goal.
Just 63 seconds into the second, Silvertips star 18-year-old rookie left-winger Matias Vanhanen picked up a goal that pretty much put a dagger into the Rockets chances. Vanhanen picked off a clearing attempt inside the Kelowna zone, skated down the right wing and curled up underneath the right faceoff dot and blew a shot to the top left corner of the Kelowna net to give the Silvertips a 3-0 advantage.
The Rockets proceeded to pull starting netminder Josh Banini, who turned away 8-of-11 shots fired his way to take the loss in net for Kelowna. Harrison Boettiger played the rest of the way in relief by turning back 21-of-22 shots sent in his direction.
Silvertips star right-winger Carter Bear potted a goal at the 13:07 mark of the third to round out the 4-0 final score in favour of the Everett side.
Anders Miller stopped 28 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Silvertips. Vanhanen had an assist to go along with his goal along with a plus-two rating.
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 mark to capture their first league title in team history.
They will now play a Sagueneens side they downed 5-3 in a preliminary round contest last Saturday at Prospera Place.
The Sagueneens finished second overall in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference and second overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 49-10-3-2 mark. They advanced through the QMJHL Playoffs posting a stellar 16-4 mark to win their first league title since the 1993-94 campaign.
The Silvertips and Sagueneens have never won the Memorial Cup. On Friday, one of those squads will take the next step to potentially making a Memorial Cup win a reality.
CHL suspends Sagueneens’ Tourigny for rest
of Memorial Cup
On Wednesday, the CHL announced Tourigny, who is an overage defenceman with the QMJHL champion Chicoutimi Sagueneens, has been suspended for the remainder of the 2026 Memorial Cup tournament. The suspension comes after Tourigny received a match penalty for attempt to injure via kicking in his team’s 3-2 preliminary round loss to the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers on Tuesday at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
With 11:16 remaining in the third period of that contest, a board battle for the puck took place in the right corner of the Chicoutimi zone with Tourigny and Rangers star left-winger Christian Humphreys, who turned 20 in early February, positioned over the puck.
Tourigny delivered three skate blade stomps to Humphreys foot, and the Rangers forward went down after the third stomp. The officials blew the play dead and Humphreys left the contest favouring his right leg and did not return.
The officials gave Tourigny his match penalty infraction. The call was confirmed via a lengthy video review.
All discipline matters along with officiating assignments at the 2026 Memorial Cup are handled by the NHL. Following its review, the NHL recommended that Tourigny be suspended for the duration of the tournament.
That recommendation was accepted by the Memorial Cup Games Committee and the CHL Executive Council.
In a release from the Sagueneens, Tourigny gave a statement about his suspension.
“I’m sorry I can’t continue the tournament to help my teammates,” said Tourigny in the release. “I never touched or intended to hit the player’s boot or ankle.
“My only intention was to target the blade of his stick. I regret using my skate in that situation, and I’m aware that this type of action is prohibited. I’m relieved to learn that he’s not injured, and that he’ll be able to play in the final game next Sunday.”
Tourigny was acquired by the Sagueneens part way through the 2025-26 campaign in a trade with the Shawinigan Cataractes. In 57 regular season games played between the Cataractes and the Sagueneens in 2025-26, Tourigny recorded 55 points coming off 13 goals and 42 assists to go with a plus-37 rating in the plus-minus department.
Tourigny has played in the QMJHL since he was a 16-year-old rookie and this marks the first time he has been suspended at the major junior level.
The Sagueneens release referred to the encounter between Tourigny and Humphreys as a “skate-tackling,” and that only Sagueneens head coach Yanick Jean would answer questions regarding Tourigny’s suspension.
The Sagueneens will face the WHL champion Everett Silvertips in a Memorial Cup semifinal contest at Prospera Place on Friday (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).
The winner of that contest will take on the Rangers in the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament on Sunday at Prospera Place (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
-------
If you like what you
see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like
this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the
DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for
stopping in.
