Rockets shoot to first
Memorial Cup crown
By Stuart McComish | Special to NHL.com
May 27, 2004
Justin Keller scored the winning goal at 13:38 of the third period as the host Kelowna Rockets earned their first Memorial Cup title with a 2-1 win over the Gatineau Olympiques Sunday. Keller's goal broke a 1-1 tie as he raced down the right side, made a hard move to the net and slipped the puck between the legs of Gatineau goaltender David Tremblay.
Randall Gelech had a goal and an assist for the Rockets (4-0), who became the first host team to win the tournament since the Ottawa 67's in 1999. Goaltender Kelly Guard, who only allowed three goals in four games, made 23 saves on his way to tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
Guillaume Fournier scored for the Olympiques (3-2) while Tremblay made 26 saves.
The Rockets outshot Gatineau 11-8 in a hard-fought, scoreless first period. Tremblay was called on to make two tough saves, denying Tyler Spurgeon with his left pad from the edge of the crease in the sixth minute and snaring a blast from Keller on a two-on-one with 8:18 left. The game remained scoreless through two periods with Kelowna owning a 16-15 edge in shots.
Spurgeon appeared to open the scoring at 3:29 of the period, but referee Chris Savage, after consulting with the video goal judge, ruled that Spurgeon had kicked the puck under Tremblay.
Tremblay made two fine saves in the period, getting his glove on a wrist shot by Blake Comeau in the seventh minute and kicking away a shot by Troy Bodie on a two-on-one with 12:36 gone.
Guard's toughest test of the period came in the 15th minute as he grabbed a hard shot from Gatineau blue liner Dominic D'Amour.
Kelowna defenceman Mike Card missed a great scoring chance with 4:30 left as he missed the open net from a sharp angle. Both goalies were sharp in the third minute of the third period. Guard got his right arm on a shot by Maxime Talbot while, at the other end, Tremblay stoned Tyler Mosienko with his left pad.
Fournier finally opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 10:13, one-timing a pass from Jean-Michel Daoust past Guard. Tremblay made back-to-back stops on Josh Gorges and Shea Weber in the ninth minute but Gelech tied the game at 10:13 as he pounced on the rebound of a shot from Brett Palin seconds after Card had hit the post.
Saturday, May 22
Semifinal
Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL) 6, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) 5
Columbus prospect Phillippe Dupuis scored the eventual winning goal on the power play at 16:03 of the third period as the Gatineau Olympiques held off a furious comeback by the Medicine Hat Tigers to post a 6-5 win in a thrilling Memorial Cup semifinal Saturday.
The Olympiques will meet the host Kelowna Rockets in the championship game Sunday afternoon.
Gatineau scored four times in the second period and brought a 5-1 lead into the final frame, but the Tigers struck for a pair of goals in the first 1:38 and got within one on the power play at 12:32.
Dupuis gave the Olympiques a two-goal lead when he tipped Dominic D'Amour's shot from the left point past Tigers netminder Kevin Nastiuk. Stefan Meyer scored for Medicine Hat with 11 seconds remaining in regulation and Nastiuk on the bench for an extra attacker.
Nick Fugere had two goals and an assist for the Olympiques (3-1), who have advanced to the final for the second consecutive year. Jean-Michel Daoust and Doug O'Brien each had a goal and two assists and Maxime Talbot also scored. David Tremblay faced 44 shots in the Gatineau net, including 20 in the third period.
Darren Reid, Yannic Seidenberg, Cody Blanshan and Chris St. Jacques also scored for the Tigers (2-2). Nastiuk made 23 saves.
The teams combined for 26 shots in a wide-open first period that began in dramatic fashion as referee Chris Savage awarded Reid a penalty shot at 1:26 after the veteran forward was hauled down on a breakaway after intercepting a pass in his own zone with the Olympiques on the power play.
Reid, who scored 33 goals in the regular season and led the Western Hockey League in playoff goals with 13, tried to beat Tremblay to the stick side, but his backhander sailed wide of the net. Reid earned some redemption at 5:56, potting the rebound after Blanshan's shot from the slot hit the right post.
The Olympiques tied the game late in the period with the first of their four power play goals. Daoust intercepted a clearing attempt at the right point and fed the puck to Talbot at the edge of the crease and he flipped it over Nastiuk's right leg.
Both netminders made fine saves in the 18th minute as Tremblay got his blocker on a hard shot from the slot by Clarke MacArthur and Nastiuk denied Derek Kent and Francis Wathier seconds later at the other end.
O'Brien put Gatineau ahead on the power play 37 seconds into the second period as he hammered a pass from Daoust into the top corner from high in the left-wing circle. Fugere made it 3-1 with his first of the game at 10:54, one-timing a pass by Nastiuk low on the glove side.
Daoust scored the first shorthanded goal of the tournament at 13:45 as he took an outlet pass from O'Brien, broke in alone on Nastiuk and snapped a wrist shot over his left shoulder.
Fugere closed out the second period scoring on the power play at 17:39, beating Nastiuk from the edge of the crease.
The Medicine Hat comeback began 57 seconds into the third period as Seidenberg swatted a rebound past Tremblay and Blanshan made it 5-2 when his slot from inside the left point caromed off a skate and past Tremblay.
St. Jacques ended the Tigers' 0-for-22 drought on the power play, beating Tremblay on a wraparound to the stick side.
Round Robin
Tuesday, May 18
Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) 2, Guelph Storm 1 (OHL)
Clarke MacArthur scored a goal and added an assist as the Medicine Hat Tigers edged the Guelph Storm 2-1 Tuesday night as the Memorial Cup continued in Kelowna, B.C.
Chris St. Jacques also scored for the Tigers, who moved their record to 1-1, while Yannic Seidenberg earned a pair of assists. Kevin Nastiuk made 22 saves in the Medicine Hat net.
Matt Ryan scored the lone goal for the Storm (0-2), which was in danger of being shutout for the second consecutive game. Guelph netminder Adam Dennis faced 21 shots.
The Tigers killed off four penalties and were outshot 7-6 by the Storm in a fast-paced first period. Dennis came up with the biggest save of the frame when he sprawled to foil Darren Reid at the edge of crease in the 14th minute.
"We've been close in both games so far, but our power play is killing us," said Guelph head coach Shawn Camp, whose club was 0-for-7 with the man advantage against the Tigers. "For us to have success we need to pick it up on the power play because that's worked for us all season."
MacArthur opened the scoring 26 seconds into the second period, steering a rebound in the deep slot under a prone Dennis.
The Storm had two outstanding scoring chances in the latter minutes of the frame, but Nastiuk denied Ryan Callahan in close with Guelph on the power play in the 14th minute and he kicked away a Cam Janssen shot with his left pad with 3:48 left.
"I thought Kevin was huge for us, particularly near the end of the second period when we got running around a bit," said Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins. "Guelph had some good chances tonight but he came up big."
St. Jacques put the Tigers ahead 2-0 at 6:13 of the third period, finishing off a two-on-one with MacArthur by snapping a cross-ice pass past Dennis on the glove side.
Dennis went to the bench for an extra attacker with 1:20 left in regulation and Ryan cut the Tigers lead to a goal at 18:56. Daniel Paille brought the puck deep into the corner to Nastiuk's left and he banked it off the side of the net where it bounced to Ryan who was perched at the edge of the crease.
Dennis was pulled again with 39 seconds left, but the Storm was unable to find the equalizer.
Guelph finishes its round-robin play Wednesday night when it meets the Columbus prospect Phillippe Dupuis and the Gatineau Olympiques (1-1). The Storm needs a win to force a tiebreaker game Friday afternoon.
"Playing again tomorrow can work for us in a positive way," said Camp, who saw his club blanked 1-0 by the Kelowna Rockets in the tournament opener. "We've outchanced both of the teams we have played here. We are a team that scored at will in the regular season and playoffs and if we open up the floodgates we can have some fun. We'd better do that tomorrow."
"We have a pretty offensive team and some highly-skilled guys," said Ryan. "We really have to work for it. When we are getting shots we aren't getting rebounds or crashing the net."
Wednesday, May 19
Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL) 7 , Guelph Storm (OHL) 2
Nick Fugere and Guillaume Labrecque each scored twice to pace the Gatineau Olympiques to a 7-2 rout of the Guelph Storm on Wednesday night as the Memorial Cup continued in Kelowna B.C.
Doug O'Brien had a goal and two assists and Christian Laroche and Dominic D'Amour also scored for Gatineau (2-1), which advanced to Saturday's semi-final game. Goaltender David Tremblay, who was pulled after allowing two goals on as many shots in the Olympiques' 4-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers Monday night, turned in a solid 16-save performance.
Ryan Callahan and Brett Trudell each had a goal and an assist for Guelph (0-3), which has been eliminated. Netminders Adam Dennis, who was pulled midway through the first period after allowing four goals on six shots, and Danny Taylor combined to make 19 stops.
"It's shame the way our season ended given the effort we saw through the season," said Guelph head coach Shawn Camp. "We're very proud of our guys, but we came here and never really gave ourselves a chance to get through the tournament. I think we will take away some valuable lessons from this tournament.
"In our worst nightmare we never thought we would come here, playing as well as we were, and not be able to score. That was one thing we weren't prepared for."
Labrecque opened the scoring at 1:21 of the first period, redirecting O'Brien's pass from the right boards past Dennis.
"We wanted to get a good start because we remember being down early against Medicine Hat," said Labrecque. "On that goal the puck came in front and I just tapped it between his legs."
Less than a minute after Tremblay stoned Callahan with a pad save, the Olympiques exploded for three goals in 3:11.
Laroche made it 2-0 at 7:51, steering Martin Vagner's pass from the right point past Dennis on the stick side and Fugere earned a power-play marker at 10:11 by banking a backhander off Dennis's right leg.
Camp pulled his starting netminder after the Olympiques capitalized on a turnover and Labrecque shoved Dupuis's cross-crease pass by an out-of-position Dennis at 11:02.
""I thought we had a great start," said Gatineau head coach Benoit Groulx. "It's big for our confidence. I thought Guelph was shaky and we took advantage of that. We got some bounces too."
D'Amour gave Gatineau a 5-0 lead at 2:05 of the second period as his wrist shot from the left point eluded Taylor and Fugere collected his second goal of the game at 12:42 as he one-timed a pass from Francis Wathier by Taylor on the stick side.
Guelph finally got on the board at 18:52 as Callahan buried the rebound from a Trudell shot from the left-wing circle.
O'Brien made it 7-1 at 1:26 of the third period and Trudell closed the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:08.
The round-robin segment of the tournament concludes Thursday night with an all-Western Hockey League matchup between the Tigers and the host Kelowna Rockets. If the Rockets win, they will earn a bye to Sunday's championship game and Gatineau would meet the Tigers in the semifinal game Saturday afternoon. A Medicine Hat win would leave the three remaining teams with 2-1 records and the playoff seedings would be determined by goal differential.
Thursday, May 20
Kelowna Rockets (Host) 2, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) 1
The two third-period power failures in Thursday night's Memorial Cup game between the host Kelowna Rockets and Medicine Hat Tigers might be an appropriate metaphor for the tournament to date.
For the most part offence has been at a premium through the first six games and that was definitely the case in the final game of the round robin as the Rockets edged the Tigers 2-1 in a bruising contest to earn a bye into Sunday afternoon's championship game.
"It was a real battle out there," said Rockets head coach Marc Habscheid. "It was a good intense hockey game."
Brett Palin scored the winning goal on the power play at 12:44 of the third period, which was delayed for nearly an hour after thunderstorms in the Kelowna area knocked out power at Prospera Place on two occasions. Randall Gelech also scored for the Rockets (3-0), who received 18 saves from goaltender Kelly Guard.
Chris St. Jacques scored for the Tigers (1-2) who will meet Columbus prospect Phillippe Dupuis and the Gatineau Olympiques in the semi-final on Saturday afternoon. Kevin Nastiuk faced 28 shots in the Medicine Hat net.
"They were really stopping our transition and standing us up at their blue line," said St. Jacques. "They outplayed us all over the ice."
Gelech opened the scoring at 12:18 of the first period as he used Tigers blue liner Mark Vodden as a screen and snapped a wrist shot from the slot over Nastiuk's right arm.
St. Jacques tied the game at 14:13 of the second period, burying a cross-crease pass from Clarke MacArthur on a two-on-one.
Guard denied Yannic Seidenberg with the Tigers enjoying a power play in the first minute of the third period and stoned Darren Reid at the edge of the crease at 9:44.
The power went out for the first time with 11:23 gone in the frame and both teams returned to their dressing rooms while rink crews tended to the problem.
"You can look at the delay two ways," said Habscheid. "We wanted to keep playing because we thought we were playing OK. But the delay also gave us a chance to rest some guys who had been playing a lot of minutes."
The game resumed a short time later and Palin put the Rockets ahead as his wrist shot from the blue line eluded a screened Nastiuk.
The lights went out again with 2:30 remaining in regulation and the game resumed with the Tigers a man short. Medicine Hat eventually went on the power play in the final minute when Palin was whistled for interference, but with Nastiuk on the bench for an extra attacker it was unable to find the equalizer.
Memorial Cup notes -- Attendance for the championship game was 6,547 bringing the total for the eight-game tournament to 50,078. ... Kelowna was the first host team to go undefeated in the tournament since the 1995 Kamloops Blazers. ... The Rockets are the third Western Hockey League team in the last four years to win the tournament. ... Guard was the first goalie to be named Memorial Cup MVP since Chris Madden of the Guelph Storm in 1998. ... The other Memorial Cup award winners included Guard (Outstanding Goaltender), O'Brien (Leading Scorer) and Gorges (Sportsmanship). O'Brien, who finished with three goals and five assists for eight points, is the first blue liner to receive the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as the tournament's top scorer. ... The Olympiques made their fourth appearance in the championship game. The franchise's lone Memorial Cup title came in 1997. ... Gatineau was the first team to lose consecutive championship games since the New Westminster Bruins in 1975 and 1976. ... The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion has advanced to the final for five consecutive years. ... In 11 of the last 12 tournaments the team that earned the bye to the final has won. The 1999 Ottawa 67's were the last team to play in the semifinal and win the tournament. ... The game was the lowest-scoring title contest since the Peterborough Petes earned a 2-1 overtime decision over the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1979. ... Savage, of the WHL, refereed both the semifinal and championship games. ... Darren Reid's penalty shot in the semifinal was believed to be only the second in modern tournament history. Glenn Crawford of the Belleville Bulls was stopped by Calgary Hitmen goaltender Alexandre Fomitchev in a round-robin game on May 16, 1999. ... Gatineau's seven goals in its round-robin win over the Guelph Storm were the most in a Memorial Cup game since the Rimouski Oceanic beat the Barrie Colts 7-2 in a round-robin game in 2000. ... The Storm was the first Ontario Hockey League champion to fail to win a game at the tournament since Guelph in 1996. ... The 2005 Memorial Cup will be held in London, Ont.
MEMORIAL CUP ALL-STAR TEAM
GOAL: Kelly Guard, Kelowna
DEFENCE: Shea Weber, Kelowna
DEFENCE: Doug O'Brien, Gatineau
FORWARD: Clarke MacArthur, Medicine Hat
FORWARD: Randall Gelech, Kelowna
FORWARD: Jean-Michel Daoust, Gatineau
AROUND THE CANADIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE: The CHL handed out its awards at a luncheon in Kelowna last Wednesday afternoon. Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Oceanic was the top scorer in the CHL and he became the first player to be named Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season. James Wisniewski of the Plymouth Whalers was named Most Outstanding Defenceman, Cam Ward of the Red Deer Rebels earned Most Outstanding Goaltender honors, Chris Campoli of the Erie Otters was named Humanitarian of the Year, Devan Dubnyk of the Kamloops Blazers was the Scholastic Player of the Year and Benoit Mondou of the Shawinigan Cataractes was the Sportsman of the Year. Dale Hunter of the London Knights was the Coach of the Year ... The CHL also named its All-Star and All-Rookie teams last week. The first All-Star team was comprised of forwards Jeremy Williams (Swift Current - WHL), Corey Locke (Ottawa - OHL) and Crosby, defencemen Dion Phanuef (Red Deer - WHL) and Wisniewski and goaltender Ward. The second All-Star team was made up of forwards Corey Perry (London - OHL), Kyle Brodziak (Moose Jaw - WHL) and Daoust, defencemen Dennis Wideman (London - OHL), and O'Brien and goaltender Martin Houle (Cape Breton - QMJHL). The All-Rookie team was comprised of forwards Bryan Little (Barrie - OHL), Gilbert Brule (Vancouver - WHL) and Crosby, defencemen Boris Valabik (Kitchener - OHL) and Raymond Macias (Kamloops - WHL) and goaltender David Shantz (Mississauga - OHL) ... On Monday the Sarnia Sting (OHL) announced that Alan Millar would be the club's new general manager. Millar had previously been then GM of the Guelph Storm ... Former NHLer Doug Lidster is the new coach of the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) ... The Saskatoon Blades (WHL) have hired Lorne Molleken as the club's new head coach and general manager. Molleken, who was the Blades head coach from 1991-95, spent last season as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins ... The Calgary Hitmen (WHL) announced that general manager Kelly Kisio would also become the club's head coach. Former Vancouver Giants head coach Dean Evason was named as a co-coach.
| 
