MISSISSAUGU, ON-The Kootenay Ice of The Western Hockey League and the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors of the Ontario Hockey League faced off at the Hershey Center tonight in the 2011 edition of the MasterCard Memorial Cup semi final matchup. The Majors won 3-1 earning the right to play the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Sunday night for the Championship. Devante Smith-Pelly scored twice and J.P. Anderson swept aside 23 of 24 shots to lead their team to the win.
The Memorial Cup is emblematic of junior hockey supremacy in the Canadian Hockey League made up of the top three junior leagues in Canada. The Majors had moved into the semi-final round on the basis of their first round record. Kootenay was required to win a tie-breaker game last night over the OHL Champion Owen Sound Attack to earn their spot in semi-finals tonight.
In a game similar to their match up in the round robin won 2-1 by Mississauga both teams came out slow in the first period. Both teams as many observers predicted concentrated on defense. The Kootenay Ice offense was missing for almost the whole stanza managing only five shots on goal even with two power plays. They did not get their first shot on goal against Majors’ net minder J.P Anderson until there was just under eight minutes left in the opening period. The Majors offense was also missing as they managed just seven shots despite enjoying four power plays.
The only goal of the frame was scored by the Mississauga and it came quickly. It was set up when Kootenay’ forward Cody Eakin drew a minor penalty on the first shift of the game just 34 seconds after the initial faceoff. Smith-Pelly scored quickly using a wrist shot from the slot at 1:03. His shot cleanly beat Ice goaltender Nathan Lieuwen. Stuart Percy and defenseman Marc Cantin picked up assists on the power play goal.
The second period continued to be a defensive battle as neither team generated a lot of offense until both squads got goals late in the period. First Smith-Pelly picked up his second strike of the game at 17:40 doubling the Majors’ lead to 2-0. He was on the receiving end of passes from Jordan Mayer and Michael D’Orazio.
Meanwhile, Kootenay’s power play outage continued as they failed to score on three straight second stanza power play opportunities. Just as it looked as though they would fail to cash in on their fourth extra man chance Joe Antilla hammered home a goal to cut the lead in half to 2-1. His goal came at 19:59. Cody Eakin and Matt Fraser provided the helpers.
The third period continued to be a tight affair with intensity building slowly as the minutes ticked off the clock. Both teams had early period power plays. The Ice failed to score on their seventh power play of the evening. Mississauga then got a chance commencing at the 6:10 mark but also failed to score. The best chance of the Majors’ power play was a shorthanded chance by Max Reinhart of the Ice that Anderson stopped.
Otherwise Mississauga was content to concentrate on defense doing an excellent job of clogging center ice and forcing most attempted shots by the Ice to come from the perimeter. The Ice pulled their goalie with just about a minute to play and the Majors got an unassisted empty net goal at 19:05 from Chris DeSousa to move on to the Cup finale.
The Championship game is scheduled for 7 PM Sunday at the Hershey Centre. OHL teams have won two straight Memorial Cups. This will be the first appearance in Championship game but a team from the QMJHL since 2006. C ontact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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