MISSISSAIGA, Ont – The Owen Sound Attack and the Kootenay Ice met Thursday in Tie-Breaker in a game that determined who would advance to the semi-finals of the MasterCard Memorial Cup. Kootenay scored two shorthanded goals as they exploded for three goals in the second period and four in the third to come back after trailing 0-2 after the first period. They eliminated Owen Sound 7-3. Matt Fraser and Cody Eakin each had two goals and one assist to lead the offense and goal tender Nathan Lieuwen made 24 saves in picking up the win.
The match was Owen Sound’s second game in two nights. Their loss last evening to the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors 3-1 in the last game of the round robin forced them to play in the Tie-Breaker game tonight. Kootenay will play the Majors in a Friday night semi-final matchup. The winner of that game will move into the finale on May 29. The Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL earned a bye into the finals by virtue of their preliminary round record.
The Memorial Cup is emblematic of junior hockey supremacy in the Canadian Hockey League which is made up of the top three junior leagues in Canada. The playoff champions from the Quebec Major Junior League (QMJHL) the Saint John Sea Dogs, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Owen Sound Attack and the Western Hockey League (WHL) Kootenay Ice have finished the preliminary action yesterday along with the fourth team in the tournament the host team Mississauga (OHL).
In a surprise decision, Owen Sound coach Mark Reeds started Scott Stajcer in goal over Jordan Binnington who posted a 1.53 goals against average and a save percentage of .950 best among net minders in the opening round. Coach Reeds commented that he had started Stajcer who had not played in the preliminary round “on a hunch.” The hunch lasted until the Stajcer was lit up for six straight goals. He left the game early in the third period. Lieuwen continued his string of appearances in net for Kootenay and played well especially late in the third period as Owen Sound pressed hard. He made a number of extraordinary stops in the final ten minutes of the game.
The Attack struck first at 7:12 as right wing Cameron Brace cashed in on setups from Mike Halmo and current Cup points’ leader Andrew Shaw (2g,5a,7pts). It was Brace’s first goal of Cup action. Later on in the middle of the period Owen Sound took two straight penalties setting up almost a minute and a half of five on three opportunity for the Ice. Despite several excellent opportunities Kootenay couldn’t dent Stajcer or the Attack penalty kill.
The failure to score with the two man advantage burned the Ice later when the Attack’s Jarrod Maidens slipped the puck past Lieuwen with just 1:15 left in the period. Jesse Blacker and Andrew Fritsch got the assists. Blacker took the initial shot, Fritsch followed up with a touch on the puck and Maidens finally pushed it over the goal line. The Attack led 2-0 at the intermission.
The Ice finally broke through to score three goals in just over three minutes to take a 3-2 lead. The first goal came at 7:48 on hard work in the corner by Joe Antilla. He separated the defenseman from the puck and shoveled to puck out to defenseman Jagger Dirk who blasted the puck on goal. The rebound came out about five feet and forward Erik Benoit stopped it with his skate, kicked it to his stick and hammered the puck home.
On the ensuing faceoff an Ice player was called for hooking but 13 seconds later the Ice got a shorthanded goal. It came on an outstanding effort by Cody Eakin coupled with a great shot by Antilla. Eakin grabbed the puck in neutral ice on the near side boards. He flipped it around the defense and created a two on one as Antilla jumped into the play and used a blazing shot from about ten feet out off Eakin’s pass to tie the game at 2-2.
Antilla’s goal came at 8:01 and just over three minutes later they took a 3-2 lead. Kootenay got its first power play goal when Matt Fraser used a wrist shot from the right side to beat Stajcer high on his stick side at 11:14. Brayden McNabb and Max Reinhart were credited with assists as the Ice used excellent puck movement in setting up the goal. They skated off for the second intermission with their first lead of the tournament.
The Ice continued to roll with two quick goals at the start of the final stanza. A late second period penalty on the Attack that carried over into the third period set up the game winner. Fraser’s second goal of the game came when he caught a rebound in close and back handed the shot into the net. Drew Czerwonka got the only assist on the goal to run the score to 4-2 just 1:13 into the period.
Kootenay got their fifth score at 3:24 when Cody Eakin buried a slap shot from the top of the far side circle with Kevin King picking up an assist. Bingo it was now 5-2 in favor of Kootenay.
That goal was followed by the second shorthanded goal of the game by the Ice at 4:49 and the 6-2 score created the goalie change. In came Bennington as Reinhart got the goal as Fraser picked up his third point of the night with an assist.
Momentum changed a touch as the Attack closed the gap to 6-3 with a power play strike at 5:37 as Mike Halmo got a marker from Shaw and Matt Petgrave. After a flurry of four goals within the first six minutes of the final period the scoring slowed but the torrid pace continued as the Attack pressed all out of desperation.
Ice goaltender Lieuwen however was up to the task. He made a number of sparking saves throughout the last half of the period and Eakin sealed the win with an empty netter at 17:28 with Binnington pulled for the extra attacker. Kevin King and Joey Leach were credited with the helpers.
Semi-final action is set for Friday at 7:00 PM at the Hershey Centre as Kootenay faces the host team Mississauga.
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