Titan Defeat Broncos in OT

On the second day of the 100th Memorial Cup in Regina, Saskatchewan, Colby Sissons – a Devils prospect – and the Swift Current Broncos fell to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4-3 in overtime.

The Titan took an early lead just 8:02 into the first period when Samuel Asselin, who would become a force for the Titan throughout the game, scored from Olivier Galipeau and Jordan Maher.

But Swift Current, who had a large contingent of fans in attendance (Swift Current is only a short drive from Regina), would even things up on the power play. Acadie-Bathurst was assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice at the 10:48 mark of the first and Tyler Steenbergen converted on the ensuing power play. Giorgio Estephan and Sissons had the assists. This was the first of two assists for Sissons and three points for Estephan. The game was tied up at one apiece.

Things would stay that way until the 18:59 mark when Estephan took a feed from Tanner Nagel and one-timed a shot by Titan goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick. Sissons had the secondary assist on the goal. It was now 2-1 Swift Current.

In the second period, the TItan would notch the first of their two shorthanded goals of the game when Asselin scored on a breakaway with an assist to Jeffrey Truchon-Viel. That had been set up by a Justin Ducharme slashing penalty at the 16:21 mark. The goal was scored at 18:07. The TItan would kill off the rest of the infraction.

But, consistent with the way the game (and the tournament itself) has gone so far, the Broncos would regain a 3-2 lead a little more than a minute later. At 19:11, Estephan struck again from Nagel and Swift Current was back in front.

In the third period, Acadie-Bathurst’s Antoine Morand was called for cross checking just 4:25 into the frame. But the Titan would strike with another shorty this time from Adam Holwell (assists to German Rubtsov and Truchon-Viel) to knot things up again, this time at three.

And that was it for regulation scoring. We headed to overtime and this one was quick. It only took two minutes and fifty-eight seconds for Liam Murphy to win the game (assists to highly touted prospect Noah Dobson and Truchon-Viel – who quietly racked up three points on the afternoon). The Titan won the game 4-3 to notch their first win of the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament.

For the goalies, Swift Current’s Stuart Skinner made 35 saves on 39 shots faced in taking the loss while Fitzpatrick stopped 24 of 27 shots in getting the win for Acadie-Bathurst. As for Sissons, he had the two assists for two points, was a minus-2 and had five shots on goal.

Truchon-Viel was named the game’s third star while Asselin was the second both for the Titan and Estephan was the first star in a losing effort for the Broncos.

Next up for Swift Current, it is the battle of Devils prospects when they take on Marian Studenic and the Hamilton Bulldogs on Monday, May 21. We will have coverage of that game for you here.

Pats Defeat Bulldogs With Last Minute Stunner

The 2018 Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cup began at 10 PM here on the East Coast yesterday with the champions of the Ontario Hockey League, the Hamilton Bulldogs taking on the host Regina Pats. The Bulldogs feature Devils prospect Marian Studenic.

The hometown Pats, playing in their Brandt Centre rink in Regina, Saskatchewan, won 3-2 on a goal with 33 seconds remaining in the game. Studenic did register a goal in the contest.

Hamilton took the early 1-0 lead when Robert Thomas scored 7:49 into the game off assists from Justin Lemcke and Matthew Strome. Less than a minute later, at 8:58 of the first, Studenic took a checking from behind penalty to put Regina on the power play. Hamilton would kill that off, however.

Penalties were a theme for the Bulldogs. They gave the Pats four power plays, allowing them to hang around in a game that Hamilton could have won, as we shall see.

The first period ended with Hamilton’s Connor Walters taking a holding call that would lead to Regina going on the power play with 13 seconds left in the first frame. The majority of the power play would be on fresh ice in the second period and it only took the Pats 19 seconds in to score. Sam Steel tied things up at one from Josh Mahura and Nick Henry. Regina ended the night 1-for-4 on the power play while the Bulldogs were 0-for-2.

The game settled in tied at one for most of the second period and then in a flurry, both teams would add a goal. Studenic scored for the Bulldogs at 13:14 of the second from Riley Stillman and Ryan Moore to give Hamilton the 2-1 lead.

Then, just 2:16 later, Mahura scored unassisted to tie things at two. The game would remain tied and we seemed destined for overtime until 17:43 of the third period when Sam Steel won a crucial faceoff. Possession of the puck would lead to Nick Henry scoring at the 19:27 mark of the third period from Libor Hajek and Steel.

In the blink of an eye, Regina had stolen one from Hamilton, 3-2. The Bulldogs would quickly pull their goalie for the extra attacker off of the ensuing faceoff, but it was to no avail.

Hamilton goaltender Kaden Fulcher made 27 saves on 30 shots while Regina’s Max Paddock made 31 saves on 33 shots in getting the win. The Bulldogs’ Thomas was named the game’s third star while Henry (second star) and Mahura (first star) took the honors for Regina.

Studenic had the goal for a point on his lone shot on goal and an even plus/minus rating, plus the two penalty minutes back in the first period.

Hamilton next takes on another Devils prospect, Colby Sissons and the Swift Current Broncos, the winners of the Western Hockey League. That game is on Monday, May 21.

In the meantime, we will have coverage of the IIHF World Championships semifinals (USA versus Sweden and Switzerland versus Canada) later today as well as Swift Current’s first Memorial Cup game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.