The OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs have seen about enough of Max Paddock of the Regina Pats. The 2000-born netminder returned to the ice for the first time since March 16th in the first game of the Memorial Cup and stopped 31 of 33 as his Pats edged the OHL champions.
On Friday night in the semi-final of the tournament, the draft eligible goalie outdid his previous performance with 44 stops on 46 shots as Regina beat Hamilton 4-2 and eliminated another team from competition in the tournament they are hosting.
Regina now moves on to the final on Sunday where they will take on the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The champions of the Quebec league have not played since Tuesday. The Pats have played twice since then.
The Pats were led offensively by two more points by Sam Steel. The Anaheim Ducks first round pick leads the tournament with 13 points in just four games. That is four more than anyone else.
Regina scored first off some slick passing. First Brady Pouteau found Matt Bradley with a long outlet pass then the overage center fired a saucer pass to Emil Oksanen. Hamilotn goalie Kaden Fulcher made the stop on Oksanen but Austin Pratt was right there for the rebound.
Pratt, who was acquired at the trade deadline had yet to score since being acquired from Red Deer. Hist last goal was on December 15th against the Medicine Hat Tigers, while with the Rebels.
He had played 32 games since his last marker, but picked a prime time to get one.
The Pats appeared to add to their lead early in the second when Oksanen kicked a puck outside of the crease by Fulcher. In the WHL that is a good goal, but because the OHL and QMJHL do not abide by the same rule, it was disallowed.
Gruden said he wouldn’t have done anything different coming into the tournament. Points out that they lost twice to the same team. #MMC100
— Marc Smith (@MarcSmith18) May 26, 2018
Hamilton finally found the tying goal midway through the game. Nicolas Mattinen powered a slap shot by Paddock that the Regina goalie could not see through the traffic in front.
Regina got the lead back thanks to their ever potent top line.
Josh Mahura flew up the ice, cut across and opened up some room. He found Cam Hebig and the former Saskatoon Blade wired a shot by Fulcher for his fourth of the tournament and the 2-1 lead.
Fulcher stopped 20 of 23 in the game and 101 of 110 shots in the tournament.
A rare fight broke out shortly thereafter as Bryce Platt and Justin Lemcke dropped gloves and threw fists.
The OHL’s Bulldogs had their own complaint in the third period and it ended up being on the game-winning goal.
Fulcher came out of the net to play the puck and threw it into space. Right after playing the puck, Hebig got a stick in on him and the goalie fell to the ice. Steel then found the misplayed puck and fired it into the vacant net. Hamilton clearly felt like their should have goaltender interference called on the play, though head coach John Gruden downplayed that in the postgame press conference.
Bulldogs Head Coach John Gruden on that goal – “It is what it is… Things happen.” Added that he thought the referees had a good game tonight. pic.twitter.com/74NMqjtaYZ
— Taylor Shire (@TShireGlobal) May 26, 2018
The Bulldogs did get closer with 4:42 left as Benjamin Gleason fired a pass off the boards at center ice right towards the net. Will Bitten got the puck first and beat Paddock glove side cutting the Regina lead to one.
Regina then put together a strong effort except for a play where Marian Studenic got in alone and had a point blank chance off the rush. Paddock turned him away and found the rebound.
Not capitalizing on that chance would burn the Bulldogs as they would not get another look as good as that and Jake Leschyshyn would put the game away with an empty-net goal with five seconds left to give us the 4-2 final.
Regina and Hamilton both found themselves unsuccessful on the power play with the Pats failing on four chances while the Bulldogs were unsuccessful on three opportunities.
The WHL has not had a team play for the Memorial Cup since 2015 when Kelowna lost in overtime to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. They have not had a team win since 2014 when the Edmonton Oil Kings were crowned.
The last time a WHL team from Saskatchewan has won the cup was back in 1989 when the Swift Current Broncos took it over the Saskatoon Blades in overtime. The WHL has won it nine times since then with teams from Washington state, Oregon, B.C. and Alberta being among the victors.
On the other side of things, the OHL will not have a team play for the Memorial Cup for the first time since 2013 when the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads beat the Portland Winterhawks.
Notes:
-Regina was led in shots by blue liner Libor Hajoek, who had four shots. Hamilton’s Robert Thomas had nine.
-Regina won 35 of 63 face offs. Leschyshyn took 8-of-17, Steel won 16-of-27 and Bradley won 8-of-15. For Hamilton, Brandon Saigeon won 7-of-17, Thomas 14-of-29 and Ryan Moore 5-of-11.
-Regina now has four of the top six scorers in the tournament with Steel (first), Nick Henry (third), Mahura (fifth) and Hebig (sixth).
-Regina last won the Memorial Cup in 1974 when they were a part of the then Western Canada Hockey League. This was back when it was a three-team tournament.
