Welcome to the Thursday Ramblings where I am going to go over the round robin portion of the Memorial Cup, as the semi-final and championship rounds have yet to be played.

All three of Halifax Mooseheads, Rouyn Noranda Huskies, and Guelph Storm finished with a 2-1 record, while Prince Albert Raiders (my lone Western Canada representation) finished 0-3 on the tournament registering only six goals. Hell of a time to have your scoring dry up.

Let me do a rapid-fire game by game recap!

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May 17^th – Game #1

Prince Albert 1 vs Halifax 4

Down 3-1 going in to the third period, with the shots 22-20, you would think Prince Albert would throw all they can at Halifax but the Raiders whimpered away in the third being outshot 15-4. Noah Gregor (SJ) was a stand out for Prince Albert all tournament but he could not help his team pull out any wins, and in this game he scored the lone goal. Ian Scott () showed but unfortunately a majority of the team failed to. Halifax had the goal scoring spread out with Maxim Trépanier () registering assists on the first three goals. Samuel Asselin () scored the first goal and added an assist.

May 18^th – Game #2

Rouyn Noranda 2 vs Guelph 5

Guelph was up 3-1 after the first period and never looked back winning the game 5-2 in the end. For Guelph, Alexey Toropchenko (STL) took this game over in the first scoring a natural hat trick in the first period to seal the game early. Sean Durzi (LA) assisted on the last three goals, MacKenzie Entwistle (CHI) scored a goal and an assist, and that bum Nick Suzuki (MTL) only scored the fifth goal of the game. Jakub Lauko (BOS) registered a goal and an assist for the Huskies on the teams only two goals.

May 19^th – Game #3

Halifax 4 vs Guelph 2

Guelph riding on the back-to-back situation outplayed Halifax in the first outshooting the Mooseheads 16-8, but Guelph only came away 1-1 as Alexis Gravel (CHI) played fantastic for Halifax stopping 33 of 35. After the first Halifax took over outscoring Guelph 3-1 and outshot them 34-19. Trépanier and Antoine Morand (ANA) each scored a goal and added an assist for Halifax. Durzi scored both goals for Guelph with Suzuki and Toropchenko each adding an assist.

May 20^th – Game #4

Rouyn Noranda 6 vs Prince Albert 3

A close game going in to the third tied 3-3 with shots 16-15 for Rouyn Noranda, but Scott fell apart and allowed three goals on seven shots giving the Huskies the win. Gregor added a goal and two assists for the Raiders, again being the main stand out for the team. Noah Dobson (NYI), Félix Bibeau (2019), and Joël Teasdale (MTL) each added a goal and an assist being the only players with multi-point efforts for the Huskies.

May 21^st – Game #5

Guelph 5 vs Prince Albert 2

Guelph flexed its power over the Raiders, who were this time on the back-to-back night, taking the game over after the first where the game was tied up 2-2. After the first in all three games the Raiders just seemed to get over powered by all other teams. Gregor registered an assist on only one goal and Brayden Pachal (2019 – passed over in 2018) recorded two assists for Prince Albert. Suzuki had his big game of the tournament with two goals and one assist, and Isaac Ratcliffe (PHI), aka Suzuki’s right-hand man, scored a goal and added two assists breaking out for Guelph.

May 22^nd – Game #6

Halifax 3 vs Rouyn Noranda 4

It was a hard-fought QMJHL finals rematch as Halifax was up 3-2 after two leading in shots 25-22, but Rouyn Noranda absolutely took the game over to demand the win scoring the final two goals and outshot Halifax 18-2. Morand scored this third goal of the tournament, with Arnaud Durandeau (NYI) registering a goal and assist, and Benoit-Olivier Groulx (ANA) scoring his first of the tournament for Halifax. Lauko registered the game winning goal, and added an assist earlier, and Alexis Arsenault (2019) assisted on the first and third goals for the Huskies.

The Semi-Final match up will be between Rouyn Noranda and Guelph on Friday May 24^th, with the winner going on to play Halifax in the finals on Sunday May 26. YOU BETTER BE WATCHING!

Thanks for reading.

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