(St. Johns) Arber Xhekaj played big minutes after the Hamilton Bulldogs lost defenseman Nathan Staios and helped them slip into the Memorial Cup semifinals.
Posted at 9:02 p.m.
Avery Hayes and Ryan Winterton scored in the first period, Marco Costantini made 40 saves and the OHL champions defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2 on Friday at TD Station.
The Bulldogs (1-0-0-2) absolutely needed a victory in regulation time to edge the Oil Kings (0-1-0-2) for third overall.
Staios fell in action in the second period. He was checked from behind by Simon Kubicek. The Bulldogs were also without defenseman Artem Grushnikov for a few minutes early in the third period, when he was battered hard in the ankle by Carter Souch.
Xhekaj was used extensively by his head coach Jay McKee in hopes of neutralizing Oil Kings forwards.
“He could play 50 minutes, he’s so big and strong,” said McKee, visibly delighted by the work of the Montreal Canadiens prospect.
“We turned to him in the absence of other players and he was playing better and better each time he was there,” he added. He wanted to sell all the punishments. We are lucky to have him. He had a monster performance. »
The Bulldogs hung on to their lead and Costantini had to make some good saves in the third period to close the door when the gap was down to one goal. He notably stole a certain goal from Brendan Kuny by stretching the right leg.
Mason McTavish scored an important insurance goal with 6:34 left in the third period. Jake Neighbors scored for the Oil Kings with 2:46 to go when they replaced their goalie with an extra forward to make it 3-2.
McTavish added a second goal, into an empty net, at 19:59.
“The way we look at it, we didn’t play well in our first game. We were a little better in the second and put in our best effort of the tournament so far tonight,” said Xhekaj, who had two assists. We want to keep building like this until we have won what we want. »
Jalen Luypen had scored the first goal for the Oil Kings, champions of the West League. Sebastian Cossa stopped 32 shots.
The Oil Kings’ efforts at the Memorial Cup may have been undermined by the absence of injured Dylan Guenther. He has been their best offensive player throughout the campaign.
The junior internship of Kaiden Guhle, the Canadian’s first-round pick in 2020, ended with this defeat.
“Every time you win a championship, it’s very special and you develop a great friendship with your teammates,” said Neighbors with red eyes. The guys are super emotional in the locker room. It’s a big group of brothers. I’m proud of them. It’s been a long season and we’ve been through a lot.
“We were rewarded by coming here, but that’s not how we wanted to end our season. »
Saturday, the preliminary round will conclude with a duel between the Shawinigan Cataractes (2-0-0-0) and the Saint-Jean Sea Dogs (1-0-1-0). The winner will advance to the final, while the loser will face the Bulldogs in the semi-finals.