(St. John’s) Jaxsen Wiebe completed his hat trick after 8:05 of 3-on-3 overtime as the Edmonton Oil Kings defeated the St. John Sea Dogs 4-3 on Wednesday at the Memorial Cup .
Posted at 9:21 p.m.
Wiebe threw a cold shower on the spectators at the TD Station after an exciting extra period. He beat goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise with a shot over his left shoulder.
The Oil Kings (0-1-0-1) thus prevented the Sea Dogs (1-0-1-0) from securing a place in the semi-finals. The West League champions have two points in the standings after two outings, while the hosts have four.
The intensity increased in this third game of the tournament, when the sense of urgency was already felt on both sides.
Josh Lawrence and Raivis Kristians Ansons each had a goal and an assist. William Dufour also moved the ropes for the Sea Dogs, who came from a two-goal deficit in the first period. Hurtubise made 27 saves.
For the Oil Kings, Carter Souch also had a goal and two assists. Sebastian Cossa stopped 36 shots.
Thursday, the Shawinigan Cataractes, champions of the QMJHL, will face the Hamilton Bulldogs, champions of the OHL.
Wiebe, on the power play, and Souch had given the Oil Kings the lead early in the game, but Ansons and Lawrence had brought everyone back to square one with two goals within 25 seconds.
Dufour then gave the Sea Dogs the lead at 10:00 of the first period with a low shot from the side of the mitt. However, Wiebe returned to the charge at 2:05 of the second period, again on the power play.
Yan Kuznetsov was jailed for delaying the match on Wiebe’s equalizer, although the replay showed his clearance grazed the bay window before disappearing into the crowd.
Hurtubise played luck a few times in net for the Sea Dogs. He saw pitches from Brendan Kuny and Simon Kubicek ringing off the posts.
For his part, Cossa was solid after the first period. He received a good helping hand from defenseman Kaiden Guhle early in the third period, when the defenseman intercepted a pass with a nice drop as the Sea Dogs attacked with two against the goaltender.
Both goalies were the stars in overtime until Wiebe settled the dispute.