Memorial Cup: Kelowna Rockets Advance to Championship

The Kelowna Rockets punched their ticket to the Memorial Cup championship game on Friday evening as they beat the host Quebec Remparts 9-3 in the semi-final game.

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Going into the game, the referees were still apart of the storyline. The coach of the Quebec Remparts, Philippe Boucher was fined $10,000 by the CHL after his comments about the officials after Wednesday’s loss to Rimouski.

Zach Fucale’s rollercoaster Memorial Cup tournament continued as he let in 9 goals on 44 shots. He didn’t really have much of a chance all night long as the Remparts looked deflated as they played their third game in three nights.

Justin Kirkland, a 2014 3rd round draft pick of the Nashville Predators, finished the night with 2 assists and two important goals that he scored back-to-back in the second period.

Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey each scored a goal and added two assists each en route to the Kelowna victory.

Right from the initial puck drop you could tell it was going to be a high octane match between two Canadian Hockey League powerhouses. This point was reinforced when Yannick Turcotte and Rodney Southam dropped the mitts just 13 seconds into the game.

The Remparts’ Adam Erne opened up scoring with a goal 3:11 into the first period after he went on a breakaway after blocking a shot from Josh Morrissey.

It was Chance Braid who answered for Kelowna by burying the puck into an empty net with 10:09 remaining in the first period.

Fans became irate near the end of the second period and began to throw garbage onto the ice. There was so much debris on the ice that the game had there was about a five minute stoppage in play.

Josh Morrissey widened the gap with a blast from the point to make it 5-1 before the end of the second period.

Scoring continued in the third period where Dmytro Timashov scored a powerplay goal but it wasn’t enough for the Remparts.

After the game concluded, the Remparts had an emotional send-off as the fans applauded their efforts. Many of their leaders such as Duclair, Erne and Etchegary remained on the ice for quite some time. This would be the final Quebec Remparts game played in the Pepsi Coliseum, a storied venue that saw legends such as Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur play the game.

The Kelowna Rockets will play the Oshawa Generals on Sunday for the Memorial Cup championship.