Friday, May 8, 2009

RBC Cup Update

Press Release

VICTORIA, B.C. – It may have come about five days too late, but the Summerside Western Capitals are into the win column at the 2009 RBC Cup.

Mike MacIsaac had two goals and an assist and Brad Smith added a goal and two helpers as Summerside wrapped up the round-robin portion of the National Junior A Championship with a 5-0 blanking of the Humboldt Broncos on Thursday night.

The Capitals finished tied with the Kingston Voyageurs at 1-3, but missed out on Semifinal Friday thanks to their 7-5 loss to Voyageurs on Monday. The Broncos, at 2-2, finished even with Victoria, but took second thanks to their 2-1 victory in the tournament’s opening game on Saturday night.

MacIsaac, Smith, Chad Locke and Nathan Snowie notched goals in the opening 20 minutes to take a commanding lead to the dressing room, and MacIsaac picked up the final goal of the season late in the third as the East Region champions made sure they leave Vancouver Island with at least one win.

Paul Dorsey needed to make just one save in the opening period – his only action of the tournament – before giving way to Alex Dupuis, who stopped all 17 shots he faced the rest of the way.

Ahead of their semifinal against Victoria on Friday (7 p.m. PT) the Broncos decided to sit a number of regulars, including leading scorer Brady Wacker and high-scoring twins Scott and Steve Schroeder.

Andrew Bodnarchuk played the first two periods between the pipes for Humboldt before giving way to third-stringer Matt Hyrnkiw, who made his Broncos debut by stopping 11 of the 12 shots directed his way in the final frame.

Press Release

VICTORIA, B.C. – This one will never be filed under the great defensive battles in the history of the RBC Cup, but the Vernon Vipers will take the win.

Kellen Jones’ goal just past the midway mark of the second period kick started a comeback as the Vipers erased a 5-3 deficit en route to an 8-5 win over the Kingston Voyageurs on Thursday afternoon in the round-robin finale for both, clinching a perfect 4-0 preliminary record.
The game also served as a semifinal preview – the same two teams will meet Friday (2 p.m. PT) with a berth in the Sunday’s championship game on the line.

With top spot in the round robin already theirs, the Vipers started back-up goaltender Graeme Gordon – who did not play a single minute in the team’s postseason run – and rested a few key starters, but still led 3-2 after 20 minutes.

But goals from Dustin Walsh, Craig Laliberte and Adam McAllister in a span of 5:24 turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead before Jones’ goal opened the floodgates.

Steve Weinstein and Cory Kane added markers before the end of the middle frame and Kyle Bigos and Rob Short notched goals in the third period as the Pacific Region champions scored the game’s final four goals.

Sahir Gill, Connor Jones and Kory Roy also scored for the Vipers, who spread around the offence with eight different players putting their names on the scoresheet.

Walsh scored a pair for Kingston, whose win over Summerside on Monday was enough to get it into the semifinals. Jeff Blackburn had the other goal for the Voyageurs.


(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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