Sunday, May 31, 2015

Generals work OT to win Memorial Cup . . . Appleby stones Rockets . . . Cirelli next mayor of Oshawa?


In the end, the Kelowna Rockets simply couldn’t score when they needed it the most. Oh, they had plenty of chances on Sunday, but they were only able to score once and that wasn’t enough as the Oshawa Generals skated to a 2-1 OT victory in the championship final of the Memorial Cup tournament in Quebec City. . . . Attendance was 10,391. . . . F Anthony Cirelli, a 17-year-old finishing up his freshman season, scored both Oshawa goals. The winner came off a rebound at 1:28 of extra time. . . . F Tomas Soustal gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the tournament, at 15:08 of the first period. . . . Cirelli, an undrafted
free agent who walked on with the Generals and earned a spot on the roster, tied it with his first Memorial Cup goal at 13:50 of the second. . . . The star of the game was Oshawa G Ken Appleby, who turned aside 37 shots, making 13 more saves than Kelowna’s Jackson Whistle. . . . The Generals were 0-for-2 on the PP; the Rockets were 0-for-1. . . . The referees were the OHL’s Mike Cairns and the WHL’s Brett Iverson. . . . Kelowna F Leon Draisaitl, who was held pointless in Sunday’s game, was chosen the tournament’s MVP. . . . Not to take away from his performance, but Appleby was 4-0 in the tournament, including a terrific game yesterday. . . . Oshawa head coach DJ Smith now has won three Memorial Cups. He was an assistant coach with the Windsor Spitfires when they won in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, in Rimouski, Que., Windsor beat Kelowna 4-1 in the final. . . . In the regular season, Cirelli had 36 points, including 13 goals, in 68 games. He followed that up with six points, one of them a goal, in 16 OHL playoff games. . . . The Generals last won the Memorial Cup in 1990. . . . The tournament drew 79,930 fans, a per-game average of 8,881. . . . The 2016 Memorial Cup is scheduled to be played in Red Deer. The tournament last was played in Alberta in 1974 when the Regina Pats won it in Calgary.
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Here is the Memorial Cup schedule:
Friday, May 22: Kelowna 3 vs. Quebec 4 (9,497)
Saturday, May 23: Rimouski 3 vs. Oshawa 4 (8,409)
Sunday, May 24: Quebec 4 vs. Oshawa 5 (OT) (10,970)
Monday, May 25: Rimouski 3 vs. Kelowna 7 (6,981)
Tuesday, May 26: Oshawa 2 vs. Kelowna 1 (7,002)
Wednesday, May 27: Quebec 0 vs. Rimouski 4 (10,277)
Thursday, May 28 (tiebreaker): Quebec 5 vs. Rimouski 2 (6,533)
Friday, May 29 (semifinal): Kelowna 9 vs. Quebec 3 (9,870)
Sunday, May 31 (championship): Oshawa 2 vs. Kelowna 1 (OT) (10,391)
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Might Kelly McCrimmon, the owner, general manager and head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings, end up with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs? That’s just one of the things Elliotte Friedman touches on in his weekly 30 Thoughts. It’s right here.
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In the ECHL, F Sean Dolan broke a 3-3 tie with a shorthanded goal at 11:30 of the third period as the visiting South Carolina Stingrays opened the championship final with a 4-3 victory over the Allen Americans. . . . Attendance was 4,047. . . . F Spencer Asuchak of Kamloops scored once for Allen and was named the game’s third star. . . . The final is using a 3-3-1 format, with Game 2 in Allen on Tuesday.
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In the AHL, the Utica Comets scored three first-period goals and went on to beat the host Grand Rapids Griffins 3-2 in Game 5 of the Calder Cup final. . . . The Comets lead the Western Conference final 3-2 with Game 6 in Utica on Tuesday. . . . Former WHLers Wacey Hamilton and Hunter Shinkaruk had a goal each for the Comets. . . . Attendance was 7,415.
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No one has been a thorn in the side of organizations like FIFA and the IOC like Andrew Jennings. So if you would like some insight into what has been going on at FIFA, read Jennings’ first-person report right here. It is amazing.
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If you want still more on the FIFA mess, check out this piece right here by Jere Longman of The New York Times as he explains how the Cayman Islands came to be as powerful in the organization as any of the other member countries.
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Might the Wild announce its much-speculated upon move to the BCHL at today's news conference?
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