Drummondville, Moose Jaw battle for spot in Memorial Cup semifinal on TSN
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The Drummondville Voltigeurs and Moose Jaw Warriors battle in a win-or-go-home game on Tuesday, with a spot in the Memorial Cup semifinal on the line.
The London Knights’ 5-4 win over Moose Jaw on Monday ensured that Thursday’s tiebreaker game would not be played, meaning that the winner of Wednesday’s game between London (2-0) and the Saginaw Spirit (2-0) will advance to the final, while the loser will play the winner of tonight’s game between the Voltigeurs and Warriors in Friday’s semifinal.
Both Drummondville (0-2) and Moose Jaw (0-2) are winless going into Tuesday’s crucial game, but Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary says his team is in a good spot despite a difficult round-robin portion of the tournament.
“That's what we just talked about in the dressing room, it's quarter-finals (on Tuesday)," O'Leary said following Monday’s loss. "That's a pretty good spot to be in.
"I mean, 0-2 is no fun. Winning is way more fun. Everybody knows that. But the way this tournament works. You're in a situation where in one game, you're in the semifinals, and at any tournament that you go into — whether it's Memorial Cup or the World Juniors — if you told me you had a chance to win a quarter-final game. I'll take that."
The Warriors also dropped their tournament opener 5-4 to Saginaw last Friday. Moose Jaw defenceman and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Denton Mateychuk is tied for the tournament lead with four points in two games.
The Voltigeurs are also in search of their first win after dropping a 4-3 decision to Saginaw on Sunday and a 4-0 loss to London on Saturday. Winger Justin Cote leads the team with one goal and two points in the tournament.