Cowan and London battle Moncton for spot in Memorial Cup Final on TSN
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Caleb Desnoyers and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champion Moncton Wildcats battle Easton Cowan and the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights in the Memorial Cup semifinals on Friday for the right to take on the Medicine Hat Tigers in the final.
Moncton reached the semifinals when they defeated QMJHL rival and Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic 6-2 in their final round-robin game on Wednesday, ending Rimouski's tournament.
The Wildcats entered Wednesday's game only recording three goals in their first two games of the tournament after leading the entire Canadian Hockey League in scoring in the regular season.
Moncton forward Julius Sumpf opened the scoring but Rimouski owned the first period with goals from Maël St-Denis and Mathieu Cataford to take a one-goal lead into the first intermission.
With the Oceanic outshooting the Wildcats 17-6 in the opening frame, Moncton needed a wakeup call and that came in the form of a speech during the first intermission from head coach Gardiner MacDougall.
"[MacDougall] gave us a special talk in the room," Utah Mammoth prospect Gabe Smith said after the game. "We got a little jump in our step after that and started playing our game. Coach is a very special motivator, and I think he did a great job of it there. We started playing our game after that."
The Wildcats went on to take over the game, outshooting Rimouski 27-17 in the final two periods and scored five unanswered goals to save their tournament.
Smith was the star offensively, recording two goals and two assists in the game while Sumpf, St. Louis Blues draft pick Juraj Pekarcik, and Alex Mercier each provided a goal and an assist.
Calgary Flames prospect Etienne Morin also scored for the Wildcats.
Mercier is now tied with Medicine Hat forwards Ryder Ritchie, Gavin McKenna, and Oasiz Wiesblatt for the tournament lead in scoring, each providing five points.
Smith wouldn't have had a chance to star for the Wildcats if goaltender Mathis Rousseau didn't come up big for the team in the first period.
The overage netminder made 15 saves in the opening frame to keep Moncton within a goal and was rewarded with a victory after making a total of 32 stops.
"Rousseau kept his team in the game and even though they were trailing by one [at the end of the first], he was by far the best Moncton's player," said TSN Hockey Analyst Marc Denis postgame. "In a 6-2 game, you wouldn't think of him as a likely hero, but he was. This game could have been over by the time the first period ended. It was because Rousseau was tremendous with his puck tracking. He made some big saves, controlled rebounds, and managed the game so well."
This is the type of performance Moncton had in mind when they acquired Rousseau in a blockbuster trade with the Halifax Mooseheads prior to the trade deadline.
The 5-foot-11 netminder had had to eat a lot of rubber with his team being outshot 123-84 in the round robin, including being outshot 48-29 in the team's 3-2 overtime loss to London.
Rousseau now leads the tournament with a .943 save percentage to go along with his 2.29 goals-against average.
London attempts to return to the Memorial Cup Final after incurring only their second loss of the entire postseason against Medicine Hat on Tuesday.
The Knights and Tigers entered the third period tied 1-1 when overage forward Mathew Ward scored the winner early in the frame and Ritchie added an empty-net marker for the eventual 3-1 loss.
Friday's game is the second meeting of the tournament between the two clubs after Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan and Edmonton Oilers draft pick Sam O'Reilly combined to score London's overtime winner in both teams’ tournament opener.
"London will be relying on their experience [when they play Moncton in the semifinal] and that experience includes beating the Wildcats earlier in the tournament," TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button said on Wednesday. "It was a real tight game where they ended up winning in overtime and they understand how Moncton wants to play."
Cowan has been the heartbeat of the Knights after leading the OHL in scoring throughout the playoffs and that trend has continued in the Memorial Cup with him registering a goal and four points.
The 5-foot-10 winger also created some bulletin-board material against Moncton when he stared down Desnoyers after his team's victory.
O'Reilly and OHL playoff MVP Kasper Halttunen have also scored big goals at important times in round-robin play and the team is going to need to rely on their stars in order to take on a Moncton squad that seems to have woken up offensively.
"They got the big-time players," said Button. "[Philadelphia Flyers prospect] Oliver Bonk and [San Jose Sharks draft pick] Sam Dickinson are going to play a ton. We know that Cowan is going to play a ton. Up the middle of the ice with O'Reilly, Jacob Julien, and Will Nicholl, they can give teams all kinds of headaches.
"We know that Cowan is a difference maker and he's also a little bit of a chirper as there might be some revenge there."
The Memorial Cup on TSN will conclude on Sunday when McKenna and the Western Hockey League Champion Tigers battle either London or Moncton for major junior supremacy at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TSN1/5, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.