Blazers, Thunderbirds battle for semifinal spot at Memorial Cup on TSN
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The round robin of the Memorial Cup wraps up with the host Kamloops Blazers taking on WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals.
Both the Blazers and Thunderbirds have 1-1 records and the winner of this game will advance to the semifinal. The loser will play a tiebreaker game against the 1-2 Peterborough Petes for the right to advance to the semifinal.
The two teams both lost to the Quebec Remparts, who will advance straight to the Memorial Cup final with a 2-1 record and the tiebreaker over the Blazers and Thunderbirds.
Kamloops is coming off a large 10-2 victory over the Petes on Sunday afternoon.
Canadian world junior standout and Dallas Stars prospect Logan Stankoven starred offensively with a goal and five points while fellow Stars prospect Matthew Seminoff also had two goals and an assist with 10 shots.
Stankoven led the Blazers with 34 goals and 97 points in 48 games in the regular season and led all WHL scorers with 10 goals and 30 points in the playoffs.
Vegas Golden Knights prospect Jakub Demek and NHL draft prospect Connor Levis each recorded three points while Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Fraser Minton, forwards Ashton Ferster, Dylan Sydor. Ryan Hofer, and defencemen Ryan Michael also contributed goals.
Dylan Ernst bounced back from allowing eight goals in the team's opening game to the Remparts to stopping 28 of 30 shots in the victory.
The Thunderbirds are coming off a hard fought 3-1 loss to the Remparts on Monday night.
Seattle failed to contain overage forward Théo Rochette, who scored two goals for the Remparts including the game winner late in the third period.
Chicago Blackhawks prospect Nolan Allan scored the lone goal for the Thunderbirds.
Canadian world juniors star and NHL draft prospect Thomas Milic made 19 saves in the loss.