Memorial Cup Notebook: North Bay native helps Generals to win

QUEBEC – A key late-game save was the difference for the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals on Saturday evening.

Goaltender Ken Appleby stopped Rimouski Oceanic forward Fredrik Gauthier in the final seconds of play to preserve a 4-3 victory in their first game at the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

It’s not the first time the North Bay native has come up big for the Generals as the veteran netminder made an important save on Connor McDavid in the OHL final to help the Generals win the OHL title over the Erie Otters to advance to the tournament.

“McDavid is one of the best junior players in the world right now and this was on a world stage type of environment in the last couple of seconds,” Appleby said. “They had a good chance to tie it up and I just had to make the saves to get the win.”

Appleby got just enough of the Gauthier shot to send the puck wide of the goal and help the Generals to the victory.

Appleby stopped 19 shots in the game, telling reporters that, despite the win, he feels “I can be a lot better.”

Appleby was important for the Generals in the win also making some key saves during a 5-on-3 Rimouski power play late in the first period with the game tied at two.

“Kenny made some saves (on the penalty kill) and that certainly upped our energy and played better from there,” said Generals Coach D.J. Smith of Appleby’s performance on the penalty kill late in the opening period when the Generals found themselves two-men down.

Hunter Smith scored the game-winning goal for the Generals while Tobias Lindberg, Stephen Desrocher and Michael Dal Colle also picked up goals for Oshawa.

Tyler Boland, Jan Kostalek and Alexis Loiseau scored for Rimouski while goaltender Phillippe Desrosiers made 33 saves.

“Our puck management wasn’t very good today,” said Gauthier. We created a lot of turnovers at the blueline when we should have chipped the puck deep and go forecheck. That’s what (Oshawa) did all game long.”

The Generals are back in action on Sunday as they face the host team, the Quebec Remparts in a 4:30 p.m. start. The Remparts are coming off a tournament-opening 4-3 win over the Western League’s Kelowna Rockets on Friday night.

As for the Oceanic, they enjoy a day off on Sunday before facing the Rockets on Monday night in a battle of 0-1 teams.

Tournament Notes: The Western League’s Kelowna Rockets have been fined $500 for a member of the organization “approaching CHL hockey ops department and making negative comments regarding officiating.”

(Photo: Oshawa Generals goaltender Ken Appleby (35) tracks the puck during the Generals win over the RImouski Oceanic on Saturday at the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Quebec City. Aaron Bell/CHLImages)