Memorial Cup Notebook: Generals clinch berth in playoff round

QUEBEC – The Oshawa Generals assured themselves of a spot in the MasterCard Memorial Cup semi-final on Sunday night.

Stephen Desrocher’s goal at 18:07 of the first overtime period lifted the Generals to a 5-4 victory over the tournament hosts, the Quebec Remparts.

A shot from the slot by Desrocher eluded Remparts goaltender Zach Fucale, who was strong in the game despite the loss.

“I knew I didn’t have a shooting lane at first and I tried to get around the first guy,” Desrocher said of the game winner. “After that I just tried to get it on net.”

The win means the Generals improve to 2-0 while Quebec falls to 1-1 with the loss.

A win by the Rimouski Oceanic (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) over the Kelowna Rockets (Western Hockey League) on Monday night would send the Generals directly into next Sunday’s championship game.

Michael Dal Colle had a goal and two assists for the Generals while Desrocher, Michael McCarron and Tobias Lindberg added a goal and an assist each. Dakota Mermis also scored Oshawa.

“We played a much better game tonight than we did (Saturday),” said Generals coach D.J. Smith. “We controlled the play for a majority of the game. (Quebec) is a team that can score though and if you give them chances, they can put it in the net. We made some mistakes early that ended up in our net. They scored some tricky goals but their players score goals like that.”

Oshawa goaltender Ken Appleby stopped 21 shots.

“He was just ok today but he has one of those every 15 games where he’s ok,” Smith said. “He carried us through the North Bay series (in the Eastern Conference final) and again in the Erie series he was unbelievable. I will go on the line and say before this tournament is over, he’ll steal one or he’ll be the reason we win.”

Dmytro Timashov scored twice for Quebec while Ryan Graves added a goal and an assist. Raphael Maheux also scored while Marc-Olivier Roy assisted on a pair of goals.

Goaltender Zach Fucale made 45 saves.

“He played as he usually does,” Graves said of the Remparts netminder. “He’s proven that he plays well in pressure situations and tonight was no different.

“What more could you ask of him, he gave us a chance to win.”
The tournament continues on Monday as Rimouski and Kelowna meet in a battle of 0-1 teams. On Tuesday night, the Generals return to action against Kelowna while Quebec is off until Wednesday when they meet Rimouski in the final game of the round robin.

If needed, a tie-breaker game would take place on Thursday with the winner moving on to Friday’s semi-final.

(Game 3 action at the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup between the Oshawa Generals and Quebec Remparts at Pepsi Colisee in Quebec City on Sunday May 24, 2015. Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL Images)

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OTHER RESULTS

May 22: Quebec vs. Kelowna
May 23: Oshawa vs. Rimouski