Memorial Cup Notebook: Semi-final set

QUEBEC – Call it a deal-breaker.

Just 24 hours after letting their rivals back into the tournament, the Quebec Remparts made sure they ended the Rimouski Oceanic season this time around.

Thanks to a 5-2 victory on Thursday night, the Remparts eliminated the Oceanic from the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup in a tie-breaker game.

The two teams have met 19 times this season, including a seven-game series in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final that the Oceanic won with an overtime win in game seven. The Oceanic also beat the Remparts on Wednesday in the final round robin game of the tournament to force Thursday’s tie-breaker.

“It was nice to finally get a win,” Remparts goaltender Zachary Fucale said. “The last few games they had our number and it was tough against them. They’re a great hockey team. Tonight we had a great start and kept on rolling from there.”

Fucale made 30 saves for the Remparts while Jerome Verrier scored twice.

Adam Erne added a goal and an assist for the Remparts while Anthony Duclair and Marc-Olivier Roy also scored. Ryan Graves and Kurt Etchegary assisted on two goals each for Quebec.

Jeremy Lepine and Samuel Morin scored for the Oceanic.

Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers stopped 26 shots.

“We were ready to play, we just had too many turnovers and we ran out of time at the end,” said Oceanic forward Frederik Gauthier.

Gauthier told reporters that there is a mutual respect between the two teams that met 19 times this season.

“There’s a big rivalry but at the end we respect them and they respect us and that’s the beauty of it,” Gauthier said.

The Remparts now advance to Friday’s semi-final against the Kelowna Rockets (Western Hockey League).

The winner of that contest will meet the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals in the championship game on Sunday night.

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TOURNAMENT NOTES

The Canadian Hockey League announced on Thursday that the Remparts were fined $10,000 after comments made to the media following Wednesday’s game by Quebec General Manager and Coach Philippe Boucher.

“The public comments made by Philippe Boucher regarding CHL staff and league officials were unacceptable and were deemed to be detrimental to the best interest of the Canadian Hockey League and the MasterCard Memorial Cup,” the CHL release said.

Boucher spoke to the fine following Thursday’s game.

“I just told my daughter we won’t go on a vacation in the summer,” Boucher joked. “It’s deserved and it shouldn’t get too far. It’s something I did to protect my players and I don’t feel bad about it.”

Boucher did say he would apologize for his outburst “in due time.”

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OTHER GAMES

May 22: Quebec vs. Kelowna
May 23: Oshawa vs. Rimouski
May 24: Oshawa vs. Quebec
May 25: Kelowna vs. Rimouski
May 26: Kelowna vs. Oshawa
May 27: Rimouski vs. Quebec

(Photo: Quebec forward Anthony Duclair (left) and Rimouski forward Frederik Gauthier (right) shake hands following Thursday's tie-breaker game at the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup. Aaron Bell/CHLImages)