Blazers drop OT decision to Petes in Memorial Cup tie-breaker – Kamloops Blazers
J.R. Avon played overtime hero, and Michael Simpson made 43 saves as the Peterborough Petes rallied to defeat the Kamloops Blazers Thursday in the tie-breaker game of the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia.
Peterborough, who lost its first two games of the tournament, are one win away from the final after storming back from a three-goal deficit.
“It’s a heartbreaker,” Blazers head coach / GM Shaun Clouston said following the contest.
“The guys fought hard today, I thought the game got away from us a bit in the second period. I feel for the guys, they put a lot into it.”
After surrendering the game’s opening goal 7:52 into the first period, Kamloops stormed back with three tallies over a 6:13 span.
First, captain Logan Stankoven found himself with a loose puck in the slot after it bounced his way. The Dallas Stars prospect one-timed the disc past Petes goaltender Simpson for his second goal of the tournament, and second versus Peterborough.
The next three Kamloops goals came off the stick of defencemen, first courtesy Olen Zellweger, who zipped a low shot through Simpson from the right side before Harrison Brunicke picked a corner at 17:33 to round out the first period scoring.
Logan Bairos extended the Blazers lead with a seeing-eye shot from the right point 4:23 into the middle frame, but the Petes stormed back with a trio of goals over the second half of the stanza, evening the score at 18:50 through Philadelphia Flyers prospect Brian Zanetti.
Kamloops outshot Peterborough 37-25 through regulation time, and 10-5 in overtime, but Petes forward Avon ended proceedings 10:54 into the extra frame, grabbing an Owen Beck rebound to deposit his third goal of the tournament.
For Stankoven, the Dallas Stars prospect who served as captain for his hometown Club, the prospect of possibly concluding his WHL career on home ice had yet to resonate.
“It just feels weird, I’ve spent the last five years here in my hometown,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet, that it’s probably my last game here.”
Peterborough now advances to face the WHL Champion Seattle Thunderbirds in Friday’s semi-final (7:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre, TSN), with the winner of Friday’s contest set to meet the Quebec Remparts in Sunday’s final (4:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre, TSN).