Peterborough Petes' J.R. Avon (10) scores against Quebec Remparts goalie William Rousseau (35) during second period Memorial Cup hockey action, in Kamloops, B.C., on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The Peterborough Petes avoided elimination from the Memorial Cup playoff picture on Tuesday night by beating the Quebec Remparts 4-2 at the Sandman Centre.
The desperate Petes, who dropped their first two games of the four-team, 10-day tournament, scored twice in a span of 2 1/2 minutes midway through the second period to break a scoreless deadlock, then traded goals the remainder of the way with the somewhat passive Remparts, who were already guaranteed a berth in Sunday’s championship game based on earlier wins over Seattle and Kamloops.
Tucker Robertson, J.R. Avon, Avery Hayes and Connor Lockhart scored for the Ontario Hockey League champion Petes, who will play on Thursday night against the loser of Wednesday’s game between the Western Hockey League champion Thunderbirds and host Blazers.
Brian Zanetti chipped in with two assists for the Petes, who took a 3-2 lead into the third period.
James Malatesta and Nathan Gaucher scored for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Remparts, who were outshot 36-28and didn’t play with the same urgency as they did in their first two games, perhaps not wanting to risk injury.
Remparts’ netminder William Rousseau, the team’s star in its 3-1 win against Seattle on Monday, was replaced early in the third period by Quentin Miller after allowing the fourth Peterborough goal at 3:37.
The Petes went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Remparts didn’t have a power play.
The Remparts finish the preliminary round with a 2-1 record and won’t play again until Sunday’s final. The Thunderbirds and Blazers are both 1-1, while the Petes are 1-2.
The semifinal game to determine Quebec’s Sunday opponent is scheduled for Friday night.
POKE CHECKS: The round-robin stage of the Memorial Cup wraps up Wednesday night with an all-WHL showdown. The Thunderbirds play the host Blazers, who lost a six-game series to the T-Birds in the Western Conference final earlier in the month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023.
