The tragic end of Edmonton Oil Kings at the Memorial Cup

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — At the 2022 Memorial Cup , The Edmonton Oil Kings championship season has collapsed.

In the final round-robin game of each team at the Harbor Station Arena on Friday, the Oil Kings lost to Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2 and were excluded from the tournament.

The Bulldog will play on Saturday against host St. John Seadog or QMJHL Champion Shawinigan Catalactes to advance to the semi-finals on Monday.

Mason McTabish scored two goals and Avery Hayes and Ryan Winterton scored another goal for the winning Bulldog, who lost in the first two games of the tournament. I did. Marco Costantini made 40 saves.

"It was a painstaking effort," said Bulldog head coach Jay McKee. "We obviously got great goaltending. It's one of the best games I've seen Cozy play and I see him play a lot of games. There are some people doing things like many teams here, but I was impressed with the effort. Everyone left it all there. "

Jalen Luypen and Carter Souch scored the Oil Kings. Oil Kings needed to tie in regulation to advance the new points system announced by CHL on even days of the tournament. Sebastian Kossa made 32 saves.

"I thought this was actually the best match in the tournament," said Bradlauer, head coach of the Oil Kings. "We were more enthusiastic and thought the game had more purpose. We created many opportunities, but unfortunately we couldn't finish many."

The Bulldog had to win the game in regulation, score all three points to win, and be third in the previous standings of the Oil Kings. The team will only be given 2 points in overtime, but the loser will get 1 point.

Hamilton started scoring power play nine minutes after the first period. Hayes was able to take a pass from Logan Morrison next to the net, stuff the puck through Kossa and give the bulldog a 1-0 lead.

Hamilton increased his lead to 2-0 in less than four minutes during this period with another power play goal.

Defense Nathan Staos jumped up and was able to keep his puck in the zone. He slipped it into McTabish, who fired it over the ice towards Morrison, and then he sent it over the ice to Winterton and tapped it in. It's very easy to get points, "Winterton said. "They find you so easy that it's easy to make. That was a great goal. Thanks to Logan for finding me."

In the second period , Oil Kings played for the bulldog, but couldn't cut the deficit. The Bulldog was hit hard when Staos was injured after Simon Kubisek, an oil kings defenseman who lofted the pack into the zone and chased him into a corner from behind. Kubicek received no penalty and Staios watched the rest of the match from the stand.

"Nathan is already playing-like many-it hurts a bit in some areas," McKee said. "If it's not a hit from behind, I need to understand what it is. Looking at the tape, it's from directly behind, he hurts, he hurts.

" He obviously didn't come back to the game, so I'm sure he wanted to see another call there. "

Edmonton could beat Hamilton 15-9 and score during this period. The most prominent was Josh Williams, who instigated a shot in front of the centering pass from Carter Souch.

"I thought it was the best tournament game for us," said Neighbors. "Since we came here, it was the closest I've seen in any tournament. I couldn't finish it early, but I'm proud of them. They never I won't quit. "

Luypen scored with a short hand two minutes before the third period, reducing the deficit to 2-1. He took a drop pass from Jackson Weebe, just inside the Bulldog Zone, and hit Costantini with a short shot.

The oil kings put pressure on them looking for a tie goal, and the deficit of one goal was tense in the last 15 minutes.

Costantini has saved a lot of Brendan Kuny set up with a cross crease pass. The bulldog goalkeeper then managed to stop the Jake Neighbors next to the net in a chip-in attempt.

McTavish widened the lead to 3-1 and shot from the left side-off circle over Kossa's shoulder with six and a half minutes remaining.

"It was good to get it, we were a little lost third," McTavish said. "We were expecting them to exert great power there, and it was their season. We were expecting it, but we were able to get it. It was good. "

Souch put Cossa on the bench for an additional attacker and took the lead 3-2, leaving 2:46 on the shot through the traffic passing through Costantini. turned it off.

But it was as close as the Oil Kings would get. When the contest timed out, McTavish scored an empty net.

"I think we were able to overcome that with our close combat experience," McTabish said. "Obviously, it's a big difference here. They're a championship team, they have a lot of skills and pushed very hard, but I think our experience helped us."

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