COORS LIGHT RECAP: TITANS HOLD OFF PATS 8-6
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| Keith Hershmiller Photography |
REGINA – Noah Dobson had two goals and two assists while Jeffrey Truchon-Viel had two goals and an assist as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan held off the host Regina Pats 8-6 on Sunday and earned a berth in Friday’s semifinal at the Memorial Cup.
Truchon-Viel leads all scorers at the Canadian major junior championship with six points.
Ethan Crossman struck twice and Liam Murphy added a goal and two assists apiece for the Titan (2-0) while Samuel Asselin also chipped in.
Cameron Hebig had a pair of goals for Regina (1-1). Jared Legein, Matt Bradley, Josh Mahura and Nick Henry rounded out the attack. Sam Steel tacked on four assists.
Evan Fitzpatrick made 32 saves for the win in net while Max Paddock turned aside 26-of-32 shots in defeat. Kyle Dumba came on in relief for the Pats to start the third and made three saves.
Dumba had a rough welcome to the game by misplaying a Crossman wrist shot and deflecting it into his own net at 1:39 of the third period.
But the Pats comeback started a few minutes later with Hebig’s second of the game.
A nice passing play on the power play led to a one-timed goal by Henry that made it a 7-4 game. Mahura then got a shot through several screens at 14:10 of the third on the power play to make it a two-goal game.
Another screen on Fitzpatrick allowed a shot from Bradley to find the back of the net.
Regina pulled its goalie and kept the pressure in the Titan end, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Truchon-Viel got his second goal shorthanded at 13:11 of the second period when the puck got logged in Paddock’s right skate. The Acadie-Bathurst captain jammed the puck in for a 6-2 advantage.
Truchon-Viel scored his first on the power play at 8:49 with a tip-in at the side of the net.
Legein got one back for Regina at 10:45 when he whipped a wrist shot over the glove of Fitzpatrick.
Asselin made it 4-1 at 3:10 of the second period when a nice cross-ice pass from Murphy re-directed off his skate and into the net. Asselin struck twice in the Titan’s tournament opening win over the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos on Saturday.
The Titan broke the game open early in the first period by scoring three times in a span of 1:21.
Dobson tied the game at 1-1 after picking up a rebound from Paddock, who had just made a sprawling save off a 2-on-1 rush.
Crossman then sniped one top corner just over a minute later above Paddock’s blocker.
Murphy, who scored the overtime winner against Swift Current, made it 3-1 by finding the back of the net off another rebound at a bad angle.
Hebig got the Pats got off to a quick start by scoring just 13 seconds into the game.
Dobson’s second came in the dying seconds into an empty net.
Both teams get a day off Monday. Acadie-Bathurst faces the Ontario Hockey league’s Hamilton Bulldogs (0-1) on Tuesday night before Regina takes on rival Swift Current (0-1) Wednesday to wrap up round-robin play.
Notes: Humboldt Broncos goaltender Jacob Wassermann, a survivor in the April 6 bus crash that killed 16 people, was in attendance and received a standing ovation in the first period.
(Canadian Press)
