The defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Red Deer Rebels (1) and the Victoriaville Tigres have moved on to their league finals, as just six teams remain alive for a berth in 2002 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
The Rebels completed a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to win the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference championship Tuesday night, downing the Brandon Wheat Kings (7) 5-2 in Game 7 of their series. Red Deer wins the best-of-seven series 4-3.
Kootenay Ice and Red Deer will battle for the WHL championship starting later this week. The winner goes to the MasterCard Memorial Cup, May 18-26, 2002 at the Guelph Centre for Sports and Entertainment, joining the host Guelph Storm and the other two league champions.
The Victoriaville Tigres defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes (5) 5-2 Tuesday night in Shawinigan, completing a big upset in the Lebel Conference championship series. The Tigres win that series 4-3 and now meet the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2) for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship starting Friday night at Acadie-Bathurst.
The Ontario Hockey League Championship series opens Wednesday night in Erie when the Barrie Colts take on the Erie Otters (8) in Game One.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Red Deer Rebels vs. Kootenay Ice
3-May Kootenay @ Red Deer 7:30
4-May Kootenay @ Red Deer 7:30
7-May Red Deer @ Kootenay 7:00
8-May Red Deer @ Kootenay 7:00
11-May Kootenay @ Red Deer 6:00
13-May Red Deer @ Kootenay 7:00
14-May Kootenay @ Red Deer 7:00
On Tuesday night in the WHL, the defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Red Deer Rebels (1) completed their comeback by downing the Brandon Wheat Kings (7) 5-2 in the Eastern Conference championship series Game 7. Red Deer wins the series 4-3 and will meet the Kootenay Ice for the WHL title.
At Red Deer, Boyd Gordon scored three goals in the second period to lead the Rebels back to the WHL finals. Derek Meech and Colby Armstrong scored the other Red Deer goals, while Randy Ponte and Kevin Harris replied for Brandon. Cam Ward made 26 saves in goal for the winners.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
The Erie Otters (8) will meet the Barrie Colts in the OHL Championship Series starting Wednesday night. The full final schedule is listed below.
The OHL semi-final playoff schedule and results to date are listed below. Also below are the OHL second round and first round results.
ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE – CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Wed. May 1 at Erie, 7:30 p.m.
Fri. May 3 at Barrie, 7:30 p.m.
Mon. May 6 at Erie, 7:30 p.m.
Wed. May 8 at Barrie, 7:30 p.m.
Fri. May 10 at Erie, 7:30 p.m. *
Sat. May 11 at Barrie, 7:30 p.m. *
Tues. May 14 at Erie, 7:30 p.m. *
* If necessary
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
The QMJHL Championship Series begins Friday night at Acadie-Bathurst when the Titan (2) takes on the Victoriaville Tigres in the best-of-seven series. The winner moves on to the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
On Tuesday night, the Tigres won the Lebel Conference championship by upsetting the Shawinigan Cataractes (5) 5-2 in Game 7 at Shawinigan. Victoriaville wins that series 4-3.
At Shawinigan, Mikhail Deev scored two goals and added one assist to lead the Tigres, while Carl Mallette had one goal and two assists and Matthew Lombardi contributed one goal and one assist. Daniel Boisclair made 29 saves in goal, while Charles Gauthier had one goal and one assist for the losers.
For full QMJHL statistics, check the official QMJHL web site. Here are the QMJHL schedules.
QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE – FINALS
Fri., May 3 at Acadie-Bathurst 7:30 p.m.
Sat., May 4 at Acadie-Bathurst 7:30 p.m.
Tues., May 7 at Victoriaville 7 p.m.
Wed., May 8 at Victoriaville 7 p.m.
Fri., May 10 at Acadie-Bathurst 7:30 p.m. *
Sun., May 12 at Victoriaville 4 p.m. *
Tues., May 14 at Acadie-Bathurst 7:30 p.m. *
*If necessary
