It was another win for Kitchener, grinding out a 3-2 result over Chicoutimi.
Mission complete for the Kitchener Rangers.
It's never easy to go 3-0 at the Memorial Cup, but they successfully pulled that off in the round robin phase, and now get the reward of a few days off and a bye to Sunday's final.
It wasn't easy against a gritty Chicoutimi Saguenéens side, but the Rangers gutted it out on the second half of a back-to-back and got the result they needed.
Here's all that went on in Tuesday night's affair.
Kitchener (3) - Chicoutimi (2)
Jared Woolley and Jack Pridham celebrate after the latter's big 3-1 goal early in the third. (Photo: Steve Dunsmoor / CHL)After a scoreless first period, the breakthrough came early in the second.
It was Luca Romano who capitalized off a Chicoutimi turnover in the neutral zone, taking it himself and wiring one over the glove of Lucas Beckman to give Kitchener the all-important first goal.
Soon after, the speed in transition struck again, as the Rangers managed to catch the Saguenéens with numbers deep in the offensive zone, and struck on a two-on-one with Sam O'Reilly tapping home the rebound of a Jack Pridham shot.
While Emile Ricard got the QMJHL side back within a goal, the door was shut the rest of the period, as Kitchener was able to carry the 2-1 lead into the third period.
Pridham was seen as the x-factor in the Memorial Cup for the Rangers. While he certainly played well and piled up assists in the playoffs, the goals dried up as he only had two in the entire 18-game run.
Well, he's made up for that in a big way in Kelowna, and scored his tournament-leading fourth goal of the competition with a slapshot from the point that got through Lucas Beckman, and restored the two-goal lead early in the final frame.
As the period wore on, Kitchener began to frustrate their opponents. That ended up going overboard during a puck battle near the halfway mark of the period, when Sags defender Jordan Tourigny delivered a stomp with his skate blade onto the foot of Christian Humphreys.
It was a pretty ugly play, and Tourigny was rightfully given a five-minute major and match penalty for intent to injure, giving the Rangers a long power play to attempt to put the game to bed.
However, they couldn't break through the Chicoutimi penalty kill, and left the door open just a crack for their opponents to get back in the game.
Mavrick Lachance took that chance, getting the Saguenéens back within a goal with about four minutes to go in regulation.
That would be all the QMJHL side was able to muster up, though, as Christian Kirsch and company shut the door from there, completing the undefeated round robin and securing their bye to the Memorial Cup final.
Now, they can kick back and relax for a few days while they watch the remainder of the tournament play out, and begin to prepare for the biggest game in decades for the franchise on Sunday.
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