It wasn't Chicoutimi's night as undefeated Kitchener never relinquished the lead.
The Chicoutimi Saguenéens kept it close, but could never break through against a very solid Kitchener Rangers squad.
Now, their chance to clinch a bye to the final is gone, and the Sags will be hoping for an Everett win over Kelowna on Wednesday night to avoid a tiebreaker scenario.
Here's all the action from a chippy OHL vs QMJHL affair.
Chicoutimi (2) - Kitchener (3)
Chicoutimi's Alexis Toussaint and Kitchener's Sam O'Reilly square up for a faceoff. (Photo: Steve Dunsmoor / CHL)Once again, turnovers and odd-man rushes burned the Saguenéens in a Memorial Cup game.
After a scoreless first period, a giveaway by Alex Huang in the neutral zone just over a minute into the second led to a Rangers three-on-one, which Luca Romano took himself and beat Lucas Beckman to the glove side.
Just a couple minutes later, the deficit was doubled.
Chicoutimi lost a puck battle deep in the Kitchener zone, but got too many bodies stuck low in the zone. The Rangers broke up ice fast, and despite Beckman stopping the initial shot, the rebound fell right to Sam O'Reilly, who made no mistake into the yawning cage.
Emile Ricard got one back before the halfway mark, taking a really nice pass off the rush from Nathan Lecompte before beating Christian Kirsch.
Things would slow down offensively as the second period moved along, and the 2-1 Kitchener lead held into the intermission.
Early in the third, the two-goal lead was restored. The red-hot Jack Pridham took a slapshot from the point through a screen, which Beckman couldn't pick up before it was behind him.
The Sags comeback wasn't helped after a five-minute intent to injure penalty to Jordan Tourigny. With the puck pinned in the corner, the blueliner stomped down with his skate blade onto the foot of Christian Humphreys, a moment of headloss the experienced Tourigny will surely want to forget.
Chicoutimi's penalty kill stood tall, though, with the full major going without a goal, and they had about six minutes to score two goals from there.
They'd get one back through Mavrick Lachance, but couldn't find an equalizer with the goalie pulled, as Kitchener held on to take the win, and officially book their spot in the Memorial Cup final.
For the Saguenéens, their path will be decided after Wednesday night's WHL showdown between the Rockets and Silvertips.
If Everett wins, Kelowna will be eliminated and the Everett vs Chicoutimi semifinal will be the next game.
If Kelowna wins, there will be a tiebreaker game. If it's a one-goal Rockets win, the tiebreaker will be between Chicoutimi and Kelowna, with Everett waiting in the semifinal.
If the Rockets win by two or more, they'll jump to the semifinal, with the tiebreak game to be players between the Silvertips and Saguenéens.
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