A furious three-goal outburst in the second period and a dramatic late empty-netter propelled the WHL Champion Everett Silvertips to a hard-fought 5-3 victory over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.
The Everett Silvertips have officially announced their arrival at the 2026 Memorial Cup. The WHL Champions erased a second-period deficit to secure a thrilling 5-3 victory over the QMJHL Champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens on Saturday afternoon.
Everett wasted no time getting on the board. Just 1:14 into the opening frame, forward Jesse Heslop jumped on a loose puck and buried an unassisted goal to give the Silvertips an early 1-0 advantage. However, Chicoutimi quickly settled into the pace of the tournament. Midway through the first period, Christophe Berthelot equalized for the Saguenéens, finishing off a sequence set up by Alexis Bernier and Anton Linde.
The QMJHL Champions carried that momentum into the second period, grabbing a 2-1 lead at the 5:39 mark when defenceman Alex Huang found the back of the net off feeds from Liam Lefebvre and Nathan Lecompte.
Falling behind served as a massive wake-up call for Everett. Exactly 33 seconds after Huang’s goal, the Silvertips responded. Lukas Kaplan buried the equalizer at 6:12, capitalizing on sharp passing from Jaxsin Vaughan and Rylan Gould to knot the game at 2-2.
From there, Everett took complete control of the middle frame. At 13:55, Zackary Shantz reclaimed the lead for the Silvertips, with Heslop picking up his second point of the night on the assist. Less than a minute later, Carter Bear finished off a brilliant offensive sequence orchestrated by highly touted defenceman Landon DuPont and Finnish standout Matias Vanhanen, giving Everett a commanding 4-2 cushion heading into the final intermission.
Trailing by two in the dying minutes of the third period, the Saguenéens pulled goaltender Lucas Beckman for an extra attacker while on the man advantage. The gamble paid off at 19:32, as sniper Maxim Masse wired a power-play goal—assisted by Thomas Desruisseaux and Jordan Tourigny to cut the deficit to 4-3 and set up a heart-stopping final 30 seconds.
Just seven seconds after Masse's tally, Vanhanen stripped the puck off the ensuing faceoff and fired a shorthanded, empty-net insurance marker from long range, sealing the 5-3 victory at 19:39.
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