Wildcats advance to Memorial Cup semifinal with 6-2 win over Oceanic

Hamilton Spectator

29-05-2025

RIMOUSKI - Gabe Smith scored two goals and had two assists as the Moncton Wildcats advanced to the Memorial Cup semifinal with a 6-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats will take on the London Knights in Friday's semifinal. The winner of that matchup meets the Medicine Hat Tigers in Sunday's final.
Juraj Pekarcik and Julius Sumpf added a goal and an assist each, Etienne Morin also scored, and Mathis Rousseau made 32 saves for Moncton (1-2), which lost games to London and Medicine Hat earlier in the round robin.
Alex Mercier added an empty-net goal and had an assist. Preston Lounsbury pitched in with two assists.
The Wildcats captured the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League title in Rimouski last week, winning the championship series in six games over the Oceanic.
Mathieu Cataford and Maël St-Denis replied for Rimouski (0-3), which exits the tournament after qualifying as the host team.
Mathis Langevin stopped 26 shots at Colisée Financière Sun Life.
The Oceanic controlled the first period, but the Wildcats shifted the momentum with two goals early in the second to take a 3-2 lead.
Pekarcik deflected Dylan MacKinnon's shot from the high slot to beat Langevin at 1:27 and tie the game. Smith then put Moncton ahead at 4:05, capitalizing on a failed clearance from Luke Coughlin.
Loke Johansson kept the lead intact with a goal-line clearance in the dying moments of the second period while Moncton was killing a penalty.
Jacob Mathieu's shot deflected over Rousseau and into the blue paint with seven seconds left in the frame, but the Wildcats defenceman swept the puck away.
Early in the third period, Moncton poured it on.
Sumpf first missed a breakaway before Vidicek ripped a shot off the post. Morin then made no mistake, converting a point shot at 4:02 to double the lead.
Rousseau continued a strong outing with a save on Cataford less than a minute later. Anthony Paré later struck iron with a slapshot midway through the period.
Rimouski pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with 2:33 remaining, but couldn't generate a quality chance before Smith scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 left. Mercier added another with 59 seconds remaining.
The Oceanic came out strong in the first period with their season on the line, dominating the shot count at 17-6.
St-Denis energized the home crowd with a big open-ice hit on Maxime Côté in the opening minutes.
Rousseau turned aside two shots from Thomas Belzil and also denied Maxime Coursol's scoring chance to keep the game scoreless early.
The Wildcats opened the scoring when Sumpf finished a cross-ice feed from Pekarcik at 7:39 in the first period for Moncton's first goal by a forward in the tournament.
Rimouski continued to pepper Rousseau with pucks until St-Denis broke through with a backhand on the blocker side to even the score at 13:27.
Cataford put the Oceanic up 2-1 with just under three minutes remaining in the period, deflecting a feed from Olivier Théberge to complete a pretty passing play and lift the fans out of their seats.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025.