Memorial Cup final: Windsor versus Erie
WINDSOR, Ont. — Taylor Raddysh scored twice as the Erie Otters beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 6-3 on Friday to advance to the Memorial Cup final.
Erie will face the Windsor Spitfires in Sunday’s championship. The host team earned its way into the final with three straight round-robin wins, including a 4-2 victory over the Otters.
Darren Raddysh, Dylan Strome, German Poddubnyi and Warren Foegele also scored for the Otters (3-1), the Ontario Hockey League champions. Troy Timpano made 20 saves, while Alex DeBrincat had three assists.
Joe Veleno, Julien Gauthier and Thomas Chabot scored for the Sea Dogs (1-3), the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champs.
Callum Booth stopped 31-of-36 shots in defeat.
Erie previously thumped the Sea Dogs 12-5 in the round robin, with Strome setting a new Memorial Cup record for points in a game with seven.
Darren Raddysh opened the scoring in Friday’s rematch, with an unbelievable solo effort at 9:59 of the opening period.
After winning the race to a loose puck to negate an icing, he spun off his defender and brought it backhand to forehand before snapping a shot up and over Booth.
Veleno tied the game with 5:50 to go in the first period when he batted a rebound out of mid-air past Timpano.
The Otters started to take over and re-took the lead when Taylor Raddysh beat Booth blocker side on a power play midway through the middle frame.
However, Gauthier responded on a Saint John man advantage with 40 seconds left in the period to sit tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Strome scored another go-ahead goal for Erie, firing a wrist shot between Booth’s legs 2:38 into the third. Only 1:07 later, Poddubnyi made it 4-2 by snapping a shot blocker side on Booth.
Taylor Raddysh then netted his second, banging in a rebound with less than eight minutes left.
Chabot got one back for the Sea Dogs with 3:32 remaining, but Foegele added an empty-netter to seal the victory.