Petes out to prove themselves in Game 3
‘All the guys have fire in their eyes and don’t want to go back home right now’: Mayer
The Peterborough Petes don’t want to come home.
The Petes (0-2) entered their final round-robin game of the Memorial Cup on Tuesday night against the Quebec Remparts (2-0) with a simple mission — extend their stay in Kamloops, B.C. The Petes had to win to clinch a spot in Thursday’s tiebreaker game or else they would be coming home.
There was also a matter of pride at stake.
After a hard-fought 6-3 loss to the Western Hockey League champion Seattle Thunderbirds (1-1) in their opening game on Saturday, the Ontario Hockey League champion Petes were routed 10-2 by the host Kamloops Blazers (1-1) on Sunday.
“We’re pretty disappointed with our showing so far,” said assistant captain Tucker Robertson before Tuesday night’s game. “We know that’s not the team we are. We want to prove to the whole world we’re a much better team than that and go beat Quebec.”
It was a meaningless game for the Remparts, who clinched a spot in Sunday’s final with a 3-1 win over Seattle on Monday night. If the Petes won they will face the loser of Wednesday’s final round-robin game between Seattle and Kamloops in the tiebreaker. A Petes loss Tuesday would turn Wednesday’s game into a preview of Friday night’s semifinal.
“All the guys have fire in their eyes and don’t want to go back home right now,” said Petes defenceman Sam Mayer before the game. “We’re all going to bring our best game because our season is on the line.”
If the Petes were to win, they’d have to beat both WHL teams, who they lost to by a combined 16-5 score, to get to the final.
Gavin White and Avery Hayes faced a similar situation last year with the Hamilton Bulldogs. They lost their first two round-robin games before winning their third game and a semifinal match to get to the final where they fell to the host Saint John Sea Dogs.
“We played the Quebec team Shawinigan in the third game, which was a must-win for us and we did,” White said. “Last year, we took a step back and had an off day from the rink and we all took a breath together and relaxed and took in the moment. We’re in British Columbia for the Memorial Cup, which is pretty special.”
Petes head coach Rob Wilson gave the players Monday off to refresh mentally and physically. After a gruelling run through the OHL playoffs, a quick turnaround to fly to B.C. and back-to-back games to start the tournament, Wilson thought his team looked tired on Sunday.
“I think they need to recharge,” Wilson said. “They had an extremely tough run.”
They returned to a businesslike approach Tuesday with a morning skate and video session leading up to game time.
“Every time our backs have been against the wall these kids have responded,” said Wilson. “I have full faith in the way we’ll play (Tuesday night).”
Wilson said their opponents deserve credit for their victories but he also believes his team hasn’t played anywhere near its capabilities. “Game 1 we played very well and then we turned over pucks too much in the third period and we didn’t stick to our structure and it cost us,” he said.
“Sunday we just came into a situation where (Kamloops) was really fired up and we were completely exhausted. If I’m being honest, we looked tired from the start.”
Robertson said they may have underestimated how hard the Memorial Cup would be after knocking off quality teams like London, North Bay and Ottawa.
“We knew how hard the playoffs were going to be but the Memorial Cup is different. It’s a tournament,” Robertson said.
“We haven’t really treated it like playoffs. We’ve treated it like something different and we have to get back to how we were playing in the playoffs and back to the hard style of game we were playing.”