Memorial Cup: Defence optional in high-octane Titan win

REGINA— Noah Dobson, Jeffrey Truchon-Viel and Ethan Crossman had two goals apiece and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan held off the host Regina Pats 8-6 on Sunday night to earn a berth in Friday’s semifinal at the Memorial Cup.

Truchon-Viel leads all scorers at the Canadian major junior championship with six points.

Liam Murphy and Samuel Asselin adding singles for the 2-0 Titan in the victory.

Cameron Hebig had a pair of goals for the hosts, now 1-1. Jared Legein, Matt Bradley, Josh Mahura and Nick Henry rounded out the attack. Sam Steel had four assists.

Evan Fitzpatrick made 32 saves for the win, while Max Paddock turned aside 26 of 32 shots in defeat. Kyle Dumba came on in relief for the Pats to start the third and made three saves.

Dumba had a rough start, misplaying a Crossman wrist shot and deflecting it into his own net at 1:39 of the third period.

But the Pats’ comeback started a few minutes later with Hebig’s second of the game.

A nice passing play on the power play led to a one-timed goal by Henry that made it a 7-4 game. Mahura then got a shot through several screens at 14:10 of the third on the power play for a two-goal cushion. Another screen on Fitzpatrick allowed a shot from Bradley to find the back of the net.

Regina pulled its goalie and kept the pressure in the Titan end, but couldn’t find the equalizer.

Both teams get a day off Monday. Acadie-Bathurst faces the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs (0-1) on Tuesday night, before Regina takes on rival Swift Current (0-1) on Wednesday to wrap up round-robin play.

Humboldt Broncos goaltender Jacob Wassermann, a survivor of the April 6 bus crash that killed 16 people, was in attendance and received a standing ovation in the first period.