2008 National U18 Club Championship

MOORE STANDS TALL AS BUFFALOES CLINCH SEMI-FINAL BERTH

The Calgary Buffaloes’ drive for a sixth medal in six appearances at the National Midget Championship is still alive after a thrilling 1-0 win over the Séminaire Saint-François Blizzard on Thursday afternoon clinched a semi-final spot for the Pacific Region champions.

The story for the Buffaloes was goaltender Kris Moore, who was a deserving recipient of the player of the game award for Calgary after turning away all 29 shots he faced to record the shutout.

Calgary – who improved to 2-1-1 after picking up their second win in a row – was outshot 29-20 by the Blizzard, including 12-8 in the final 20 minutes.

The Quebec champions – who have lost three in a row after an opening-day win over the Cole Harbour McCains – carried the play in the first period, outshooting the Buffaloes 10-3, but could not get a puck past Moore, who lowered his goals against average to an even 1.00 with the shutout.

Calgary found their legs in the middle frame, and broke the scoreless tie when Tyler Horton redirected an Adam Thompson point shot past Saint-François netminder Jean-Phillipe Gagnon with the Pacific Region representatives on the powerplay.

From there it was all about Moore, who held Sudbury’s vaunted offence to just two goals in his first start of the 2008 TELUS Cup on Tuesday.

Tommy Déry picked up player of the game honours for the Blizzard, who must win their round-robin finale against the host Ottawa Valley Titans on Friday (4:30 p.m. ET) if they hope to extend Quebec’s streak of 10 consecutive National Midget Championships with a medal.

The Buffaloes wrap up the preliminary round on Friday morning when they face the Atlantic champions from Cole Harbour at 9:30 a.m. ET.