2014 TELUS Cup

CARDINAL’S TWO POINTS SEND GRENADIERS TO TELUS CUP SEMIFINALS

DAVID BRIEN

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Martin-Olivier Cardinal had a goal and an assist to help the Grenadiers de Châteauguay reach the semifinals at the 2014 TELUS Cup with a 4-2 win over the Moose Jaw Generals in Friday night’s preliminary round finale.

The win ensures a Quebec team in the semifinals for the 26th consecutive year; not since Laval Laurentides-Lanaudiere finished sixth in 1989 has a team from La Belle Province missed out on the weekend.

Chateauguay (2-1-2) will face the Toronto Young Nationals in Saturday’s late semifinal (6 p.m. MT).

Alexandre Desgagnés, Brandon McCulloch and Mikael Sabourin had the other goals for the Grenadiers.

The trio of Braydon Delorme, Regan Nagy and Trey Tendler combined for both Moose Jaw (0-3-2) goals; Delorme and Nagy had a goal and an assist each, while Tendler chipped in with two helpers for the tournament hosts.

With both teams needing a win to book their semifinal spot, goals were hard to come by in the opening 20 minutes; the Grenadiers held a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal, but the game went to the intermission scoreless.

The Generals’ big line needed just 89 seconds to open the scoring in the second period.

With two defenders blanketing him, Delorme pushed the puck one-handed through to Nagy, who went to the forehand and quickly roofed a shot over the glove of Châteauguay netminder Étienne Montpetit.

Less than six minutes later the trio struck again, this time on the power play; after a shot from Tendler was tipped wide, Delorme picked up the loose puck and beat Montpetit to the empty net with a wraparound, while his feet were still behind the goal line.

With their season on the line the Grenadiers pulled to within one on a man advantage of their own, making it a 2-1 game when Cardinal took a pass in the slot from Samson and rifled a one-timer over the right shoulder of Moose Jaw goaltender Grant Naherniak.

The Generals came within 6:09 of the semifinals, but Desgagnés tied the game from a sharp angle, bursting down the right wing and sneaking a shot under the glove of Naherniak.

Knowing a tie wouldn’t be enough, Moose Jaw pulled Naherniak with 90 seconds to go, but McCulloch hit the empty net at 18:55 and Sabourin added another from his own zone 36 seconds later, clinching the win and ending a roller-coaster season for the Generals.

Moose Jaw outshot Châteauguay 31-29.