2016 TELUS Cup

BOBCATS SCORE FOUR UNANSWERED TO BEAT RANGERS

DAVID BRIEN

QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Parker Saretsky paced the offence with a goal and two assists, and the Lloydminster Bobcats scored the game’s last four goals to top the North York Rangers 4-1 in the preliminary-round finale for both Friday morning at the 2016 TELUS Cup.

The win moves the Bobcats past the Rangers in the round-robin standings; Lloydminster will finish second or third, depending on the result of Friday’s game between Saint John and Lac St-Louis.

If the Vito’s knock off the unbeaten Lions, Saint John and Lloydminster would have identical 3-1-1 records, and since their preliminary round meeting ended in a 3-3 tie, the team with the better goal average (goals for divided by goals against) would get second place.

The Rangers hit the scoreboard first thanks to a William Calverley point shot that made its way through traffic and past Dane Dow on a North York power play just 5:03 in, but that would be the lone puck to beat the Lloydminster goaltender.

Zane Franklin tied the game with the Bobcats holding the man advantage late in the opening frame, knocking in the 1-1 goal with six seconds left after a shot from Saretsky bounced off the end boards.

The Pacific Region champions took control with a pair of goals in the second period; first, Kobe Walker took a cross-crease pass from Macgregor Sinclair before roofing a backhand over North York netminder Jett Alexander at 3:44, and Saretsky benefitted from hard work by Chase Wouters to make it 3-1 at 11:20.

Jaxan Kaluski would net the game’s final goal three minutes into the third period, redirecting a point shot from Ashton Oakes past Kyle Henderson, who replaced Alexander to start the final frame.

Both teams will be back on the ice for Saturday’s semifinals, but will have to wait for the Saint John/Lac St-Louis result to find out who and when they play in the final four.