Thunderbirds advance to first-ever Memorial Cup final
The Seattle Thunderbirds advanced to the final of the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia for the first time in franchise history after a 4-1 win over the Peterborough Petes Friday night.
Brad Lambert (WPG), Colton Dach (CHI), Kyle Crnkovic and Nico Myatovic all scored for Seattle while Thomas Milic stopped 27 shots.
Brennan Othmann (NYR) had the Petes’ lone goal as Michael Simpson made 43 saves.
“I thought we played well and played the majority of the game with good habits and in a way that we needed to play to be successful,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said.
Jared Davidson (MTL) added two assists for Seattle and also had a game-high eight shots.
What a pass from Kyle Crnkovic to find #Blackhawks prospect Colton Dach! 👀 #MemorialCup pic.twitter.com/zI8jwsOp2A
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) June 3, 2023
After a goalless first it was Lambert who finally broke the deadlock with just 4:28 left in the second as he banged in a loose puck for his first of the competition.
Dach made it 2-0 just 88 seconds into the third as he buried Crnkovic’s clever pass into a wide-open net before Othmann cut the deficit in half at 2:41 with a finesse finish out front after Owen Beck (MTL) fed him down low.
Crnkovic restored the two-goal lead at 9:33 with his tournament best fifth goal before Myatovic scored into the empty-net with 2:09 left.
The @SeattleTbirds' Kyle Crnkovic has his fifth of the #MemorialCup! pic.twitter.com/DF8rrnOrEN
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) June 3, 2023
“It’s special,” Davidson said of advancing to the final. “Me personally, it’s nice last to play my last [junior] game in the final.”
The T-Birds will face Quebec in Sunday’s final at 7pm ET / 4pm PT. The two clubs met May 29 in the round-robin as the Remparts won 3-1 to clinch a spot in the Memorial Cup final.
“For our group, we weren’t very pleased with our game [that night] so we know we’ve got to be better and we’ll bring that ‘A’ game on Sunday,” Dach said.
