AUDETTE SCORES TWICE IN THIRD AS PHÉNIX FIGHT BACK FOR TIE WITH REBELS

LEDUC, Alta. – Daniel Audette scored twice in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit after 40 minutes as the Phénix du Collège Esther-Blondin earned a 2-2 tie with the Red Deer Rebels on Thursday afternoon at the 2012 TELUS Cup.

The win keeps both teams undefeated and sets up the possibility that two teams could finish the preliminary round without a loss for the second time in three years. Prior to 2010, when Notre Dame and Collège Antoine-Girouard went undefeated, the only other time it had happened in the six-team era was 1984, the first year of the current format, when North Bay and Lac St-Louis put up zeroes in the loss column.

After Collège Esther-Blondin (3-0-1), which scored 21 goals in its first three games, was held to just 14 shots in the opening 40 minutes, Audette got the comeback started 18 seconds into the third period, and pulled the Phénix even 5:24 later.

Scott Feser, on a first-period power play, and Jonathan Finnigan, early in the second period, scored for Red Deer (2-0-2), which skated to its second 2-2 tie of tournament following a draw with Saskatoon in its opener on Monday.

A victory over the winless Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves on Friday morning (9:30 a.m. MT) would make the Rebels the first Pacific Region team to go through the preliminary round without a loss since Dany Heatley’s Calgary Buffaloes at the 1998 Air Canada Cup in Sudbury.

Collège Esther-Blondin closes out its preliminary round schedule in Friday’s finale when it faces the host Leduc Oil Kings (4:30 p.m. MT).