3 STARS OF THE DAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 30
1. Logan Chisholm (Cape Breton West Islanders)
Easiest choice of the week. Chisholm will forever be the answer to a TELUS Cup trivia question; he poked in the tying goal with less than six minutes to go to force overtime, and scored the winner in the extra period to complete the Islanders comeback and give Atlantic Canada its first-ever national title.
2. Colten Ellis (Cape Breton West Islanders)
The Islanders goaltender allowed four goals on 10 shots as his team quickly fell into a two-goal hole, but he was lights out from there. Ellis finished with 43 saves, turning away each and every one of the last 37 shots he faced in the final 45+ minutes, to backstop the Maritimers to the TELUS Cup.
3. Josh Eisfeld (Mississauga Rebels)
After watching the first six games from the bench, Eisfeld got his chance and ran with it with the bronze medal on the line. He made 40 saves in all, keeping the tournament’s second-highest scoring offence goalless until the final minutes, ensuring Mississauga left Prince George with a medal.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 29
1. Jakob Pelletier (Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François)
Make it two days in a row atop the list for Pelletier. He picked up an assist to help the Blizzard to an early lead but saved his best for overtime, taking the puck and dancing around a sliding defenceman before outwaiting Dean McNabb to send the Quebec champions to the gold medal game.
2. Jacob Stewart (Cape Breton West Islanders)
It wasn’t the prettiest goal Jacob Stewart has ever scored, but odds are it was the biggest. With the game tied early in the third period, Stewart threw a harmless-looking shot on goal that found the five-hole on Christian Purboo, giving the Islanders the lead for good, and eventually a spot in the final.
3. Lukas Sillinger (Regina Pat Canadians)
The entire Sillinger-Brodziak-Lees line deserved consideration, but Sillinger gets the nod. With his team facing a two-goal deficit and less than 23 minutes to go, he helped set up Brodziak before the end of the second period, and tied the game himself in the third, although Regina came up short in overtime.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – FRIDAY, APRIL 28
1. Jakob Pelletier (Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François)
The Blizzard offence is officially awake, and Pelletier has stopped hitting ‘snooze.’ After registering his first point of the tournament on Thursday, the highly-touted 16-year-old exploded against Leduc, scoring one goal and assisting on four others to lead the Quebec champions into the semifinals.
2. Ty Kolle (Cariboo Cougars)
The comeback came up one goal short, but Kolle almost single-handedly put the Cougars into the final four. Facing the best goaltender in the tournament, he scored twice in less than three minutes in the third period to ignite the hometown crowd at the CN Centre and turn a two-goal deficit into a tie game.
3. Jordan Kazymyra (Regina Pat Canadians)
With the Pat Canadians staring down the end of their season, tied 2-2 after two periods, Kazymyra put his team on his back and led it into the weekend. He set up Adam Herold for the game-winner, added insurance with a shorthanded goal and sprung Matthew Chekay for the empty-netter.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – THURSDAY, APRIL 27
1. Pierrick Dubé (Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François)
After scoring only four goals in three games the Blizzard finally found their offensive stride in a win over the hosts, and it was Dubé leading the way. He tied the game in the second period, added insurance early in the third and finished his hat trick late, putting Saint-François on the verge of the semifinals.
2. Nathan Smilsky (Mississauga Rebels)
He earns this spot simply because he did something no one else did – score. After more than 44 minutes of 0-0 hockey it was Smilsky who broke the deadlock early in the third period, netting the game-winning goal to lead the Rebels past Cape Breton West and into the semifinals on Saturday.
3. Philippe Gaudreault (Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François)
His offence got all the attention, and for good reason, but Gaudreault more than did his part between the pipes for the Blizzard. He made 24 saves through the first two periods, when the result was still in doubt, and added another 14 stops in the third to backstop his team to two big points.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26
1. Hunter Floris (Cariboo Cougars)
With his team desperately needing a win in the race for the semifinals, Floris gave his team – and the 1,700-plus at the CN Centre – the spark it needed, driving to the net to bang in a rebound in the first period before splitting the Cape Breton West defence and doubling the Cougars’ lead in the second.
2. Maxime Collin (Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François)
Collin was front and centre for the Blizzard as they earned their first win. His forecheck caused the turnover that led to the go-ahead goal in the third period, and – even more importantly – he got his stick on a Yan-Cédric Gaudreault shot with 15.7 seconds left to give the Quebec champions their first two points.
3. Tyler Schendel (Leduc Oil Kings)
The two goals Schendel scored may have travelled a combined three feet; he knocked in a rebound very late in the first period to open the scoring against Mississauga, and chipped in a loose puck to give the Oil Kings a little insurance with six minutes left in the third, keeping Leduc tied atop the standings.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – TUESDAY, APRIL 25
1. Tyler Maser (Cariboo Cougars)
No team has lost its first two games and made the semifinals since 2011, so the game-tying goal Maser scored late in the third period could prove to be one of the biggest of the tournament for the hosts. He also netted a goal on the power play in the second period, and picked up an assist for good measure.
2. Christian Purboo (Mississauga Rebels)
The Rebels sit atop the standings through two days thanks in large part to their offence, but Purboo stole the show Tuesday with the first shutout of the tournament. The first period was easily his best; he made 16 of his 34 stops in the opening 20 minutes to set the tone early for Mississauga.
3. Logan Timmons (Cape Breton West Islanders)
The Islanders have done something no Atlantic team had done in 36 years, and Timmons was the table-setter in a win over Leduc, opening the scoring in the first period before adding the eventual game-winner early in the third, leading the Maritimers to their 14th win in 16 playoff games.
3 STARS OF THE DAY – MONDAY, APRIL 24
1. Easton Hesse (Leduc Oil Kings)
The Oil Kings will go into the TELUS Cup record book as Pacific Region champions, and they have their goaltender to thank. Hesse was absolutely lights-out for Leduc, making 39 saves – 19 in the second period alone – to lead the Albertans to an opening-game win over host Cariboo.
2. Colten Ellis (Cape Breton West Islanders)
It had been 12 years since the Atlantic champions beat the Quebec champions in the preliminary round, until Monday. Ellis was consistent across the board – 11 saves in the first period, 12 in the second, 11 in the third – to help the Islanders protect a one-goal lead for the last 38 minutes.
3. Michael Hill (Mississauga Rebels)
Slow start? No problem. The Rebels went more than 12 minutes without a shot on goal to open the game, but Hill followed up the tying goal with the go-ahead marker less than a minute later, and set up two of the three Mississauga goals in the third to help the Central champs to the win.