Desrocher’s OT winner vaults Oshawa past Quebec in Memorial Cup thriller
Generals remain undefeated in tournament play thanks to late rally and dominant overtime
NEW YORK (The Draft Analyst) — Stephen Desrocher scored the game-winning goal late in the first overtime as the Oshawa Generals defeated the host Quebec Remparts, 5-4, on Sunday in the Mastercard Memorial Cup. Desrocher helped Oshawa remain undefeated after his shot off a faceoff at 18:07 of the extra session beat Quebec goaltender Zachary Fucale (MON), who faced a barrage of chances for most of overtime. The Generals outshot the Remparts for the game, 50-25, but required a power play goal from Tobias Lindberg (OTT) with just 2:07 left in regulation to tie the score at four. Michael McCarron (MTL), Michael Dal Colle (NYI) and Dakota Mermis (UDFA) also scored for Oshawa, which improved to 2-0 in the tournament. Dal Colle, drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 2014, added two assists and has four points (two goals, two assists) in two Memorial Cup games. Ken Appleby made 21 saves for the win, which clinched a berth in semifinals and can secure the top seed if they beat the Western Hockey League champion Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday night. Quebec (1-1) rallied from three different one-goal deficits to take a 4-3 lead in the third period. Dmytro Timashov gave the Remparts their first lead of the back-and-forth affair with a pair of consecutive third period strikes, the latter coming at 8:39. Timoshov, who led all Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rookies with 90 points in the regular season, was ranked 92nd among North American skaters for the upcoming draft by the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Bureau. Raphael Maheux and Ryan Graves (NYR) provided the other tallies for Quebec, which fell to 1-1 in Memorial Cup play. The Remparts play host to the rival Rimouski Oceanic on Wednesday. Fucale made 45 saves in defeat.