Landon DuPont scored twice in his return to the lineup as the Everett Silvertips defeated the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 6-1 on Friday in the Memorial Cup semifinal. Carter Bear added his third goal of the tournament and also recorded an assist, while Jaxsin Vaughan, Zackary Shantz and Julius Miettinen each scored once to help the WHL champions reach Sunday’s final against the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers.
Matias Vanhanen finished with two power-play assists and goaltender Anders Miller made 25 saves for Everett, which led 2-1 after the first period and 5-1 after two. The Silvertips will now look to avenge their only loss of the tournament, a 6-2 round-robin defeat to Kitchener on Monday. Everett opened the event with a 5-3 win over Chicoutimi and later shut out host Kelowna 4-0 on Wednesday, though DuPont did not play in that game because of an undisclosed injury.
Chicoutimi’s lone goal came from Tomas Lavoie, as the QMJHL champions struggled to generate offense and finished with just one win in the tournament. The Saguenéens’ only victory was a 3-2 overtime win over host Kelowna on Sunday. They also lost 3-2 to Kitchener on Tuesday. Lucas Beckman stopped 22 shots before being pulled in Friday’s loss, and Raphael Precourt stopped all eight shots he faced in relief.
Kelowna went winless in the competition, opening with a 5-0 loss to Kitchener and later falling to Everett and Chicoutimi. DuPont’s return made a major difference for the Silvertips, who regained momentum after he sat out the round-robin finale. He scored Everett’s first-period go-ahead goal and then added another in the third, including a one-timer on the power play that stretched the lead to 5-1 and effectively sealed the result.
The final between Kitchener and Everett is scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The London Knights won last year’s Memorial Cup with a 4-1 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers.
