Brayden Yager and the Moose Jaw Warriors staved off elimination in the Memorial Cup on Tuesday in Saginaw, knocking off the QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs with a 5-3 victory.
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Yager rebounded after a quiet, scoreless game on Monday and recorded two primary assists and an empty-net goal over Drummondville. His assists were on Moose Jaw's second and third goals of the game. The first assist came on the power play when Yager turned a shot fake into a great pass to Jagger Firkus:
The second assist came when Yager couldn't get a clean shot off from the slot and his linemate Denton Mateychuk drove to the net and knocked the puck in:
His empty-net goal came with 9.6 seconds left in regulation:
Yager led the Warriors with seven shots on goal, four more than any of his teammates. The league also tracks a subjective statistic called "dangerous shots" that aims to quantify legitimate scoring chances (as opposed to the NHL's high-danger shots, which come from a defined area of the ice). Yager also led his team in dangerous shots, with five of his seven being considered dangerous.
Yager went 50% in faceoffs, winning nine of 18.
The win ends a run of a QMJHL team winning five consecutive Memorial Cup titles. Moose Jaw advances to play either the OHL champion London Knights or host Saginaw Spirit in the semfinal round on Friday. London and Saginaw play each other on Wednesday.
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