Kirill Kabanov and the Shawinigan Cataractes will now face the London Knights on Sunday in the Memorial Cup Finals

Shawinigan 7, Saint John 4

Kirill Kabanov's Shawinigan Cataractes defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-4 on Friday, advancing to the Memorial Cup Championship Finals.

Saint John's Zack Phillips opened up the scoring at 4:29 of the first period. Shawinigan's Michael Bournival and Brandon Gormley each scored before the midway point of the opening frame, giving the Cataractes a 2-1 lead. The Sea Dogs' Tomas Jurco tallied his first goal of the tournament at 12:35, and the teams went into the first intermission tied at 2-2.

In the second period, Shawinigan outshot Saint John 20-8. Midway through the stanza, Loik Poudrier and Michael Chaput scored 1:25 apart for the Cataractes, giving them a 4-2 advantage.

The Sea Dogs got a caught a break late in the middle frame when Jonathan Huberdeau's shot from the Saint John end of the rink handcuffed Shawinigan goaltender Gabriel Girard, sneaking past him to make the game 4-3.

Saint John tied the game on Jurco's second goal of the contest at 9:16 of the third.

Four minutes later, Yannick Veilleux turned the momentum back in the Cataractes favor with his second goal of the tournament, giving Shawinigan its third lead of the game. With under a minute remaining, Chaput and Pierre-Olivier Morin each scored empty-net goals, giving Shawinigan a 7-4 lead.

With the win, the Cataractes advance to the Championship Finals against the London Knights on Sunday at 7:00. Shawinigan beat London 6-2 last Sunday in the round-robin phase of the tournament.

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