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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Samuelsson seals Oil Kings win
Ulf's son scores winner on hosts
Edmonton Oil Kings' Mitchell Moroz (29) scuffles with Shawinigan Cataractes' Pierre-Olivier Morin (60) during first period action at the Memorial Cup Friday. (JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
SHAWINIGAN, Que. -- In a hectic third period that could have gone either way, the Edmonton Oil Kings found the will to pick up their game and come out on top.
Henrik Samuelsson broke a tie 13:42 into the final period as the Oil Kings downed the host Shawinigan Cataractes 4-3 in a wild opening game of the Mastercard Memorial Cup on Friday night.
"It's just the urgency level," said Edmonton captain Mark Pysyk. "If we're down a goal or it's a close game, we pick it up.
"It was a pretty exciting game to be part of and I imagine it was good to watch as well. It's tough when you get scored on, but it was a pretty big boost when we scored. So it went both ways."
The teams went into the third period tied 1-1 and then piled up five goals over the final 20 minutes.
Griffin Reinhart and Martin Gernat got early third-period goals for Edmonton, only to see Anton Zlobin and Michael Chaput, with his second of the night, tie it up again for Shawinigan.
Shawinigan's failure to clear the zone let Samuelsson, a centre who is the son of former NHL defenceman Ulf Samuelsson, finish a three-way passing play with Stephane Legault and Reinhart to give the Oil Kings back the lead.
"As you know, Griff is a pretty good player and so is Legault," Samuelsson said. "They saw that right away and I was just the lucky one who got to shoot it in."
Kristians Pelss also scored for the Western Hockey League champions.
The round-robin portion of the four-team tournament continues Saturday night when the defending champion Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League face the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights.
The Cataractes had most of the energy and scoring chances through the first two periods, but looked a little rusty around the net. They ended up with a 33-25 shot advantage, including 14-11 in the third.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 19, 2012 C2
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