The Kitchener Rangers have clinched a spot in the finals of the Memorial Cup. The Rangers downed the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 3 - 2 in Kelowna. B.C. on Tuesday night to earn their place in the championship. “It wasn’t pretty tonight. It wasn’t pretty. But we got the job done. And that’s the only thing that matters,” Jussi Ahokas, Kitchener Rangers’ head coach, told the media following the game. The latest win gives the Rangers an unbeaten streak as they head into the big game. “Winning all three round robin games to go to the finals directly is the dream come true,” Justin Born, host of The AudPod podcast, told CTV News on Wednesday. “[The Rangers] looked a little worn down a little bit after a really tough game against [the Everett Silvertips], but I don’t think that it was necessarily a bad performance,” Andrew Merrigan, host of The AudPod podcast, said. The Rangers set a new record by securing a spot in the finals for the seventh time in franchise history. They’re now the team with the most appearances in the Memorial Cup finals. The final round robin game will see Everett play the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday night. If Everett wins, the Rockets will be eliminated, and the Silvertips will play Chicoutimi in the semifinal. But a win for Kelowna will force a tiebreaker. Either way, the Rangers know they will play for the title on Sunday. “Only thing that matters now we have four days off and I know we’ll be better,” Ahokas said. “We’ll play a lot better when the final game starts.” “What a treat this is for our last game in this league to be playing for the Memorial Cup,” Dylan Edwards, Kitchener Rangers forward, told the media on Tuesday. “It’s pretty special and we want to go home with it. So, it’s an unbelievable experience and an opportunity for us as a group.” The Rangers were outshot 28 - 18 on Tuesday, as goaltender Christian Kirsch turned away 26 of 28 shots he faced, helping lock up the win for Kitchener. Suspension A play in the third period got the most attention from hockey fans. During a battle for the puck along the boards, Chicoutimi’s Jordan Tourigny brought his skate blade down on Kitchener’s Christian Humphreys several times. Humphreys left the game and didn’t return. “We’ll see how Humphreys is. I don’t know yet the final thing. But for me, that’s not - I like tough hockey. I like physical hockey. But that’s nothing to do with playing well,” Ahokas said after the game. The Rangers told CTV News in an email on Wednesday that “Humphreys remains in good spirits but is currently still being evaluated.” Tourigny was given a match penalty for what happened and left the game. “That’s a cowardice play. Stomping with the skate. That’s not tough hockey. That’s coward hockey. That’s not in our values. If someone does that, that’s the cheapest thing that you can do in hockey,” Ahokas told the media. “From the screen, I thought he was stepping on a stick. At one point you see the stick going like this, but the department of the NHL is taking care of it, so we’ll leave it to them,” Yanick Jean, Chicoutimi Saguenéens’ head coach, told the media after the game. The NHL oversees discipline matters at the Memorial Cup. On Wednesday the CHL announced, following its review, the NHL recommended that Tourigny be suspended for the duration of the tournament, which the CHL accepted. “Obviously, it’s not a hockey play and it’s not how we play the game. So yeah, it’s devastating to see and just something that you never want to see happen,” Sam O’Reilly, Kitchener Rangers’ forward, said on Tuesday. “This is not life and death” Since the game, Tourigny has faced a wave of criticism on social media, and, in some cases, even death threats. The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the league Chicoutimi plays in, released a statement on Wednesday “Tourigny made a regrettable play in the third period, one he deeply regrets. However, the hate, threats, and violent messages being directed at him on social media have absolutely no place in our game or in our community,” a statement from the QMJHL said. The QMJHL also reminded fans that the players are young athletes and deserve respect and support, even in difficult moments. They added hockey is a game and asked fans to “Please treat these players with dignity.” “We love the passion from Rangers fans. We can’t be giving anybody threatening messages because of something that happened in a hockey game,” Merrigan said. “But this is not life and death and let’s just keep it positive. They’re all 20 and under, let’s just be positive here. Even though we had choice words in our living room.” While the Rangers wait to see who they’ll play in the finals, fans of the team are confident heading into the game. “They had a significant break between the end of the OHL championship and into the Memorial Cup, and they didn’t look like they lost a step. I think sometimes that can be a concern. I think with this coaching staff specifically, it’s never a concern,” Born said.
