The 2023 OHL Cup is down to four teams.
Three of Saturday’s four Quarterfinal matchups were decided by one goal, with the Waterloo Wolves, Toronto Jr. Canadiens, Peterborough Petes and wild card entry Vaughan Kings advancing to Saturday night’s Semi-Final stage.
The winners of tonight’s contest will meet in Monday’s OHL Cup Championship Final at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. The puck drops at 7:00pm and the game will air for free on CHL TV, as well as across the province on OHL Action Pak channel 466. Tickets for Monday’s Championship game are $12.00 and can be purchased on Ticketmaster.
Here’s the remaining two Semi-Final matchups at a glance.
SEMI-FINAL #1 – Waterloo Wolves (4-1-0) vs. Toronto Jr. Canadiens (5-0-0) – 6:00pm (Rink 1)
The Waterloo Wolves have defeated the Mississauga Rebels, Northern Ontario Hockey Association, Peterborough Petes and Toronto Marlboros at the OHL Cup. Their lone loss came at the hands of the Don Mills Flyers, falling 5-4 on Thursday.
Brady Martin has been among the showcase’s top performers, recording 12 points (8-4–12) in five games, including a quarterfinal hat trick to eliminate the top-ranked Toronto Marlboros.
The Wolves played to a 24-7-2 mark during the regular season for third place in the ALLIANCE U16 circuit. They’ve advanced to their league championship series where they’ll face the London Jr. Knights.
The Toronto Jr. Canadiens enter tonight’s game as the only remaining undefeated team in the showcase, sporting a 5-0 record. Their wins have come against the Vaughan Kings, Thunder Bay Kings, York-Simcoe Express, Sun County Panthers and the London Jr. Knights, who they defeated 4-1 on Saturday morning.
JRC has surrendered a showcase-low three goals over five games, with the twin duo of Alexander and Nico Armellin standing tall in the crease. Captain Jake O’Brien leads Toronto offensively, with 12 points (4-8–12) over five games.
SEMI-FINAL #2 – Vaughan Kings (3-2-0) vs. Peterborough Petes (3-2-0) – 8:00pm (Rink 1)
The Vaughan Kings gained entry to the OHL Cup Showcase by way of a 4-0 wild card play-in victory over the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs.
Vaughan has played to a 3-2 mark in the OHL Cup, defeating the Thunder Bay Kings, York-Simcoe Express and Barrie Colts while losing to the Jr. Canadiens and Sun County Panthers.
Vaughan was ranked inside the OHL Cup Top 10 in 12 of 15 weeks this past season, playing to a fifth place finish in the GTHL with a record of 23-10-3.
Carter Kostuch has paced the Kings offensively in the OHL Cup with nine points (5-4–9) in five games.
The OMHA champion Peterborough Petes always make things exciting, and Kaiden Harmon is always in the thick of it. Harmon scored the OT winner to crown the Petes OMHA ETA champions two weeks ago, struck in triple-overtime at the OMHA Championships to give the Petes red hats, and buried the double-overtime winner on Saturday morning as Peterborough edged the Toronto Nationals 3-2.
The Petes, who recently went on a 25-game winning streak, are into the OHL Cup playoff round for the first time in the 20-year history of the event as they’ve scored victories over the Northern Ontario Hockey Association, Don Mills Flyers and Toronto Nationals along the way while losing to the Waterloo Wolves and Mississauga Rebels.
Will McFadden has been a go-to guy for Peterborough up front, leading the Petes with eight points (3-5–8) while Josh Avery leads in the goal-scoring department (4-2–6).
For news and updates on tonight’s game, visit ohlcup.ca.
