North Bay's Ken Appleby tracks a puck during game two action at the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup between the Oshawa Generals and Rimouski Oceanic at Pepsi Colisee in Quebec City on Saturday May 23, 2015. Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL Images
By Brad Coccimiglio
QUEBEC – It's all about making saves and North Bay’s Ken Appleby made one at the most important time for the Oshawa Generals on Saturday evening.
Appleby made a save on Rimouski Oceanic Fredrick Gauthier with seconds remaining in regulation time to preserve a 4-3 Generals win to open the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Appleby made a similar key save during the OHL final, stopping Erie Otters phenom Connor McDavid and compared the two in magnitude.
“McDavid is one of the best junior players in the world right now and this was on a world stage type of environment in the last couple of seconds,” Appleby said.
“They had a good chance to tie it up and I just had to make the saves to get the win.”
The Generals net minder finished the day with 19 saves but made stops when they counted in the third period to preserve the win.
“Kenny made some saves (on the penalty kill) and that certainly upped our energy and played better from there,” said Generals Coach D.J. Smith of Appleby’s performance on the penalty kill late in the opening period when the Generals found themselves two-men down.
Despite the win, Appleby told reporters, “I feel I can be a lot better.”
The Generals entered the game having not played since May 15. Appleby said the preparation was more on the Generals as opposed to their opponents from across the country in the tournament.
“It just comes down to how we play,” Appleby said. “For me, it comes down to making saves. I just have to make saves for the guys and give them a chance to win every night. Obviously, every team is different league to league and we’ve got to be aware of that. It matters how we play and how we execute our game plan.”
The Generals now face the host-team on Sunday when they meet the Quebec Remparts in a 4:30 start. The Generals will then wrap up the round robin against the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s game will be the second in as many nights for the Rockets, who face the Oceanic on Monday evening in the next game for both clubs.
