Story by Brad Coccimiglio
QUEBEC – It could be a dream ending to a dream season for North Bay’s Ken Appleby.
On Sunday night, Appleby and his Oshawa Generals teammates, who already have an Ontario Hockey League title under their belts, have 60 minutes to cap the season off with a Memorial Cup title.
The only thing standing in their way is the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets.
“It’s been an unbelievable season,” Appleby said. “Coming into the season, (Coach DJ Smith) told the guys that if we get everybody back, we’re going to be pretty good and look where we are now. We’ve put ourselves in a good position for Sunday.
“For myself, I had a pretty good year and I just want to finish it off the right way,” Appleby added.
For Appleby, the tournament didn’t start on a great note.
Despite the Generals winning their opening game against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rimouski Oceanic, Appleby gave up three goals on 22 shots and told reporters afterwards “I can be a lot better.”
He followed the game up by giving up four goals against the Quebec Remparts in a 5-4 overtime victory in the Generals second game.
It was game three that Appleby came up with his best game of the tournament to this point, stopping 20 shots in a 2-1 win over Kelowna.
“After (the first two games), I felt like I could be a lot better for the guys. I needed to be a lot better if we wanted to win this thing and I thought I was better tonight,” Appleby said after the win over Kelowna.
For Smith, the start to the tournament was similar to the start of Appleby’s OHL career.
“It\s kind of the way his career has gone,” Smith said. “He had a tough start to his career. He had some tough starts and people weren’t sure if it was going to work out that he would be the guy we wanted him to be and he certainly did. This year he just kept getting better and it’s similar to this tournament. He just started ok and continued to get better every game. At the end of the day, he’s going to give us a chance to win.”
Appleby spoke highly of the Generals bench boss, who took over the team prior to the 2012-13 OHL season.
“He knows how to get the guys to play for him,” Appleby said of Smith. “The guys really respond to him and he knows how to get the guys going.”
The 2014-15 season has been a career-year for the veteran goaltender.
In the regular season, Appleby posted a 38-7-0-4 record with a 2.08 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage in 50 games.
He then went 16-5 in the OHL playoffs with a 2.24 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in 21 games.
“I’ve just tried to do my best all year,” Appleby said. “Obviously being on a team makes it a bit easier but I just tried to do my best all year. I never came in setting any goals. I just came into the year hoping I could make a nice transition as a starter.”
The Generals team features a number of highly-touted NHL prospects including New York Islanders prospect Michael Dal Colle, Vancouver Canucks prospect Cole Cassels and Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McCarron among others.
“It’s unbelievable,” Appleby said of playing with the team. “They make my job so much easier.
“They stick to the systems, everybody’s smart and we have a team mentality,” Appleby added. “When you have guys like Josh Brown, Dakota Mermis and everybody else chipping in, it makes my job so much easier.”
The Memorial Cup is the final event being played at Le Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City as the Quebec Remparts prepare to move into a brand new facility for the 2015-16 season that the city also hopes will house an NHL team in the future.
“It’s pretty cool to think of some of the names that played out there,” Appleby said. “It’s a special feeling to be able to play one of the last events at this rink and I won’t forget it.”
The event itself has had a little bit of everything for the Generals.
“It’s been really exciting,” Appleby said. “It was nice to get the three wins out of the way first. Then we were able to relax and enjoy the city a bit. It’s a great city. It’s a pretty cool event.”
The championship game goes Sunday night at Le Colisee Pepsi. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
