Mississauga Puts Kootenay in a Major Hole

Mississauga, ON – The Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors held off the Kootenay Ice for a 2-1 victory moving them to 1-1 for round robin play at the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Majors and the Ice were both looking to avoid falling to 0-2 in the round robin when they faced off against each other on Sunday night.

Cody Eakin opened the scoring for the Ice at 12:05 of the first period on the power play.  Eakin found his way out from behind the goal line showed great patience as he cut to the middle firing a wrist shot just under the blocker of Majors goalie JP Anderson.

Maxim Kitsyn responded for the Majors just 1:23 later.

The 19-year old Los Angeles Kings prospect banged in a rebound after forward Rob Flick made a hard cut to the net stretching out goaltender Nathan Lieuwen.

Mississauga looked for the early lead when Justin Shugg, at 17:53 of the second period, undressed defenseman James Martin but was unable to beat Lieuwen as he tried to go top corner.

Kootenay, who were ranked second in the WHL playoffs in penalty minutes, found themselves in penalty trouble in the early stages of the second period.   Which included two 5-on-3 disadvantages but they managed to hold off the powerhouse power play of the Majors to keep the game tied at one.

The Majors, despite the win, finished the game a dismal 0 for 6 on the power play.  “They did a good job of blocking the shots,” said Majors captain Casey Cizikas. “We need to get more shots to the net and start getting on those rebounds.”

With 8:09 remaining in the third, Flick drove to the outside after receiving a pass from Riley Brace to give Mississauga a 2-1 lead.

The goal was Flick’s second point of the contest and proved to be the game winner as Mississauga moved to 1-1 in round robin play.

JP Anderson made 31 saves to preserve the win for the Majors.  Lieuwen made 32 saves in the loss.

The Majors will have two days rest before they face-off with the Owen Sound Attack.  The Attack came back from a 0-2 deficit in the OHL final to beat the Majors in a thrilling seven-game series.

“It’s going to come down to the biggest game of the tournament,” said Cizikas. “There is a little hate on our side for what they have done to us in the past.  Come Wednesday, the boys are going to be ready and have nothing short of an ‘A’ game.”

Kootenay will look to bounce back from the loss and avoid potential elimination from the tournament as they prepare for the Saint John Sea Dogs on May 24.

“Obviously it’s frustrating, as a team and personally I don’t feel like we’ve put our best foot forward yet,” said Ice forward Matt Fraser.

The 2009 Windsor Spitfires are the only team in the 93-year history of the MasterCard Memorial Cup to come back from a 0-2 start to win the tournament.