WINDSOR, Ont. – Taylor Raddysh went through the gamut of emotions on Friday in the second period of the Mastercard Memorial Cup semifinal.
The emotion at the end, of course, was pure joy, because he and his Erie Otters have advanced to Sunday’s final with a 6-3 win over the QMJHL champions from Saint John, setting up an all-OHL battle for the CHL’s big prize against the hosts from Windsor.
But in the second period against Saint John, Taylor Raddysh scored what he thought was his second goal of the night to make it 3-1. So he was excited.
But then he was confused. And then he was upset.
The referee called back Raddysh’s goal, which was an absolute laser beam, on a bizarre play that saw him forget to blow the whistle for an Otters penalty when Erie gained possession. So the goal was called back, and instead the Otters served two minutes, and Saint John tied things up. It was a game-changer.
“That’s kind of frustrating when you think you wasted one there,” Taylor Raddysh said of his non-goal, with a grin. “Our team was lucky enough to get a couple more after that.”
They did. And so did he – the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect now leads all players here with 11 points.
Older brother Darren Raddysh got the Otters on the board with a beauty, Captain Dylan Strome scored to make it 3-2 in the third, the winner came from fourth-liner Gera Poddubnyi, and the Otters – the favourites to win here – have punched their ticket to Sunday’s final.
Darren got Erie started halfway through the first with one of the prettiest goals of the tournament – and that’s saying something because this tournament has been full of goals. The last time these two teams met, 17 were scored.
He picked up the puck after it bounced off the end boards in Saint John’s zone, then did a spin-move to get by a defender. On the doorstep, Raddysh shifted from backhand to forehand after an attempted poke check from Booth, roofed the puck, then fell on top of the Sea Dogs goalie while he celebrated.
That was the third goal of the tournament for the over-ager who won the OHL’s Defenceman of the Year award.
Said Taylor: “He had some pretty good hands in front of the net for a defenceman.”
“I was gonna backhand it, but I ended up losing it, [Booth] kind of poke-checked it and it was in between my feet and I just tried to go upstairs with it,” Darren said.
Joe Veleno tied things up for Saint John not long after when he caused a turnover behind Erie’s net, then batted a Spencer Smallman rebound out of the air.
But it was all Erie in the second. The Otters had a barrage of chances, thanks in large part to four power plays, which Saint John got through largely unscathed – the Otters converted on just one.
Taylor Raddysh got his first when he banged home a rebound on the power play, then dropped into a low fist-pump and celebrated with his brother and the rest of his teammates. It was Raddysh Brothers 2, Sea Dogs 1, at that point.
Strome nearly beat Booth five-hole, but the puck trickled just wide. Booth was sensational for the Sea Dogs, stopping 16 of 17 shots he faced in the second.
The one he faced and didn’t stop, didn’t count.
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Strome had the best description of what happened on the Raddysh non-goal.
“That was one of the craziest plays I’ve seen. That was wild. You don’t even know what to expect,” he said. “We thought they had the penalty, obviously, because they had the puck for a little bit, but sometimes that happens where they don’t blow it right away, so T [Raddysh] thought they had the penalty too. And once he gets [the puck] the goalie’s halfway out the net and they don’t blow the whistle. So maybe we think they got the penalty and they missed it? So if they get the penalty and we score, that’s our goal. Even if they touched it already. They can’t review that. So we were thinking like a goal, they’re killing the penalty. All the sudden it turns around and they tie it up 10 seconds later.
“That was a momentum swing in the game but one of the craziest I’ve ever seen,” Strome added, laughing.
The momentum shifted big time. In the last minute of the frame, Julien Gauthier one-timed a power-play goal past Otters goalie Troy Timpano to make it 2-2. Saint John had just four shots in the second, but that’s all it took to tie things up.
Between the second and third, Otters head coach Kris Knoblauch wanted his team to relax, so he went around the room and told each player what he needed to do to help the team win.
Knoblauch’s instruction for his captain: “Stromer, be clutch and win faceoffs and maybe put one in the back of the net.”
Strome made good on that.
At the 2:38 mark, the captain sent the go-ahead goal through Booth’s legs.
“I had to hold the line, because Alex [DeBrincat] was carrying it over and I kind of lost my foot speed,” Strome said. “He made a pretty good play to draw both D in, and he gave it to me, the D kinda stepped up so I pushed it around him. I kinda fanned on it, I was trying to go low … fortunately enough he kind of just missed it, and it felt really good.”
Not long after, Poddubnyi extended that lead with what Strome called an “absolutely massive goal,” when the Otters forward beat Booth blocker side, then jumped up and down on his skates as his teammates mobbed him.
Saint John was pressing in the third, and Timpano was sensational. “I thought the difference tonight was Troy,” said Knoblauch.
Taylor Raddysh scored his second – his third, if you count the non-goal – on the power play at the 12:31 mark, corralling a rebound and banging it home from the side of the net to make it 5-2.
The best defenceman not in the NHL (Thomas Chabot) brought the Sea Dogs within two when he scored on a breakaway, but that’s as close as the Sea Dogs would come. Carolina prospect Warren Foegele wristed home the empty-netter to make it 6-3, and then the Otters had a small celebration on the ice.
The big game, is, of course, Sunday’s final, against the hosts from Windsor, on the date they’ve had circled on their calendars all season.
“It feels kinda surreal that we’re here,” Strome said.
And for Darren and Taylor, it may be the final time the brothers play on the same team. They have nearly 20 family members here in Windsor watching them.
“When my brother got drafted, we always talked about coming to this tournament and hopefully winning it,” said Darren.
“That’s gonna be our last game ever together, maybe,” said Taylor. “We might as well make the most of it.”
