Goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves to lead the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 3-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers Saturday at the 2007 Memorial Cup in Vancouver.
Stefan Chaput, Sebastien Piche and Eric Castonguay scored for Lewiston, the QMJHL champions. The Maineiacs have won 27 of their last 28 games and haven't tasted defeat in regulation time since Feb. 23.
Lewiston goaltender Jonathan Bernier is forced to use a regular stick after losing his goalie stick during the third period against Medicine Hat Saturday at the Memorial Cup in Vancouver.
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)
"He played amazing tonight and that's typical Bernier," said Chaput.
Darren Helm, a Detroit Red Wings draft pick, scored the lone goal for Medicine Hat.
"I don't think we thought we had the game won, but we didn't play a great second period," said Tigers coach Willie Desjardins. "We played a better first and third. I didn't think we worked real hard away from the puck. I thought Lewiston outworked us tonight."
Medicine Hat netminder Matt Keetley made 23 saves in the loss.
Lewiston (1-0) will now face the host Vancouver Giants (1-0) on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET). The Giants opened the tournament by edging the OHL's Plymouth Whalers 4-3 in overtime Friday.
The team with the best round-robin record gets a bye to the final May 27.
The second- and third-place teams meet in the semifinal May 25 with the winner advancing to the championship game. A tiebreaker game will be played in the event of a tie for third.
With files from the Canadian Press
