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2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Three stars – Samuelsson pots winner in tourney opener

No. 1 star - Henrik Samuelsson, Edmonton Oil Kings

The game was seemingly scripted for the Shawinigan Cataractes, after they had fallen down 3-1 early in the third period, a pair of quick goals tied the game and brought life to a passionate crowd at the Centre Bionest. But the game was tied for just 23 seconds, as California's Henrik Samuelsson, one of the tournament's top prospects and son of Ulf, capitalized off a terrific feed from his teammate Stephane Legault and potted the winner with just 6:18 to go in the game.

Samuelsson's goal held up as the eventual winner, as the Oil Kings continue to roll, earning a 4-3 win in the tournament's opening game. Samuelsson was also credited with three shots on goal, two considered from "dangerous areas" and went 5-for-9 on the face-off circle registering a pair of hits.

The game was tied thanks to a turnover by Edmonton's Keegan Lowe, who lost the puck in his skates, but Lowe was thankful of Samuelsson. "He said he'd buy me a Pepsi," Samuelsson joked post-game.

No. 2 star - Michael Chaput, Shawinigan Cataractes

Just a few minutes after Kristians Pelss opened the tournament scoring, the host team's first-line centreman responded, capitalizing off a rebounded shot from the point that struck Edmonton's goaltender Laurence Brossoit in the mask.

The goal wasn't displaying all of Michael Chaput's offensive worth. His line in the second period was the only one that looked like it had any jump for either team. Chaput set up a pair of chances for his line mates, including a pass from behind the net in front to Kirill Kabanov but Kabanov whiffed on it.

In the third period, Chaput was all over the ice as well. Despite taking an unfortunate "minus" on Edmonton's 3-1 goal after losing the face-off and his man, Chaput responded by setting up a pair of chances and also get to tying goal, capitalizing off an unfortunate Keegan Lowe turnover, going high glove over Brossoit.

No. 3 star - Griffin Reinhart, Edmonton Oil Kings

After a slog of a second period, Griffin Reinhart got things going in the third period, with a perfectly-placed wrist shot over Alex Dubeau's glove 61 seconds into the third period which gave the game quite a bit of life and setting the stage for a five-goal third period.

Off a seemingly-innocuous rush, Reinhart took the puck just behind the right circle and putting a shot through a slight screen created by Dubeau's defender Jonathan Narbonne. His physical play in the defensive zone was also instrumental in keeping the hosts away from the attacking net when the game was at 5-on-5.

Of note, as well, a veteran move late in the game where he lengthened his stride to ensure that he wasn't going fast enough to chase the puck for an icing call that gave the Oil Kings an offensive zone face-off with about two minutes to go in the game with his team up by a goal.

Honourable mention - Stephane Legault, Edmonton Oil Kings

Stephane Legault's pass had seeing eyes on the Kings' 4-3 goal, his pass just evading the last man back for the Cats and finding Samuelsson. Just as importantly, however, Legault had a pair of shot blocks off of Cats point shots at the end of the second period, laying in front of two hard shots by Morgan Ellis to preserve the deadlock going into the third period. He also had the final clear of the game for the Kings in the game's waning seconds as time ticked away on Shawinigan.

Honourable mention - Brandon Gormley, Shawinigan Cataractes

Edmonton blocked 20 Shawinigan attempts, according to the Buzzing The Net statistical record, but it didn't seem like any of them came off the stick of Brandon Gormley, the Phoenix Coyotes prospect who had a knack for getting his shots through to the net. His play was emphasized when a hard blast caromed off Brossoit's mask onto the stick of Chaput for the game's first goal. Gormley was credited officially with a game-high seven shots, but he had several more attempts that put the puck into dangerous shooting areas.

Game Grade: The first period featured two evenly-matched teams, even if it took the Cataractes a few minutes to find their legs after a long layoff. A slow second period put a damper on it, but we made up for it with lots of scoring and storylines in the third period. Grade: B+.