Antoine Bibeau stops 47, buys time for Foreurs to strike gold in OT: Memorial Cup 3 Stars

LONDON, Ont. — Buzzing The Net's Three Stars following the Val-d'Or Foreurs' 4-3 double overtime win over the Edmonton Oil Kings on Day 5 of the Memorial Cup.

Anthony Richard scored 1:15 into the second OT for the Foreurs (2-1), who advance to Friday's semifinal. Edmonton (1-2) will either get a rematch that night or play in a tiebreaker on Thursday, depending on whether London (0-2) beats Guelph (2-0).

No. 1 star: Antoine Bibeau, Val-d'Or Foreurs

Anyone not a Bibs-liever? Bibeau made 47 saves, including many spectacular saves during regulation time to keep a tired team breathing, as Val-d'Or won for the second time in the tournament after giving up at least 50 shots.

The Toronto Maple Leafs pick made a spectacular poke-check on Brett Pollock late in regulation, maintaining a one-goal margin before captain Samuel Henley tied the game with 4:11 remaining on a play the Oil Kings thought was icing.

It was a great display of money goaltending, especially since Val-d'Or was minus Guillaume Gélinas, the leading defenceman scorer in the QMJHL. Gélinas, who has a contusion just above his left knee, couldn't make it through the pregame warmup.

Bibeau put wind back into the Foreurs' sail early by sliding left to stone Mitch Moroz on a dead-to-rights chance to open an early three-goal lead. That rousted Val-d'Or, who scored shortly thereafter to get back in the game. In the second period, Bibeau stopped an Edgars Kulda penalty shot to preserve a one-goal deficit, and Val-d'Or tallied again in relatively short order. The goalie also got a break when Edmonton hit the post in the second minute of the first OT.

No. 2 star: Henrik Samuelsson, Edmonton Oil Kings

Samuelsson had a prototype power centre game — hey, why not concoct a homage/parody of a Pierre McGuire-ism on the 20th anniversary of the commentator's 1994 firing from the Hartford Whalers? — for the Oil Kings. Samuelsson spent most of his night shutting down Val-d'Or's Henley-Louick Marcotte-Anthony top troika, but just couldn't get one last stop in the final five minutes of regulation. Samuelsson also scored a go-ahead third-period goal, going bar down to put Edmonton up 3-2.

The Phoenix Coyotes pick also had a power-play assist in the first, giving him three points is as many round-robin games.

No. 3 star: Anthony Richard, Val-d'Or Foreurs

The overtime hero was sniffing around the Oil Kings net all night. He finally got rewarded when everyone was fatigued in the second overtime, using his wheels to chase down a shoot-in and beat Tristan Jarry for a dramatic goal. Richard also had the primary assist on Henley's equalizer, finding a lane to get an Anthony Mantha pass out of the corner and relay the puck to the captain, cutting to the net. Henley, who's 6-foot-5, used his reach to swoop across the crease and tuck in a backhand.

The game was the longest Memorial Cup contest since a 2005 Kelowna-Ottawa game that was also played in London.

Honourable mention Curtis Lazar, Edmonton Oil Kings

The Ottawa Senators first-rounder continued his excellent tournament by factoring into the first two Oil Kings goals. Lazar and linemate Reid Petryk did the dirty work below the goal line to create the chance for the first goal, with Lazar passing out to Petryk to open the scoring 6:22 into the contest. Just more than two-and-a-half minutes later, Cody Corbett made a cross-crease aerial pass that Lazar picked out of the air for a power-play goal.

Honourable mention: Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Val-d'Or Foreurs

The right wing was probably the best forward for fatigued Foreurs, whose M.O. boiled down to a "Bibeau and a break" strategy. The speedy wing repeatedly forced turnovers and made astute reads, helping his team contain Edmonton in the neutral zone much better than it did while allowing a combined 100 shots on goal during its first two games against the Ontario teams.

Entertainment value: A

The feeling-out process lasted about 37 or 38 minutes, which typical for the non-host league game. But it picked up in the third period and overtime, with the teams trading chances and ooh- and ahhhh-inducing near-misses.

Pierre-Maxime Poudrier's unassisted short-handed goal, which came after a puck hit a broken stick and ricocheted out to centre ice, was a beauty snipe.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.