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Wheat Kings' John Quenneville has 5 points against Hitmen: Friday's 3 Stars

John Quenneville shakes hands with New Jersey Devils officials after being chosen 30th overall during the first round of the NHL hockey draft, Friday, June 27, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
John Quenneville shakes hands with New Jersey Devils officials after being chosen 30th overall during the first round of the NHL hockey draft, Friday, June 27, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

No. 1 star: John Quenneville, Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)

Quenneville (2G-3A, +3) matched his career high for points as Brandon mastered the chaos of a scrambly series opener with a 9-4 win against the Calgary Hitmen in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. The New Jersey Devils first-rounder had one point in the first half of the game, scoring a first-period power-play goal off a setup from Florida Panthers selection Jayce Hawryluk (1G-1A). Late in the second, right after a Jake Virtanen goal that pared Brandon's lead to 5-3, Calgary took a penalty and Quenneville responded to take the Wheat Kings lead back out to three.


The Edmonton native had three secondary assists over the final 20 minutes as Brandon sealed the win and Calgary came apart, with coach Mark French getting ejected for throwing a stick on to the ice. The big night gave Quenneville 14 points in 11 post-season games.

No. 2 star: Anthony DeLuca, Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)

DeLuca (3G, +1) had a hat trick that included the tying and overtime goals in a 4-3 Océanic win over the Val-d'Or in the Game 1 of the semifinal series. As so often happens when one team is buoyed by a series win and the other has been idle for a week, the Foreurs, just 48 hours removed from their  Game 7 overtime win in the second round, were up for the contest and went ahead on a Pierre-Maxime Poudrier third-period goal. DeLuca saved the day with a goal with just 1:05 on the clock. Ten seconds into overtime, Val-d'Or got a delay of game penalty and DeLuca, a 44-goal man in the regular season, delivered the game-winner.

The Montrealer's only other hat trick this season came in the second game of the season.

No. 3 stars: Brenden Miller and Kyle Wood, North Bay Battalion (OHL)

Miller (1A, +4) and Wood (1A, +4) rate some commendation after helping the Battalion dominate on the road with a 6-1 win in the opener against the Oshawa Generals, who suffered their worst loss of the season. Wood, a Colorado Avalanche draftee, had a strong night containing Generals forwards and clearing the zone. Both he and Miller were on the ice when Nick Paul scored a 3-on-5 goal that opened a 3-1 second-period lead. For his part, Miller's assist was a beauty on-the-tape pass to that Nick Moutrey (2G, +1) redirected into the net.

Honourable mention: Dylan Strome, Erie Otters (OHL)

Strome (2G-1A, +3) had the first two Otters goals during a series-tying 5-2 win at Sault Ste. Marie. The OHL scoring champ scored from the slot at 19:52 of the first to tie the game and put Erie up for good by one-timing a pass from Connor McDavid (2G-1A, +2) at 18:50 of the second. Strome also set up an early third-period goal.

Potent notables — Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his WHL-leading 11th goal, but Kelowna came from two down to beat Portland 3-2 in the Western Conference final opener ... McDavid has 15 goals in 11 OHL playoff games.

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