Silvertips top Kelowna, solidify spot in Memorial Cup semifinal

Published 1:00 am Thursday, May 28, 2026

The Everett Silvertips kept their word.

After a 6-2 loss to the Kitchener Rangers in their second round-robin matchup in the Memorial Cup at Prospera Place on Monday, the Silvertips pledged to respond against the Kelowna Rockets in their final round-robin game on Wednesday.

Despite a late scratch for top defenseman Landon DuPont, Everett jumped ahead with two goals just 25 seconds apart in the first period, and goalie Anders Miller bounced back with a 28-save shutout performance in a decisive 4-0 win.

“Really good team effort,” Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton told reporters in Kelowna. “We dug in together and, you know, a lot of the year we talked about picking each other up in big moments. This was a pretty key game. We didn’t want to be in a position where we were leaving the fate of our going forward into somebody else’s hands, so I thought the guys really stepped up.”

Everett finished second in the Memorial Cup round-robin standings with two wins and one loss, and will face the Chicoutimi Saguenéens (1-2) in the semifinal on Friday. The winner will face Kitchener (3-0) in the championship game on Sunday.

Miller returned to form after allowing six goals on 28 shots against the Rangers on Monday. The 19-year-old lobbied to stay in for the entire game when Hamilton considered letting Raiden LeGall step in against Kitchener, and Miller believes having the opportunity to rediscover his game in the third period was key to keeping his confidence high.

“I feel like just all the support I had going into this game was just like helping me motivate myself to come in there and just kind of play my game and trust my game,” Miller said. “And all the guys trusted me out there, and this kind of brought confidence back in my game.”

DuPont took the ice for warmups, but looked to be in pain while skating and taking practice shots after absorbing multiple big hits against Kitchener on Monday. The soon-to-be 17-year-old defenseman did not take line rushes, according to the TSN broadcast, and missed his first game since he missed five straight from Oct. 24-Nov. 1.

After the game, Hamilton said DuPont is “a little nicked up.” He believes he should be in a better spot by Friday, but would not commit to his availability.

In DuPont’s place, forward Nolan Chastko dropped into the defensive pairings on spot duty, as he did for 25 games during the regular season, and Mirco Dufour replaced Chastko on the fourth line.

“I have to give a shout-out to Nolan Chastko,” Hamilton said. “I mean, Nolan is as consummate a team guy as you’d find anywhere. … I guess it’s the way the world works, and the way the game works. I’m glad we knew he could play there. Just knowing our group, I knew that they would recognize the situation, and make sure that we were taking care of each other out there.”

With the Silvertips missing their top two defensemen — injured captain Tarin Smith has not played since April 1 — two more defensemen stepped up in the offensive zone to give Everett a quick multi-goal lead.

First it was Kayd Ruedig, who trickled a shot through Kelowna goalie Josh Banini from the right boards at 7:22 of the first period after Jaxsin Vaughan’s forechecking created a turnover.

Jaxon Pisani doubled the lead at 7:47, flinging the puck on net from the left point and finding the top right corner. It marked the 17-year-old defenseman’s first career CHL goal in his 67th game.

“It was pretty surreal,” Pisani said. “And obviously pretty cool to do it at the biggest junior hockey tournament there is, so yeah, it was nice.”

After carrying the 2-0 lead into the first intermission, Matias Vanhanen tacked on another goal just 1:03 into the second period. The Finnish forward prevented Rowan Guest’s clearance attempt off the wall from exiting the zone, and he rolled towards the goal line before cutting back into the right circle for the shot.

“I think ‘Mati’s’ obviously pretty slick out there with the puck,” Hamilton said. “Really talked to him a lot in the second half (of the season) about shooting more. … He’s so good at distributing and now he’s got the confidence that he can rip it.”

Rockets coach Derrick Martin pulled Banini, who allowed three goals on 11 shots, and replaced him with Harrison Boettiger, who served as the primary starter this season.

Everett kept pressing, even generating a couple of near-chances while short-handed, and ultimately took a 21-10 shots on goal advantage by 12:15 of the second period.

Although Kelowna outshot the Silvertips 12-8 in the third period, Miller remained rock-solid, and the skaters in front of him helped him out by blocking shots and bearing down on the back check.

Carter Bear put the game out of reach at 13:07 of the third, retrieving his own shot from the slot and spinning to put the rebound on net from the right circle for the 4-0 final.

Puck drop for Friday’s semifinal against the Saguenéens will be 6 p.m. PT.