Flyers Prospect Update: Rubtsov, Titan Win Memorial Cup

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The junior hockey season came to a close on Sunday night with the Memorial Cup Championship Game taking place.

The title game featured the QMJHL Champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan against the host Regina Pats. Acadie-Bathurst, and Flyers prospect German Rubtsov, finished off a tremendous playoff run, winning the Memorial Cup with a 3-0 victory.

Acadie-Bathurst got on the board first with a goal by Adam Holwell at 16:10 of the first period.

That goal held up until the third period when the Titan took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Samuel Asselin with 6:58 remaining.

Ethan Crossman scored into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Rubtsov didn't factor into the scoring, but was a plus-1 with three shots in the game.

Goalie Evan Fitzpatrick made 28 saves in the shutout win.

Regina had advanced to the Championship Game with a 4-2 win over the OHL Champion Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday night, marking the end of the season for Flyers 2017 fourth-round pick Matthew Strome. Strome was a minus-1 with two shots in the loss.

Hart Wins CHL Goalie of the Year

For the second time in his junior career, Carter Hart was named the top goalie in junior hockey, winning the CHL Goalie of the Year award.

Hart is the first goalie in history to win the honor twice in his career.

Hart had a 31-6-4 record with a 1.60 GAA and .947 save percentage in the regular season. In addition, Hart posted a 5-0-1 record with a 1.81 GAA and .930 save percentage in winning gold at the World Junior Championships this year. Hart was also 14-5-3 with a 2.40 GAA and .921 save percentage in the WHL Playoffs, coming two wins shy of a WHL Championship and Memorial Cup appearance. Between the regular season and playoffs, Hart had nine shutouts in WHL play this season.

Following the WHL Finals, Hart joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms briefly, but never played in a game. He will turn pro next season and is expected to join the Phantoms full-time.

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