Bulldogs’ season ends as Regina Pats beat Hamilton 4-2 in Memorial Cup semifinal

Sam Steel scored the winner in the third period and Max Paddock made 44 saves as hosts Regina Pats beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2 on Friday night in the Memorial Cup semifinal.

Regina moves on to face the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Sunday for the Canadian major junior championship.

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Cameron Hebig, Austin Pratt and Jake Leschyshyn, into an empty net, also scored for the Pats.

Regina will try to duplicate what the Windsor Spitfires did last year and become the second straight tournament host to capture the Memorial Cup.

Nicolas Mattinen and Will Bitten found the back of the net for Hamilton, which won the Ontario Hockey League championship. Kaden Fulcher stopped 20 of 23 shots in defeat.

The Titan had an identical 2-1 record along with both Hamilton and Regina after the round-robin, although a higher percentage of goals-for and goals-against gave them an automatic berth in the championship game.