LONDON, Ont.
[b]Jose Ramirez Jersey[/b] . -- The Val-dOr Foreurs made it to the Memorial Cup semifinal thanks to their workhorse goaltender and their ability to hang around like a bad cold. The Foreurs were outshot 50-33 by the Edmonton Oil Kings and trailed twice in regulation, yet pulled out a 4-3 win in double overtime Tuesday. Centre Anthony Richard ended the marathon at Budweiser Gardens by scoring on a breakaway at 1:15 in the second overtime. It was the second time in this tournament the opposition put 50 shots on goaltender Antoine Bibeau and Val-dOr emerged with a one-goal victory. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions concluded their preliminary round 2-1. Theyll play in Fridays semifinal with the victor advancing to Sundays championship game against the Ontario Hockey League champions the Guelph Storm. The host London Knights and Storm conclude the preliminary round Wednesday in a clash of OHL rivals. Guelph is already in Sundays final at 2-0. The winless Knights need a victory to avoid elimination and force a tiebreaker game against the Oil Kings at 1-2. Val-dOr went the full seven games to win both their semifinal and final series in the QMJHL playoffs. The Foreurs had just three days between winning Game 7 in Baie-Comeau, Que., and beating the host Knights 1-0 to open the MasterCard Memorial Cup. For those reasons, Richard was elated with his double overtime winner. "Its huge for us because we played two series in seven games in the Q and we need some rest," said the 17-year-old from Trois-Rivieres, Que. "That two days off is huge for us." Depending on the outcome of Wednesdays game, the Oil Kings will have a rematch with the Foreurs on Friday or take on the Knights in a tiebreaker Thursday. "I thought we deserved a better fate," Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal said. "We have to respond and be more resilient." The Oil Kings lost in a tiebreaker to the host and eventual champion Shawinigan Cataractes at the 2012 Memorial Cup. After falling 6-3 to Guelph the previous night, most of the Foreurs shaved off their playoff beards, but for no particular reason they said. Pierre-Maxime Poudrier scored on a short-handed breakaway in the second period for the fresh-faced Foreurs. Captain Samuel Henley tied the game in the third period to force overtime and Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant also contributed a goal. But Val-dOr was able to stay on Edmontons heels because of Bibeau. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect stopped 47 shots, including a penalty shot by Edgars Kulda in the first period. Bibeau posted a 51-save shutout in Val-dOrs first game of the tournament against London. He also denied Knights forward Bo Horvat on a third-period penalty shot in that game. "Antoine is just awesome," Henley said. "He keeps us in the game every time. He keeps everyone calm in the room. Hes such a good goalie, a good teammate and a good player. We probably wouldnt have won the game without him." Curtis Lazar had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings, who led 2-0 after the opening period. Reid Petryk also scored for the Western Hockey League champions and Henrik Samuelsson temporarily restored Edmontons lead early in the third. "When you get the chances to put away a team like Val-dOr, you have to take it," Lazar said. "We were unable to do that and got into a little bit of a marathon." It was the sixth game in Memorial Cup history to go to double overtime, but it wasnt nearly the longest. London happens to be the site of the longest game in Memorial Cup history. The Ottawa 67s downed the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 after 95 minutes 41 seconds in 2005. Oil Kings goaltender Tristan Jarry made 29 saves in defeat in front of 8,745 fans, but the seats thinned out considerably by the start of the second overtime. The years Memorial Cup is 0-for-3 in penalty shots as Jarry denied Londons Ryan Rupert on Sunday. Foreurs defenceman Guillaume Gelinas did not play Tuesday. Assistant coach Mark Pietroniro said earlier in the day Gelinas suffered a "knee contusion" in Mondays collision with Guelphs Chadd Bauman. Val-dOrs top defenceman joined his teammates for warmup, but spent most of it standing beside the boards looking sore. Gelinas left the ice before his teammates did. The Canadian Hockey League fined the host Knights $1,000 for criticizing the officials following Sundays 5-2 loss to the Oil Kings.
[b]Custom Atlanta Braves Jerseys[/b] . Kuper, a fifth-round pick in Denvers 2006 draft, started 79 games at guard over eight seasons. He dislocated his left ankle in the last game of the 2011 regular season, and though he started another seven games after that, he never returned to his previous level.
[b]Orlando Cepeda Jersey[/b] . After rookie right-hander Alex Colome excelled in a 5-2 victory in the opener, the Rays fell to Chris Tillman and the Orioles 4-1 on Friday night.France will be expected to reaffirm their status as pre-tournament favourites when they come up against debutants Albania in Marseille on Wednesday. After their narrow but merited 2-1 win over Romania on Friday, Didier Deschamps men could clinch a place in the last 16 depending on the earlier result between the Romanians and Switzerland.There is cause for concern, however, as they lost 1-0 to Albania when they met 12 months ago through an Ergys Kace free kick. Indeed, the French also had to come from behind to draw another friendly 1-1 in Rennes in November 2014, with Antoine Greizmann denying Albania their first win on French soil.Even with those recent results in mind, Deschamps will have confidence his team can succeed at the imposing Stade Velodrome. Dimitri Payets late goal gave France a winning start to Euro 2016 The hosts have lost just once in their last 11 matches at the venue - against Argentina in 2009 - and have won each of their last seven home internationals.Albania, on the other hand, will be bidding to avoid three consecutive defeats for the first time since October 2013.Team newsFrance are likely to keep the same starting line-up that beat Romania 2-1 in the Group A opener last Friday. Moussa Sissoko could be called into central midfield should any changes be made.Albania will be without captain Lorik Cana after he was sent off in their opening match against Switzerland after receiving two yellow cards, meaning Arlind Ajeti or Frederic Veseli could replace him in defence.Opta statsFrance have won four of the six matches played against Albania but have failed to win either of the last two meetings (D1 L1).Albania have never scored more than once in a game against France (three goals scored inn six matches).
[b]Mike Foltynewicz Jersey[/b]. Albania have never beaten Les Bleus in France, conceding nine goals across three games and scoring only once in return (D1 L2). Albania lost their opening match against Switzerland and had Lorik Cana sent off in the first half France have played at the Stade Velodrome twice in the European Championships, losing to Czechoslovakia in 1960 (0-2) but beating Portugal in 1984 (3-2). Both games saw them concede twice.France have won their last six games on home soil in the European Championships (5 in 1984, 1 in 2016).France have only kept two clean sheets in their last 17 games at the European Championships (against Romania in 2008 and Ukraine in 2012).Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud - who scored 24 club goals last season - has eight goals in his last six starts for France.Mersons predictionI was quite impressed with Albania in their opening defeat to Switzerland. Even with 10 men they had a right go but just could not stick the ball in the back of the net. However, France got better as their first match went on. The nerves started to disappear and they relaxed a lot more which will help them as the tournament goes on.PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0BettingWednesday nights clash represents the most one-sided clash of Euro 2016 according to Sky Bet, with Albania 14/1 outsiders for the victory. France are just 2/9 for another win and 3/1 favourites to win the competition, with their opponents given the second longest outright price of those in the competition at 250/1.Olivier Giroud heads the first goalscorer market at 100/30 and is being tipped up to do so in a 2-0 France win at 10/1 as Jamie Redknapps tip.Follow France v Albania - and every Euro 2016 game - with our live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.
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