Kelly Cup Rematch Weekend
A Kelly Cup rematch is never just “three games in three days.”
Not when it’s your first head-to-head since the postseason. Not when one team has spent the year looking like a contender (Toledo sitting around #8 in the league conversation) and the other has been living in the 20s trying to claw into relevance. Not when the building knows the backstory before the puck even drops.
And at Colisée Vidéotron, the weekend wrote its own script: chaos early, Toledo response in the middle, and a painful little reminder at the end that details decide everything in this league.
Game 1: The four-minute mess that decided the night
Thursday (Feb. 20) set the tone in the worst way for Toledo because you can’t spot anyone three goals and expect to skate out clean, let alone a team that’s been waiting months to see you again.
Trois-Rivières put three on the board at 1:22, 1:59, and 3:28 of the first period, three goals in 2:06, all inside the opening 3:28. That’s not “a slow start.” That’s a full-on “we’re still in warmups” problem.
Toledo tried to drag the game back in the second period. Tanner Kelly, Dylan Moulton, and Chris Ambrosio scored in a stretch that tied it 3–3 and finally made it feel like the Walleye had arrived. But every time Toledo got level, Trois-Rivières found the next swing.
A.J. Poulin scored 1:37 into the third to put the Lions back on top, and with Toledo chasing, the margin grew. Final: Trois-Rivières 6, Toledo 3.
If you’re Toledo, that first-period collapse is the part you circle in red. Ranked team or not, you can’t gift momentum like that, especially in a rematch where emotion is basically a fourth official.
Game 2: Toledo looks like Toledo again
Friday (Feb. 21) was the response you wanted: structured, sharper, and meaner in the right moments.
After a scoreless first, Trois-Rivières struck first in the second… and Toledo immediately answered 31 seconds later. From there, Toledo started playing like the team that’s been living near the top of the league: pressure, pace, and the kind of game management that forces the other side into mistakes.
Denis Smirnov’s go-ahead goal late in the second flipped the night, and the third period belonged to the Walleye, adding insurance and sealing it with an empty-netter. Final: Toledo 4, Trois-Rivières 1.
And shoutout where it’s due: Matt Jurusik was locked in (30 saves on 31 shots). That’s the stabilizer that keeps a weekend from spiraling.
Game 3: A point earned… and another one that got away
Sunday (Feb. 22) was the tight, nasty, playoff-feeling game everyone expected from the start.
Toledo got a short-handed goal from Nate Andrews to open the scoring, then the special teams traded punches. Trois-Rivières answered on the power play, and Toledo reclaimed the lead on an Ambrosio power-play marker. But the second period got away from Toledo in the quietest way: not a blow-up, just a couple of moments where coverage loosened and Trois-Rivières finished.
Down 3–2 late, Toledo found a lifeline early in the third. Jacques Bouquot scored 44 seconds into it to tie it, and the rest of the night turned into one long stare-down. Overtime didn’t solve it. The shootout did barely. Final: Trois-Rivières 4, Toledo 3 (SO).
Toledo leaves with a point, but it’s one of those “point that should’ve been two” feelings—because the margins were right there.
The weekend takeaway (with Toledo bias, yes):
This was a rematch weekend that proved two things can be true at once:
Toledo can still dictate the pace when they’re on their game (Game 2 was the blueprint).
Toledo can’t afford lapses like Game 1, and they can’t rely on “we’ll wake up eventually” hockey in tight buildings against teams with something to prove.
If you’re the #8-type team, you don’t get to play down to the moment. You set it. And if this matchup is a possible playoff preview again, Toledo just got a clear reminder: the Lions don’t need a better roster to beat you. They just need you to blink.