Oshawa Generals forward Anthony Cirelli, centre, is joined by teammates Sam Harding, left, and Bradley Latour, right, after he scored his team's first goal against the Kelowna Rockets at the Memorial Cup final in Quebec City on Sunday, May 31, 2015.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Anthony Cirelli's second goal of the game at 1:28 of overtime lifted the Oshawa Generals to a 2-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets in the Mastercard Memorial Cup final on Sunday night.
The Generals won the Cup for the first time since 1990 and became the first Ontario Hockey League team to win since the 2010 Windsor Spitfires.
Tomas Soustal scored in the first period for Western Hockey League champion Kelowna and Cirelli tied it in the second.
A favourable bounce sent Oshawa on an attack. Goalie Jackson Whistle stopped the first shot from Chris Carlisle but Cirelli was on the doorstep to bang in the rebound in overtime.
The Rockets carried most of the play and outshot Oshawa 38-24 in regulation time. Final shots were 38-26, with Ken Appleby stopping 37 shots for the Generals.
An announced crowd of 10,391 turned out for the final hockey game at the Pepsi Colisee, which is to be demolished and replaced by the 18,000-seat Videotron Centre next door.
Perhaps rusty from five days off since finishing first in the round robin, the Generals were unable get their cycle game going and were outshot 9-4 in the first period.
Cole Linaker won a draw from Michael McCarron and Madison Bowey fired a puck off the end boards that Soustal, posted at the back door, put into an open side at 15:08.
The Generals found their legs during successive power plays in the second period and tied the game at 13:50 when Cirelli broke down the left side and picked the top corner behind Whistle.
Oshawa nearly had the winner at 17:30 of the third, but video review showed Hunter Smith batted it in with a high stick.
Total attendance for nine games was 79,930, or 8,881 per game. Next year's Memorial Cup will be in Red Deer, Alta.