CORNWALL - Likely needing a win Thursday night against the top-seeded Camrose Kodiaks in order to advance to the Royal Bank Cup's semifinal round, the Oakville Blades might have caught a major break.

Camrose clinched top spot in the preliminary round Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over the Cornwall Colts, and it appears the Kodiaks will sit several of their regulars in Thursday's contest against the Blades (a 7 p.m. start at Ed Lumley Arena). Oakville (1-2) needs either a win over the Kodiaks or a Humboldt loss against the Weeks Crushers Thursday afternoon to qualify for the semifinals, although it is widely expected the second-seeded Broncos will defeat Weeks in a matchup of 1-2 squads.

"As an organization, we've always played everybody. This is a lifetime experience for the men playing junior hockey. (For) a lot of them, it might be the highest level they ever play," Camrose head coach Boris Rybalka said following the Kodiaks' win over Cornwall. "I know a lot of the young men we've told (are) quite excited, they know they're going to be dressing. Some people might think 'gee, that's not right or that's not fair, you're still playing', but at the same time that's one of the advantages of being 3-0. We want everybody to get a chance to play in a national championship, so we're going to do that."

That means the Blades will probably avoid facing Kodiaks star netminder Allen York, who allowed only one goal in each of Camrose's first three games. York was picked in the sixth round of last year's NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Camrose backup goalie Mathieu Larochelle went 1-3 with a 4.02 goals-against average during the Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs. He was, however, 24-3-2 with a 2.11 GAA in the regular season.

Other possible Camrose scratches include Canadian Junior A Hockey League player of the year Joe Colborne (33 goals, 57 assists in 55 regular-season games), defenceman Andrew MacWilliam and forward Mike Connolly. All three players are committed to NCAA schools and are expected to draw significant interest in this year's NHL draft.

The semifinals begin Saturday. Oakville kept its playoff hopes alive Wednesday with a wild 7-6 victory over Humboldt.