REGINA -- Stuart Skinner took his game to a level rarely seen on a stage this big, but in the end it wasn't enough for his Swift Current Broncos.

Marian Studenic scored with 2:01 remaining in regulation to lift the Hamilton Bulldogs to a 2-1 win over the Broncos on Monday night at the 100th Memorial Cup in Regina.

Skinner turned away 54 of 56 shots in a performance for the ages as the Edmonton Oilers prospect needed to be sharp right from the opening puck drop against a Bulldogs team that brought the attack to the Broncos.

"They came out and played hard, they played the right way and they wanted it a lot more than we wanted it tonight," said Skinner after his first star performance.

"I felt good, I felt ready the whole time, I know I want to win this thing really badly and I know my team does too, we can make lots of excuses, but we just need to make sure that we come out harder to play."

The Bulldogs raved about the play of the Broncos goalie, but despite throwing everything they had at the net and getting no rewards, Hamilton stayed positive as the game wore on.

"He played a great game and he stood on his head for them, but we had a ton of chances and we knew that eventually we'd get one in," said Bulldogs star Robert Thomas, who was stopped in tight by Skinner on a number of scoring opportunities over the course of the night.

"We had so many great chances and he can only stop so many pucks before one goes in, so we just kept putting them on the net."

The one that did eventually go in came off the stick of Studenic, who didn’t get all of his shot, but got enough as it floated over a sprawled out Skinner for the winner.

The win puts the Bulldogs at 1-1 during the tournament and sets up a big showdown with 2-0 Acadie-Bathurst on Tuesday that could determine the bye into Sunday's final.

"This is championship-type hockey, there's really good hockey teams here and sometimes you've just got to keep grinding, grinding, grinding and find a way to win and a lot of credit to our players, who stuck to a game plan and executed it and got it done when it mattered the most," said Bulldogs head coach John Gruden.

The Bulldogs had the Broncos on their heels throughout the game.

MacKenzie Entwistle opened the scoring with a power play goal just 5:49 into the first and by the midway point of the frame, the Bulldogs held a 16-1 advantage in shots over the Broncos.

After dropping their opening game on Friday to Regina, Hamilton felt they were able to get back to playing the game that allowed them to win the OHL Championship.

"The first game stung a little bit, but now that everyone has their feet in the water and their toes wet, tonight was a way better start and more how we're use to playing. Everyone was confident, we had all four lines going and it made it easy for us," said Entwistle.

The Bulldogs dominating the puck over the first 20 minutes, but they led just 1-0 thanks to the play of Skinner.

Hamilton continued to bring the pressure to the Broncos to start the second period, but Swift Current found some life with a power play midway through the period and Colby Sissons' point shot found its way through to even the score at 1-1.

Swift Current just couldn't match the pressure that Hamilton brought in the third period, eventually leading to the winning goal.

The loss drops the Broncos to 0-2 and puts them in a must-win situation on Wednesday against the Regina Pats in the round robin finale.

"We let (Skinner) down tonight, all areas of the ice, we had a few spurts in the second period where we played well, but for the most part, he bailed us out and we just couldn't pull it out for him," said Sissons.

The WHL champion has now lost nine straight games at the Memorial Cup.

Their backs are against the wall, but the Broncos remain confident that they will get the job when needed against the Pats.

"When you're going through the worst that determines what kind of person you are and I like to say that I've gone through adversity so much in my career that I know how to react to it and nothing bothers me," said Skinner.

"We're not crying in there, we're not down, obviously we're disappointed, but we've been in this situation so many times, regular season and obviously in the playoffs, we play so many Game 7s and overtimes, we've been in pretty tough situations and what I've seen from my group is every time our backs are against the wall, we end up coming out the other side."

Hamilton and Acadie-Bathurst meet on Tuesday with the Bulldogs looking to keep a shot at the bye to the final alive. Puck drops at 8 p.m. Swift Current and Regina face-off to end the round robin on Wednesday.