Knights eliminate Blades in MasterCard Memorial Cup Tie-Breaker
SASKATOON, SK – The London Knights advanced to the semi-final of the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament with a 6-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in the tiebreaker game on Thursday night at Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, SK.
The convincing win over the tournament’s host team means the OHL Champion Knights will now face the WHL Champion Portland Winterhawks on Friday night. It was a solid rebound effort from the Knights, who were thrashed 9-2 by the Halifax Mooseheads in their final round robin game on Tuesday night.
“We knew that our last game against Halifax was a hiccup, and we came into tonight still confident,” said Knights’ defenceman and captain Scott Harrington. “It was a tough game, I thought our forwards did a great job of executing, and I thought Jake (Patterson) was really good tonight…we knew that was the effort that we needed.”
For the Blades, it marks their final game of the season. Having lost an emotional game to Portland on Wednesday night, the Blades didn’t come out with the same determination and desperation they had shown over their previous two games.
“Tonight we came out with a pretty good start, but we couldn’t create too many chances, we took way too many penalties against a championship team, and they will bury you for that,” said Blades rearguard Darren Dietz of the effort. “A loss is a loss, and it doesn’t get any better whether you lose by one or by 10.”
Knights’ head coach Dale Hunter saw a much better effort out of his club, but could also see the fatigue in the Saskatoon side.
“Saskatoon last night had a real hard game, and it does take something out of the kids, going back-to-back like that,” said Hunter.
Bo Horvat opened the scoring early for the Knights, converting a penalty shot just 3:05 into the contest. Horvat was sent in all alone with the Blades on the power play and was hauled down by Josh Nicholls, resulting in the penalty shot. The 17-year-old’s backhander just trickled past Andrey Makarov.
Makarov’s play held the Blades in through the first half of the second period, but two goals 49 seconds apart from Seth Griffith and Chris Tierney put the Knights in full control of the contest.
“He’s been nothing but excellent for us all tournament long, and has given us a chance to win hockey games…there’s not much more we could have asked from the guy,” said Dietz of Makarov’s effort.
Griffith’s goal came on a terrific individual effort. The 19-year-old skated up the middle, beat Collin Valcourt with a nice move, and snapped a shot past Makarov with the Knights on the power play.
The Knights kept it coming in the third period with Ryan Rupert, Kyle Platzer and Nikita Zadorov scoring in a span of 1:06 to increase their lead to 6-0.
Makarov’s night was over following Zadorov’s goal. However, one could hardly blame the Russian netminder for any of the goals he’d allowed as the Knights picked apart the Blades’ defence, leaving Makarov to fend for himself. Rookie Alex Moodie came in for the rest of the third period, getting his first taste of MasterCard Memorial Cup action in his young career.
Nathan Burns scored for the Blades midway through the third period but it was not going to be enough to spur a miraculous comeback.
Blades’ head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken was quick to praise the talent level and quality of the three other teams in the tournament, and made a point of praising his own group, who had come off a 51-day layoff to play some of their best hockey of the season against the top teams in the CHL.
“The teams we played against and the games we played in, you can see why these teams are Champions,” said Molleken. “Tonight, we ran out of gas, plain and simple, and the mistakes that we made, London took full advantage.
“I thought we had played pretty well in those first three games, and though we were outchanced, our goalie played outstanding.
“Our players have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “This is a hard tournament to win, and our guys left it on the ice.”
The Knights face the Winterhawks for the semi-final game on Friday night (6:00 pm MT; Sportsnet). The winner of Friday’s contest will advance to meet the QMJHL Champion Halifax Mooseheads in Sunday’s MasterCard Memorial Cup final.
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