Friday Knight
By LONDON FREE PRESS STAFF
THE MATCHUP:
London’s shutdown line — Chris DeSousa, Stephen Sanza and Tyler Brown — has done a nice job, but they’ll have their hands full against Guelph, which features the trio of Peter Holland (Anaheim, 15th overall in 2009), Michael Latta (Nashville, third round in 2009) and Taylor Beck (Nashville, third round in 2009). They’ve scored 68% of the Storm’s goals this year.
WHO TO WATCH:
London — F Daniel Erlich. He has six points in his last two games, finally producing as expected. He started the season pointless in his first four games and minus-six; Guelph — F Peter Holland. He was an enigma in the opening round loss to the Knights last spring. Great one game, invisible the next.
DEFENSIVE MINDED:
London’s defence doesn’t score a ton of goals but they’re an offensive juggernaut compared to Guelph. Scott Harrington, with two goals already, has more than the entire Storm corps combined. Sam Lofquist’s goal in Brampton last Sunday was the first by a Storm d-man this season in the team’s 13th game.
BACKHAND SWEETNESS:
Knights forward Colin Martin is, according to mate Michael MacDonald, the master of the backhand toe drag. The Londoner unveils it down the off wing every now and then and often leaves an unsuspecting defender flat-footed. “He just knows when to do it,” MacDonald said. “At this point, we kind of laugh. He’s not the fastest guy but he still gets away with it most of the time.”
CZECH STOP:
Brandon Foote is Guelph’s go-to goalie but don’t underestimate rookie Matej Machovsky. In his second OHL start, the 17-year-old stopped 51 shots in a 4-1 win at Brampton on Sunday. In his first outing, he was hooked after four goals in one period against Owen Sound.
PANIC BUTTON?:
The Knights aren’t pressing it yet after tight losses to Oshawa and Kitchener in the last week. “(Tuesday) was our first regulation loss in seven games,” assistant coach Jacques Beaulieu said. “We’ve been on a pretty good roll. We’ve been working hard. The only game I didn’t think we were very good was in Erie (a 5-2 loss Oct. 2). Other than that, we’ve been fine.”
HOUSE OR BOB?:
Will this be the weekend big Russian goalie Igor Bobkov plays in front of the home crowd at the JLC? Maybe. Maybe not. He got the win in Peterborough Saturday. Michael Houser has been generally outstanding, but he let in a tough overtime goal to Oshawa and misplayed the puck on Kitchener’s third-period winner. “We’ve held off (on Bobkov at home),” Beaulieu said. “It’s an intimidating building but we’ll see. We have to discuss it.”
AFTER THE BUZZER:
It doesn’t get easier for the Knights, who have West Division leader Saginaw in town Saturday at 7 p.m.
