Hard play, good goaltending give Knights right formula

The clock has stopped ticking . . . at least for nowr

The London Knights went into this weekend’s pair of OHL games against the St. Michael’s Majors and Kitchener Rangers knowing they had to produce something better than they have in recent games.r

rStink the place out and changes were going to be made.r

The Knights produced something better; in fact, they produced something exceptional.r

A 2-1 win over a St. Mike’s team, tied for first overall in the OHL, might have kept Knights general manager Mark Hunter off the phone in his hunt for other players.r

The Knights won the game with the formula of good goaltending, hard work and smart hockey. On this night, it was mostly the good goaltending of Chris Houle.r

There’s still a great deal of euphoria surrounding this team, in large part because of the move to the John Labatt Centre.r

But euphoria only goes so far. After a while, it’s winning that puts people in the seats.r

In recent games, the Knights have played well defensively, keeping the shots on goal down. But they haven’t generated a lot of scoring chances. And when they do get them, they’re having trouble burying them.r

Then there was the concern about Houle. Last year he carried the team in the last half of the season. This year, he’s been a little shaky.r

OK, maybe a lot shaky. Like the San-Francisco-earthquake-shaky.r

Coach Dale Hunter plays his cards close to the vest. He never gets too excited or too bent out of shape.r

“We’ll see how it goes,” said Hunter, talking about the weekend games.r

“We need better goaltending, and to play harder.”r

For Hunter, that’s almost like a proclamation that things had better get better.r

“We got the goaltending we needed,” he said after the game. He was pretty much right.r

Houle made 33 saves last night. In a 2-1 game, they’re all key saves, but several were eye-popping. For the first time this year, Houle looked confident.r

He’ll get another test tonight when Kitchener brings its eight-game winning streak into the JLC after defeating the Owen Sound Attack 3-2 last night.r

“That win was a real confidence boost for the team,” said Houle. “And for me, too. I know I wasn’t playing up to my potential and it was time to come up with a big game.”r

He admitted feeling some pressure to play well.r

“I needed it. It felt good to play that way. But it was important for the team as well.”r

That, it was.r

His work seemed to rub off on the rest of the Knights.r

“That was all Houle,” said forward Mike Stathopoulos. “Without him we would have been dead.”r

During the final period of last night’s game, hockey philosopher Don Cherry’s voice boomed over the JLC sound system.r

“Play hard or go home,” he thundered.r

Hunter always had a philosophy as he toiled for 19 years in the NHL. If things aren’t going well, play harder. If they are really going badly, play even harder.r

It worked for Hunter and at, least for last night, it worked for the Knights.r

The Knights showed a greater desire to compete along the boards and finish their checks. They were willing to mix it up.r

It’s been a while since the Knights got in someone’s face. Nothing cheap, nothing dirty — just gritty, hard hockey.r

The Knights also seemed to find a little of the jump up front that’s been missing of late.r

Some of that came from Robbie Drummond, the diminutive rookie forward who spent time with the junior B Nationals. He gave the Knights a little speed up front.r

Good skating is a necessity at the JLC.r

Drummond scored to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period.r

But one had to look no farther than Houle in figuring out how a team that hadn’t been playing well managed such a strong performance against a top team.r

He punctuated his performance with his final save of the night.r

He was lying flat on his back when he stopped Steven Rawski who was alone in front of the net with one second left.r

That’s one way to stop the clock from ticking.r