Historic streak brings Knights within one win of Memorial Cup

The London Knights embark on Sunday’s MasterCard Memorial Cup Final in Red Deer, Alberta with wins in 16 straight contests dating back to April 3rd.

The mighty Knights, whose 13-game winning streak during the OHL Playoffs set a new league record, had suffered an overtime loss to the Owen Sound Attack, one that sent them back to Owen Sound with a 3-2 series lead for Game 6.

It was there, at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, that something clicked. The Knights won by a score of 5-2, proceeding to go on a tear across the OHL that resulted in four game series sweeps of Midwest Division rivals Kitchener and Erie before an OHL Championship Series triumph over the Niagara IceDogs.

Looking back, there was a definite turning point.

“It was a shallow start for us, for sure,” said fourth-year veteran Owen MacDonald. “Owen Sound gave us a wake-up call. Honestly, if we hadn’t lost those two games to them, we might not even be here right now.”

One win away from the franchise’s second Memorial Cup, a great deal of pride resonates from the players as they reflect on the past months and years with the biggest game of their careers just 24 hours away.

“We play for an outstanding organization,” MacDonald continued. “I’ve been here since I was 16 and they treat all of us with the utmost respect and they do anything to help us. The Hunters are pretty special brothers and Baz (GM Basil McRae) and all of the staff are great people. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done.”

The tight-knit makeup of the Knights organization spans back to when Mark and Dale Hunter purchased the franchise in 2000. A few players from the Knights’ 2005 championship team are in attendance in Red Deer, still bonded by their success over a decade ago.

“We try to make it as much of a family as possible,” said Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter, who hoisted the Memorial Cup on home ice in 2005. “A bunch of us when I played, we still talk and same with the last couple teams we’ve had. We’re getting a lot of ‘good lucks’ and ‘best wishes’ from people and those who have been able to make it here have made the trip.”

Included in those ranks are twins Matt and Ryan Rupert, feisty competitors who played in London from 2010-14, each playing in three consecutive MasterCard Memorial Cups in 2012, 13, and 14.

The Grand Bend, Ontario-based twins hopped into Ryan’s Ford F-150 and made the 31-hour road trek to Red Deer, going to great lengths to potentially see their former club hoist the Canadian Hockey League’s most prized possession.

With MasterCard Memorial Cup fever setting in, hotel beds wouldn’t be necessary for the two twins who were fan favourites in the Forest City.

“We put a mattress in the back of the truck and slept on that,” Ryan told the Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press. “We have a topper and we had sleeping bags. We just pulled into a hotel parking lot somewhere in North Dakota and slept there.”

With other intense competitors in Dino Ciccarelli, Brendan Shanahan and Corey Perry preceding them in wearing the green and gold, Knights players and staff members young and old feel something in common: they’re all part of a winning tradition.

“London is world class. There’s nothing else like it,” said rookie forward Max Jones, a top prospect for the 2016 NHL Draft. “I wouldn’t want to play for any other team, that’s how nice it is. My first year has been spent pretty well, I’ve got an OHL championship and now I’m in the Memorial Cup Final.”

“I’ve got nothing but good things to say about London and I will be a Knight for the rest of my life.”

The Knights are 3-0 at the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup, having outscored opponents 20-5 as star forwards Mitch Marner and Christian Dvorak enter Sunday’s action on 19-game point streaks.

16 straight is great, but the pursuit of the 17th will determine how this group of Knights will be remembered.

Tune in to the MasterCard Memorial Cup Final on Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm MT/4:30pm ET as the Knights take on the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Sportsnet, TVA Sports and the NHL Network.