Marner on a mission with Knights
The cornerstone of the OHL’s most dangerous offence, Mitch Marner says his focus is locked in on one thing right now.
The Toronto Maple Leafs first rounder, who could very well have an opportunity waiting for him with a Toronto Marlies team entering the Calder Cup Playoffs off a record-setting season, says he wants an OHL title more than anything else.
“My mind is set on bringing an OHL championship to London,” said Marner, who leads the OHL in playoff scoring with 24 points (9-15–24) through 10 games. “Sure, there’s a lot going on in Toronto right now, but my game is here in London and we’ve got a great team that is capable of big things.”
The Knights, who led the OHL with 319 goals for and a 29.1% power play during the 2015-16 campaign, are into the Western Conference Finals for the first time since they were OHL Champions in 2013. They overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Kitchener Rangers in Game 4 of their second round series on Thursday as Marner led the comeback charge with three goals and an assist.
“We know we’re a team with the skill to make life difficult for our opponents,” Marner said, alluding to the Thursday night comeback. “Our power play has been a source of offence for us all year and we have the depth five-on-five to stay in a close game. With that being said, we can’t afford to put ourselves in those sorts of positions against Erie – they’re on another level.”
The Erie Otters took care of the Knights in short order last year, taking a 4-0 series sweep in the second round, eventually advancing to the OHL Finals where they fell in five games to the MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Oshawa Generals.
Marner will square off against good friend and Canadian National Junior Team colleague Dylan Strome when Game 1 gets underway on Wednesday in Erie.
“Yeah, we’re pretty good buddies,” Marner said of the Otters captain who went one pick ahead of him to the Arizona Coyotes in the 2015 NHL Draft. “We share an enjoyment of following different sports, but I’d say he’s got me beat on knowing random facts and statistics about things nobody else would pay much attention to,” he laughed. “We have a similar sense of humour so we get along real well off the ice.”
Having faced off with Erie in the 2015 OHL Playoffs before splitting their six encounters with the Otters during the 2015-16 regular season, Marner and the Knights know very well what they’re up against.
The Otters took the Midwest Division title and Hamilton Spectator Trophy in the final game of the season, defeating London 4-2 on home ice behind a pair of goals from sophomore winger Taylor Raddysh.
The Knights eliminated Owen Sound in six games to begin the 2016 OHL Playoffs, but gave the Attack 32 powerplays during the series as they operated a 34% power play, allowing them to claim a pair of victories. The Knights cleaned up their act in the four game sweep of Kitchener as the Rangers were held to just 1-for-12 on the man advantage.
“We’re both great teams, and that shows by how things went right down to the last game during the season,” Marner said of the Otters club that became the first team in OHL history to string together three consecutive seasons of 50+ wins. “I think we improved on our discipline in the Kitchener series and that’s going to be really important for us moving forward if we want to beat Erie four times.”
Winning at Erie Insurance Arena will be London’s first task, something they’ve struggled to do over the past three years, playing to a mark of 2-8-0-1 in the Flagship City over the regular season and playoffs combined.
The much anticipated Western Conference Final matchup between the Knights and Otters gets underway in Erie on Wednesday night as two of the CHL’s top clubs go head-to-head.
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