Storm eliminate host Knights
Wednesday May 21, 2014
The Guelph Storm eliminated the host London Knights with a 7-2 win on Wednesday night in the final game of round-robin competition at the 2014 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
With the victory, the OHL Champion Storm are a perfect 3-0 in tournament play and on a roll heading into the Championship Final set for Sunday afternoon at 4pm Eastern.
“It’s an exciting time, we want to play and we want to win, we want to get the pucks to the net and score the goals that we do,” said Storm captain Matt Finn on his team’s success.
“To be honest with you I thought the players played a heck of a game today,” said Storm Head Coach Scott Walker as six of his players posted multi-point games.
The Knights struggled to get their offense going the past three games, only scoring four times in that stretch.
“We’re not happy, that’s for sure,” said Phoenix Coyotes draft pick Max Domi. “We outshot a team every single game, and it’s a bad time to get cold offense.”
Guelph would strike first with a goal 5:56 into the first period as Brock McGinn would set up Scott Kosmachuk, who was left alone in the slot to put the Storm up 1-0.
Then at the 12:44 mark of the first, Kosmachuk would get his second of the night as he would pick up the loose puck and put it between the legs of Knights goaltender Anthony Stolarz for a two goal lead.
London would respond and pull within one at 17:55 of the first period as Brett Welychka pinched in from the blue line, on the power play, to notch his first of the tournament.
Detroit Red Wings prospect Tyler Bertuzzi’s hot hand continued in the second period when he bounced the puck off the end boards and off of Stolarz, restoring Guelph’s two goal lead. That goal would mark the end of Stolarz’s night, being replaced by Jake Patterson.
The Knights battled, capitalizing off a neutral zone turnover, with Josh Anderson jumping on a rebound in tight to pull London back within one.
From there Guelph’s high octane offence would take over for good, as Bertuzzi notched his second of the game and tournament leading fifth goal, putting the Storm up 4-2 after 40 minutes.
The Storm scored three unanswered goals in the third period including Kosmachuk’s hat-trick tally helping him earn first star honours.
Justin Nichols made 45 saves in the win.
The loss for the Knights signals another disappointing outcome at the MasterCard Memorial Cup making their third straight appearance in the tournament following a Semi-Final loss in 2013, and a Championship Final loss in overtime in 2012.
The Storm will face the winner of Friday’s Semi-Final between the WHL champion Edmonton Oil Kings and the QMJHL champion Val-d’Or Foreurs. The Foreurs beat the Oil Kings earlier in the week with a 4-3 double overtime win. The semi-final can be seen on Sportsnet at 7pm EDT.
Video: Highlights, Post-Game, Coaches, Recap