WINTERHAWKS AND KNIGHTS BATTLE IN SEMI-FINAL

SASKATOON, SK – Ty Rattie and the Portland Winterhawks meet Bo Horvat and the London Knights  in the semi-final of the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament on Friday night in Saskatoon, SK. (6:00pm MT; 8:00pm ET Sportsnet).

The Winterhawks, the WHL Champions, closed out the round robin portion of the tournament with a 4-2 win over the host Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday night to push their record to 2-1 and earn a berth in today’s semi-final contest.  Portland’s Ty Rattie currently shares the tournament lead with four goals, and has put up seven points over three games.

The Knights posted a 1-2 record through round robin play and earned a berth in the semi-final by defeating the tournament host Saskatoon Blades 6-1 in the tiebreaker game on Thursday night.  Bo Horvat and Seth Griffith share the team lead in scoring with five points apiece through four games.

The Winterhawks claimed a 6-3 win over the Knights in their round robin meeting on Monday night.  Rattie scored twice and set up another while Taylor Leier had a goal and two assists for the Winterhawks, who outshot the Knights 36-28 in the contest.

Horvat and Alex Broadhurst each tallied a goal and an assist for the Knights, who erased a 3-0 deficit versus Portland only to give up a pair of goals 23 seconds apart in the third period en route to the loss.

The winner of Friday night’s semi-final contest between the Knights and Winterhawks will move on to face the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads in Sunday’s MasterCard Memorial Cup championship game.

The 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup is proudly supported by MasterCard, title sponsor of this event for 15 straight years.  Associate sponsors include Bank of Montreal, Subway, Old Dutch, Post, and broadcast partners Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

All games of the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament can be seen live on SPORTSNET.

2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup Schedule:
Round Robin
Game 1 – London 3, Saskatoon 2
Game 2 – Halifax 7, Portland 4
Game 3 – Saskatoon 5, Halifax 2
Game 4 – Portland 6, London 3
Game 5 – Halifax 9, London 2
Game 6 – Portland 4, Saskatoon 2

Tie-Breaker; London 6, Saskatoon 1

Semi-Final; London Knights vs. Portland Winterhawks; Friday, May 24; 6:00pm

Memorial Cup Championship Game; Sunday, May 26; 5:00pm

For more information about the event please visit www.mastercardmemorialcup.ca