London Knights Take Memorial Cup

As mentioned in my previous update post last week, it was pretty clear about half-way through the tournament that the London Knights were pretty much unstoppable. Yesterday afternoon they put the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies away in a thrilling game that went into overtime with the Knights winning 3-2.

The Huskies secured their berth in the final by defeating the host Red Deer Rebels on Friday in the semi-final by a score of 3-1. The game was a great back and forth game with tons of action at both ends of the ice. The Rebels out-shot the Huskies by a count of 37-27, but penalties were their downfall as the Huskies scored twice on the power-play. The Rebels pushed hard in the 3rd period but ran into a very hot goaltender in the Huskies Marchand.

In the championship final on Sunday, both teams were very evenly matched and played a very close game all around. Shots favoured the Knights by a count of 33-31. The Huskies found themselves short-handed five times but neither team could capitalize on the power-play as the Knights were 0-5 and the Huskies were 0-1. Matthew Tkachuk, who is a potential Calgary Flames draft pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, scored the game winning goal 7:49 into overtime for the Memorial Cup clincher. He also scored in the 1st period.

Mitchell Marner was named tournament MVP and awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy.

The London Knights dominated the tournament by winning all four games they played and outscoring opponents 23-7. Their roster which includes Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Mitchell Marner and company also had at least one player, most times multiple players, leading every offensive and defensive category.

Some of the tourney leaders include, Mitchell Marner leading the point scoring with 14, Christian Dvorak with 7 goals, Marner with 12 assists, and goaltender Tyler Parsons with a 0.942 save percentage and 1.78 goals against average.

by BizzleJ