GAME TWO - Shawinigan Cataractes 6  London Knights 2 

A crazy atmosphere in Shawinigan.  The Knights given a hex by Thomas Chop

Knights vs. Shawinigan Memorial Cup - May 20

 The London Knights made no excuses after losing to the Shawinigan Cataractes.  The Knights intention was to test goalie Gabriel Girard early.  Girard has not played in 44 days as Shawinigan got beat out in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs. Girard hadn't played since the first round.

  The Knights could not put enough pressure on Girard to make him feel uncomfortable.  They had just 9 shots through the first half of the game.

Knights braintrust watches London vs. Shawinigan 

  Meanwhile the Cataractes used the energy of their crowd to create more scoring chances in the first half of the game.  The elite level forwards on Shawinigan had jump in their step and their speed created some defensive zone breakdowns by the Knights.  Shawinigan played with more desperation as they could not afford to go down 2-0 in the series.  They won some of the battles to loose pucks that the Knights were winning against the Saint John Seadogs.

Knights come onto the ice for warm up

The key moment in the game came early in the third period.  Trailing 3-2 early in the third period, Jared Knight took a slap shot from about 30 feet out that went off the crossbar.  The puck ended up on the stick of Pierre-Olivier Morin who turned up ice with blazing speed.  He beat Michael Houser with a wrist shot high to the glove side for a 4-2 Shawinigan lead.  

Knighs fans in Shawinigan

The Knights had some good moments.  They killed a 5 on 3 penalty in the first period using only three skaters.  Scott Harrington, Jarred Tinordi and Austin Watson played the entire two minute shift against five forwards.   They killed the penalty but seconds after the two penalized players returned to the Knights zone, a Brandon Gormley shot was deflected by Michael Bournival to tie the game 1-1.

The atmosphere in the Centre Bionest was electric. Literally. Constant techno-pop music and disco type lights gives the arena a dance club atmosphere.