JCVH60

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

MEMORIAL CUP - London Knights 4 Edmonton Oil Kings 1

Bo Horvat takes Keegan Lowe into the boards in Memorial Cup.

Watson fans watch Austin being interviewed by Rob Faulds of Sportsnet

The Knights played textbook defence against the Western Hockey League champion Oil Kings. London finishes 2-1 in the round robin. The playoff scenarios are starting to clarify.

London goes right to Sunday's final IF - Saint John beats Shawinigan tomorrow.

London plays in Friday nights semi final IF - Shawinigan beats Saint John.

In Tuesday's game, London played just about perfect. The Knights allowed Edmonton just 21 shots on goal and almost had a shut out. If not for a lapse of less than 15 seconds at the end of the first period, it would have been a shut out for Michael Houser.

End of game celebration with Michael Houser and the big three - Harrington, Tinordi and Watson

The Knights started the scoring early. Matt Rupert stole the puck behind the Edmonton goal and passed it in front to Ryan Rupert who scored.

Bo Horvat scored London's second goal of the first period. The line of Horvat, Chris Tierney and Andreas Athanasiou worked hard to get a puck out of their zone and quickly moved the play down ice. Tierney smartly flipped a backhand pass to a streaking Athanasiou whose shot was stopped but Horvat quickly followed the rebound.

The Oil Kings scored with just 2.7 seconds left in the first period to cut the lead to 2-1.

Max Domi made a great play to set up Greg McKegg. Domi fought off a check by Klarc Wilson in the neutral zone and got a good shot away that was stopped but McKegg put in the rebound past Laurant Brossoit for a 3-1 London lead.

The Knights Austin Watson blocked shots, won 14 of 23 face offs. He was a defensive force all night and was named the games' first star. Watson scored London's final goal into an empty net.