Pre-game interview - Jarred Tinordi and Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press 

Max Domi practices hand-eye coordination

Sam Cosentino and RJ Broadhead - Rogers Sportsnet goes coast to coast

Knights Castle - Opening Ceremonies

"You remembered the trophy, right?"

Key Moment in the game came when Jarred Tinordi takes a double minor for high sticking and the Knights kill off four minutes...  


And, a few minutes later....

Austin Watson celebrates the games first goal.  Watson poked home a rebound of a Scott Harrington shot right in the crease to give London a 1-0 lead.   

And the celebration is on after a 2-1 Knights win in game five.

Captain Jarred Tinordi accepts the J Ross Robertson Cup as  OHL champions

CJBK's Mike Stubbs interviews Knights coach Mark Hunter  after the win

Greg McKegg, Michael Houser, Jared Knight

What a pleasure it was to visit the Communications Technology class of Paul Leuverink at Tillsonburg Glendale high school today.  We were invited to deliver a message about the Radio Broadcasting and Broadcast Journalism programs.  As a bonus we were asked to stay for the 9:30 morning news on GTV.


The students are so comfortable with a very high level of technology.  Even 3-4 years ago, I would teach some students who would 'peck' away at audio/video editing systems almost apologetically.  Not these students.  They weren't shy about diving right into their work. Clearly they have been well trained.

Several in the class asked great questions after our presentation.  They were focused, polite and calm.  Two students did a great job reading the morning announcements.  The short example here (above) features green screen technology and a customized graphics package.  The show was thrown together in about 20 minutes and went to air flawlessly.  Very impressive.
Hope to see some of you at Fanshawe College someday.  Thank you for having us into your class.

Game Four.  Knights vs. Niagara Icedogs.   London 4 Niagara 1.  London leads series 3-1 

Michael Houser makes one of 37 saves vs. Icedogs in Game Four.

The London Knights are one win away from their second OHL championship.   The Knights continue to have an answer for everything the Icedogs throw at them.  They are blocking a lot of shots and the Michael Houser has been solid on the ones that get through.

Ryan and Matt Rupert each scored a goal.  Chris Tierny and Vladislav Namestnikov had the others.  The story over the last four games is how the Knights have been able to shut down Ryan Strome and the other veteran Niagara forwards.  Strome, who is now -5 for the series, Fred Hamilton, Andrew Agozzino and Alex Friesen were held off the scoresheet and were a combined -3.

Matt Rupert scores 3rd period goal on a deflected pass by Dougie Hamilton

Meanwhile, six 17-year old Knights combined for 9 points and a plus 7 rating.  The Icedogs have no answer for the pesky determination of Ryan and Matt Rupert.  The Ruperts combined with Max Domi for the key first goal of the hockey game and they went on to each register a goal and an assist.  Ollie Maatta, who won't be 18 until late August picked up two assists.  Chris Tierney scored his second goal in two nights and Andreas Athanasiou had an assist.
The young Knights are outperforming the Icedog veterans.

Dougie Hamilton took two very bad penalties in the second period. He also knocked in the 4th London goal as he tried to deflect a pass from Matt Rupert to brother Ryan.  That was a key goal as it came just :56 after the Icedogs scored to make it 3-1 in the third period.

Ollie Maatta seemed to be OK after the game after a late hit

Red Tilson trophy winner Michael Houser is outperforming Mark Visentin as well, which makes a Niagara comeback unlikely.

The Knights will be tough to beat at home on Friday.  They can smell a title and they will be further galvanized by events at the end of the game.  Brett Ritchie laid a late hit on Ollie Maatta sending the Knights possible playoff MVP to the bench in obvious pain.  For the first time this season Rob Ramage was screaming at the referees - almost walking to centre ice at the end of the game to defend Maatta.

The Knights can smell the title.  The Icedogs are clearly frustrated and seemed resigned to their fate.

Random thoughts on London Knights defenseman Ollie Maatta.

Ollie Maatta (2) played over 44 minutes in OHL final game one

ON THE ICE.   Ollie's improvement in the second half of the season and in the playoffs is the exclusive property of the really good players.  I mean players who are going to be real solid NHL'ers.  Elite players just have a different arc of performance than those who plateau.  Maatta has 20 points in just 16 playoff games and is a +10 and now regular quarterbacks the power play.  Ollie had an adjustment period in the first half of the season.  He was taking too long to make plays and getting hit too often.  This was natural for someone learning so many new things about life and hockey.

Maatta vs. Kitchener Rangers in Western Conference final

Upon returning from a concussion at the world junior hockey championships, Maatta improved his one-on-one coverage under the guidance of Knights assistant coach Rob Ramage.   He has improved his first pass out of the d-zone, his ability to read the play and join the rush as well as his shot.   While Maatta doesn't put people through the boards or even look for the big open ice hit, he can swallow opposing forwards with positioning, active stick-checking and a high level of commitment to defensive play.

Maatta (2) scores key shorthanded goal vs. Kitchener

He still needs to get stronger but logs plenty of playoff minutes without difficulty.
While he doesn't have Ryan Murphy speed, he has improved his footwork in the defensive zone.  Maatta has also become adept at reading the push from opposing forwards and joining the attack at the proper time.  While it's not correct to compare any 17 year-old to Nicklas Lidstrom - Maatta is effective in a "Lidstrom" sort of way - he is efficient more than flashy.

OFF THE ICE.   A very good person.  Teammates and coaches like his laid back approach to life but his excellent work ethic.  It is very hard to believe that he won't be 18 until August 22nd.  He really wants to be good.  At this point, I think he is underrated.  Scouts were expecting more in the first half of the season after he was selected first in the CHL import draft - and they are getting it now.  Many left his grade at a lower level based on first half play when he was learning a new lifestyle, new ice surface and adjusting to the speed and physical play of the OHL.
Ollie says if he had a choice of winning a gold medal game against either Canada, Russia or Sweden - he would pick Sweden.

Maatta interviewed by Finnish reporter

OUTLOOK -  Ollie Maatta has a chance to be one of the best defenseman Finland has ever produced.  Teppo Numminen is the clear standard of Finnish blue liners with 20 years and over 1,300 games played.   Aki Berg was taken 3rd overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1985 NHL entry draft.  While Maatta will not be drafted that high, Maatta will be much better than Aki Berg and has the potential to push Numminen for the best-ever Finnish d-man title.

Any NHL team that is lucky enough to draft him past 12 is getting a steal.  As teams analyze his playoff performance and start interviewing him, he'll be a fast rising commodity prior to the draft.

Trip Wow from France

French Riviera Slideshow: Jim’s trip from Unterpremstätten, Styria, Austria to 4 cities Nice, Antibes, Biot and Monaco-Ville was created by TripAdvisor. See another France slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Coffee Is Black Gold in Switzerland

Switzerland's reputation of being expensive is mostly true,  especially with one product - coffee.  A cup of coffee can cost the equivalent of 5 Canadian dollars.
  Swiss coffee giant Nespresso (a division of Nescafe) sold about $4 billion worth of coffee in 2010, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Most coffee is served in single portions as espresso or 'cafe creme...'  The pot of coffee is rare, and less profitable.  The WSJ article reports that while single-portion coffee makes up about 8% of all coffee produced, it brews into 25% of the sales.

Nespresso is in a dispute with discount store Denner, about the unique capsules that serve 'Nespresso'.  Denner produced a compatible capsule for a lower price (12 for 4 CHF at Denner vs. 10 for 5 CHF for Nespresso).  A court in St. Gallen ruled that Nespresso was in their rights to block sales of the coffee knock-off capsules sold by Denner.  This ruling resulted in empty shelves at Denner and a promise to resolve the dispute.