Friday, May 24, 2013

Knights eliminate tournament hosts from contention

Press Release

The London Knights recorded six goals while limiting the Blades’ scoring chance to a minimum with some tight defensive play on their way to a 6-1 victory over the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup hosts.

The Knights got the game’s opening goal on a penalty shot at 3:24. Bo Horvat, who had previously been taken down on a breakaway attempt, slowly came down the middle and slid the puck between Andrey Makarov’s pads to put the Knights up 1-0.

Early in the second period, Paxton Leroux received a four-minute boarding penalty, giving the Blades a golden opportunity to tie up the score at one. Unfortunately, they were unable to generate any kind of quality scoring chance.

The Knights took a 2-0 lead on a fantastic individual effort from Seth Griffith. The Knights forward picked up the puck in the neutral zone, accelerated into the offensive zone before going through four Blades defenders and burying his third goal of the tournament.

Less than one minute later, London broke the host team’s backs as Chris Tierney, parked in the slot, one-timed a beautiful Max Domi pass into the net.

The Knights retreated to their dressing room with a three-goal lead after forty minutes of play.

The Blades found no solace in the third period with London registering three goals in the first four minutes of play courtesy of Ryan Rupert, Kyle Platzer and Nikita Zadorov.

Saskatoon did manage to break up the shutout thanks to a Nathan Burns goal at 11:40.

Jake Patterson made 32 saves in the victory. Bo Horvat was named the game’s first star.

The semi-final game of the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup will see the London Knights battle the Portland Winterhawks on Friday. The game can be seen live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports starting at 8 pm ET / 9 pm AT.

(Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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