PHOTO COURTESY VINCENT ETHIER/CHL
London Knights forward Blake Montgomery swipes at a puck while falling during the Knights' 5-2 semifinals win Friday over the Moncton Wildcats at the Memorial Cup hosted in Rimouski, Que.
Medicine Hat News
RIMOUSKI, QUE.
The Medicine Hat Tigers will face the London Knights in the finals of the 105th Memorial Cup.
The Knights advance to the finals of the Memorial Cup for a second straight year, punching their ticket after beating the Moncton Wildcats 5-2 Friday night in the semifinals.
The Knights become just the sixth team in the last 40 years to appear in back-to-back Memorial Cup finals, the last being the 2009 and 2010 Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. London won the round robin matchup between the clubs, winning 3-2 in overtime on May 24.
For the third time this Memorial Cup, the Knights opened the scoring.
Just 4:07 into the game, London moved up ice on a four-on-four before Oliver Bonk fired the puck wide. Landon Sim picked it up behind the net and scored on the wrap around for his first goal of the Memorial Cup. Jacob Julien had the second assist.
Moncton responded with their first power play marker, sending the first period into intermission at a tie.
Wildcats’ forward Caleb Desnoyers had the puck at the point on the power play and skated in, unleashing a laser from atop the circles that beat Austin Elliot, making it a 1-1 game with 1:40 left in the period. London outshot Moncton 18-5 through 20 minutes.
The Knights grabbed an early lead in the second, on a play they’ve utilized before.
Sam O’Reilly had the puck below the circles in the Moncton end and he fed Easton Cowan a pass in the slot, drawing the attention of all of the Wildcats’ defence. The Toronto Maple Leaf prospect dished off a cross-ice pass to Denver Barkey who scored his first of the tournament and notched the 2-1 lead at 5:24.
For the second time in the game, Moncton responded on a power play.
Dyllan Gill unleashed a shot from the point that beat Elliott for his third of the tournament and the 2-2 tie 1:36 after London grabbed the lead. Desnoyers and Julius Sumpf had the helpers.
After the second period ended in a tie, the Knights grabbed their third lead of the night.
Defenceman Sam Dickinson carried the puck up ice on a two-on-two rush, both him and Blake Montgomery blew past one defender before Dickinson fed Montgomery for a tap-in at the net with a cross-crease pass to make it a 3-2 lead 3:35 into the third period. Kasper Halttunen had the second assist.
London gave themselves a two-goal lead with a face-off goal later in the third.
Jacob Julien won the draw and fed Jesse Nurmi, all alone in the slot, with the puck for the easy tap-in at 13:11.
They iced the win with an empty net goal off the stick of Cowan with 1:49 left in the game, his second goal of the tournament.
Elliott made 21 saves in the win. Across the ice from him, Mathis Rousseau made 32 saves. London outshot the Wildcats 37 to 23. Moncton was 2-5 on the power play, London held scoreless of their lone power play.
The finals of the 105th Memorial Cup between the Tigers and Knights is Sunday at 5 p.m. MST. There is a watch party hosted at Co-op Place, tickets are free but required at Tixx.ca. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.
