Memorial Cup Update: Offense in London

photo by Derek Elvin

For all of the troubles in goal that the London Knights had, they've never had too much of a problem with the Saskatoon Blades, and thanks to a 6-1 beating of the host team, the Knights will play tonight in the semi-final game against the Portland Winterhawks.

Seth Griffith, Bo Horvat, Ryan Rupert, Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tierney, and Kyle Platzer all scored for the Knights and Jake Patterson rebounded from a horrific effort against Halifax on Tuesday to stop the Blades on all but one shot.  The Blades didn't have that same sense of urgency that was present in the three previous games they played, and it led to Andrey Makarov's worst game this tournament, as he was pulled after the Zadorov goal made it 6-0.

Memorial Cup Update: Knockout Round Starts Tonight

The round robin portion of the Memorial Cup Tournament concluded with a 4-2 win by the Portland Winterhawks over the Saskatoon Blades.  The win puts the Winterhawks in the semi-finals, where they will await the winner of tonight's game between the London Knights and the Saskatoon Blades.  The Halifax Mooseheads will play again on Sunday, where they will await the winner of the Portland-London/Sasktoon game on Friday.

Derrick Pouliot opened the scoring for the Winterhawks in the second period, but Shane McColgan tied it for the Blades in the period.  The third period proved kind to the Winterhawks, as Chase De Leo, Brendan Leipsic, and Ty Rattie all scored.  The Blades made it 4-2 with a Josh Nicholls goal, but that was all they could muster.

As for tonight's game, the Blades will need to keep up the physicality, as they don't have nearly enough offense to keep up with the Knights.  Andrey Makarov played fairly well for the first two periods, but he will need to rediscover that consistency he had for the first two games if the Blades are to advance.  The Knights have all the talent, but goaltending has been an issue.  Anthony Stolarz has struggled in net, dating back to the OHL finals against Barrie, and Jake Patterson, while good in relief, was exposed in the game against Halifax.

Now Hiring: a New Coach for Vancouver

It's been wondered since the Vancouver Canucks were swept out of this year's playoffs by the San Jose Sharks, but today, it was made official, as the Canucks relieved Alain Vigneault of his coaching duties.  Also let go were assistant coaches Rick Bowness and Newell Brown.  Vigneault had been the coach of the Canucks since replacing Marc Crawford in June 2006.  A 313-170-57 record in his time as Canucks coach was highlighted by a run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011 and the Presidents' Trophy in 2011 and 2012.  However, the Canucks looked nothing like the world-beaters of 2011 in the last two seasons, and the ever-present goalie controversy reared its ugly head, with the team unable to commit to either Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo for various reasons.  Mike Gillis will remain as General Manager...for now, but the lack of top-end talent in the pipeline is something that will need to be fixed, as most of the players, notably both Sedins and Ryan Kesler, haven't played to the level that brought the Canucks to within a win of the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Memorial Cup Update: Knight Stomping

photo by Derek Mortensen

With every team at 1-1 to begin yesterday, every team was in a must-win mode to get that all important bye into the finals.  The Halifax Mooseheads are favored for this, thanks to a 9-2 beat down of the London Knights.  The Mooseheads stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first period, and were up 8-2 by the second period, all but rendering that ninth goal icing on the cake.  Martin Frk, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, picked up a hat trick, Darcy Ashley added two more goals, and Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin picked up three assists each.  Seth Griffith and Ryan Rupert picked up the only London goals as goaltending once again proved to be a major problem for the Knights, as Jake Patterson was given the start, only to give way to Anthony Stolarz.  Neither fared too well against the offensive juggernaut of the Mooseheads.

Halifax will get the bye into the finals if Portland wins their game tonight against Saskatoon, but are at least guaranteed to play into Friday should Saskatoon win.  London will play tomorrow in the tie-breaker against the loser of the Saskatoon-Portland game tonight.

Memorial Cup Update: Anyone Can Win It

Photo by Derek Elvin

The Portland Winterhawks needed a win to keep pace with the other three teams in the Memorial Cup tournament, and were successful last night against the London Knights.  The 6-3 win means that every team has won one and lost one, which means the two losers of the next games will square off on Thursday in a tiebreaker game, with the winner of that game meeting the second place team.  The first place team won't have to play until Sunday, when the finals take place.

Taylor Leier, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Ty Rattie helped propel the Winterhawks to a 3-0 lead, but the Knights would tie it up on goals by Scott Harrington, Bo Horvat, and Alex Broadhurst.  The Winterhawks took the lead for good on goals by Derrick Pouliot and Chase De Leo.  Rattie would add an empty net goal, giving him three points for the game.

The Knights play tonight against Halifax while the Winterhawks play tomorrow against Saskatoon.

Memorial Cup Update: Hometown Madness

Photo courtesy of CHL/WHL/Derek Mortensen

The Saskatoon Blades accomplished something that has happened only 11 other times this season: they defeated the Halifax Mooseheads.  Behind a two goal effort from Matej Stransky and sterling goaltending from Andrey Makarov, the Blades handled the Mooseheads a 5-2 defeat, thus evening their record in round robin play of the Memorial Cup Tournament.  Stephen MacAuley and Nathan MacKinnon scored for Halifax.

The Blades don't have the offensive talent the other three teams possess, but there was a reason they had an 18-game winning streak towards the end of the regular season, and that was defense.  The Blades rely on a physical game to win their games, and playing to that strength has helped in their quest for the Memorial Cup, particularly when the Blades saw the likes of Edmonton, Swift Current, Calgary, and Red Deer (all defensively strong teams) on a regular basis.  The Mooseheads close out round robin play against London tomorrow while the Blades will take on Portland on Wednesday.

Memorial Cup Update: Halifax Draws First Blood

Last night was a game worthy of Main Event status, as the two best teams with the potential top three picks in this year's Draft took place.  A lopsided second period was all it took for the Halifax Mooseheads to defeat the Portland Winterhawks 7-4.  Nathan MacKinnon certainly made his case for the top overall pick, netting a hat trick in the five-goal second period for the Mooseheads.  Jonathan Drouin and Seth Jones, the other candidates for that first overall pick, also scored a goal a piece in the game.  Halifax plays tonight against Saskatoon while Portland will look to rebound against London on Monday.