SASKATOON, Sask. – The MasterCard Memorial Cup host Saskatoon Blades were within 20 minutes of a berth in Sunday’s final, but will now regroup to play in Thursday’s tiebreaker.
The Blades were tied 1-1 with the Portland Winterhawks through two periods heading into the third period, but wound up losing 4-2. The road to the final now gets much more difficult for the hosts, who will need to win two games in the two days to reach the championship final.
“This is the typical Blades way of doing things, taking that long way,” Blades overage forward Josh Nicholls said. “Hopefully we get the job done and take three straight here.”
The Knights are also coming off a disappointing loss on Tuesday, after being trounced 9-2 by the Halifax Mooseheads, who earned the bye to Sunday’s final. London players were trying to take positives from the negative, and may have an advantage since the Blades will be playing back-to-back nights while they were off on Wednesday.
“We’re coming off a huge loss too and obviously both teams are going to be pissed off,” Knights forward Alex Broadhurst said. “It’s going to be two teams battling for their lives and it’s going to be do or die, so it’s going to be a good hockey game.”
The Knights were trying to remain positive in spite of what many called an “embarrassing loss” to Halifax on Tuesday. They battled back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the Ontario Hockey League championship over Barrie and won 24 in a row before the new year.
“You don’t ever want to get beat like that, but it happens in hockey and it’s a loss,” Knights head coach Dale Hunter said. “If you lose 3-2, it would still be a loss. We would still be playing on Thursday.”
WHICH TEAM CAN GET OFF TO THE BETTER START?
The Knights were trailing 5-0 against Halifax after one period on Tuesday. It was the second-straight game where they fell behind early, after spotting Portland a 3-0 lead on Monday. The message from Hunter to his players on Wednesday was simple.
“Just basically have a good first period,” he said. “Come out, be ready to play and not to get down.”
“We basically lost that game (against Halifax) in the first period,” Knights defenceman Tyler Ferry said. “That first period dictates how the course of a game goes. For whatever reason, we weren’t ready to go for puck drop and it came back to bite us and we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Conversely, the Blades started strong in each of their games and scored first twice. Suddenly, those 51 days off following their first-round playoff exit don’t look too bad now given that conditioning could help them rebound in a back-to-back situation.
“We’re going to have to dig down, that’s why we trained so hard,” Blades forward Brett Stovin said.
“All these teams have gone through long playoff runs and those back to backs take a toll,” Nicholls added. “I think this is where the workouts and the bag skates kind of pay off.”
CAN THE KNIGHTS’ GOALTENDING REBOUND?
Hunter wouldn’t announce his starter to the media on Wednesday. Both Jake Patterson and Anthony Stolarz have started in the tournament, but neither has played very well. After allowing a combined nine goals on 37 shots on Tuesday, the Knights will need much more from whichever goalie starts.
Regardless who gets the nod, the players in front of them realize they need to be better.
“Every single goal, for the most part, it’s either just being lazy on the back check or losing battles or losing guys in front of the net,” Knights forward Max Domi explained. “If anyone, it’s ourselves in front of the goalies and we got to do a better job and help them out a lot more.”
“It wasn’t the goaltender’s fault at all,” Broadhurst said. “We kind of left them to hang out to dry there, which I feel really bad for. They’re taking a lot of heat from the press and obviously all over social media, everyone’s kind of bad rapping them. We’ve been trying to pick them up all day and they’re pretty bummed out, but we have to keep their spirits high and whoever’s playing will do a good job for us.”
The Blades may be licking their chops given the way the Knights goalies have played.
“Their goaltending situation is something that seems a bit fragile,” Nicholls said. “So I think we’re going to have to put pucks to the net and create traffic there and hope for the best.”
WHICH TEAM CAN BEST USE A HISTORY LESSON?
The 2009 Windsor Spitfires and last year’s Shawinigan Cataractes are the only two teams to win the MasterCard Memorial Cup after playing in the tiebreaker. The Knights eventually lost last year’s final in overtime to the Cataractes, who should now serve as motivation for both teams heading into this game.
“We look at that and that boosts our spirits a little bit,” Knights defenceman Tyler Ferry said.
“We realize anything’s possible in this tournament,” Nicholls added.
The Knights have a rare opportunity at a second chance in this tournament. Although it hasn’t worked out well to this point, they know they can still make the most of this opportunity.
“Everyone says it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and we got a second kick at the can here,” Ferry said. “To get back and get another chance here this year is just unbelievable.”
