SASKATOON, Sask. – The London Knights and Halifax Mooseheads will each be looking to rebound from losses in the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
All four teams have identical 1-1 records through the first four games. The winner of this game will assure itself a semifinal berth, with the possibility of advancing straight to Sunday’s final, depending on the outcome of Wednesday game between Saskatoon and Portland.
“We have our destination in our hands,” said Mooseheads head coach Dominique Ducharme. “It’s up to us to do what we have to do and we’ll be in a good position and that starts with a win.”
The Mooseheads lost 5-2 to the host Blades on Sunday, while the Knights are coming into Tuesday’s game after losing 6-3 to Portland on Monday. The Knights will have plenty of motivation for their final round robin game.
“I think it’s much easier coming off a loss than it is coming off a win,” Knights forward Ryan Rupert said. “(The scenario is) nothing new to us. Just come out hard and we want to win so we have a good spot going (forward).”
The Knights will be playing on back-to-back nights, which could be an advantage for the Mooseheads. Halifax lost its second game in as many nights and appeared flat for most of Sunday’s game against Saskatoon.
“We try not to think about it when we play back-to-back nights and we don’t want to come into (Tuesday’s) game thinking that they’re going to be worn down because that will come back to bite us,” Halifax captain Trey Lewis said.
London’s goaltending carousel could continue. Anthony Stolarz started both games, but was pulled after allowing five goals on 31 shots on Monday. Knights head coach Dale Hunter said he hadn’t made his decision on Tuesday’s starter following Monday’s game.
“I feel comfortable with whoever’s in net,” Knights forward Bo Horvat said. “I’m sure all the guys feel comfortable. They got us this far and we have a lot of confidence in them and whoever plays in net in (Tuesday’s) game is going to do a great job.”
CAN THE MOOSEHEADS IMPROVE THEIR NET-FRONT PRESENCE?
The Blades created their offence against Halifax by establishing their net-front presence and whacking away at rebounds. It’s an area the Mooseheads are aware needs to be improved, and Ducharme feels it was the result of another area needing improvement.
“(It) often comes with the battle level that you see on everywhere on the ice and it translates,” he said. “We didn’t win that many battles in front of their net, finding those rebounds, but overall, all over the ice (the Blades) did a better job on that.”
“Our net-front presence has to be much better, not only in our end, but in the other team’s end too,” Lewis said. “We have to clear our net-front a lot better than we did against Saskatoon and we have to get in those dirty areas and put home some of those dirty goals too.”
WILL THE KNIGHTS BEAR DOWN ON THEIR CHANCES?
The Knights created plenty of scoring chances against the Portland Winterhawks on Monday. Their neutral zone trap sparked some turnovers and odd-man rushes that translated into opportunities, but they weren’t able to put them away with the same frequency we’ve seen from them before.
“We had a couple days off and it took us a little bit to get our legs under us,” Horvat said. “After that, I thought we had a heck of a game getting pucks in deep and bringing the puck to the net and getting lots of scoring chances. I think we just have to keep doing that and keep moving our feet and I think we should be fine.”
“When you get chances, that means you’re playing well,” Hunter said. “If you don’t get no chances, that means you’re not.”
WHICH TEAM CAN FORCE THE PLAY?
The Knights are very solid in their system. They were passive at first against Portland on Monday, then turned an aggressive forecheck and tried forcing the Winterhawks into playing their game. It didn’t work, but against so many others, it has.
“They’re a fast team,” Halifax forward Brent Andrews said. “They’re going to transition quick. We have to make sure we protect the puck and take care of the middle of the rink. There’s going to be a lot of details that are going to be important.”
In their loss, the Mooseheads were unable to gain the advantage against the Blades and were adjusting to the Blades’ game plan.
“We faced that throughout the season,” Ducharme said of London’s trap. “We’ve seen worse. We’ve seen almost five guys standing on the blueline … you got to be playing within the game. You cannot be forcing things that are not there.”
WHICH DRAFT PROSPECT WILL SHINE BRIGHTEST?
As many as six prospects from both teams could be drafted in the first round this summer. The Mooseheads are led by forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and goaltender Zachary Fucale while the Knights have forwards Horvat and Max Domi and defenceman Nikita Zadorov.
“It’s a lot of fun, obviously getting to play against guys that you grew up playing against and hearing about,” Domi said. “Guys like Nate, ever since I’ve been 12 years old I’ve heard his name. It’s unbelievable how good they are at hockey and even better off the ice. I mean, they’re unbelievable guys and just to get to know them a little better and finally to play on one big stage like this for one last time, it’s pretty cool.”
Domi and Horvat worked together to score a highlight reel goal on Monday. Domi pulled the puck behind his left skate and made a saucer pass to Horvat, who one-timed it for the goal.
“To be honest with you, that’s all I had,” Domi said of the play. “I got really lucky. You grow up practising stuff like that and just having fun with it. That’s part of hockey, just having fun. A lot of luck there, though.”
