RED DEER – Get Tyler Parsons started on the offensive firepower of his London Knights, and you’ll see the goaltender with the spotty but admirable playoff beard—it’s strongest in the chin and sideburn regions—smile and rattle off a bunch of nicknames like “Marns” and “Chuckie.”
That’s Mitch Marner and Matthew Tkachuk, of course.
“We’ve got some great players,” Parsons said Tuesday, minutes after his Knights earned a third straight win to gain a direct berth into Sunday’s MasterCard Memorial Cup final. “We’re great offensively.”
There’s no doubt about that. But it seems the offence, dominant as it is—London produced 20 goals in three round-robin games—is just about all anyone’s talking about when it comes to the Knights.
Slightly lost in London’s 16-game win streak, in its unbeaten run so far at the Memorial Cup and high-scoring and straight-to-the-final narrative, is the fact its goaltender has shut down the top teams in the country.
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Parsons, the 18-year-old who NHL Central Scouting has ranked as the third-best North American netminder heading into June’s draft, has allowed just five goals in three games.
“Without him, I don’t know where we’d be right now,” said Marner, who earned his Memorial Cup-leading 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th points on Tuesday, with four assists.
Parsons, who said “How are you?” before he settled in to answer questions, stood in the media interview zone after the win, wearing grey Knights-issued shorts and navy blue Nike sneakers, hands on his hips, a grin on his face.
He should be pretty pleased. Parsons has yet to let more than two pucks past him in a single game, his latest being a 30-save effort on Tuesday in a 5-2 win over the CHL’s No. 1-ranked Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
For the first time in the tournament, the Knights were tested. They faced an onslaught of shots in the third period on a couple of Huskies power plays. And so, also for the first time in this tournament, the difference was their goaltender.
Parsons sparkled, particularly in the final five minutes, stopping Boston prospect Jeremy Lauzon in close, somehow seeing a shot from Sharks first-rounder Timo Meier through traffic.
“I knew that I needed to be the backbone of this team and make a few big saves to keep them going,” Parsons said. “The Huskies were coming hard tonight.”
Earlier in the game, Parsons made a big glove save on a Francis Perron wrist shot (the Senators prospect had a 108-point, MVP regular season and was the QMJHL’s playoff MVP as well). In the second, Gabriel Fontaine had a good chance in close but Parsons slid across in time and got his pad out.
It was Meier—picked ninth overall by San Jose in 2015—who beat him, twice, both with the man advantage. Parsons isn’t sure what happened on the second goal. Judging from Meier’s reaction on the bench, the Huskies forward wasn’t sure, either.
“I think my skate blade went underneath the post a little bit and lifted up the net,” Parsons said. “It was almost like a ghost goal, so it was a little weird. It’s never happened to be me before.
“It doesn’t matter now. We got the win. That’s all that matters.”
Meier is fifth in Memorial Cup scoring, behind four Knights. (Jean Lapointe)
The Knights have Wednesday off, but they’ll spend the days leading up to the final practicing and doing yoga. Parsons said bull riding wasn’t on the itinerary, but pointed out they’ll be visiting “Banff, I think it’s called.” (He’s from Michigan.)
The goalie is quite the story, and not just because he went undrafted in the OHL before London picked him up last season, and then he worked his way into the starting role this year. He’s a roller hockey goalie convert who switched to ice at “around 9, 10, 11ish,” he says.
“It was way different,” he says, eyebrows up, of his first game on ice. “I got out there and it was my first time skating, too. I’d never been on the ice.”
Parsons didn’t get lit up his first time out, though, against a team he’s pretty sure was called the Jaguars. “We ended up winning in overtime, 3-2,” he says. “It was a great game.”
It took him just a couple weeks to settle into the role on ice.
Still, even with a story like that, and as good as he’s been here in Red Deer, it’s easy to see why Parsons might fly under the radar on a team like London’s. You’ve got draft eligible son-of-Keith, Matthew Tkachuk, who’s ranked No. 2 among North American skaters ahead of June’s NHL Draft. There’s Coyotes prospect Christian Dvorak, who put up 121 points in the regular season. There’s Maple Leafs prospect JJ Piccinich, who scored first for London on Tuesday. There’s draft eligible Cliff Pu and his signature handshake goal celebration. There’s Olli Juolevi, who could be the first defenseman drafted in June. Oh, and there’s the Maple Leafs first-rounder, Marner, who’s on a torrid point-getting pace in Red Deer of more than four per game.
The player who gets much of the team’s attention (and, rightly so) believes London’s offensive firepower sometimes overshadows the fine play of their goalie.
“I say that a lot,” said Marner, whose blondish playoff mustache is coming in nicely. “He doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves. He’s been amazing all playoffs, all year long for us.”
Parsons said it wouldn’t make a difference if all the hype and attention and focus were on him, instead of the team’s offence: “I wouldn’t care.”
But he points out the Marner, Dvorak, Tkachuk line—which has combined for a whopping 29 points in three games in Red Deer—deserving of the bulk of the praise. And they’ve helped him a lot, too.
“Some of the things they do on the ice are unbelievable, and I face them in practice and they do the same thing to me. I honestly think that’s what makes me better, is them, in practice. You don’t see that from a lot of lines in games.”
London heads into Sunday’s final having averaged 6.6 goals per game at the Memorial Cup.
Oh, and with a goalie boasting a tournament-best 1.79 GAA and .944 save percentage.
After this third win, Marner’s post-game questions weren’t all centered around his own play, or the play of his line. He was asked more than a couple times about the play of his goaltender, who was the game’s first star.
Said Marner: “Finally, he gets the recognition that he deserves.”