The London Knights have earned a berth in the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup final.
Thanks to a 5-2 victory over the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, the Knights finished the round robin with a 3-0 record and now enjoy four days off ahead of Sunday’s championship game.
“It’s a great opportunity and it will be nice to get a little rest,” said Knights captain Christian Dvorak.
Overage defenceman Jacob Graves said he was looking forward to the break before the final.
“I’m going to go in the cold tub and rest up,” the veteran blueliner said.
Dvorak called a shorthanded goal by Max Jones in the late stages of the second period a difference-maker.
With the Knights up 2-1, Huskies goaltender Chase Marchand got caught out of his goal on a puck dumped down the ice, Mitchell Marner found Jones on a give-and-go to put the Knights up by a pair.
“That was huge obviously,” Dvorak said. “It seemed like they had power play after power play in the second period and they played good there in the second. That was a huge goal and it took the wind out of them.”
Dvorak finished the night with a goal and an assist while Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and an assist. Marner assisted on four goals.
J.J. Piccinich also had a goal and an assist for the Knights.
Tyler Parsons made 30 saves for London.
The game featured 17 power plays, 10 for the Huskies and seven for the Knights. London would score three times on the power play.
Timo Meier scored both goals for the Huskies while Antoine Waked assisted on both goals.
Goaltender Chase Marchand stopped 20 shots for the Huskies.
Meier spoke of the need to capitalize on chances and despite scoring twice on the power play, the Huskies missed an opportunity by not scoring on a major penalty to London’s Chandler Yackimowicz early in the second period.
“You’ve got to capitalize on a chance like that,” Meier said. “It’s something that we have to get better on.”
The round robin wraps up on Wednesday night as the host Red Deer Rebels face the Western Hockey League champion-Brandon Wheat Kings.
The game will play a role in whether there is a tiebreaker game on Thursday. A Brandon win will leave three teams at 1-2. Rouyn-Noranda is in the tiebreaker regardless while the Wheat Kings can earn a semifinal berth by beating Red Deer by three goals or more. If Brandon wins by two goals or less, the Rebels move to the semifinal while the Wheat Kings and Huskies would meet in the tiebreaker.
A loss by the Wheat Kings would leave the Western League champions at 0-3 and out of the tournament while the Rebels and Huskies would meet in the semifinal on Friday.