SAGINAW, MICH – The first ticket to the championship game has been booked.
Thanks to a 4-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit, the London Knights will advance into Sunday’s final at the 2024 Memorial Cup in Saginaw.
Saginaw will have a chance at redemption though as the team will face the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors in a semifinal game on Friday night with the winner moving into Sunday’s title game.
A goal late in regulation time by Easton Cowan was the difference for the Knights.
“I was getting my chances throughout the first couple of games,” Cowan said. “I felt in the third period, I was really getting back to my game.”
“He’s got the skill and the will,” Knights coach Dale Hunter said of Cowan. “He’s a good skater, knows the game and pushes through.”
For the Spirit, the game came down to a costly mistake.
“We made one mistake tonight and it cost us the game,” said Saginaw forward Owen Beck. “
Moose Jaw earned a semifinal berth thanks to a win over the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday night.
Saginaw opened the scoring just short of nine monies into the contest. After a shot by defenceman Jorian Donovan was partially blocked by London’s Jackson Edward, Josh Bloom’s follow up chance from the slot deflected past Knights goaltender Michael Simpson off the skate of Alex Christopoulos.
Just under six minutes later, with the Knights on the power play, Kasper Halttunen cut into the slot from the right wing and proceeded to beat Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke stick side to tie the game at one.
London took a 2-1 lead just past the midway point of the second period as Denver Barkey went to the net on a rush and redirected a pass from Halttunen past Oke.
Saginaw tied the game with 5:40 to go in the middle stanza as Joey Willis beat Simpson with a shot from the right circle high short side.
The Knights took the lead with 1:25 to go in regulation time as Cowan brat Oke glove side on a breakaway after taking a pass from Sam O’Reilly on the left wing. O’Reilly skated the puck into the Saginaw zone after lifting the stick of a Saginaw player to maintain possession of the puck for the Knights.
“They made a sick play on the entry, Cowan’s a dangerous player, and they scored,” Lazary said.
Cowan capped off the scoring with an empty net goal in the final minute of play.
Cowan finished the night with two goals and an assist for the Knights.
Halttunen and Barkey added a goal and an assist while O’Reilly assisted on a pair of goals.
Simpson made 26 saves for the Knights.
Oke made 31 saves at the other end for the Spirit.
While Saginaw finished the round robin with a 2-1 record, Moose Jaw went 1-2 in round robin play.
Drummondville was the lone winless team in the event with a record of 0-3 in round robin play.
Game Notes
Lines
London
Denver
Barkey-Jacob Julien-Ruslan Gazizov
Max
McCue-Sam O’Reilly-Easton Cowan
Landon
Sim-Kaleb Lawrence-Kasper Halttunen
Ryder
Boulton-William Nicholl-Evan Van Gorp
Isaiah
George-Jackson Edward
Sam
Dickinson-Oliver Bonk
Jared
Woolley-Henry Brzustewicz
Michael
Simpson
Owen
Willmore
Saginaw
Josh
Bloom-Owen Beck-Alex Christopoulos
Joey
Willis-Matyas Sapovaliv-Calem Mangone
Michael Misa-Hunter
Haight-Nic Sima
Sebastien
Gervais-Ethan Hay-Lincoln Moore
Jorian
Donovan-James Guo
Braden
Hache-Zayne Parekh
Rodwin
Dionicio-Will Bishop
Andrew Oke
Nolan
Lalonde
Scratches
London – Noah Jenken, Alec Leonard (injury), Sawyer Boulton (suspension – game 1 of 1), Kaeden Johnston
Saginaw – Kaleb Papineau, Josh Glavin, Graydon Jones, Carson Harmer, Liam Storch, P.J. Forgione, Jacob Cloutier, Aidan Castle
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Saginaw vs. Moose Jaw - May 24, 2024
Drummondville vs. London - May 25, 202
Drummondville
vs. Saginaw – May 26, 2024
Moose
Jaw vs. London – May
27, 2024
Moose Jaw vs. Drummondville – May 28, 2024
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