London Knights in a Must Win Situation

Barrie Colts forward Andreas Athanasiou

The next sixty minutes or so, will make or break the London Knights chances at an OHL title. The Knights travel to Barrie once again, this time for a must win game four against the Colts at the Molson Centre.

For ex-Knights' forward Andreas Athanasiou, it's been a series to remember so far. The Detroit Red Wings fourth round pick in 2012 is the only player to register goals in all three games so far this series.

He's gone from being another Knights' alumni, to major concern for Dale Hunter and his troops.

"It's great to see him doing well," said sophomore Knights' forward Bo Horvat. "We played with him last year but that's the past. Right now he's just another player on their team and we want to stop him."

Stop him they need to. Athanasiou has three points this series, all goals, two of them coming at the arena he once called home, the Budweiser Gardens. Along with Mark Scheifele, Athanasiou is fast propelling the Colts to their first OHL title since the 1999/2000 season.

London effectively utilized home ice advantage and last change, to effectively shut down Scheifele. The 2011 Winnipeg Jets first rounder was at his stellar best when the Colts had last change Monday evening, not having to play against London's shut down line. He finished with 2 goals, and 3 assists that night, his second multi goal game of these playoffs.

"Everyone was working their hardest," said Scheifele. "Everyone was creating chances I think. That pulled of pressure of everyone giving us time to relax and make the play we want."

“We weren't too sharp,” added London's versatile utility man Tyler Ferry. “Next game, we don't have last change and we're going to work as a group and collectively shut them down. (We) just got to get up for the challenge."

For London, game four is a challenge.

For Barrie, it's a chance to pile pressure on London like never before.
The last time the Knights faced elimination from the OHL playoffs was over two years ago, on April 3, 2011, when the Owen Sound Attack beat the Knights in six games en route to thier first OHL title.

Puck drop Wednesday evening from the Barrie Molson Centre is 7:35pm.

Image Credit: Yahoo Sports.

Barrie Colts Strike First in OHL Finals

Puck drop between the London Knights and the Barrie Colts

Call it deja vu. Almost.

The Barrie Colts struck first blood in the Ontario Hockey League finals, beating the London Knights 4-2 in game one Friday evening.

Unlike the Niagara IceDogs from last season, they didn’t need double overtime.

The Colts grabbed the second-period lead and held off a late Knights rally in front of 9,046 at Budweiser Gardens.

"That's the plan," said Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk. "You come in here and try to win the hockey game, and the boys were able to do that. Mathias [Niederberger] had a great game for us."

Niederberger, a German native and overager for Barrie was a rock in net, stopping 40 of 42 shots, not counting the numerous blocked shots as London turned up the pressure late in the third period searching for a tying goal.

His counterpart, Knights' Anthony Stolarz stopped 24 of 27 shots, making this the fifth straight start where he's let in three or more goals.

Ryan Rupert opened the scoring for the defending champions early in the second period, after a terrific pass from captain Scott Harrington. Ex Knight Andreas Athanasiou wasted no time to make a mark on his return to London and tied things up two minutes later, leading to a barrage of boos from the London faithful.

“We had our chances and didn’t bury on them,” lamented a sombre looking Knights head coach Dale
Hunter, “and that was the difference.”

Needing two goals for most of the third period, London’s Alex Broadhurst beat Niederberger glove high on the power play off a Claude Lemieux penalty, bringing the Knights to within one, which changed momentum drastically. From then on it was all London, all the way, Barrie escaping after two massive glove saves and a shot off the framework late on.

"The guys had confidence in front of him [Niederberger]," added Hawerchuk. "There's good unity between the players and the goaltender, and he's the backbone for us."

“I think we did a great job keeping the shots to the outside,” Niederberger, who was also named first star said . “It was our plan and we did that really well. We tried to give up shots from the outside and the boys did a really good job with that making it easier for me."

Lemieux, son of ex NHL-er Claude ended up with the game winner on the powerplay barely two minutes into the final period. Future Winnipeg Jet Mark Schiefele added the insurance late on via the empty net goal.

“It’s a bit of a wake-up call for us,” said Knights' Seth Griffith said. “I think (losing Game 1 is) going to make us play that much harder over the next couple of games.”

Game two of the OHL's Western Conference final did just that for London. They rallied back with two six goal outings in Plymouth to beat the Whalers in five straight.

Expect the Knights to come out in game two with a lot more shots on net. They went into the Kitchener and Saginaw series knowing that constantly peppering Saginaw's Jake Paterson and Kitchener's John GIbson would eventually lead to mistakes from the netminder.

And it did.

"On the powerplay we passed the puck too much," added Broadhurst. "We were getting too cute. Against Plymouth we shot every puck, going hard to the net. Now we had defenceman shooting the puck but no one at the net [for the rebound], that's got to change."

"We got to block a few more shots too, just like they did at key moments of the game," he added.

The Knights were without winger Josh Anderson and Matt Rupert, both still nursing lower body injuries.

Game two goes Sunday evening at 7:05 from the Bud Gardens.
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SUMMARY:
Colts 4, Knights 2
Barrie leads OHL championship series 1-0
Barrie goals: Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Camara, Brendan Lemieux, Mark Scheifele (EN)
London goals: Ryan Rupert, Alex Broadhurst

London Knights move on to the OHL Finals

London Knights goalie Anthony Stolarz (R) and Paxton Leroux (51) join the celebrations at the Budweiser Gardens

Max Domi scored 20 seconds into overtime as the London Knights beat the Plymouth Whalers 5-4, in a thrilling yet nervous encounter. Domi had also opened the scoring at 9:24 in the first period, and finished with five points and a plus 2 rating.

Alex Broadhurst had two goals while Bo Horvat rounded out the scoring for London. who led 4-1 after two periods of play. The Whalers would come back midway in the third with goals from Garrett Meurs, Rickard Rakell and Gianluca Curcuruto, forcing the extra period of play in front of 9,046 at the Budweiser Gardens.

Ryan Hartman had the Whalers other goal.

Plymouth outshot London 41-34, the Whalers pelting Anthony Stolarz with 40 plus shots for the fourth successive game in the series.

“The last two games, their (London’s) power play was clicking,” Plymouth GM and coach Mike Vellucci said. “They got the timely goals. They scored some big goals. They (the Knights) play a good brand. They rope-de-dope you, put you to sleep and boom, they get a two-on-one or a breakaway."

The Knights now return to the OHL Championship series for the second straight year, where they will face either the Barrie Colts or the Belleville Bulls.  The Bulls beat the Colts 3-1 on Friday night, and now trail the series 3 games to 2. Game Six of that series goes down on Saturday in Barrie.
The Knights found a way without Josh Anderson, who missed Game 5 with a lower-body injury. They were also without Matt Rupert, who was great all season against the Whalers.

Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter took a puck in the eye in the first period, sat out the second and returned to the bench with four stitches for the third period.

“He thought he was done with stitches,” his dad Dale joked.

“He looks good,” Domi added.

Just like the Knights cup chances.

Knights Primed for Playoff Run

London Knights Captain Scott Harrington leads his team into the OHL post season

The London Knights are playoff bound again. And this is where they’ve been every season since the 1999-2000 season where they finished out of a playoff spot. And while they’re well on course to beating last season’s tally of 99 points in the regular season the London Knights are some ways off beating their franchise record of 120 points in a regular season.

It's been a season where we’ve seen two very different teams. First up, was a team that won 24 straight games from November through December, almost tying the CHL record. And secondly, a team that looked so vulnerable that anyone could beat them, on any given night.

But that is the beauty of junior hockey. While people look up to these athletes, some of them future NHL players, it’s often hard to forget that most of these players are in fact in their teens. And yet, the pressure of a hockey crazy city like London rests on the shoulders of these young men.

“You have ups and downs during the season,” added Knights assistant General Manager Rob Simpson. “It is tough on the players. We’re just focused now on peaking at the right time heading out of the regular season and onto the playoffs.”

This season’s capturing of the Hamilton Spectator trophy as regular season champions sees the Knights take home the top seed in the Western Conference for the sixth time since 2003. And while last season’s team captured so many hearts across the country, coming to within one goal of the Memorial Cup, this season’s team has much more potential to go one better.

But they’re inconsistent on occasion.

In London’s defence though, the OHL’s Western Conference can be an unforgiving place for the underprepared. The NHL’s top draft picks usually come from this side of the league and the Memorial Cup representative, more often than not, comes from this half of the province as well.

“After you won 24 games in a row, sure losing a few straight will seem like a let-down,” added Simpson. “Now, we’re feeling the playoffs and playing solid. The boys know if they play this certain way and everyone plays the way they’re supposed to, they can win hockey games.”

The Knights crop of 1994 and 1995 born players form the core of this season team, and the scary part for most teams in the league is that all of these players will be back next season, unless they make the NHL. What has impressed me the most with the London Knights this season is the ability for a player to fill in when others might be going through a minor mid-season slump.

Take Bo Horvat for instance. There’s a great chance he’ll be London’s top pick at the 2013 NHL Draft, higher than the more popular Max Domi. Why? Because Horvat is showing what he can do on a regular basis when top players like Domi or Seth Griffith are missing from the line-up. At the time of writing, Horvat has 57 points in 62 games, fourth in the line-up behind Domi, Griffith and Alex Broadhurst.

Then the Seth Griffith injury came along. Up until he broke a bone on his right hand on Feb. 10, Griffith went about four years without missing a game. When you do the math, that goes back to 256 regular season games, split between the Knights and St. Mary’s Lincolns (Jr. B), as well as 40 playoff games and four in the Memorial Cup. With the injury Griffith’s hopes of challenging for the OHL scoring title are pretty much over but his teammates stepped up in his absence. In the weeks following Griffith’s injury, you wouldn’t notice that the leading point getter wasn’t playing because the team was offensively strong.

And if you thought booting the Knights (and indeed the London Lightning) out of the Budweiser Gardens so that the World Figure Skating Championships can be held in the city would change anything; think again. “Many of the guys on our team have the experience of playing and winning the OHL last season,” said Simpson. “Playing on the road will give us some team bonding right before the playoffs, and when we do comeback, I know the city of London will be happy to have us back.”

“They will have missed their London Knights hockey.”

This season’s playoffs will be interesting. A quick glance at the OHL Western Conference standings sees a London-Saginaw matchup. As champions the Knights will have home ice advantage throughout the series. “Home ice advantage is key heading into the playoffs whether it is in the Western Division or in the league as a whole,” said Simpson. “It’s more of an accomplishment where we’ve guaranteed ourselves four out of seven games in every series.”

Last season it was a late addition Austin Watson that made all the difference in the playoffs and in the Memorial Cup. This season, General Manager Mark Hunter made the decision to stay put with the current crop of players and instead signed a bunch of blue chip prospects.

Whether that will mean a different result that last season? Only time will tell.

Image Credit: Metro News London

What A Year for Sports in London

:London Knights sniper Seth Griffith in action at the 2012 Memorial Cup in Shawinigan

With a new year comes new opportunities for London's sports teams to shine and dominate the sporting world in Ontario, Canada and the world. Last year, London's athletes put on some outstanding performances, and their achievements were recognized and praised by Londoners and sports fans across the country.

Let's start with everyone's favourite team, the London Knights. They won the OHL championship for the second time, beating the Niagara IceDogs on home ice in game five, driving the city into a frenzy. Austin Watson was a marvelled acquisition; he showed his worth in the playoffs as the Knights headed to Shawinigan for the Memorial Cup. Sadly, they lost in the finals to the Shawinigan Cataractes 2-1 in overtime.

This season, the Knights have taken the OHL by storm. Although the team started off slow, their loss to Windsor on November 1 would be their last for almost two months. The boys won 24 consecutive games, beating their own franchise record and falling just one win short of tying the Canadian Hockey League record. The Knights are sure to be tough competitors as their exciting season continues and the run for the Memorial Cup begins once again.

The London Nationals also had a great season, claiming the Western Conference championship in the 2012 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. While they went on to finish third in the Sutherland Cup, Kelly Thomson's team helped put London sports on the map.

London's new basketball team made a name for themselves across Canada. In their inaugural season, the London Lightning came out on top, as over 5,000 fans witnessed them defeat Halifax in game five to win the league title. London finished with a 33-10 record on the season, including 5-2 in the playoffs. Budweiser Gardens could be home to two defending champions for the 2012/13 season.

The Lightning made numerous changes to their roster in the off season, coming back even stronger than last season. The Lightning won their opener, beating Halifax once again. The team continued to be successful throughout 2012. No team came close as the Lightning opened the season with 11 consecutive wins, breaking the league record.

Soccer might not be the prime choice for London sports fans, but that doesn't mean the sport doesn't do well in the city. FC London was crowned winners of the 2012 Premier Development League season, beating the Carolina Dynamo 2-1 in the championship finals in North Carolina. While the victory might not have sent every sports fan in the city into a frenzy, London's soccer fans were ecstatic that from a league of 73 teams, spread across the U.S.A., Canada and Bermuda, their local team came out on top.

One of London's women's soccer teams also made headlines. North London Galaxy was crowned as the best women's team in the country when they beat Surrey United to lift the 2012 Jubilee Cup. This victory is their first national title after four Ontario titles in six years.

The 2012 Olympic Games gave Londoners a chance to show their talents to the world. London native Damian Warner catapulted to Canadian fame after his mesmerising performance in the decathlon, where he finished fifth. He didn't win a medal, but instead he set six personal bests in 10 events. The 22-year-old also put up the second best point total (8,442) in Canadian history. Heptathlete Jessica Zelinka and swimmer Joe Bartoch had memorable performances in the Olympics as well. Zelinka placed seventh in the heptathlon while Bartoch and his teammates finished eighth at the 4x100-metre medley relay.

London and Londoners can be proud; they live in a city that is home to champions. From individual accolades to team championships and success at the provincial and national levels, and even at the Olympics, 2012 had it all.

Originally Written for the Interrobang: http://www.fsu.ca/interrobang_article.php?storyID=9173&sectionID=4&issueID=219
Image Credit: http://chl.uploads.mrx.ca/memorial/images/en/gallery/2012/05/MMC12_0519_DSC_77192909.JPG