Local Sports Channel

Knights Into Semi-Final

Mike Stubbs — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:13:00 GMT

An offensive boom has put the Knights into the Semi-Final at the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup. Three goals in 66 seconds to start the third period carried London to a 6-1 win over the host Saskatoon Blades. London will now face the Portland Winter Hawks for a chance to return to the final for the second straight year.

London got the scoring going on a short-handed penalty shot by Bo Horvat. He looked as though he had been stopped, but the puck trickled in. London took a 2-0 lead in the second period when Seth Griffith grabbed a puck and crossed the Saskatoon with purpose on a power play. He made a moved through a defender and snapped a puck home. Not long after, Max Domi found Chris Tierney with a patented saucer pass and Tierney scored his first of the tournament to give London a 3-0 lead through 40 minutes.

In the third, it was Ryan Rupert, Kyle Platzer and Nikita Zadorov potted goals in a 66 second span to lead 6-0.

Nathan Burns managed a goal on an odd man rush after a steal at the London blue line and scored Saskatoon's only goal of the game and final goal of their season.

London outshot the Blades 40-32.

Jake Patterson was outstanding in the London net, controlling rebounds and making saves through traffic.

The Knights and Winter Hawks meet tonight (Friday) at 8 PM. Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 is 7:30.

The Knights Will Play The Blades In The Tiebreaker

Mike Stubbs — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:41:00 GMT

The London Knights and the Saskatoon Blades met to open the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup last Friday. A win meant a good start. There second meeting is all about life and death. Based on what happens Thursday, one will go on to the semi-final against the Portland Winter Hawks and the other will see their tournament end.

The Blades were beaten 4-2 by the Portland Winter Hawks Thursday night in a classic WHL banging and crashing kind of game.

The biggest hit of the game ended up knocking out 'Hawks' forward Taylor Leier. He was hit by Blades defenseman Dalton Thrower. While there was no penalty on the play, there was a lot of talk aboyut whether the hit was a head shot following the game.

The Knights defeated Saskatoon 3-2 and find themselves fired up after a loss to Halifax Tuesday.

Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 is 7:30.

London Knights Announce MasterCard Memorial Cup Ticket Pricing

Mike Stubbs — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:55:00 GMT

In a little over a year from now, the city of London and the London Knights will be playing host to the 2014 MasterCard Memorial Cup. On Wednesday, the London Knights announced important ticket information, including ticket prices for the event:

The price per package in the 100 and 200 level is $680. For tickets in the 300 level, the price per package is $600. Additional facility and service fees will apply.

Seat locations will be confirmed in early September and will be sent out via email to the e-mail address of the primary account holder. There will be no opportunity to change seats. Any patron who no longer wishes to purchase a package once the seats have been assigned will receive their deposit back in full and forfeit their opportunity.

The London Knights will begin to accept payments for those wishing to pay for their packages on Monday, June 10, 2013. The deadline for full payment of packages will be Friday, November 1, 2013. All unpaid packages at that time will be release and resold to the wait list.

Payment can be made in person with cash, debit or credit card at the Aluminum Associates London Knights Armoury or over the phone with credit card at 519-681-0800 x1. The Armoury is open Monday-Friday between 10am-6pm.

Ticket packages will be available for pick up in the Spring of 2014. The primary account holder will be contacted at that time.

The Knights will play in Thursday's tiebreaker at the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup. Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 will be 7:30.

Hit By A Moose

Mike Stubbs — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:58:00 GMT

The Halifax Mooseheads piled up the offense on Tuesday in a 9-2 win over the London Knights at the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup. The loss by the Knights means they will face either Portland or Saskatoon in Thursday's tiebreaker.

Both teams began the game with chances, but Halifax found the net on the power play and gained a big spark from there.

Martin Frk recorded a hat trick and his linemates, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin each had three assists.

Seth Griffith and Matt Rupert scored the goals for the Knights.

Jake Patterson began the game for the Knights. He was replaced to start the second period with the Mooseheads up 5-0.

The Blades and Winter Hawks meet Wednesday to finish the round robin. They met once in the regular season. Portland won 4-0.

Winter Hawks Defeat Knights: Everyone is 1-1

Mike Stubbs — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:14:00 GMT

It was a game of swings. Back and forth. Back and forth. The Winter Hawks scored the first three goals of the game against the London Knights. The Knights netted the next three. Then Portland came back with three more to win 6-3.

The teams weathered a bit of a tentative start until the first goal of the game, which was scored by Taylor Leier on a tip. That seemed to spark Portland going into the secnd as they struck twice more early in the second on goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Ty Rattie, who made a beautiful toe-drag move similar to one he pulled off on Saturday against Halifax.

That goal seemed to sizzle at London captain Scott Harrington because 25 seconds later, he snapped a puck off the post and into the Winter Hawks net and that gave the Knights jump.

Then came the goal the hockey world is talking about. Max Domi took a pass from Seth Griffith, cut to the net, put his stick between his legs, flipped the puck over a stick and right to Bo Horvat, who buried it to bring the Knights to within one. It is a goal that can be described all kinds of ways, but needs to be seen to truly be appreciated.

Early in the third, the Knights created big chances and one of them paid off. The puck came to Brett Welychka and he tapped a pass to Alex Broadhurst and all of a sudden, it was 3-3.

The score only remained that way for four minutes and 32 seconds as Derrick Pouliot got away a wrister from the top of the right circle to make it 4-3 on a Portland power play. Then just 23 seconds later, Nikita Zadorov ran into a referee and the puck came free to Chase De Leo of the Winter Hawks. He cut in front and scored to put Portland up 5-3.

Jake Patterson replaced Anthony Stolarz after that and stopped all 5 shots he faced.

Ty Rattie would add an empty netter to seal the game and for the second year in a row and only the second time in Memorial Cup tournament history, leave all four teams with 1-1 records after their first two games.

Portland outshot London 36-28.

The Knights will face Halifax Tuesday night. Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 is 7:30.

Knights Face Winter Hawks Monday

Mike Stubbs — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:38:00 GMT

It might be a holiday for almost everyone else, but for the London Knights and the Portland Winter Hawks it is anything but. The teams meet in Saskatoon at the 2013 MasterCard memorial Cup. The Knights come in fresh off a two day rest and a 3-2 opening night win. Portland has been making their way through the bitter minutes and hours following Saturday's opening loss to the Halifax Mooseheads.

A win guarantees the Knights a spot in at least the semi-final. The Winter Hawks need a victory to avoid a must-win situation against the Blades on Wednesday.

What do the Knights have to be ready for?

1. A better Mac Carruth... The Winter Hawks' goalie was not at his best against the Mooseheads. But in the follow-up game to a loss in the 2013 WHL playoffs, Carruth has three shutouts and a game in which he allowed one goal. He admitted Sunday that he wouldn't have played Saturday's game any differently if he had it to do over again. The bounces were not in his favour.

2. Jumping D... Portland uses four defensemen. Seth Jones, Tyler Wotherspoon, Troy Rutkowski and Derrick Pouliot. You can look for the other two... in warmup. That's about the only time you will catch them on the ice. The quartet that plays does so with the eloquence of a june bug, always popping up into the rush. They aren't afraid to pinch into the offensive zone.

3. Backcheckers... The D are able to do what they do because of the support that they get. Unlike last year and the year before when the Winter Hawks were good enough to make it to the WHL final but not win it, a big part of their success in 2012-2013 has come from the fact that Head Coach Travis Greene has forwards who are committed to helping out when facing their own net.

4. Mobility on the Power Play... Just like the Knights' roster, there are piles and piles of skill on Portland's. They like to get people moving. They will try to open two options to make plays to players moving toward the net from either side of the ice. The will position a player in the high slot as well and try to feed him. They can make your head spin. Keep it about you and you can kill penalties.

5. Not Farmboy Physical... Western Hockey League teams often have a couple of great big, tough players who have had a work ethic instilled in them thanks to their time on rural farms. They tend to be physical on the ice. That doesn't seem to be much of a trait for Portland. Their game against Halifax looked like something Justin Verlander would be proud of.

Our broadcast begins at 7:00 on NewsTalk 1290 and at www.cjbk.com

Four Team Tournament

Mike Stubbs — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:24:00 GMT

Oddsmakers may have been giving the Saskatoon Blades little to no hope of even winning a game at the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup, but they will need to repair their lines after Sunday’s performance. The hometown Blades snuffed out the Halifax Mooseheads, the vaunted number one ranked team in the CHL with a 5-2 win.

The Blades looked smooth and comfortable and built a 4-0 lead minutes into the third.

Matthew Stransky of Ostrava in the Czech Republic score twice. Collin Valcourt and Darren Dietz had the others with a goalie in the net. Josh Nicholls added an empty netter with 1.6 seconds to go.

Halifax managed to score twice in the third period, on goals by Stephen MacAuley and Nathan MacKinnon (he now has four goals in two games), but Saskatoon held off the Moose rush.

Andrey Makarov wasn’t called on to be as acrobatic as he was against London, but he made saves 29 saves. Zach Fucale faced made 26 saves for Halifax.

The Knights will face Halifax on Tuesday. They play Portland tonight. (Monday)

Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 is 7:30.

FC London Opens Championship Defense With A Victory

Mike Stubbs — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:53:00 GMT

FC London won their final game of 2012 and became champions. They earned a convincing 3-1 road victory over the River City Rovers on Saturday night to begin 2013.

Aaron Boyd opened the scoring for London in the third minute. River City then tied the match just beforee half time, but second half goals from Rene DeZorzi and by Boyd again gave London the win.

FC has one more road game before their home opener on May 31st.

Mooseheads Beat Winter Hawks

Mike Stubbs — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:08:00 GMT

As Halifax and Portland hit the ice for the second game of the MasterCard Memorial Cup, expectations were that speed and skill would reign in Saskatoon. They did. Reigned and rained all over the ice. The Mooseheads scored five times in the second period on a sometimes shaky Mac Carruth of Portland and won 7-4.

If you wanted Nathan MacKinnon versus Seth Jones, you got it in the second period. MacKinnon faked to the inside and went by Jones before putting the puck past a frozen Carruth for his second goal of the game. MacKinnon would score three total and add an assist for Halifax.

The Winter Hawks actually built a 3-1 lead early in the second period, before Halifax started finding the back of the net.

Halifax will play host Saskatoon Sunday. The Knights tangle with Portland on Monday.

Broadcast time on NewsTalk 1290 is 7:00.

Delaware Speedway Season Underway

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:59:00 GMT

The 2013 racing season kicked off on Friday, May 17th at Delaware Speedway.

Jamie Cox broke his dry spell with a win in the track’s top-tier FT Garage Late Model division. Cox would make it up to second by lap five and then on lap eleven take over the lead.

“This is awesome, this has been a long time coming,” said Cox in victory lane. “When you get a dry spell it hurts your confidence. I did not want to see all those cautions, I just wanted to cruise home.”

Jamie Cox dedicated the race to his step father and Jamie Ramsay who passed away during the off season.

The championship battle kicked off in the Coca-Cola Super Stocks with Matt Robblee (#51) of Woodstock asserting himself as top contender in the division from night one with a feature win over a competitive field of drivers. Jeff Showler (#56) of Mt. Elgin finished second.

Defending champion Gary Adriaensen (#55) of Belmont made the target on his back bumper even larger on Friday evening when he dominated the Demar Aggregates truck field.

Tickets are already available for next Friday’s races on May 24th. The program will include the FT Garage Late Models, Coca-Cola Super Stocks and the highly-anticipated debut of the V8 Stocks. Visit Delaware Speedway’s website for more information on upcoming events.