Not to be for Tigers, Knights win Memorial Cup

Experience gave London slight edge in CHL final

Experience matters.

In Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game between the OHL champion London Knights and the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in Rimouski, Quebec, the Knights had an edge due to falling 4-3 to the host Saginaw Spirit in last year’s tournament final. A total of 13 players from the 2023-24 Knights returned to play for the 2024-25 Knights.

That included stars like Easton Cowan, captain Denver Barkey, Jacob Julien, Sam O’Reilly, Sam Dickinson and Oliver Bonk. While it can be argued the experience factor gave the Knights a slim edge over the Tigers, it was still an edge.

The Knights took a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, pushed their advantage out to 4-0 in the second and posted a 4-1 victory over the Tigers before a sellout crowd of 4,512 spectators at Coliseum Sun Life Financial.

Another difference in the contest came down to the fact the Knights capitalized on their scoring chances. The Tigers had their scoring chances and weren’t able to finish them off. They outshot the OHL champs 32-24 in the contest.

The Knights benefitted from getting another stellar outing from overage netminder Austin Elliott, who came up with 31 saves. During the 2024-25 campaign that began with three games with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Elliott had a spectacular 55-3 record including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Between his time with the Blades and Knights, Elliott had a 7-1 career record against the Tigers.

Elliott’s journey to the OHL started after he was cut by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers. He was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad.

On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puckstopper never played a game for the Colts and had a sensational run with the Knights that concluded with a Memorial Cup title win.

In Sunday’s game, London broke through on the scoreboard with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Knights defenceman Henry Brzustewicz fed a pass from his own blue line to spring Julien into the Medicine Hat zone on a breakaway. The 19-year-old centre went forehand to backhand and tucked the puck in behind Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers came with a big push back after Julien’s goal which included veteran right-winger Ethan Neutens ringing the crossbar. The teams went into the first intermission with the Knights holding on to their one-goal edge.

In a crazy second period, the Tigers outshot the Knights 17-9 in the frame, but London outscored Medicine Hat 3-0 in the stanza.

At the 3:13 mark of the frame, O’Reilly had the puck down low in the right corner of the Medicine Hat zone and centred a pass to Cowan, who was streaking to the front of the Tigers goal. The star right-winger tapped the puck home to push the Knights edge out to 2-0.

Just 1:40 later, Dickinson poke checked the puck off the stick of Tigers star captain Oasiz Wiesblatt at the London blue line. Dickinson knocked the puck up ice enough to spring Barkey on a breakaway. Barkey went forehand to back to tuck the puck home to make the Knights advantage stand at 3-0.

At the 10:01 mark of the stanza, Cowan appeared to net his second goal of the contest, but the tally was waived off after the officials ruled O’Reilly bumped into Meneghin before setting up Cowan for the tally. The officials made an incidental contact ruling on O’Reilly, which nullified the goal.

With 7:52 remaining in the second, Barkey tallied on the power play for his second goal of the night. He fired home a mid range shot from the left side boards past a screened Meneghin to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to give London a 4-0 edge.

Just 2:43 into the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna was finally able to solve Elliott. McKenna snapped home a shot from the front of the London net to trim the Knights lead to 4-1.

Gavin McKenna had the Tigers lone goal on Sunday.

The Knights at that point proceeded to trap things up through the centre ice zone and lock down the game defensively. While the Tigers were only able to hold a 4-3 edge in shots on goal for the frame, the Knights close out wasn’t all smooth.

With 5:21 remaining in the third, McKenna fired home a shot to the top left corner of the London net off a chance from the front of the goal. The officials reviewed the goal and determined Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie knocked the puck down with a high stick earlier in the play causing McKenna’s tally to be disallowed. The officials added nine seconds to the clock before play resumed.

After that scare, the Knights closed out the contest.

Meneghin turned away 20 shots in the final major junior game of his career. The Tigers netminder had a remarkable post-season playing heroically after finding out his father, Derek, passed away after Medicine Hat’s final game of the regular season.

Cowan won the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament. In the five games the Knights played, he recorded three goals, four assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category.

On top of being named the tournament MVP, Cowan was named to the tournament all-star team along with Barkey, Dickinson and Elliott. McKenna and star defenceman Tanner Molendyk were named to the tournament all-star team from the Tigers.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25. They advanced through the OHL Playoffs with a 16-1 record.

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers overcame their share of adversities this season. They started out 1-4, and as they started to turn things around on the ice, the Tabbies had to battle through a massive amount of injuries.

Just when it looked like things were all ready to go full speed ahead at the end of the regular season, Meneghin’s father passed away. The Tigers rallied around their netminder, who was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. When the Tigers were being presented the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Wiesblatt waved Meneghin in to accept and be the first to lift the trophy.

Including play in the WHL regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament, the Tigers won 47 of their last 56 games.

For the Knights, they captured their third Memorial Cup title in team history with the two past victories coming in 2005 and 2016. Dale Hunter was the head coach for all of those Knights wins.

Over the past 21 years, the Knights are considered the standard in the CHL having won six OHL titles to go with their three Memorial Cup championships over that period of time. Whenever they make the Memorial Cup tournament, they are usually the favourites to win it.

The Tigers topped the round robin standings of this year’s Memorial Cup tournament with a 3-0 record earning a bye into the event’s championship game. It appeared they might be destined to be the team that ends the WHL’s Memorial Cup title drought.

After Sunday’s final, the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 remain the last squad from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup. They also took the WHL title that year too.

The WHL’s drought of not winning the Memorial Cup now spans the last nine tournaments marking the longest the circuit has gone without winning the biggest prize in major junior hockey. Since the Spokane Chiefs dropped the Memorial Cup after winning it in 2008, the Oil Kings have been the only WHL club since that time to claim that trophy which leaves the feeling the “Curse of the Drop” still lingers over the circuit.

Still, the Knights’ experience – however slight it may have been – from losing the Memorial Cup final last season pushed them over the edge this season.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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What a finish! - Spirit take Memorial Cup with late winner

Josh Bloom enjoys the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Josh Bloom delivered a Hollywood ending to the Saginaw Spirit and to his CHL career.

On Sunday night, the host Spirit found themselves locked in a 3-3 tie with the OHL champion London Knights in the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament at the DOW Event Centre in Saginaw, Michigan. With less than 25 seconds remaining in the third period, Spirit defenceman Jorian Donovan fired a point shot on the London goal that resulted in a net scramble.

During the net scramble, Bloom, who is a 20-year-old left-winger playing in the final game of his major junior career, found a loose puck in the crease of the London net. He backhanded the puck underneath a fallen Knights defenceman into the net to put the Spirit up 4-3 with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third.

After Bloom’s goal went into the net, the tournament game high crowd of 5,373 spectators exploded into joyful delirium except for the healthy contingent of Knights supporters. The cheers hit another level as the Spirit killed of the remaining time in the frame to finalize a 4-3 final score in their favour.

The Spirit players poured on to the ice to celebrate winning the Memorial Cup and becoming CHL champions. The win marked the first championship for the Spirit franchise since it relocated to Saginaw before the start of the 2002-03 campaign.

The Spirit franchise can trace its history back to 1943. It existed in the Ontario centres of St. Catharines from 1943-76, Niagara Falls from 1976 to 1982 and North Bay from 1982 to 2002. The franchise previously won the Memorial Cup on two occasions in 1954 and 1960 as the St. Catherines Teepees.

Sunday’s win allowed the Spirit to get the last laugh on the Knights for the 2023-24 campaign. Throughout the regular season, the two clubs battled for first overall in the OHL.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 50-14-1-3 record and were ranked second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Spirit finished second overall in the OHL two points behind the Knights with a 50-16-1-1 record. Saginaw was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

During the regular season, the Spirit and Knights faced each other four times and each side came away with two wins. The two squads would meet in the OHL’s Western Conference Championship Series, and the Knights took the best-of-seven set 4-2.

Last Wednesday, the Spirit and Knights collided in the final round robin contest of the Memorial Cup tournament. The two sides were locked in a 2-2 tie until the Knights scored twice in the final two minutes of the third to claim a 4-2 victory.

Josh Bloom (#17) had three points on Sunday. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

That win gave the Knights a first place finish in the round robin standings and a berth into the event’s title game. The Spirit romped past the Moose Jaw Warriors 7-1 in the tournament’s semifinal game on Friday to set up the 12^th encounter of the 2023-24 campaign with the Knights this time in the Memorial Cup title game.

The Spirit finished the tournament posting a 4-1 record while the Knights wrapped up the event with a 3-1 mark. London saw an overall win streak of eight games going back to the OHL Playoffs and a seven game winning streak at the Memorial Cup tournament come to an end with Sunday’s loss to the Spirit.

For the longest time in Sunday’s clash, it appeared the Spirit were going to win without any need for last second dramatics. The host squad came out flying in the first period jumped out to a 2-0 lead, while holding a 13-1 edge in shots on goal.

Star centre Owen Beck scored both of the Knights goals in the opening 20 minutes, while Bloom picked up assists on both tallies. Beck roof home his first tally to the top right corner of the London net at the 9:07 mark of the opening frame. His shot came from inside the left faceoff circle in the London zone shortly after an offensive zone draw.

Beck scored his second goal on the power-play one-timing home a shot from the right faceoff dot in the London zone to the top right corner of the Knights net with 44.3 seconds remaining in the first to give the Spirit their two-goal edge.

While the Spirit were energized in the opening 20 minutes, the Knights looked flat and proceeded to look frustrated at the end of the stanza. Beck’s power-play goal inside the final minute of the first period came from Knights 19-year-old left-winger Landon Sim being given a major penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct with 62 seconds remaining in the first.

Sim was assessed those infractions after he elbowed Spirit star offensive-defenceman Zayne Parekh on the chin. Parekh was helped to the dressing after being down on the ice after Sim’s hit. The Spirit blue-liner returned to play the rest of the contest after the first intermission.

The officials went to a video review to give Sim a major penalty.

At the start of the second, it looked the Knights were going to continue to sink in quicksand. At the 7:47 mark of the frame, Knights star left-winger Denver Barkey gave the puck away in the centre ice zone to Spirit standout centre Joey Willis.

Willis jetted into the London zone on a contested breakaway and put a backhand shot home to the top right corner of the London net to push the Spirit advantage out to 3-0. At the time of Willis’s goal, the Spirit held a 3-0 lead and a 20-1 edge in shots on goal.

Josh Bloom (#17) reacts to his winning goal. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Out of nowhere, the Knights started to work themselves back into the contest. Just under two minutes after Willis’s goal, Knights star import right-winger Kasper Halttunen broke into the Spirit zone down the left wing on a two-on-one rush.

He wristed a shot into the top left corner of the Spirit net to cut the host’s lead to 3-1. Halttunen’s tally came on just the second shot on goal for the Knights.

When the second period came to a close, the Spirit were still up 3-1 and held a 24-6 edge in shots on goal.

The Knights continued to rally in the third. At the 7:48 mark of the frame, Knights star right-winger Easton Cowan slipped home from the top of the right faceoff circle a shot through a screen to trim the Spirit lead to 3-2.

With 9:44 remaining in the third, Knights star offensive-defenceman Sam Dickinson scored the equalizer that forced a 3-3 tie on a three-on-one rush. Dickinson received a pass on the left wing from Knights overage power forward Max McCue and drilled the game-tying goal into the Saginaw net. The Knights third goal came on their 10^th shot on net of the contest.

That set the stage for the dramatics with Bloom’s winner coming with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third.

Andrew Oke stopped 10 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Spirit. Michael Simpson turned away 27 shots to take the setback in net for the Knights.

The Knights have won the Memorial Cup twice in their history coming in 2005 and 2016.

Beck was named the MVP of the tournament claiming the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy. He recorded four goals, one assist and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in the five games the Spirit played at the tournament.

On top of the tournament MVP honour, Beck was named to the tournament all-star team along with Spirit offensive-defenceman Rodwin Dionicio.

The Spirit pictured with the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Eric Young/CHL)

Halttunen and Simpson were also named to the tournament all-star team, while Simpson was named the event’s most outstanding goaltender. Cowan finished up as the leading scorer for the tournament with eight points coming off three goals and five assists.

Moose Jaw Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk was named to the tournament all-star team along with Warriors star centre Brayden Yager. Mateychuk captured the award as the event’s most sportsmanlike player.

Overall, Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game belonged to the Spirit. They capped their championship win with an unforgettable franchise moment courtesy of Bloom’s winner in the final seconds of the game.

Warriors’ Firkus, Mateychuk named CHL first team all-stars

Jagger Firkus was named a CHL first team all-star.

Jagger Firkus and Denton Mateychuk each got one more accolade on Sunday for an unforgettable 2023-24 campaign.

The two stars from the Moose Jaw Warriors were both CHL first team all-stars with Firkus taking a spot at forward and Mateychuk a spot on defence. Both played key roles in helping the Warriors win their first WHL championship in team history in 2023-24.

Firkus, who was named the CHL’s player of the year, topped the CHL in scoring with 126 points coming off 61 goals and 65 assists to go with a plus-31 rating in the plus-minus department in 63 regular season games. Mateychuk, who is the Warriors captain, collected 75 points coming off 17 goals and 58 assists to go with a plus-35 rating in 52 regular season games. He was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs in the Warriors run to winning the league title.

The WHL had one other played named a CHL first team all-star as Zac Funk of the Prince George Cougars took up a spot at forward. The WHL had two players named CHL second team all-stars in defeceman Carter Yakemchuk of the Calgary Hitmen and forward Berkly Catton of the Spokane Chiefs.

Denton Mateychuk was named a CHL first team all-star.

The CHL third team all-stars from the WHL included goaltender Harrison Meneghin of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, defenceman Luca Cagnoni of the Portland Winterhawks and forward Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers.

McKenna was also named to the CHL all-rookie team along with two other WHL players in defenceman Tarin Smith of the Everett Silvertips and forward Terik Parascak of the Prince George Cougars.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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