London Knights 2023-2024 Season Thread (Part 8)

[Rubbers29]

Waited to post because I was grumpy. A little less now.
Full marks to Saginaw on the win, they shut down London for 3/4 of that game and we were lucky it was that close. Not a fan of splitting 2 games with a team, out scoring them in those 2 games and they’re they champions, but that’s how the tournament is set up and Saginaw won when they needed to.
My only real issue is more of a season long issue.
Now that Saginaw has won the cup on Parekh has secured his draft spot, will the league stop coddling him?
Delayed suspension to let him play in the top prospects game,
identical hit to the one Lawrence made on him gets him a 2 min penalty and Larry 5 games.
Cross checks McCue in the face in the round robin to the point it breaks his tooth, 4 mins for high sticking, meanwhile Boulton gets suspended for some pushing and shoving in the tunnel.
And then in the last minute tonight London’s most dangerous scorer this playoffs has the puck all alone ready to break out of the zone with only a flat footed defender between him and a game winning scoring opportunity, only problem is his stick is still under Parekh’s arm from when he pulled it out of his hands in front of the net, so instead Haultinen has to go to the bench, Saginaw gets the puck back and scores off London’s next clearing attempt.
I know it was the final and the refs put their whistles away but London took 2 penalties for blatant fouls, and that one was pretty blatant.

All and all a great year, I honestly thought they were a mid pack team at best in November, instead they gave us one of the best seasons we have seen in years. Hopefully they can find a way to get back there again soon.

 

[Fastpace]

London plays these one game take all short tourney finals too conservatively, it's not by accident they are 2 for 6 at the Memorial Cup tourneys. Remembering 2012 losing it to a team playing their 4th game in 5 days, and how they brought in coach Dupont to help out in 2014. Dupont's winning team played with a lot of emotion that carried them through this one game take all, unfortunately that kind of game plan is very uncharismatic of the Knights to do, it wouldn't have never worked anyway. In 2016, they played a very similar game to this one in Saginaw, came late to tie it and won it in OT. In 2019 after taking a 3-0 lead in the series, changed their game plan to a more conservative style for game 4 and 5, they let Guelph have a second life in that series, and they never looked back after. We see the kind of games when the bottom teams beat the very top teams, that's no flukes, it's preparedness.

Why holding them up, there are no tomorrows anyway. Saginaw played exactly how they were supposed to, they were an inferior team but played that one game take all to perfection, they are deserving of their cup victory

 

[Otto]

Waited to post because I was grumpy. A little less now.
Full marks to Saginaw on the win, they shut down London for 3/4 of that game and we were lucky it was that close. Not a fan of splitting 2 games with a team, out scoring them in those 2 games and they’re they champions, but that’s how the tournament is set up and Saginaw won when they needed to.
My only real issue is more of a season long issue.
Now that Saginaw has won the cup on Parekh has secured his draft spot, will the league stop coddling him?
Delayed suspension to let him play in the top prospects game,
identical hit to the one Lawrence made on him gets him a 2 min penalty and Larry 5 games.
Cross checks McCue in the face in the round robin to the point it breaks his tooth, 4 mins for high sticking, meanwhile Boulton gets suspended for some pushing and shoving in the tunnel.
And then in the last minute tonight London’s most dangerous scorer this playoffs has the puck all alone ready to break out of the zone with only a flat footed defender between him and a game winning scoring opportunity, only problem is his stick is still under Parekh’s arm from when he pulled it out of his hands in front of the net, so instead Haultinen has to go to the bench, Saginaw gets the puck back and scores off London’s next clearing attempt.
I know it was the final and the refs put their whistles away but London took 2 penalties for blatant fouls, and that one was pretty blatant.

All and all a great year, I honestly thought they were a mid pack team at best in November, instead they gave us one of the best seasons we have seen in years. Hopefully they can find a way to get back there again soon.

The difference is, the Memorial Cup reviews/suspensions are handled by a group represented by the NHL, not the OHL or CHL

 

[crowncarrier]

Inexplicable how London was unable to get any shots tonight. Literally halfway through the game and they had ONE (1) shot on net.

In a championship game? That’s embarrassing. Totally inexcusable.

The Saginaw goalie was God-awful and if London could have managed just 20 or 25 shots, they likely win this one comfortably in the 6-3 or 7-3 range.

First of all the shot count on Londons end was off...they had more then was counted but not alot more. In the first period I don't know if I have seen a team whiff on as many shots or miss the net like the Knights did. Also, Saginaw had 7 mins of pp time in the first and the first part of the second period. And you have to consider quality of the shots. I do not think Oake was god awful at all.....the three goals were scored by Easton Cowan, Kasper Halttunen, and Sam Dickinson who are outstanding hockey players. And Cowan had an empty net with about 130 left in the third but I think the pass was behind him a bit. It was hard to see as I was at the other end.

 

[Knights77]

Shades of Shawinigan again…Dale exhausts his top lines. Why is Brusztewicz good enough to beat Oshawa but not good enough to play against Saginaw? The way the boys looked dominant against them was to be physical and get PP’s. Fourth line can generate that. Tonight, no PP’s. They didn’t earn any. Shots on goal were embarrassing. Feel bad for the boys but they didn’t deserve to win. What a night to play your worst game of the year. Turnovers, no physicality, no desire (save a couple min).
Parekh looked ridiculous laying like a starfish on the ice like he died, and of course he is back next period.

 

[Fergus31]

lots of posts hit the nail on the head.

@Rubbers29 , you are bang-on regarding Parekh. If he were a Knight, this thread would be 50 pages longer with OHL fans whining conspiracy.

I’ll add that the Sting fans wearing those anti London shirts are complete and total losers. Saginaw Spirit (founded 2002) has a championship before you guys, remember that. Will never spend a nickel on the SSEC again or whatever the hell it’s called after last year’s blacklisting. Eat ass.

Other than that, it was a great week. Met some great people. Saginaw Spirit dominated tonight and are 2024 Memorial Cup Champions. I hope the Spirit fans enjoy this for a long time!

 

[Fergus31]

Shades of Shawinigan again…Dale exhausts his top lines. Why is Brusztewicz good enough to beat Oshawa but not good enough to play against Saginaw? The way the boys looked dominant against them was to be physical and get PP’s. Fourth line can generate that. Tonight, no PP’s. They didn’t earn any. Shots on goal were embarrassing. Feel bad for the boys but they didn’t deserve to win. What a night to play your worst game of the year. Turnovers, no physicality, no desire (save a couple min).
Parekh looked ridiculous laying like a starfish on the ice like he died, and of course he is back next period.

Only thing I liked about Dale tonight was using O’Reilly in important faceoffs. He aborted the Cowan/Barkey combo after Sag went up 3-0. You just can’t have as many no shows in a championship game as London had tonight. Coaching be damned.

 

[Fergus31]

Kamloops won 3/4 in the 90s. Spitfires won 3/9 from 2009-2017. It’s a heck of a hard championship to win and those teams always remind me of how special they were. Just trying to give some perspective so Knights fans aren’t too down. They did win the OHL championship. And there’s always next year. Congratulations again to Saginaw for pulling this off. Not easy at all.

 

[M21]

The Knights are OHL champions. 68 regular season games and 18 playoff games. I hope they are proud of that. Their fans should be too.

 

[Buttsy]

Congrats on a great season you got beat by a quality team assembled to host and win a Memorial Cup. No shame quite the opposite actually. See ya next season ....

 

[LDN]

We better be in Rimouski next year and actually win it.

 

[ArielNederland]

We better be in Rimouski next year and actually win it.

might not win league with the players that are graduating. Can't win everything.

 

[EvenSteven]

Credit where credit is due. Great season by the Knights. That being said, it was so close late in the third. Had that pass out front to Cowen not been in his skates, we’re looking at a different outcome.

That’s how close this was.

 

[Otto]

We better be in Rimouski next year and actually win it.

Or else what?

 

[ohloutsider]

Kamloops won 3/4 in the 90s. Spitfires won 3/9 from 2009-2017. It’s a heck of a hard championship to win and those teams always remind me of how special they were. Just trying to give some perspective so Knights fans aren’t too down. They did win the OHL championship. And there’s always next year. Congratulations again to Saginaw for pulling this off. Not easy at all.

Spitfires in 88 went 12-0 in the playoffs. 3-0 in the round Robin and then lost the championship game. That sucked but they were still a very impressive team.

 

[BobHockey]

Spitfires in 88 went 12-0 in the playoffs. 3-0 in the round Robin and then lost the championship game. That sucked but they were still a very impressive team.

If I recall, didn't they also have a big lead in that game and Medicine Hat came back ? Was that the year?

 

[7Wacked]

Still slightly bitter about last night's results but again it was another great season to be a Knights fan. We made it interesting right down to the final buzzer. Can't ask for more. (except maybe a win)
On to next year.
GO KNIGHTS GO!

 

[Jawk]

Agree... Jr.B has a round robin then the two best teams play a series in the finals... or at least they use to....

GOJHL has 3 conferences. Each conference plays 3 rounds to get a champ. 3 Champs play round robin to get 2 teams into the 4th round for the championship.

I like this idea in theory, but it adds all sorts of $$$ and travel and it would be adding a full 5th round. Not sure it's practical.

 

[LDN]

Or else what?

I just hope we get there and get over the hump. This core needs 1

 

[davewheeler]

GOJHL has 3 conferences. Each conference plays 3 rounds to get a champ. 3 Champs play round robin to get 2 teams into the 4th round for the championship.

I like this idea in theory, but it adds all sorts of $$$ and travel and it would be adding a full 5th round. Not sure it's practical.

it would just be 2 more games... I will say the single elimination definitely adds to the excitement tho

 

[ArielNederland]

I just hope we get there and get over the hump. This core needs 1

Not really. Memorial Cup isn't necessarily won by the best team because the only things teams need to do is get hot at the right time. Whereas league championships, teams have to be consistently on their game. Imo memorial cup doesn't necessarily say who's the best team.

 

[BobHockey]

First of all, I was a doubter of this team in the Fall. They turned out to be one of the best Knights teams and rank up there with the 2012 and 2016 teams. Congratulations to the boys, coaching and training staff and all those assoicated with the Knights. It was a great season.

As far as last night:

Full marks to Saginaw for a well executed game plan. They won by the skin of their teeth despite London playing one of their poorest games of the season but they deserve the one game knockout win.

Michael Simpson was the best player for the Knights last night and kept them in the game when it could easily gotten away from them early. He was a great acquisition.

I don't blame the players as much as the coaching staff for what went on the first two periods of last night's game. The team came out nervous and flat in the first and were rattled after going down 3-0. I expected Dale to make some adjustments after the first but it seemed they just kept playing the same game plan. In my opionion, a lot of the outcome falls on the shoulders of the coaching staff.

A little bit of puck luck with one minute left could have turned the game the other way. Saginaw got that puck luck on their 4th goal.

Finally, Sim's major was deserved in that he contacted Parekh's jaw with his elbow. That said, Parekh totally embellished the injury (despite a little blood which could easily happen from a glancing blow) and came out to finsish the game. I truly hope the medical staff of the Spirit felt confident to let him continue and if so speaks a lot to the embellishment. Very good player who will need to clean up this aspect of his game. At higher levels bigger faster tougher players will not put up with that nonsense.

 

[EvenSteven]

GOJHL has 3 conferences. Each conference plays 3 rounds to get a champ. 3 Champs play round robin to get 2 teams into the 4th round for the championship.

I like this idea in theory, but it adds all sorts of $$$ and travel and it would be adding a full 5th round. Not sure it's practical.

I like that idea too. But in years where the final two play a seven game series after the round robin, it wouldn’t be ideal if both teams were from outside the host league. Drummondville and Moose Jaw in this year’s case.

 

[davewheeler]

I just hope we get there and get over the hump. This core needs 1

I'm not sure if the core will be back next year.... who knows... if they are theres no doubt they will be back.

 

[Ken Yates]

Proud of Knights effort in third period. OHL championship i will argue is a larger task than winning this Cup. The teams Knights went through were better than these Cup teams. Great Job Knights!!