Ty Rattie's tournament leading 5th goal lifted his Portland Winterhawks to a 2-1 win over the London Knights in the Memorial Cup semi-final. They'll play Halifax for all the marbles on Sunday.
(Click here for the full Memorial Cup blog including audio from the semi-final)
"Derrick Pouliot made a nice pinch and kind of kept it in,” Rattie said. “I walked to the middle and I just threw to the net. I know (Jake Patterson) is a smaller goalie so I tried to get it up high and lucky enough it went in.”
Rattie has been dynamite for Portland all tournament and found a way in what was a very tight checking game.
“It takes time to tire their team out,” said Portland forward Nicolas Petan, who had 2 assists in the game. “They're a very good trapping team. The first period it was tough, but halfway through the second we kind of got on our horse there and kept going.”
London Coach Dale Hunter blamed turnovers for Portland building some momentum in the second period. The Winterhawks felt they were starting to tire the Knights out.
“I thought we wore them down a little bit,” said Portland Coach Travis Green. “The last ten minutes of the second period, you could see some guys were getting a little tired off the cycle. We were really good down low in their end and started to get some chances. We started to simplify our game a little bit. I thought we were too fancy early in the game, but that is the way our team plays.”
There were tense moments for Portland as London came very close in the final minutes. Rattie couldn't finish a chance at an empty-net and the Knights came very close on chances from Olli Maatta and Bo Horvat among others.
“They put a lot of pressure on us,” Carruth said. “Our guys did great. They blocked shots, took sticks away, took time and space away, let me see the puck.. I thought our guys responded well.”
London had found ways to win games down to the wire all season and it just wasn't to be this time.
“Realistically it came down to one shot, one scoring chance...” said London forward Max Domi. “We just couldn't get the bounces we want at the end. Hey that's hockey.”
The Knights were proud of the way they bounced back after a 9-2 loss to Halifax in their final round robin game. They beat Saskatoon 6-1 in the tie-breaker and really tested Portland.
“After the Halifax game I think some people might have counted us out.” said Knights Captain Scott Harrington. “We came back yesterday with a great performance and I thought we had another solid game tonight. They're obviously a great team. They were built for this year. To lose 2-1 it's heartbreaking, but that's the way it goes sometimes.”
London will get another shot at this tournament next year as they're hosing the 2014 Memorial Cup.
The first period was a feeling out process between the two clubs. It was very similar to the first period between the two in their round robin game as neither team played with much of an edge and avoided making any big mistakes.
London didn't show any early signs of fatigue after playing an elimination game the night before. The Knights actually outshot Portland 7-2 in the early minutes and ended the period with a 14-9 advantage on the shot clock. Carruth looked sharp between the pipes for Portland and was directing his rebounds well.
It was a good period for London's brothers Matt and Ryan Rupert as they created some havoc in the Portland zone. The Knights were able to get some pucks on goal and keep the Winterhawks pinned during a couple of spurts. Portland didn't show much offensively in the first and like in the Saskatoon game the night before Patterson wasn't tested much in London's goal.
The second period started much the same as the first without much action and both teams limited their mistakes. London again had the edge in play and had the best chances of the early part of the period. Both Ferry and Horvat had good looks from high percentage shooting lanes and couldn't finish. Portland was starting to look frustrated as they couldn't get any speed through the neutral zone.
The Knights got the first power play of the game as Leipsic went off for checking from behind. It didn't take long for Domi to take advantage. He won a puck battle with Seth Jones at the side of the Portland net before playing the puck back to the point and getting a return feed as he cut in front to beat Carruth. Domi actually fanned on his first attempt which may have helped him catch Carruth off guard. It was his first of the tournament.
The play really started when it looked like Jones had taken the puck away from Domi, but the big defenceman didn't move it quick enough and Domi stole it right back. Jones struggled with the puck at times during the game. He had one bad turnover at the London blue line that turned into some extended Knights pressure, lost the puck on the Domi goal and had a hard time on their power play early in the third period.
Portland responded 2:08 after London scored when Tyler Wotherspoon's point shot somehow found a way through Patterson with a couple of Winterhawks going to the net. The goal gave Portland life and they were flying through the final five minutes of the second period.
London locked things down again early in the third period and seemed to get back to their game. However, with Portland all it takes is a little bit of room for them to do the damage they need. Pouliot had a terrific game for the Winterhawks and was their best defenceman on the night according to Rattie. He held the puck in for the Portland sniper and Rattie made no mistake ripping it to the top of the net to give Portland the lead they needed.
That forced London to change their game and for a while it seemed like they would have trouble generating anything on a stingy Portland group. The Knights found an extra gear in the final minutes and came very close to tying the game up. Carruth had to make a couple of huge pad saves and made sure his team earned the spot in the championship game against Halifax on Sunday.
The final will be a re-match of the most anticipated game of the round robin. It's a battle of the top three prospects for this year's NHL draft with Jones from Portland against Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin for Halifax.
Saturday is an off day at the tournament, but the CHL is holding their awards banquet. Swift Current Broncos Captain Adam Lowry is nominated for Player of the Year.
Click here for the boxscore
Thu, Apr 25, 6:00 AM
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