Achi news desk-
The Memorial Cup tournament is often called a “once in a lifetime” experience by the players who get to take part in it.
For the London Knights franchise, this will be their sixth appearance since 2005.
That year, the Knights won their first Ontario Hockey League Championship. The ultimate prize was then taken with a 4-0 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Rimouski Oceanic in the final of the Memorial Cup. London also hosted the event.
The Knights also hosted in 2014 when the Edmonton Oil Kings defeated the Guelph Storm in the final.
Their other three trips came in 2016 when Matthew Tkachuk’s overtime winner led London to a 3-2 victory over Rouyn-Noranda in the final in Red Deer, Alta., as the Knights won their second Memorial Cup title.
London also made back-to-back appearances in 2012 when they lost in overtime to the host Shawinigan Cataracts and in 2013 when they went as far as the semifinals in Saskatoon, Sask.
The field almost always consists of three league champions and a host club built to compete with each of them. That’s exactly what has happened in 2024 with the Knights, the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs and the host Saginaw Spirit.
What is brand new this time is how much rest each team has had. For the first time in Memorial Cup history, each league champion won their championship series in four straight games. Drummondville last played on May 14. London and Moose Jaw won their league titles on May 15 and the Spirit have been without games since May 5 when they were eliminated in six games in the Western Conference Championship.
The Knights will open their tournament schedule on Day Two against the Voltigeurs.
London vs Drummondville – May 25 – Pregame at 3:30 on 980 CFPL
What makes the Voltigeurs tick?
Sensational defensive play and a star goalkeeper with game breakers up front who attack fast and hard.
Riley Mercer turned heads in the QMJHL playoffs in net for Drummondville when he posted a .934 save percentage and posted the longest shutout streak in league history in the postseason going 174 minutes and 33 seconds. Making that even more impressive is the fact that most of it came against the QMJHL’s best team, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Mercer is the younger brother of Dawson Mercer who spent one of his QMJHL seasons in Drummondville and is now a member of the New Jersey Devils.
In front of the Bay Roberts, NL native are some award-winning defenders.
Vsevolod Komarov was the overall QMJHL Defenseman of the Year, while senior Mikael Diotte won the Kevin Lowe Trophy as the QMJHL’s best defensive defenceman. Add in the consistency of Marc-Olivier Beaudry and Matteo Rotondi and there are four stellar stars eating up minutes at all.
The defense corps also helped their team win without first rounder NHL (Utah) Mavric Lamoureux.
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The first thing that jumps out about the forwards is their ability to compete. It’s like you wind them up on the bench and release them on the ice.
Ethan Gauthier (Denis), Alexis Gendron (Martin) and Lukas Landry (Eric) have fathers who played in the National Hockey League. Martin Gendron crossed paths with Knights head coach Dale Hunter in Washington.
Gauthier is a catalyst and Gendron is a shooter.
They are joined by the captain, Luke Woodworth, who grew up playing with Landon Sim from London in Nova Scotia and mainly against him along with Sam Oliver and Justin Cote who know how to score.
Kassim Gaudette and Mikael Huchette provide the kind of leadership you can’t add to a roster every day. They won the Memorial Cup with Komarov and the Quebec Remparts last year in Kamloops, BC Gaudette was Quebec’s captain when this season started.
Peter Repcik can compare notes with Rusland Gazizov of the Knights. Both were selected in the 2021 CHL Import Draft and both had breakout years this season.
There is also youthful energy and also redemption stories in winger Noah Reinhart and defender Yan Gaudet. Both hail from Ontario and went undrafted in the OHL Priority Selection and then forged a path that led them to Drummondville.
To beat the Voltigeurs you have to match their level of competition, be patient trying to pick apart their defense and then score whenever you get a chance against Mercer. The recipe is not an easy one but at this level it never is.
London vs. Moose Jaw – May 27 – Pregame at 7 pm, on 980 CFPL
The Moose Jaw debut
The Moose Jaw Warriors joined the Western Hockey League in 1984-85 when Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers reached their western state peak and this season was the first time the Warriors built a championship team of their own.
And this one is built to win.
They are coached by Mark O’Leary who played with London assistant coach Rick Steadman on the Guelph Storm in 2004-05.
Moose Jaw is deep in the middle with Brayden Yager, Matthew Savoie and Braden Schuurman. Savoie was a big acquisition this year for the Warriors from the Wenatchee Wild. Moose Jaw sent seven draft picks including two first rounds to Wenatchee for the first overall pick in the WHL Bantam Draft. Savoie was selected ninth overall by the Buffalo Sabers in 2022. He also played with London’s Easton Cowan and Oliver Bonk at the World Junior Hockey Championship as a member of Team Canada.
Center Jagger Firkus mirrored Cowan as the WHL player of the year and Cowan seems to present all kinds of challenges with his skill and determination.
Overager Atlee Calvert is born and raised from Moose Jaw, Sask. he has been through the entire climb of his club and is a pass-first playmaker who gets to the dirty spots.
Martin Rysavy brings size, strength and World Junior experience. He went head to head with the Knights’ Kasper Halttunen in a thrilling 8-5 bronze medal match at this year’s World Junior tournament. Rysavy is a preview of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
On defense, Denton Mateychuk will quickly become known as one of the most dangerous players in this year’s Memorial Cup tournament. He also played for Team Canada and was the complete package of offense, defense and leadership.
He plays with the hero Lucas Brenton.
Kalem Parker is physical and Vojtech Port is consistent and solid and Aiden Ziprick and Cosmo Wilson bring great names and are underrated in the way they limit what opposing teams can do when they are on the ice.
In goal is Jackson Ungar who is a first year starter for the Warriors but a dynamite man at that.
Ungar is calm and cool between the pipes and still coming up against goalies in the WHL playoffs who could have had longer resumes but Ungar continued to outscore them in net.
To beat Moose Jaw you have to contain what they can do on offense, which is a lot to ask. You have to be aware of Mateychuk every time he is on the ice, and find a way to defeat their effort from the net ​​out.
London vs. Saginaw – May 29 – Pregame at 7 pm, on 980 CFPL
Don’t sleep on Saginaw
During the Western Conference Championship Knights defenseman Oliver Bonk said the Spirit had “more skill” than London. The Knights had to find a way to win, and they did in six hard-fought games.
The Spirit will have learned from the last experience of that Conference. They will have seen the level it took to beat their very talented line-up and will bring that knowledge to this tournament in front of their fans and with the effort to join the other three teams they compete in against as a championship team.
Saginaw hasn’t been away long enough to worry too much about rust and in fact they should be fully healthy which means OHL Defenseman of the Year and number one goaltender Andrew Oke will have time to come much closer to 100 percent.
The Spirit still boasts a line that could play on most American Hockey League teams led by Josh Bloom, Owen Beck and Strathroy, Ont., native Hunter Haight.
Matyas Sapovaliv is a second round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights and Michael Misa will have his eyes on him as one of the top prospects for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
Ethan Hay is great as a spot-up killer and Calem Mangone has been clutch for Saginaw off the top two lines.
Defensively, Parekh and Braden Hache are a perfect complement. Parekh on offense and Hache as a stay at home defender.
They are 1 and 1A with Jorian Donovan and James Guo and Roddy Dionicio will be one of the most athletic and unpredictable players on the ice.
The tandem of Oke and Nolan Lalonde in net provides great stability.
It is not difficult to make clear arguments for any of the four teams as favourites.
That’s one of the really beautiful things about the Memorial Cup tournament.
You never know what you’re going to get. All that’s left to do is drop the puck.
