Before a packed house at the RBC Centre Thursday night a
lone goal in the second period by the London Jr Knights gave
the Knights a 1 - 0 win and a one point lead in the Alliance
AAA Playdown final series against the Lambton Jr. Sting.
The game could
have gone either way as both sides were evenly matched going
back and forth throughout the game. Evan Hogg scored
for London on a scramble in front of the net and the loose
puck was shoved over the line.
"It has been the
same all series, tight checking and we hit a post and we had
a couple scoring chances." said head coach Jeff Perry. "We
just got to capitalize on our chances. They were able to get
one by our goalie and unfortunately we did didn't get one
past theirs."
Prior to the
goal in the second period Hogg was awarded a penalty
shot but was denied by Lambton netminder Kaden Fulcher.
Despite the loss Fulcher was solid in net making several key
saves. Zack Weir took the win in net for London.
"Both our
goalies have been very good for us and certainly it was a
big point for us in the game to swing the momentum one way
or the other." Perry said "I thought Kaden played a
great game, he gave us the opportunity to win we just got to
bear down and capitalize on our chances."
Lambton went
zero for two on power play opportunities. Other than
the penalty shot, London had zero power play opportunities.
At the sound of the final buzzer tempers flared and several
scuffles broke out. Lambton's will be missing one player
next game who received a one game suspension. A London
player who left the bench during the scuffle took a three
game suspension for leaving the bench along with London's
Coach taking a three game for the player leaving.
The Jr. Knights
leads the series 7 points to 5 in the best of seven series.
The two teams meet for game seven on Saturday morning at
11:15 in London. Lambton is now in a must win
situation or their season will be over.
"I got to throw
the kitchen sink at them now because it is down to the old
cliché of do or die." said Perry "We'll juggle things
around a little bit maybe lineup wise and shift our
lines around a bit and see if we can ignite a little
offence."
A win will bring
the two teams back to the RBC Centre on Sunday for a 4:00 pm
game on Rink 2.
