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London Knights win their first ever OHL championship
Written by: Jason Ahrens on 05/15/2005 
Ottawa gave London a tough fight in this series and did a number of things right. For the first eight periods they managed to force the Knights into a number of turnovers and turned them into scoring chances and goals. They held London’s top tandem of Perry and Dylan Hunter (BUF) in check when playing five on five. Their special teams outperformed London as Ottawa was seven for 27 with the man advantage and they scored one short-handed goal, while London was only four for 25 on the power play, which was a far cry from their usual percentage of close to 30 percent. Ottawa even got to Knights starting goalie Adam Dennis who had been virtually invincible to this point. They even managed to win a game in London, handing London their second loss of the season on home ice. Yet the Knights won in five games and had a pretty easy go of it over the last seven periods of the series.
In Game 1 London won 4-2. The shots were even in the game at 43 apiece and the special teams were the difference in the game, London was three for five on the power play, while Ottawa was two for six. There was a big drop in the intensity and physical play from the London-Kitchener series, but it didn’t take long for Perry to be targeted by the 67s and it was over age defenseman Brad Staubitz who drew the task of battling Perry. Staubitz was acquired from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds earlier in the year and had seen a lot of Perry over the last four years as the Greyhounds are in the same conference as London. The two players were involved in a number of collisions and Staubitz took a stick penalty against Perry that led to a 5-3 power play advantage for London and it resulted in a the game-winning goal.
Game 2 saw London storm back from a 2-1 deficit, but their vaunted power play gave up a short handed goal, and the game changed dramatically from that point on. The Knights lost their composure and took several penalties and the 67s power play took it to them, scoring three times on 11 chances in the game and they won the game 6-3, outscoring the Knights 4-0 in the third period to hand the Knights their only second loss on home ice all season.
The game marked the return of Brandon Prust (CAL) from suspension, but he showed a lack of discipline and ended up in the box for eight minutes plus one 10-minute misconduct. Dennis played a poor game for London in Game 2; he gave up two soft goals, the 67s forwards driving the net rattled him, and he took a costly penalty. On the game winning goal he was tied up with a 67s forward who crashed in him and the referee let the play go on for several seconds while they were tangled up in the crease, once they separated, Dennis was still agitated that there was no penalty and wasn’t set when the 67s made a great cross ice pass for the go ahead goal. He also took a penalty to put the team down two men down which Ottawa capitalized on and was lucky not to take another when he gave Mark Mancari (BUF) a vicious whack in front of the net. Mancari had the last laugh as the London native scored two goals in this game to lead his team to victory. Once again the 67s managed 43 shots and several great scoring chances, which was quite remarkable against a stingy Knights team.
Game 3 was in Ottawa and there was plenty of goalie controversy. The Knights complained to the OHL about an overdrive blade on the skates of 67s goalie Danny Battochio and the league forced him to remove it. This blade gives butterfly goalies an edge in their lateral movement, as it allows them to push off when their regular skate blade is not touching the ice, but the Knights claim they did it for “safety reasons”. Whether this affected his game is debatable, but he did give up five goals in a 5-4 loss and the game winner on a long shot by Knights Captain Danny Syvret was one that Battochio would have liked to have back. The Knights blew two different two-goal leads and after the 67s made it 4-3, they pulled starter Dennis who had been in net for the last six games. Gerald Coleman (TB) came in and gave up the tying goal on a power play deflection, but held on for the win. The 67s had been a perfect 8-0 on home ice up to this point. Forward Josh Beaulieu of the Knights returned to action after serving a five-game suspension he incurred in the Rangers series. Overage defenseman Bryan Rodney also returned in this game after missing six games due to injury.
Game 4 saw Ottawa lose their second playoff game in a row on home ice, 4-1. Like they did after the Syvret goal in Game 3, the Knights shut the door on the 67s once they built up a lead. The 67s couldn’t break out of their own end and had too much space between their forwards and defense, giving the Knights plenty of time to jump into the lanes and break up long passes. The Knights managed to capitalize on turnovers to score a couple of other long bombs on Battochio on shots by Drew Larman and Schremp. Schremp scored a couple of third period goals that really broke the backs of the 67s. For the first time in the series, neither team scored on the power play as London went 0-6 and Ottawa went 0-2.
The Knights took Game 5 with a score of 6-2 and despite the early lead the 67s got on a goal by Bryan Bickell (CHI), it didn’t take long for the Knights to show that there would be no doubt on who was going to win this game. They were determined to win their first championship in front of their home crowd. The 67s inserted a couple of different players in their lineup, they tinkered with their lines a bit and even tried rolling two lines for short stretches to create some offense, but nothing worked for them in this game. Rodney was fantastic and looked fully recovered from his injury and scored two goals and had an assist. The Knights power play went 0-6, but they dominated when the teams played four against four. Schremp had a big night, scoring a goal and adding three assists. The Knights scored a couple of goals where the whipped the puck around the offensive zone leaving the 67s in total confusion before the puck ended up in the net. Once again the Knights dominated on faceoffs against the 67s. Forward Trevor Kell (CHI) returned after missing six games with a hand injury.
This was essentially a tale of two series, the first eight periods there was little to differentiate between the two teams and the outcome was very much in doubt. But something happened in the second period intermission in Game 3 and with the score tied 4-4 the Knights finally realized that they were in a series and turned up the intensity and the 67s couldn’t match it and many of their players just withered as the series went on. The Knights started executing defensively and the 67s couldn’t adjust to the trap when it was set.
Chris Hulit led the 67s in playoff scoring after the first three rounds, but the right-winger only managed one goal in this series and was –5. Julian Talbot picked up three points in the series but was –6. Lukas Kaspar (SJ) picked up four points but was a –8. His linemates Jeremy Akeson and Jakub Petruzalek (NYR) were –6 and –7 respectively. As a line they created their share of scoring chances, but were very weak on the back check and their defensive zone coverage once the Knights established a forecheck.
Mancari was one of the few 67s forwards who played well in every game. He had five goals and three assists in the series and was +3. The 6’3, 225-pound right-winger gave the Knights goalies a lot of trouble seeing the puck when the 67s were on a power play. He and Bickell often drew the task of setting up shop in front of the goalies and they were very effective with their screens. Bickell had four points and was +1, but he didn’t create a lot of offense in the later stages of the series. He has a wicked wrist shot and was putting a lot of shots on net early on, but the power forward didn’t get the puck much as the series moved on and when he did, he found it tougher to penetrate the Knights defense.
The 67s defense corps really struggled with their passing and coverage in this series. Brodie Beard and Nick Van Herpt were –5 and –3 respectively and were victimized by some poor outlet passes. Captain Will Colbert (OTT) was a low –8 in the series and never established himself as a physical force. The Knights on a couple of their long bomb goals used him as a screen and in those cases he has to block the shot or get out of the way. He had trouble moving the puck throughout the series. Elgin Reid had a decent series and threw his weight around, but he too made some poor passes in his own end when pressured. Staubitz had a great series, scoring six points and was –1. He was a thorn in the side of many Knights especially Perry and the 67s will have to play him more in the Memorial Cup if they are to compete.
For the Knights, Perry had two goals and seven assists and was +1, giving him 11 goals and 27 assists for 38 points in 18 playoff games to lead the league in scoring. He scored a point in each game in the final series, but was a bit quieter than usual; the 67s did a decent job against him along the boards and behind the net. His center, Hunter, had only four assists in the series and looked a bit worn down, his play has dropped off over the last two series.
Bolland had a fantastic final, perhaps the best Knight in this series. He ended up with five goals and four assists and was a strong +8. He did a great job capitalizing on turnovers that he created and made a couple of great feeds for easy goals. Bolland’s wrist shot earned him a couple of nice goals and he was constantly moving when on the ice and did his share of banging. His speed in the transition game gave Ottawa a lot of trouble.
Fritsche had two goals and four assists and was a strong +7. He did a great job on the penalty kill and at times he bottled up the 67s all by himself. He went up and down his wing with authority and several times he powered right through checks along the boards to create chances. He was used as a screen on the power play and had many epic battles with Staubitz for space in front of Battochio. He played a lot with Schremp and the two Americans created some beautiful chances in this series.
Schremp had four goals and four assists and was +4. He wasn’t able to establish his bread and butter play on the power play, which is coming off the half boards and going top shelf, but he scored some key goals in this series. Defensively he did a good job at picking off passes in the neutral zone when the Knights bottled things up. He finished with 29 points in 18 games and was +13. Those types of numbers will keep the Oilers brass happy and shows the transformation in his game since he entered the OHL.
Defensively the Knights corps made more errors than usual in the first part of the series, but the return of Rodney made a big difference, especially as he upped his minutes as the series progressed. Syvret finished with six points and was +8, giving him 20 points and a +19 rating in 18 games, numbers that might have given him the MVP award if it wasn’t for the play of Perry. Marc Methot (CLB) had a physical series; he was nailed with six minor penalties, but was +9 and led the OHL with a +21 playoff total. The native of Kanata, which is just outside of Ottawa, had a number of friends and family cheering him on in Ottawa and he was a big reason why the 67s forwards disappeared as the series progressed.
Copyright 2005 Hockey’s Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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