Monday, June 2, 2025

Knights down Tigers for Memorial Cup title

RIMOUSKI, QC
 – The London Knights are Memorial Cup champions.

After a tight first period, the Knights blew it open in the second en route to a 4-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers in Sunday's championship game. This is London's third Memorial Cup title and first since 2016.

This was London's second straight appearance in the Memorial Cup final – and they got some redemption. The Knights fell to the host Saginaw Spirit in last year's championship, falling behind early and were never able to pull themselves fully back into the game.

The Knights seemed to learn from last year's errors, leading 1-0 after one. They added three in the second period – and another that was called off due to goaltender interference – to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the third.
Gavin McKenna gave the Tigers some life 2:43 into the third and appeared to make it 4-2 later on – only to have the goal called back because of a missed high stick earlier in the play. The Tigers pressed, but just couldn't get through London's defense.

For Medicine Hat, this is a tough one for many reasons. In normal times there would be optimism that McKenna could carry them back to the Memorial Cup next year. But with speculation that McKenna is NCAA bound, there are all kinds of uncertainty around the Tigers roster.

The WHL continues to struggle at the Memorial Cup. They have not won a national title since the Edmonton Oil Kings were victorious in 2014.

The Moncton Wildcats, who fell to the Knights in Friday's semifinal, finished in third-place with a 1-3 record. The host Rimouski Oceanic went 0-3.

A few other news and notes...

  • Solid atmosphere for this game even with no QMJHL teams in it. Attendance was 4,512, which was presumably a sell out.
  • Nice fan fest area next door to the rink in Rimouski. Sadly, the weather was nasty all day, so it didn't seem too busy.
  • Next year's Memorial Cup will be hosted by the WHL's Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets were supposed to host in 2020 but the tournament was cancelled by the pandemic.
  • In the AHL's Calder Cup Eastern Conference final, Riley Bezeau scored twice to help the Charlotte Checkers take a 3-0 series lead over the Laval Rocket on Sunday. Bezeau scored his second and third goals of the playoffs in the 5-1 win. Charlotte will look to complete the sweep on Tuesday.
  • In the ECHL's Kelly Cup Final, the Toledo Walleye took a 1-0 series lead over Nicolas Guay and the Trois-Rivieres Lions with a 3-1 win on Saturday. Guay had one shot in the loss. Game 2 is Monday in Toledo. 

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