Open For Business- London takes game one
Monday, May 23, 2005

Posted by Kerrzy

When the puck dropped on Friday night’s highly anticipated Memorial Cup opener between the host London Knights and Sidney Crosby’s Rimouski Oceanics, it marked the beginning to what, if tonight’s game is any sign of things to come, will be a tournament to remember.

The game got off to a quick start with the Crosby line earning a chance at goal in their first shift, but it was the hometown Knights who would get on the board first, converting a Jean-Michel Bolduc turnover at the blueline and slotting it home at 2:37 into the period. For the Knights’ Marc Methot, this would be just the start to a good night.



Thanks to a powerplay, a lucky bounce and a good effort by Sidney Crosby, the Oceanic tied the game up at 6:37 as the puck deflected off of defenseman Daniel Girardi’s skate, hit the post and lay in the crease for Crosby to jump on, working hard in the slot to dodge his check and get open

The momentum from there continued to be in Rimouski’s favour when, at 9:09, Crosby drove the puck wide, out-muscled his defender behind the net and threw out a nifty backhand pass to linemate Marc-Antoine Pouliot who buried it to give both players their second point in two and a half minutes.

About 30 seconds later, the Knights’ Dylan Hunter snapped one off of the crossbar and Brandon Prust went coast-to-coast to draw a penalty and earn his team a powerplay which they failed to convert on, although special teams had a lot of ice time throughout the game. This would be a recurring theme as the Knights ended up 0/7 with the man advantage on the night.

With the Knights’ Robbie Schremp’s hooking penalty at 17:58 came the second powerplay goal on as many shots for the Oceanic as Dany Roussin put it home as he was left all alone and received a pretty pass from defenseman Mario Scalzo jr. Scalzo was everywhere on this night creating chances left and right and laying the body when necessary.

At the end of the period London was up on shots 16-6, but down 3-1; queue the comeback.

Rimouski started the second period shorthanded and just as the powerplay ended at 1:42 Dan Fritsche of the London Knights tipped home a Robbie Schremp point shot past Dejardins to make it 3-2. London’s applied pressure looked like it might be too much for the Oceanic but thanks to the help of Cedrick Dejardins making some very key saves.

At 16:15 Rimouski’s Danny Stewart coughed up the puck in the neutral zone to Rob Schremp, but Dejardins came up with a huge glove save to keep the score at 3-2, and was forced to come up big several times from here on in.

The game got quite emotional from here on in as both teams tempers started to flare up, with Rimouski giving up a lot of powerplays at this point. London had so much pressure throughout the third period that it took the Oceanic 14 minutes to register a shot on net.

The only real pressure in the second from the QMJHL champions was a short burst near the end of the period where you saw the Crosby line with Scalzo on a shorthanded 3-on-1 but they couldn’t convert.

Into the third we go where London’s big gun Corey Perry made an innocent play deadly at 4:02 as he walked in across the blueline with three Oceanic players standing around him and fired a wrist shot past an unprepared Dejardins.

The game would hit a fever pitch as both teams tried to get that elusive next goal but it wouldn’t happen until the extra frame although the third period was filled with drama especially after Dejardins was run by London’s Fritsche, which caused quite a lot of trouble.

In overtime London had a lot more jump and a lot more chances hitting crossbars and coming oh-so-close on quite a few occasions. Apart from one dangerous looking rush by Sidney Crosby there wasn’t much offense coming from the Oceanic.

Finally at 9:36 on what looked like a bad change by Rimouski, Robbie Schremp picked up the puck in the neutral zone and dished to a streaking Perry to put him and Marc Methot on a 2-on-1. Perry threw it across to Methot who waited and fired it home shortside on Dejardins, sending the John Labatt Center into a frenzy as London picked up their first win of the tournament.

London outshot the Oceanic 48-26 in what may well be remembered as a Memorial Cup classic, and as a perfect way to open this year’s tournament.