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Knights Beat Huskies To Advance To Memorial Cup Final

May 25, 2016 | 1:25 PM

RED DEER:  You can make is “Sweet 16” for the London Knights.

Mitchell Marner racked up four more assists in leading the Knights to a 5-2 win over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at the 2016 Mastercard Memorial Cup in Red Deer on Tuesday.

London advances to Sunday’s championship game.

To say the first period was penalty-filled would still be an understatement as referees Scott Ferguson and Olivier Gouin handed out a total of nine powerplays.

London, as we’ve come to expect, capitalized on two of their opening period man advantages. J.J. Piccinich opened the scoring at 6:06 when he banked one in off the leg of Huskies defender Phillipe Myers. Matthew Tkachuk made it 2-0 when he tipped an Olli Juolevi past Chase Marchand at the 17:43 mark.

The parade to the penalty box continued in the second period with both teams forced into penalty kill mode. Chandler Yakimowicz was handed the most notable penalty, a five minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind following a crushing hit on Zachary Lauzon behind the Huskies net.

Rouyn-Noranda would finally score on their seventh powerplay of the game. Timo Meier ripped a shot past a screened Tyler Parsons 10:04 into the middle frame.

The Mitchell Marner Show continued Tuesday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, already with two assists from the first period, out-waited everyone before setting up Max Jones for a shorthanded goal at 17: 28. London restored their two goal lead at 3-1.

In the third, Christian Dvorak scored London’s third powerplay goal of the game, set up by Tkachuk and Victor Mete, at 6:21. The Knights found themselves with a 4-1 lead.

Meier pulled the Huskies back within a pair on a goal that wasn’t counted initially before going to review. His shot from in tight crossed the goal line and went under the net, which was lifted when Parsons bumped into the post. Meier’s fifth goal of the tournament came with 12:01 remaining.

Tkachuk sealed London’s trip to Sunday’s final with an empty net goal, set up as usual by Marner, for a 5-2 Knights triumph.

“It feels good, players paid the price and deserved to win,” said London Head Coach Dale Hunter. “Our goalie is skilled, he competes at all time chasing loose pucks, he was great tonight. Guys are off tomorrow, they will rest.”

“The days off is huge for us,” said Dvorak. “We will take all the rest we can to be ready for Sunday.”

In the end, Rouyn-Noranda finished 2/11 on powerplays while outshooting London 32-25. The Knights were 2/5 with the man advantage.

“We made a few mistakes and the Knights made us paid the price,” Marchand said following the Huskies loss. “This is what happen when you play a top team. We hit a few posts that could have turn things around. In general, we battled hard tonight.”

Marner now leads the tournament with 13 points. He’ll have a shot at breaking the tournament record of 16 when the Knights play in Sunday’s final.

The round robin portion of the tournament wraps up Wednesday as the host Red Deer Rebels (1-1) take on the Brandon Wheat Kings (0-2) at 6 p.m. A Rebels win will earn them a semi-finals date with the Huskies. A win by the Wheat Kings would create a tie-breaker situation and the need for an additional game on Thursday.