Photo by Eric Young/CHLPhoto by Eric Young/CHL
London

Knights fall in Memorial Cup final

After battling back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the Memorial Cup final, the London Knights suffered a heartbreaking loss.

Josh Bloom scored with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third period to give the Saginaw Spirit a 4-3 win, and their first Memorial Cup championship.

The Spirit took an early 2-0 lead with Owen Beck finding the net at 9:07 and 19:15 of the first period. Things looked bleak for the Knights in the second period, when Joey Willis scored at 7:47 to make it 3-0 for Saginaw.

But the Knights would not go quietly. Kasper Halttunen scored at 9:45 of the second period to get the Knights on the board, sending the Knights to the second intermission trailing 3-1.

In the third period, Easton Cowan scored at 7:48 to bring the Knights to within one goal. At 10:16 of the third period, Sam Dickinson brought Knights fans to their feet when he scored the game tying goal.

The two teams traded scoring opportunities, but goalies Andrew Oke of the Spirit and Michael Simpson of the Knights n turned away every shot, until a scramble in front of the London net led to Josh Bloom poking the puck over the goal line with 21.7 second left in regulation time to give Saginaw a 4-3 lead.

Knights coach Dale Hunter pulled Simpson from the net for an extra attacker, but there would be no comeback, and the Knights watched as Saginaw won the Memorial Cup championship.

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(Photo by Justin Smith / Wikimedia Commons)

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