Posted on by John Humphrey
Windsor Spitfires - In Play! magazine
05
Apr

Knights Defeat Spitfires to Win Play-off Series in Seven Games

The London Knights edged the Windsor Spitfires 3-2 at the Budweiser Gardens Tuesday night to win their Ontario Hockey League Western Conference quarter-final play-off series in seven games.

Janne Kuokkanen, Max Jones and Olli Juolevi scored for the defending Memorial Cup champion Knights (4-3) who just five days ago trailed in the series three games to one to the Spitfires (3-4) who will be hosting the 2017 Memorial Cup tournament at the end of next month.

After falling behind 2-0 after 40 minutes of play, Jeremy Bracco and Aaron Luchuk scored for the Spitfires to knot the game at 2-2 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the final frame to set the stage for Juolevi’s heroics

Special teams played a large role in deciding the outcome of both the game seven and the series. The Spitfires, who lead the OHL in penalty-killing during the regular season, simply couldn’t duplicate that success in the series against the Knights, who scored twice on the powerplay in game seven, including Juolevi’s game and series-winner with 7:11 remaining in the final frame.

Tyler Parsons, who backed Team USA to the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Hockey Championships, was stellar once again while making 30 saves to pick up the win for London. Michael DiPietro was also steady – if not spectacular – in making 24 saves for Windsor.

The Spitfires are now off until May 19 when they open the 2017 Memorial Cup tournament against the champion team from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

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John Humphrey

John Humphrey loves to write about any hockey team or player with particular interest in the OHL. He brings you a no holds barred view of the OHL and Windsor Spitfires. John Humphrey is a Windsor-born, raised and educated freelance writer whose career has spanned three decades. In addition to being a contributing writer for OHL Classics, a book published by the Ontario Hockey League, he has contributed to such publications as Hockey Weekly, The OHL News and The Hockey News. He also continues to serve as as a stringer for the Canadian Press, covering the OHL and the Windsor Spitfires.