London beat Giants in semis preview, Lions and Thrashers to meet in other semi

<p>ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Matthew Schurr and Wyatt Coghill scored 1:21 apart in the second period as the London Jr. Knights beat Vancouver North West 4-1 to hand the Giants their first loss at the Telus Cup men’s national midget championship.</p> <p>The game proved to be a semifinal preview as London’s first victory of the tournament coupled with Lac St Louis’ win against St. John’s meant the Jr. Knights (1-2-2) will play the Giants (4-1) with a spot in the final up for grabs.</p> <p>London came into the game as the under dog but got off to a good start when Paul Hopkins scored 3:03 into the game.</p> <p>The Jr. Knights kept the pressure up, outshooting the Giants 20-6 in the period, but couldn’t beat Vancouver’s Scott Legault before the intermssion.</p> <p>Their pressure paid off early in the second though, when Schurr scored 1:37 in and Coghill added another 81 seconds later to give London a 3-0 lead.</p> <p>Sam Reinhart pulled a goal back for Vancouver on the power play midway through the period, but Connor Hogg restored London’s three goal advantage 18 seconds before the intermission.</p> <p>Craig Wood made 24 saves for London, while Scott Legault turned away 39 shots for the Giants.</p> <p>In other action it was, Winnipeg 3 Halifax 3 and Lac St-Louis 6 St. John’s 1.</p> <p>Lions 6 Privateers 1</p> <p>At St. John’s, N.L., Anthony Duclair and Patrick Walsh both scored a goal and added two assists as the Lac St-Louis Lions clinched second place and ended the St. John’s Privateers’ season.</p> <p>Knowing they needed a win to advance to the semifinals the Privateers (1-3-1) jumped out to an early lead when Marcus Cuomo broke the deadlock 6:37 in.</p> <p>But the Lions (3-2) responded 71 seconds later through Walsh. Jonathan Drouin gave Lac St-Louis the lead with 2:14 left in the period.</p> <p>Duclair gave the Lions a two-goal cushion with the only goal of the second period.</p> <p>Alexandros Soumakis scored twice and Yann Devoyault also counted as Lac St-Louis put the game away in the third.</p> <p>Matt Jenkins made 30 saves for St. John’s, while Francois Brassard turned away 26 shots for Lac St-Louis.</p> <p>Thrashers 3 Titans 3</p> <p>At St. John’s, Rory Court and Brendyn Illchuk scored early in the second period and Winnipeg held on for a tie against Halifax as the Thrashers advanced to the semifinal.</p> <p>The Thrashers (1-1-3) will play the Lac St. Louis Lions in the early game Saturday, while the Titans (1-2-2), which needed a victory to advance, saw their season end.</p> <p>Halifax opened the scoring 7:23 into the first period when Jeremy Butterworth beat Winnipeg goalie Teagan Sacher. But the Thrashers struck right back 45 seconds later, with Corey Petrash scoring.</p> <p>Court scored 53 seconds into the second period and Illchuk gave Winnipeg a two-goal advantage less than five minutes later.</p> <p>But with its season on the line Halifax started its comeback with Adam Brown pulling a goal back late in the period.</p> <p>Damon MacEachern tied the game midway through the third and the Titans pulled their goalie in the last minute knowing they needed to win, but they couldn’t beat Sacher.</p> <p>Sacher made 30 saves for Winnipeg, while Shawn Jeffrey turned away 33 shots for Halifax.</p>