RED DEER, Alta. – The 2016 Memorial Cup final will have the OHL champion London Knights against the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Here are five things to watch for as the only two teams remaining at the tournament faceoff on Sunday.
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Can London’s Mitch Marner break the tournament scoring record?
Marner produced two goals and 13 points in just three round-robin games as London went undefeated to bypass the semifinal right into the championship. Jeff Larmer set the record of 16 points in 1982 with Kitchener and he was matched by Hull’s Guy Rouleau in 1986. Larmer and Rouleau, however, had to play in the semifinals of their tournaments and played five games to earn their numbers. Marner, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, was named the CHL player of the year on Saturday and has scored at least four points in each of the three games he’s played.
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Who will win the goalie battle?
Knights goaltender Tyler Parsons enters the championship with the best numbers at the tournament, a 1.79 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Huskies netminder Chase Marchand has a 3.26 GAA and .907 save percentage. Despite Parsons having the edge statistically, Marchand is the main reason Rouyn-Noranda is in the title game after a 36-save performance to beat the host Red Deer Rebels 3-1 in the semifinal. Parsons, 18, is eligible for the upcoming NHL Draft while the 20-year-old Marchand could be playing the final junior game of his career and is hoping to make one final impression on the scouts in attendance.
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Who will step up for the Huskies?
Rouyn-Noranda entered the tournament as the No. 1 ranked team in the country but dropped two games in the round robin, including a 5-2 loss to the No. 3 Knights. Timo Meier scored both times for the Huskies against London and is second in goals at the Memorial Cup with five, behind only Christian Dvorak (6) of the Knights. Ottawa Senators prospect Francis Perron, who won the QMJHL regular season and playoff MVP awards, was held scoreless until finally finding the back of the net in the semifinal. Jean-Christophe Beaudin had 33 goals and 49 assists in 58 regular-season games, but is still searching for his first point of the tournament and has just two shots on net.
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Will special teams decide a winner?
London’s power play and penalty kill are both No. 1 at the tournament. Any time the Knights are allowed to play their top line of Matthew Tkachuk, Marner and Dvorak while up a man is deadly for the opposition. London has scored nine times on 20 chances with the man advantage while killing off 16-of-20 penalties. Rouyn-Noranda has six power-play goals on 25 opportunities but has also given up the only short-handed goal of the event, which came against London in round-robin play. The Huskies are the most penalized team at the tournament and have allowed seven power-play goals against.
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Will rest be a factor?
The Knights walked through the round-robin portion of the tournament and haven’t played since Tuesday. To take advantage of the time off, coach Dale Hunter took his crew on a day-trip to nearby Banff, Alta., for team bonding and sight-seeing. The four days off could be a benefit after already playing 89 games this year, but was it enough time to kill any momentum? The Huskies, who have played 92 games this season, needed one more game to reach the finals than London, which they played Friday against hard-hitting Red Deer. Rouyn-Noranda has gotten better as the tournament has gone on and played its best game against the Rebels.
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