London's Seth Griffith and Saskatoon's Lukas Sutter scuffle on Friday (Liam Richards, The Canadian Press)

SASKATOON, Sask. — May 17 is way too late to count moral victories.

Friday stacked up as an good chance for the Saskatoon Blades, whose place at the MasterCard Memorial Cup has been pooh-poohed since they were swept in the first of the WHL playoffs, to steal a win. The London Knights were not exactly recharged after winning a dramatic Game 7 in the OHL final three days earlier and two time zones away. For two periods, the Blades, thanks to a pair of goals from Josh Nicholls and some superlative 'tending by Andrey Makarov (30 saves on the night, including seven during a 5-on-3 penalty kill), stayed with the Knights, despite being on their way to being outchanced 22-11 and 14-8 at even strength.

"Some people really wrote us off coming into this, but we showed that we're a good contender," defenceman Duncan Siemens said. "We had a hell of a performance for not playing for 51 days and playing a league champion and giving them a good game. If we eliminate some mistakes and that game goes to overtime or we win.

Was it enough of an indicator that the Blades, who face the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday and Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday, can avoid a three-and-out? On with the post-game questions:

SASKATOON, Sask. — Time to drop the puck and play for coast-to-coast bragging rights, as the MasterCard Memorial Cup begins with the two-time Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights taking on the host Saskatoon Blades.

Please join the Buzzing The Net crew of Cam Charron, Terry Doyle, Kelly Friesen, Steve McAllister Sunaya Sapurji, Neate Sager, Scott Sepich and a cast of many at 8 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Saskatchewan time when the action gets underway. Ideally, it will be a rousing start to a memorable 10 days of major hockey.

Knights preview | Blades preview

Please remember that all Chatravaganzas are BYOP — bring your own peanuts.

Seth Jones (left), Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin will be in the spotlight for Saturday's Halifax-Portland game (Liam Richards, The Canadian Press)

It's only 10 days long, yet the MasterCard Memorial Cup often seems like a hockey marathon. Over the course of two weekends, young hockey players, some destined for bigger and brighter glories in the NHL, others for whom the experience will represent the zenith of their careers, lay in on the line to win what is sometimes describes as the toughest trophy to capture in all of North American sports.

This time around, some of the storylines are strong enough to sell the event on their own. Can Portland's Seth Jones continue work on his unofficial Grand Slam of a league championship, a world junior gold medal, leading his team to the Memorial Cup and then going No. 1 in the NHL draft? Will the Winterhawks go from being resented Western Hockey League-wide to being a league darling if they bring the Dub its first victory in a half-decade? How will the unprecedented crop of NHL draft prospects fare in the harsh spotlight?

Buzzing The Net will host a livechat of each game, beginning with Friday's London Knights-Saskatoon Blades opener (8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. MT, Sportsnet). Here's a survey of what to keep an eye peeled for over the next 10 days.

Knights captain Scott Harrington, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect, raises the J. Ross Robertson Cup on Monday (OHL Images)

LONDON KNIGHTS (OHL champion)

Experience is on the Knights' side, history perhaps not so much.

It has been 23 seasons since an Ontario league team went through a seven-game championship series and won the Memorial Cup; the 1990 Oshawa Generals of Eric Lindros fame did not even have to leave the Golden Horseshoe to do so. The Knights are the only returnee in Saskatoon, but also had the tightest turnaround after winning three do-or-done games in four days against the Barrie Colts.

Still, since these are the New York Yankees of the OHL, they can't be written off. The other skate never seems to drop in Dale and Mark Hunter's hockey fiefdom. London was put through the ringer by both the Barrie Colts and Plymouth Whalers in their final two series, where their defence and goaltending was occasionally leaky.

Their season so far, expressed through the majesty of '80s rock anthems

U2, "Desire." The Knights exude will and skill and it's hard to argue with their accomplishments, but like Bono and his bandmates, they have got so big that it's off-putting. Of course you would say that, hipster.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

It is fair to say Seth Jones has had a bigger spotlight than any WHL player in recent times. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

The vibe in the Memorial Cup is somewhat similar to the world junior, according to Portland Winterhawks star Ty Rattie. (Portland Tribune)

Be on the watch for Portland's "lethal" speed. (Portland Tribune, The Associated Press)

Darren Zary has a should-read retrospective on the 1989 Saskatoon Blades and their GM Daryl Lubiniecki. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Growing up in Crookston, Minn., Portland rookie Paul Bittner didn't hear much about the Memorial Cup. (Portland Tribune)

OHL

And so it begins: coach Dale Hunter demurred to immediately name a starting goalie for Friday's London-Saskatoon opener. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

The Buzzing The Net CHL Chatravaganza returns Thursday at 12 noon ET/1 p.m. AT/9 a.m. PT.

Please join Cam Charron, Terry Doyle, Neate Sager and a cast of many for the blogetariat's most wide-ranging approximately one-hour-long weekly discussion dedicated to all things junior hockey. Sunaya Sapurji is winging her way to Saskatoon for the MasterCard Memorial Cup, which is sure to be the main topic of discussion since the tournament between the host Blades and respective league champion Halifax Mooseheads, London Knights and Portland Winterhawks commences Friday.

Please remember the Chatravaganza is BYOP — bring your own peanuts.

Halifax co-captain Stefan Fournier kisses Jonathan Drouin during the final game of the QMJHL final (Jeff Harper, Metro Halifax)

Junior hockey players who pretty much live together for eight months tend to be comfortable with each other in ways that might weird out adults who are happily repressed, thankyouverymuch. Sometimes that gets out into the public realm.

Last Friday, after the Halifax Mooseheads' scored what turned out to be the series-winning goal in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final, co-captain Stefan Fournier decided the stand hug-your-brothers celebration was not enough. It's been done before in the testosterone-fuelled world of male team sports, but the 21-year-old Fournier decided teammate and top NHL draft prospect Jonathan Drouin deserved a little more congratulations.

From Andrew Rankin (@MetroMooseheads):

What better time to share a congratulatory peck than after scoring in the QMJHL title-clinching game, just like Fournier did on Friday?

After notching a beauty, the game’s second goal, the troops swooped in as usual for a post goal embrace. Except this time the six-foot-two, 210-pound Fournier planted one right on sniper Jonathan Drouin’s lips.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Vancouver Giants owner Ron Toigo might use first overall pick Tyler Benson as a wedge to loosen limits on how many games a 15-year-old call-up can play: "With the demands of the world juniors and the world under-17 challenge and these tournaments that go on at Christmastime, a lot of teams are running two or three players under the limit. So we think we should be able to bring guys up for more than just five games." (Vancouver Sun)

Coaching shuffle in Kamloops: Dave Hunchak moves one spot over to head coach, with Guy Charron staying on as a consultant.

Dave Hunchak named head coach of Kamloops Blazers. Former h/c Guy Charron now advisor to hockey operations.

— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) May 15, 2013

Banished Portland Winterhawks coach-GM Mike Johnston reckons that if right-hand man Travis Green leaves after the Memorial Cup, it would be for a pro job. (Oregon Live)

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