2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Three Stars – Gormley’s seeing-eye shot leads Shawinigan

No. 1 star - Brandon Gormley, Shawinigan Cataractes

No matter your definition of Hunter Hockey, it's indisputable that Mark's London Knights play a similar style to Dale's former Washington Capitals. Each team was designed to spend a lot of time in its own end and thwart scoring chances by blocking shots. This brand of hockey sees varying degrees of success (it saw none tonight, as Shawinigan took the third game of the tournament 6-2), since there are certain players whose shots make it through the first block and find their way to the dangerous areas of the ice.

As it happens, Phoenix Coyotes 2010 first rounder Brandon Gormley is one of those players, a heads-up defenceman who walks the line. Pucks off his stick have a knack of finding their way through the block. He was rewarded with two goals and one assist. Once in each period, shots initially off Gormley's stick even made their way past Michael Houser, who was otherwise exceptional while defending shots from the more traditional scoring chance zones. Michaël Bournival was credited for the first goal at the tail end of a two-minute 5-on-3 that Shawinigan failed to capitalize on, but the Cataractes kept up the pressure and made it count in the end. He also scored his own in the second on a puck that took an errant deflection off of Knights' defender Olli Määttä. In the third, on a powerplay, a third one was tipped in front off the stick of Austin Watson, but they all count the same.

"You'd have to ask them," said Gormley post-game, about what has made London so successful with their shot-blocking over the course of the OHL playoffs. "I knew coming in that they were a good shot-blocking team and it was going to be tough to find that lane and get it through."

"I got some through, but that being said, I probably got just as many blocked," Gormley said, never too much deviating from his script in front of a throng of post-game reporters, stressing using his teammates and the shot blockers to create traffic in front of the goaltender, something he had success doing against Edmonton. While I disagree with Gormley's assessment that he got just as many shots blocked, proponents of "Corsi" numbers ought to take an interest in Gormley's overall game.

No. 2 star - Loïk Poudrier, Shawinigan Cataractes

Shawinigan's listed third line did an effective job killing penalties in this game, physical play being a factor on London's zone entries and active sticks preventing the Knights from mounting too much offence. Loïk Poudrier, the Thetford Mines, Que., native who's listed at a frightening 5-foot-8 and 166 pounds, played well above his size in the neutral zone and the top half of the defensive zone.

In the middle of the second period, Poudrier was rewarded for his strong penalty killing work, earning an unassisted shorthanded goal, the third against London in the tournament, with a wrist shot that deflected in off of the stick of Vladislav Namestnikov.

No. 3 star - Andreas Athanasiou, London Knights

The prospective NHL draft pick this summer got off to a slow start in the first game against Saint John. In fact, Andreas Athanasiou, the talented stickhandler was scratched in his team's opener. Despite limited ice-time in the second team game of the tournament, Athanasiou didn't necessarily pace the Knights, but he scored a powerplay goal after his team went down 3-1, sneaking behind the Shawinigan penalty killers and softly taking a Scott Harrington feed before roofing it behind Gabriel Girard.

For the Knights, it didn't mean much in the end, but for Athanasiou, it's nice to see a player get success despite limited ice time.

"With that [bad] ice you need people who can come in with lots of speed," said his head coach Mark Hunter. "It's not the fastest ice out there right now." That could have played into Hunter's decision to re-insert Athanasiou into the lineup after a win.

Honourable mention - Peter Sakaris, Shawinigan Cataractes

How many times do you see a player draw two penalties in as many seconds? In the first period, the crowd came to its feet after Peter Sakaris took an elbow to the face from Brett Cook moments before being driven into the boards by Kevin Raine. While the Cataractes were held goal-less on the ensuing two-man advantage, the punishment taken by Sakaris on that shift earns him a BTN honourable mention.

Game Grade: Actually a very good pace, despite a London team playing in their second game in as many days, but they skated right with the fast Cats. A.