2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup: Three Stars – Tinordi shuts down Sea Dogs in Knights’ stunner

No. 1 star - Jarred Tinordi, London Knights

The London Knights held the offensively-gifted Saint John Sea Dogs to three goals and 13 scoring chances, in large part thanks to the tough-minutes, tough-as-nails Jarred Tinordi who kept the 'Dogs at bay through all three periods with excellent positioning and physical play. The stud defenceman was London's biggest piece in a 5-3 win over defending champion Saint John in their tournament opener Saturday night.

Midway through the second period, we were searching for a missing persons' alert on Saint John's first line of Charlie Coyle-Danick Gauthier-Jonathan Huberdeau that combined for 76 points in the QMJHL playoffs and a grand total of one good scoring chance at even strength in this game.

The Knights deployed a five-man defensive unit out against the Sea Dogs' top line, which included Tinordi's defensive partner Scott Harrington and London's top checking line of the Rupert twins and Watson. The only chances Huberdeau had were on specialty teams, and the only goal last year's tournament MVP had came off a flubbed shot by Houser that came just inside the London line on a Knights powerplay—a time in the game when Tinordi doesn't see the ice.

No. 2 star - Vladislav Namestikov, London Knights

Vladislav Namestikov is known for his high skill level. This is partly the reason why Tampa Bay selected him in the first round of the 2010 draft. He had a point in every game of the OHL Final series against Niagara and continued into the first game of the MasterCard Memorial Cup, scoring a goal off an incredible re-direct in the first period.

In a stretch that was largely controlled by London, Namestikov scored the second goal for the Knights in as many minutes after elevating a Seth Griffith shot over Mathieu Corbeil's right shoulder. In the second period, Namestikov got it done at the other end as well, blocking a Zack Phillips scoring chance after the Sea Dogs finally worked the puck out to the front of the net; the puck never made its way to Michael Houser after the Voskresensk native stuck his back leg out to deflect the puck wide. "I was just trying to get out of the way so Houser could see the puck," Namestikov said. "Luckily it hit me, so it worked out pretty good."

In the third period on a late 5-on-3, Namestikov also scored the clincher, with a beautiful shot off a pass from Griffith. "That was an awesome pass. We've got a lot of chemistry."

No 3 star - Seth Griffith, London Knights

Griffith picked up a goal and two assists in this one, creating the Namestikov goal off of some good puck movement just inside the Saint John zone with line mate Tyler Ferry. He also capitalized after some weird bounces after Austin Watson, attempting to put the puck in deep, had his attempt rebound to Ferry who put it in front for Griffith on the bang-bang play to give the Knights a 3-1 lead. Additionally, his pass to Namestikov for the fourth London goal on the 5-on-3 was pristine.

Honourable mentions - Scott Harrington, Ryan Rupert, Matt Rupert, Austin Watson

Many things were blamed for the lacklustre performance from Saint John's offence tonight; bad ice conditions, but mainly the five-man unit put together to shut down the Sea Dogs' top line.

"I think it was just working together as a six-man unit," said Watson, who also credited Houser for his performance. "We've grown some chemistry and we communicate a lot. They have some great players over there: Coyle, Galiev, Huberdeau, we just want to collapse down low and keep it tight and block shots if we have to."

The five have seen a lot of ice time against other team's top units this playoffs. It caught Coyle off-guard and he agreed that they were stymied. The Mark Hunter system, or "Hunter Hockey" preaches getting pucks deep and not turning the puck over in the neutral zone. "It's just playing defence first and dumping the puck in," said Ryan. "A little bit of chippy ice out there—it frustrated them I guess."

Game Grade: You never like to see one of the more fun offences in the nation to get shut down like that, nor do you expect it. The better London team won on this occasion and they actually managed a few sequences where they went end-to-end with the more offensively-gifted rivals. Grade: C.