The Blades' Brett Stovin and Lukas Sutter talk during a break in play during Saskatoon's season-ending loss (Steve Hiscock phot

Saskatoon, Sask. – The way the Saskatoon Blades exited the MasterCard Memorial Cup in the tiebreaker against the London Knights was fitting.

In the 6-1 loss, the Bridge City Boys struggled with the same problems they have dealt with all year long such as taking dumb penalties, not capitalizing on valuable opportunities, and failing to put it into fifth gear with their backs against the wall.

The first nail in the coffin came almost right off the hop in the first four minutes of the game. Blades forward Josh Nicholls tripped Bo Horvat on a breakaway after the Knight snuck by their power play with the puck on his stick. Horvat was rewarded a penalty shot and made no mistake about it.

“It is for sure deflating,” said Blades captain Brendan Walker on the penalty shot goal. “That’s a big goal to give up and we shouldn’t have, but that stuff happens.”

Early in the second, the Blades had a great opportunity to even up the game on a four-minute power play. But they failed to generate a true

London's Jake Patterson makes one of his 31 saves during Thursday's tiebreaker (Steve Hiscock photo)

SASKATOON, Sask. — Now watch Dale Hunter start Anthony Stolarz on Friday, just to destroy a hypothesis.

For London Knights captain Scott Harrington and friends, 60 uninterrupted minutes supporting he same goalie, Jake Patterson, is a bigger windfall than winning the 50/50 draw at Credit Union Centre. Thursday's bloodless 6-1 tiebreaker-game romp over the tapped-out Saskatoon Blades offered little indication of whether London has worked out the bugs in their systems ahead of Friday's semifinal vs. the Portland Winterhawks. Ultimately, the Knights are still the Memorial Cup mix with the Winterhawks and Halifax Mooseheads, who blasted a combined 14 goals by their 'tenders during the round-robin.

Patterson stopped 31-of-32 shots, but Grade-A chances were fewer and farther between. At least it was a complete game from a Knights goalie.

"We've had some up-and-down games and been inconsistent, so it's nice that Jake could have a solid game and play a full 60 for us," said Knights captain Scott Harrington, who was his usual unflappable self while helping London put the game away by the two-period mark. "I'm obviously not a goalie. I don't know what the positive and negative tendencies of a goalie are. But whenever you see Jake out challenging a shot and playing with confidence it rubs off on the rest of us. We know that Jake's ready to go and he's sharp and he's prepared to go to bat for us."

"We're really looking forward to it," said Harrington, who has either one of two games left in an exemplary junior tenure that's included two OHL titles and two stints on Team Canada, but neither a Memorial Cup or a world junior title. "We didn't give Portland our best game last time. It'll be important for us to get off to a good start and go from there."

London's Bo Horvat converts a penalty shot against Saskatoon's Andrey Makarov (Steve Hiscock photo)

SASKATOON, Sask. — London located a little of its swagger, while Saskatoon staggered to the finish line.

The tiebreaker game was an open-and-shut case, with with Alex Broadhurst, Bo Horvat, Chris Tierney and Brett Welychka each posting two-point nights during the Knights' 6-1 win over the emotionally spent Blades. It creates a London-Portland Winterhawks semifinal Friday, with the Halifax Mooseheads awaiting the victor.

"It's still not our goal and it's still not the same team that gave us the 9-2 beating," said Knights forward Ryan Rupert, alluding to the Mooseheads.

"Coming back from a 9-2 loss with a big one is a confidence-booster. It's also big for our goalie [Jake Patterson] to let one [goal] in after they've been a bit shaky."

In a 24-hour span, the Blades went from needing to win one period to advance directly to the final to being eliminated rather easily. Their unravelling accelerated after a fruitless four-minute power play in the second — London had three shots on the penalty kill while only giving up one — followed an undisciplined penalty that led to Seth Griffith burying the 2-0 goal.

"Tonight, we ran out of gas," said Blades coach-GM Lorne Molleken, whose team went 1-3 while being outscored 15-9. "I thought that we played fairly well in the three round-robin games even though we were outchanced in every game. [Goalie Andrey] Makarov was tremendous. After that Halifax game [which the Blades won on Sunday] there was so much emotion around it with the team and the fans. We came down and we just couldn't regain that emotion and that energy. Our players have nothing to be ashamed about. After 51 days after hard practice [after the Blades were swept in the first round of the WHL playoffs], they left it on the ice."

Saskatoon is only the second host team in the past decade to fall short of the semifinal, joining the 2009 Rimouski Océanic. Eight of the previous nine host teams went to the final. On with the post-game questions:

Seth Griffith after scoring yet another pretty goal (CP Images)

"And we will see you tomorrow, Knights."

It was another one of those games at the MasterCard Memorial Cup. After submitting to a humiliating 9-2 loss on Tuesday, the London Knights took it out on the host Saskatoon Blades with as dominant a performance as you'll ever see. Three teams remain in the quest for the Memorial Cup, as the field is trimmed to the three CHL championship teams.

Bo Horvat kicked off the scoring on a shorthanded penalty shot early in the first period, and while Andrey Makarov held the Blades in the game, managing to make a couple of big stops on a Saskatoon four-minute powerplay gone wrong. Alas, eventually he broke under the strain of the relentless London pressure. The OHL champs got goals from six different goal scorers and put up a three-spot early in the third period, eventually earning a 6-1 victory.

The Knights hoped to play better defensively in front of their goaltender tonight, but they put on a terrific offensive performance as well.

No. 1 Star - Bo Horvat, London Knights

Bo knows penalty killing, evidently. He opened the scoring on a shorthanded breakaway that turned into a shorthanded penalty shot, and was instrumental in turning the Blades back on their four-minute long powerplay in the second period that generated nothing.

Horvat added an assist on the sixth London goal, but he belongs here based on his PK work primarily. That long penalty kill was probably what won the game for the Knights. It was only 1-0 at that point and the Blades had an excellent opportunity to tie the score.

SASKATOON, Sask. — Then there will be three. The London Knights and Saskatoon Blades face off in the first elimination game of the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The Knights, in what could be the be the final game for long-time fixtures such as captain Scott Harrington and Seth Griffith, will start goalie Jake Patterson as they try to regroup from a 9-2 loss to Halifax earlier in the week. The host Blades are trying to take the first step as they bid to beat all three league champions to win the tournament.

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.

Saskatoon Blades' head coach Lorne Molleken (CP)

During last season's MasterCard Memorial Cup, it was the London Knights who brought the heat defensively. Led by a five-man unit up front centred by Austin Watson and anchored by Jarred Tinordi on defence, the Knights blocked shots, trapped, and were an opportunistic team that afforded little space to skilled players like Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou.

What a difference a year makes. The Knights were lit up for nine by the Halifax Mooseheads, and their first line is considerably more offensive than it was last season. Domi and Bo Horvat and Seth Griffith have combined for the Cup's most memorable moment thus far, although we're only two-thirds of the way through the tournament.

It's more up-tempo and more flowing. London games have been a treat to watch, unlike perhaps last season where they shut down rushes and restricted scoring chances. No... that title this season goes to the Saskatoon Blades, and Lorne Molleken's underdog, host squad that are pulling out all the stops to win.

Thrower was a Montreal Canadiens second-round pick in 2012 (The Canadian Press)

SASKATOON, Sask. — Taylor Leier's Memorial Cup tournament is over and so is Dalton Thrower's.

When Thrower, the Saskatoon Blades defenceman, kayoed Leier with a bodycheck on Wednesday, the gut reaction was that there would be a suspension. Sure enough, the National Hockey League hockey operations department, which handles these matters at the MasterCard Memorial Cup, has suspended the 19-year-old Thrower for the rest of the tournament. While no penalty was whistled, it looked like a textbook example of the type of play all three leagues within the Canadian Hockey League have tried to phase out of junior hockey.

The ban means Thrower will miss the Blades-London Knights sudden-death tiebreaker on Thursday (8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. MT, Sportsnet/TVA Sports, BTN livechat). Winterhawks coach Travis Green said Leier has brain injury-like symptoms. The 18-year-old Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, who was one of Portland's brightest performers during a tournament in his hometown, did not require an

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

WHL

Sunaya Sapurji looks at the possibility of a suspension to Saskatoon Blades defenceman Dalton Thrower after his high hit on Portland Winterhawks left wing Taylor Leier. (Yahoo! Sports)

Winterhawks centre Chase De Leo was the one who helped the stricken Leier off the ice. He later scored to put Portland ahead for good. (The Oregonian)

Beat all three league champions in a row? If the Saskatoon Blades pull that off, next they can try head to Toronto for an easier trifecta: figuring out how to turn around the Blue Jays, how the Raptors can get Andrew Wiggins next year and what to do about Rob Ford. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

The tournament is on pace to be the fourth-highest-attended of all time, but you wouldn't know it from the scads of empty seats at Credit Union Centre. (London Free Press, Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Meantime, to the south of the Memorial Cup city, Rob Vanstone looks at the positive legacy left by former Regina Pats president Brent Parker. (Regina Leader-Post)

The Vancouver Giants have some big plans for their 2016 Memorial Cup bid, but who ever heard of a team hosting the event twice in 10 years ... oh right. (Straight.com)

OHL

London Knights goalies Jake Patterson and Anthony Stolarz have struggled to the point where one can wonder if about next season, too. (London Free Press)

London is projecting a when-the-bell-tolls attitude ahead of the first elimination game of the tournament. (London Free Press)