Memorial Cup 2013: Blades forced to regroup quickly for tiebreaker against Knights

Saskatoon, Sask. – The Saskatoon Blades know they don’t have time to dwell on their 4-2 loss against the Portland Winterhawks in their final round-robin game on Wednesday.

The Bridge City Boys have to regroup quickly and focus on the London Knights in the MasterCard Memorial Cup's tiebreaker game not even 24 hours after getting off the ice.

“Usually after a loss, you have a couple days to look back at your mistakes and go over the game, but not this one,” said Blades winger Shane McColgan, who scored Saskatoon’s first goal of the game. “We have to have a short memory and just put the game behind us. We now just have to get prepared for the Knights.”

“We have to forget this game just focus on London for tomorrow night's game,” added Blades forward Brett Stovin. “We now have to win every game from here on out and have to focus on just what is ahead of us.”

Star forward Josh Nicholls believes playing against London shortly after the Portland loss can work to Saskatoon’s advantage.

“We are hungry to bounce back from this game and I think it’s good we don’t have to wait long for the game,” he said. “We know what we have to do and I’m just excited to play tomorrow.”

The Blades kept up with the Winterhawks throughout the first two periods, heading into the final 20 minutes tied at one. Their wheels, however, fell off in the final frame as they gave up three goals in the first 11 minutes.

“We just stopped playing,” said McColgan on the third period collapse. “When they scored to make it 2-1, you could we got deflated, and that just can’t happen at this time of the year. We now have to look ourselves in the mirror and see if we really want to be here or not because that first 13 minutes (in the third) wasn’t acceptable.”

Blades head coach-GM Lorne Molleken felt his club didn’t pepper Winterhawks goaltender Mac Carruth enough.

"We didn't shoot enough," he said. "We tried to get too fancy and that's not one of our strengths. Our decision-making wasn't as good as it needs to be …We'll have to be at our best tomorrow night and our game can't change."

Saskatoon’s round-robin match against London was a close tilt with the Knights squeaking out a 3-2 win. The second time around, the Blades feel more confident they can best the OHL champions.

“Knowing what to expect, it’s a bit easier on the team to prepare,” said Nicholls, who inked a contract with the New York Rangers in March. “The first game was close and they scored a goal late in the third. We know if we play like we did against the Halifax Mooseheads (Blades beat the Mooseheads 5-2 on Sunday), we can win.”

“It’s always easier when you know what to expect,” added McColgan. “We just have to get back to the basics and play how we did against Halifax.”

The Knights had puck-stopping problems against the Mooseheads on Tuesday. Jake Patterson and Anthony Stolarz let in a combined nine goals on 37 shots. The Blades obviously want to exploit this hole in the Knights’ armour.

“Their goaltending situation seemed a bit fragile, so we’re going to have to put pucks to the net and create traffic there,” said Nicholls.

As a 20-year-old, Nicholls has extra motivation to help his club beat the Knights because if they fall, it will be his last major junior game of his life.

“It will be a long summer if we don’t accomplish what we want to do here, so that definitely pushes me,” said the 6-foot-2, 186-pounder who has scored four goals and two assists in the tournament. “Knowing it could be my last game definitely makes me want to leave the ice with no regrets.”

The tiebreaker game could not only be McColgan’s last junior game, but it could also be his last opportunity this year to show the Rangers, who drafted him 134^th overall in the 2011 NHL entry draft, he deserves an entry-level contract.

“I try to just think about the team, but yeah, I don’t take these games lightly as an opportunity to earn an NHL contract,” the Manhattan Beach, CA., native said, who turned 20 in January. “It’s a big game and I just need to keep my feet moving and create chances out there.”

The Rangers have until June 1 to sign McColgan or he will become a free agent.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen