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London Knights’ Zach Bell breaks leg, ending the overage defenceman’s OHL career (VIDEO)

Neate Sager

Overage players ideally get a chance to go out on their own merits, whether it's raising a trophy or going out with a gut-wrenching loss. It's not supposed to end the way it did on Thursday for Zach Bell, whose London Knights' potential for a three-peat might have also become diminished due to the defenceman breaking his leg on a controversial play.

During the first period, Bell was in no-man's land a few feet out of the boards when the Windsor Spitfires' Josh Ho-Sang shoved him from behind. The overage defenceman, who came back from the ECHL this season to join London for its push to win the Memorial Cup, went into the boards awkwardly. Ho-Sang was called for a holding penalty; it looked like a classic instance of a lack of respect for an opponent, although you could see similar plays dozens of times in a game without the same disastrous consequences.

Bell, a classic stay-at-home defenceman, has been a popular player over his five seasons with the league, first with the Brampton Battalion and this past season with the Knights. He began this season with the ECHL's Ontario Reign, but London obtained his rights from the now-North Bay Battalion and he came back eager to help win a championship and improve his chances at the next level. The St. John's, N.L., native came into the playoffs with the Winnipeg Jets still having an "organizational interest" in signing him.

Ho-Sang's role and possible culpability also has some interesting repercussions. The 18-year-old NHL draft prospect, with 32 goals and 85 points in the regular season, was probably near the top of Hockey Canada's list to be invited to play for this country's entry at the upcoming world under-18 championship. This might not be as clear-cut a case as a check to the head, or slashing a player in the head while he's facing the other way, to give other instances where the OHL has meted out stiff suspensions already in the playoffs. However, the International Ice Hockey Federation policy is to honour suspensions from the Canadian major junior leagues.

The Knights advanced with a 4-3 win, but are now missing a seasoned defenceman and their only experienced goalie is playing hurt. Jake Patterson, who's the starter since Anthony Stolarz has been suspended, twisted his knee with about five minutes gone in the third period.

The end result is London will have a long break to get ready for the next round, which will likely be against top seed Guelph. Its capacity for containing the Storm, who led the OHL in goals, might not be as vast without Bell and Stolarz. Meantime, the Stolarz-Ho-Sang and Ho-Sang-Bell incidents will only add to the enmity between the Knights and Spitfires, as if it wasn't already up to 20 on a scale from 1-10.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (video: TV Cogeco Ontario).