The 2024 Memorial Cup championship found two season-long rivals facing off on June 2, with the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) London Knights and Saginaw Spirit facing off for the 12th time in the season. After the Spirit seemingly dominated the first two periods of play, the Knights fought back, but a goal by Vancouver Canucks prospect Josh Bloom with 22 seconds left in the third period gave the Spirit their first-ever Memorial Cup championship.
Saginaw Dominates Early On
Over the first two periods, the Spirit seemed to dominate the pace of play. The team’s defense limited the powerful Knights’ offense from getting themselves in a good position to have any high-danger chances. It took the Knights over 17 minutes to get their first shot on Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke. The Spirit defense was relentless in keeping the Knights off balance and kept Easton Cowan and the rest of the stars at bay for the first 40 minutes of play.
In the Knights zone, the Spirit forecheck was relentless in keeping the puck deep in London’s end of the ice. All four lines were rolling for Spirit coach Chris Lazary once again and played a key role in the victory. When the Knights were able to get possession of the puck, the defensemen of the Spirit were more than willing and able to jump up into the play and force the Knights to either make bad passes or create a turnover that led to more time for the forward group to pressure the Knights defense. Overall, in the first two periods, the Spirit outshot the Knights 24-6.
London Does Not Go Down Without a Fight
Even with being held in check outside of San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Haltunnen’s goal in the second period, the Knights did not go down quietly and flipped the script on the Spirit in the final 20 minutes of play. The first few minutes of the third saw the Spirit continue to push to extend their lead back to three, but the Knights eventually got their offense rolling, thanks in large part to Cowan and 2024 Draft prospect Sam Dickinson. Cowan and Dickinson led a ferocious comeback for their team, both scoring goals in the third period, while assisting on each other’s goals as well.
The Knights were helped out by a bit of sloppy play from the Spirit in the third period, with a few turnovers and missed opportunities, but overall, they dominated and were able to finally crack through the Saginaw defense.
Saginaw’s Top Line Comes Up Big
In their semifinal win over the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Spirit saw their fourth line spearhead the 7-1 victory, but in their matchup with the Knights, it was their top line of Bloom, Owen Beck and Alex Christopoulos that led the way. Beck, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, led the way on the stat sheet, scoring twice in the Memorial Cup-clinching win.
But it was the things that may not show up on the scoresheet that stuck out even more throughout the game. He was the Spirit’s best faceoff man in the win, taking 19 of the 24 faceoffs he took. This helped lead to his first goal of the game when he won an offensive zone faceoff to Bloom before ending up with the puck back on his stick for a quick snapshot that beat Knights goaltender Michael Simpson. Beck also was strong defensively, making a handful of big hits throughout the game as well. The most notable was one he threw on Cowan that ended any chance of a threat on Oke and ended up with the Spirit getting a rush down the ice out of it instead.
Bloom, who returned to the Spirit in the middle of the season, scored what most likely is the biggest goal of his hockey career, when he was able to jam home a loose puck behind Simpson with just 22 seconds left in the third period. He, like Beck, was able to make an impact all over the ice and ended up with a goal and an assist in the game. While Christopoulos was unable to factor in on the scoresheet, he had plenty of chances on Simpson and helped lead the Spirit to their victory. With their top line leading the way, they were able to find success on Simpson after struggling throughout the season at times in their previous 11 matchups.
Other Game Notes
- Beck’s strong play throughout the Memorial Cup tournament was rewarded with winning the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy, as the tournament’s most valuable player.
- Simpson kept the Knights in the game throughout the first two periods and was strong in the net once again, stopping 27 of the 31 shots he faced in the loss.
- The Spirit became just the fifth United States winner in the 104-year history of the Memorial Cup.
- The team and the city of Saginaw become the 12th host city to ever win the tournament, and are the first to do so since 2022, when the Saint John Sea Dogs accomplished the feat.
Spirit Finally Get Their Revenge
The Spirit finally got the revenge that they had been looking for against the Knights in the win and capped off a spectacular 2023-24 season for not just the OHL, but the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as well.