Rivalry renewed
Posted Apr 19, 2012 05:00:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
They have been here before.
The Kitchener Rangers and London Knights faceoff in game one of the OHL Rogers Western Conference Championship tonight at the John Labatt Centre.
570 News has the pre-game show at 6:30 and Jeff Allan takes your calls on the extended post-game show after the game.
The two teams battled in the West Final in 2005, London won it in five and went onto to win their first ever Memorial Cup.
Two years ago, Kitchener and London squared off in the second round with the Rangers taking it in seven games.
The goals for and against were 37-30 in favour of the East Avenue Blue.
As was the case in the Plymouth series, this match-up could also turn into a goaltending duel between John Gibson and Michael Houser, both Pennsylvania products.
Gibson has the best save percentage so far in the playoffs and is second in terms of goals against average at 2.19.
London was the OHL’s top team in the regular season with a record of 49-18-0-1.
Kitchener grabbed the third seed in the West at 42-24-1-1.
“Both fan bases are incredible and London’s a very tough building to go into, but so is Kitchener…It’s going to be a great series.” said Rangers captain Michael Catenacci on a conference call Wednesday.
London head coach Mark Hunter expects an intense series. “It’s going to be fun to watch.”
Rogers Western Conference Schedule.
