Memorial Cup: The Moose Jaw Warriors lost 5-4 to the London Knights

The London Knights overcame a tougher start to defeat the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-4 on Monday in the Memorial Cup in Saginaw.

Dale Hunter's men thus registered a second win in as many matches in this edition. His team immediately qualifies for the semi-finals.

The Warriors won't have time to dwell on this defeat as they face the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Tuesday, who have also been beaten in their first two group stage matches. The winner of this match will advance to the semi-finals while the loser will pack his bags to go home.

Moose Jaw was able to take the lead in the first period when Denton Mateychuk beat goalie Michael Simpson at 3:39 in the first period with a shot from the top.

London, who had a slow start to the game, were able to capitalize on their first real chance to level the game by capitalizing on a failed exit from the Warriors' box allowing Ruslan Gazizov to recover the loose ball to score.

Before the end of the first period, Sam Dickinson put the Knights ahead for the first time with his first of the tournament with a wrist shot.

The second half saw a collective lead of five goals.

For Moose Jaw, Ethan Semeniuk made it 2-2 with his first two goals of the period. He was able to capitalize on the turnover by jumping on a rebound shot while Simpson was lying defenseless on the ice to hit the goal.

The Knights followed with three consecutive goals. First, Sam O'Reilly showed off his talent by beating defenseman and goalie Jackson Unger in quick succession to give London a 3-2 lead just 2:01 after the Warriors tied the game.

Then, in a two-on-one climb, Landon Sim took advantage of Unger's generosity to make it 4-2 before seeing Kasper Halttunen make it 5-2 thanks to a one-goal goal.

While everyone thought the game was in the pocket with a three-goal priority, Semenyuk scored his second goal of the game six seconds later when his weak shot from the blue line bounced across the ice like a stone lying on the surface of the water, fooling the vigilance of Simpson, who was as completely baffled as the 4,768 spectators gathered in the DOW Events Center.

With 3:55 remaining in the third period, Martin Risafi gave hope to the Warriors, who came within one goal.

On Wednesday, London will take on host club Saginaw.

Details coming.