London Knights 4 vs. Windsor Spitfires 2

Friday, September 18, 2009

Hot Houser steals win

New Knights netminder turns aside 42 shots from powerhouse Windsor, leading London to 4-2 season-opening victory.

By RYAN PYETTE

Michael Houser is from Wexford, Pennsylvania.

That's 15 minutes from Pittsburgh.

Home of the Super Bowl champion Steelers. Home of the Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

They don't just make steel in that city. They churn out winners too.

And with Houser guarding their net for the first time, the London Knights did something it took them six months and a John Tavares hat trick to do last season: Beat the Windsor Spitfires.

The rookie goalie turned aside 42 shots by the defending Memorial Cup champions and the Knights opened their 2009-10 season with a 4-2 victory before 9,084 last night at the John Labatt Centre.

"It was great when the Steelers and Penguins won, I celebrated, but it's a totally different feeling when you're part of it," said Houser, who turned 17 last Sunday. "Knowing they (Windsor) won the Memorial Cup last year and this being my first start, I wanted to do well and the guys in front of me just did a great job."

Houser started because veteran Michael Hutchinson is on his way back from Boston Bruins camp.

It could've gone two ways.

He knew what happened to Steve Mason in his first Knights start on the same stage four years ago. The NHL standout got yanked early after four goals and sat for a half-season.

Houser, though, ended up saluting the crowd as the game's first star. He started feeling his mojo working after turning aside Taylor Hall on a breakaway in the first period.

"But it's not about stopping one guy -- I just want to make saves," he said. "We talked about (Hall) before the game and he's obviously a great player. They have a lot of good shooters."

So how did the Knights get this guy?

Last season, GM Mark Hunter travelled to Sylvania, Ohio, to watch a Des Moines Buccaneers goalie who faced a lot of rubber for a bad team but still stopped nine of every 10 shots.

"I was there at the second tryouts before they picked the United States Under-18 team," he said, "and I met Mark after and he said he'd like to have me up to London to take a look at the rink.

"He must've liked what he saw and I liked what I heard. I talked to my mom about it and it was something that I wanted to do."

His play gave the last laugh to Knights goalie coach Bill Dark, who served in that same capacity in Windsor last year.

Suddenly, the Spitfires have goaltending issues. Over-ager Josh Unice got yanked after Garett Hunter's goal 29 seconds into the second period.

"Our goaltending was bad -- it doesn't have to be great but they have to at least keep us in the game," Windsor coach Bob Boughner said. "We got behind and it's hard to play catch-up when we have guys playing their first game.

"Taylor Hall had to play 34 minutes (against Plymouth) and he probably played another 34 again.

"We've outshot our opponents something like 90-40 the past two games so we're getting the chances."

The champs are 0-2 but hardly worried. The Knights started 0-4 after their Cup win and ended up winning 49 games.

Houser stood tallest when London endured penalty trouble in the second and third periods. Big Leigh Salters got tossed for a check to Cam Fowler's head and the Knights ran into a rough string of infractions.

But the Spits ended up just 1-for-7 with the man advantage.

"Hats off to Houser for his first start," said Knights veteran forward Phil Varone, who scored once, had two points and logged some prime penalty kill duty. "He made some big saves and, on the kill, when you have a chance to get the puck out, you go for it.

"I know they're missing some big guys and we're missing guys, too.

"But we're not worried about them. We're worried about us."


SHOTS
Windsor Spitfires - 44
London Knights - 19

SCORING
1. LDN Erlich, (1) (Varone), 1:15
1. WSR Nemisz, (1) (Watson), 6:38
1. LDN Varone, (1) (Taylor, Salters), 18:51 (PP)
2. LDN Hunter, (1) (Knight), 0:29
3. WSR Nemisz, (2) (Whaley, Fowler), 1:36 (PP)
3. LDN DeSando, (1) (Taylor), 6:08

PENALTIES
1 - LDN MacDonald, 2:11 - Slashing , 2 min (PP)
1 - LDN Taylor, 10:47 - Cross Checking , 2 min (PP)
1 - WSR O'Donnell, 15:05 - Interference , 2 min (PP)
1 - WSR Fowler, 16:57 - Slashing , 2 min
1 - LDN Served By Reynolds, 16:57 - Delay of Game , 2 min
1 - WSR Nemisz, 17:59 - High Sticking , 2 min (PP)
2 - WSR Dubois, 7:38 - Interference , 2 min (PP)
2 - WSR Posa, 10:36 - High Sticking , 2 min (PP)
2 - WSR Baldwin, 14:10 - Roughing , 2 min (PP)
2 - WSR Dunning, 14:10 - Roughing , 2 min
2 - LDN Hunter, 14:10 - Cross Checking , 2 min
2 - LDN Salters, 17:08 - Checking to the Head , 5 min (PP)
2 - LDN Salters, 17:08 - Game Misc-Check to Head (44B.4), 0 min
2 - LDN McNeill, 18:53 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)
3 - LDN Varone, 1:16 - Tripping , 2 min (PP)
3 - LDN DeSando, 8:28 - Delay of Game , 2 min (PP)
3 - LDN Ekelund, 12:46 - Holding , 2 min (PP)

WINDSOR SPITFIRES GOALIES
30 Unice, Josh Goals Against: 3 Mins: 20:29 Shots: 10 Saves: 7 PIM: 0
31 Passingham, Troy Goals Against: 1 Mins: 37:59 Shots: 9 Saves: 8 PIM: 0

LONDON KNIGHTS GOALIES
29 Houser, Michael GA: 2 MIN: 60:00 SH: 44 SV: 42 PIM: 0
30 Heming, Stephen GA: - MIN: - SH: - SV: - PIM: -

THREE STARS
1. LDN - 29 Michael Houser
2. WSR - 64 Greg Nemisz
3. LDN - 71 Phil Varone

ICE OFFICIALS
Darcy Burchell (17), Referee
Scott Hoberg (13), Referee
Kevin Hastings (61), Linesman
Darryl Wolfe (53), Linesman

OFF-ICE OFFICIALS
Dean Johnson, Score Keeper
Josh Sweetland, Online Scorekeeper
John McInerney, Goal Judge 1
Dave Longfield, Goal Judge 2
Dave Whaley, Video Goal Judge

ARENA
John Labatt Centre
Attendance: 9090
Start: 7:38 PM
Length: 2:14