The London goaltender shone as the Knights defeated Plymouth for a seventh straight win.
Mason man of the hour

Ryan Pyette Sun Media

October 27, 2007

As time wears on, there's a good chance Steve Mason will start to forget some of the details from his growing number of OHL victories.

HIGH FLYER: London Knights forward Justin Taylor (93) sends Chris Terry of the Plymouth Whalers airborne as the pair pursue the puck during the first period at the John Labatt Centre last night. (SUE REEVE/Sun Media)

KNIGHTS 3 WHALERS 2

But the standing ovations? Not a chance.

No matter how many times it happens, no one ever forgets a crowd of 9,000 rising as one to salute your work. It happened for Mason after a superb string of short-handed saves in the second period of his squad's seventh straight victory, a 3-2 nail-biter last night over the defending league champion Plymouth Whalers at the John Labatt Centre.

The 19-year-old from Oakville was quick to point out the last time he felt so much love from the JLC faithful. If he plays all season like he did in this 32-save effort, it will be hard to keep people from staying seated.

"I had another one -- it was in the playoffs against Sault Ste. Marie last year -- I made two glove saves in a row off (hard-shooting defenceman) Josh Godfrey," he said with a grin. "The chills go down your body and it's a great feeling when you have 9,000 people standing and cheering for you. For us, we were down two men and that was a big penalty kill because we were only up 2-0 at the time."

When Mason is on his game, there is little that goes on in the rink of which he isn't aware. Behind him in the crowd, three-year-old Robbie Edwards was dressed up as a dancing mini-Mason and his act was captured on the video board above centre ice. The goalie saw it on the big screen and was able to meet the kid, whose younger brother needs to stay at Ronald McDonald House, after the game.

"It's nice to think I influence a lot of young kids like that," Mason said. "It was great to meet him and see him done up in the road hockey gear like that."

Dealing with a tidal wave of early penalties, Plymouth still showed a heart of a champion and nearly came back from a three-goal deficit. They just couldn't bag the equalizer, although London failed to put the Whalers away early with five first-period power-play chances.

"It's a little frustrating when you don't score but there was good puck movement out there so the goals didn't come but we're making the plays," London defenceman Scott Aarssen said. "It was great to see Steve get the standing ovation. You don't see very many of them and he deserved it. I don't think he has to win games (on his own) but it's a case where he's going to help us out and make the big saves when we need him."

Now, London will head to Kitchener tomorrow for a good early season test on just how good this team is so far. The Rangers are 10-2 to start the season and will finish it as hosts of the Memorial Cup tournament.

"We've won seven in a row and Kitchener is one of our big rivals so for us to go in there and get two points, if it happens, would be a huge confidence-builder," Mason said.

Even though Sam Gagner and Pat Kane aren't coming back from the NHL, there's a sense in London things will be all right with Mason in goal. With him holding the fort, not even the team that haunted London all of last season can slow down the Knights. London finished 2-7 against Plymouth last year and watched the Whalers end their season on home ice in Game 5 of the Western Conference final last spring.

This was Plymouth's first trip back since clinching the Western Conference on JLC ice. With GM and head coach Mike Vellucci absent from the bench due to illness, the Whalers watched the power-play chances favour London 11-4 through the second period.

"We took a lot of lazy ones and had to kill a lot off (the Knights were 1-of-11 with the man advantage," assistant coach Joe Stefan said. "But their goalie made some big saves. We got to him with some traffic but it was too little, too late."

The Knights acquired 18-year-old forward Anthony Soboczynski, a Londoner, from Owen Sound for a 15th- round draft pick yesterday. The former second-round pick of the Saginaw Spirit was assigned to the junior B London Nationals.

Ryan Pyette is a Free Press sports reporter.