London Knights goaltender Aleksei Medvedev\u00a0loves everything about the playoffs: the atmosphere, the competition, and the\u00a0big moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having been part of the Memorial Cup-winning\u00a0team last season, the 18-year-old\u00a0enters the\u00a0postseason with\u00a0playoff and championship experience\u00a0under his belt.\u00a0He\u00a0has been pulling from that experience to help his team as they prepare for the first round this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knights play at\u00a0Canada Life Arena, which\u00a0sells out\u00a0at just over\u00a09,000 seats each game.\u00a0Fans take it to another level in the\u00a0postseason,\u00a0and Medvedev is looking forward to the\u00a0playoff atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s different in playoffs for sure; it’s really special,\u201d Medvedev said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s my second time in the playoffs, so it’s great to see and great to play in an arena like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That energy will be on display as London (4) opens its first-round matchup against the Soo Greyhounds (5).\u00a0The\u00a0Knights finished the regular season\u00a0with a\u00a040-23-4-1\u00a0record and a slight edge in the season series \u2013 besting the Greyhounds three out of four meetings. The Knights know the\u00a0margin is thin,\u00a0and Medvedev knows exactly where their\u00a0focus needs to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a good matchup for us.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a good amount of traveling, but\u00a0we’re\u00a0ready for it, and\u00a0we’re\u00a0really excited,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u201cWe’re just really focused on this series and doing everything we can to prepare for it and focus on game one right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Playing the Greyhounds from Sault Ste. Marie means both teams will have to make an eight-hour drive at least once each.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s probably like the furthest drive we could get,\u201d\u00a0Medvedev laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0perfected sleeping on the bus, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0good enough to get by and\u00a0catch a few cat naps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mindset for Game 1 is reinforced by a locker room that still carries championship DNA. There\u2019s a handful of returning players who understand the grind of a long playoff\u00a0run,\u00a0and Medvedev says that it adds confidence to the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a few returning guys from last year, so that definitely helps,\u201d Medvedev said.\u00a0\u201cThat\u00a0experience and leadership we have in our room\u00a0to help\u00a0our\u00a0guys that are just coming into the league\u00a0and\u00a0going\u00a0into\u00a0their first playoff series\u00a0is big. I feel like that experience helps our team a lot, and we will\u00a0definitely use\u00a0it to our advantage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a young goaltender, handling pressure and getting the mindset right is important.\u00a0Medvedev says that pressure is a privilege, and\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0focused on\u00a0channelling\u00a0it constructively\u00a0by staying even-keel through the\u00a0ups and downs\u00a0of a series and taking one game at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy off-ice warm-ups, stuff like that, just trying to be as focused as I can on every task I do at the rink, so that carries over to the game. Hopefully, you get rid of the thoughts and are just present and enjoying the game,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Medvedev talked about the importance of starting the game on time and setting the tone.\u00a0The first few minutes\u00a0of Game 1\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0usually some nerves before\u00a0everyone settles in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to bring that energy right away, and set the tone, not just for the game, but for the whole series and take that momentum and use it for your advantage,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reflected on his game heading into\u00a0the\u00a0playoffs, noting the area he\u2019s taken the biggest step this season is the\u00a0mental part of the game.\u00a0He got out\u00a0to a hot start this season,\u00a0earning\u00a0OHL Goaltender of the Week\u00a0honours\u00a0in November\u00a0after posting a .970 save percentage, a 1.00 goals-against average, and two wins.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0hard to sustain those numbers, but through the\u00a0ebbs and flows of the season,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0made it a point to\u00a0focus on\u00a0controlling the controllables.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person, as an athlete, and just my mindset and\u00a0my\u00a0mental side of the game has grown a lot,\u201d Medvedev said.\u00a0\u201cI’ve\u00a0learned a lot of things,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0learned a lot of lessons from playing and practicing,\u00a0and\u00a0it’s\u00a0been great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the postseason about to get underway, Medvedev is calm in his approach and is ready for the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London Knights goaltender Aleksei Medvedev\u00a0loves everything about the playoffs: the atmosphere, the competition, and the\u00a0big moments.\u00a0 Having been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-562075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}