RED DEER, Alta. -- Brendan Burke believed that joining the London Knights gave him the best chance at winning junior hockey's top prize, even if it meant he had to ride the bench.
The 21-year-old over-age goalie left the Western Hockey League after four seasons and went east to the Ontario Hockey League in November, a decision that seems wise after London hammered the Brandon Wheat Kings 9-1 on Monday at the 2016 Memorial Cup to guarantee a spot in the tournament's semifinal.
"It's better to be a backup on a great team like this than a starter on a non-playoff team," said Burke. "I couldn't resist playing for another Memorial Cup."
Burke, the son of former NHL goalie Sean Burke, was cut by the Calgary Hitmen and picked up by the Guelph Storm before London acquired his rights through a trade.
He started 18 regular-season games for the Knights, backing up starter Tyler Parsons, but also took on the responsibility of eating up the garbage minutes in blowouts -- similar to when a coach plays his fourth line instead of his first.
Burke made an appearance on Monday, relieving Parsons with 12:22 left in the game and the score already lopsided. He stopped all 11 shots his way.
"We've done this a couple times in the year where a game gets out of hand, (coach) gave me about a two minute heads up," said Burke. "I did a little stretch and did the best I could. I was kind of thinking it was coming."
"Burke has been a soldier for us all year," said Knights head coach Dale Hunter. "He was very good tonight, made some great saves when we broke down and that's a credit to him. I'm so happy for him that he didn't let any in."
Christian Dvorak scored three times and tacked on an assist while Mitch Marner added four assists as London cruised to its second win of the tournament.
Dvorak leads all skaters with five goals in two games while Marner has nine points in two contests to lead all skaters.
Cliff Pu, Aaron Berisha, Matthew Tkachuk, JJ Piccinich, Max Jones and Daniel Bernhardt also scored for the OHL champion Knights (2-0) while Olli Juolevi chipped in with three helpers.
"I've been lucky to play on a lot of good team, it's pretty impressive what these guys do every night," said Burke, who played in the 2012 Memorial Cup with the WHL's Portland Winterhawks. "I'm amazed every night."
Stelio Mattheos scored for the Wheat Kings (0-2), who now have a must-win situation against the host Red Deer Rebels to keep their tournament hopes alive.
Parsons made 23 saves while Jordan Papirny kicked out 19-of-26 shots in two periods of work for Brandon. Papirny was replaced at the beginning of the third by Logan Thompson, who stopped 3-of-5 shots.
London opened the scoring on the power play when Tkachuk made a cross-crease feed to Dvorak just four minutes into the game.
Cliff Pu made it 2-0 for the Knights at 12:10 of the first when he put home a rebound off a shot from Jones.
Reid Duke didn't help his team's cause by taking a double minor for high sticking. Brandon killed off the first two minutes but Berisha was fed in the slot by Jones and he put the puck into a wide open net with 5:24 remaining in the period.
"We've been playing together for a while......just kicking off the rust now and putting up points, producing chances," Jones said about him and his linemates, Pu and Berisha.
Tkachuk, sent in alone by Marner, beat Papirny on a breakaway with 30 seconds left on the clock for a 4-0 lead.
Piccinich made it a 5-0 game 4:30 into the second, before Matheos finally put Brandon on the board two minutes later.
Dvorak made it 6-1 with a power-play goal midway through the second and Jones added another for London at 18:16.
Thompson didn't fare much better than Papirny early as Dvorak completed his hat trick just 43 seconds into the third period, with Marner picking up his fourth assist of the game.
Bernhardt added another power-play goal for London soon after to make it 9-1.
Brandon attempted to make it a closer game than it appeared, outshooting London 11-3 after Bernhardt's goal, but Burke was there to stop everything his way.
"Brandon's a team with a lot of pride and they didn't want to go down easy," said Burke. "It's never easy for the guys in front of me in a 9-1 game, I can't expect them lying down blocking shots."
Notes: The QMJHL Champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (1-1) will face London on Tuesday. Brandon will play Red Deer (1-1) Wednesday to wrap up round-robin play.
