'Prove people wrong': Elliott backstops Knights at Memorial Cup after WHL snub

RIMOUSKI - Austin Elliott couldn’t have imagined suiting up for the London Knights in the Memorial Cup earlier this season.

Back in October, the overage goaltender was manning the crease for a different junior team — in another league.

“Crazy how it's worked out for me,” Elliott said Thursday at Colisée Financière Sun Life. “If someone told me that, it’d be pretty hard to believe.”

Elliott began the season in the Western Hockey League, returning to the Saskatoon Blades after two solid campaigns. The Blades, however, placed him on 20-year-old waivers early in the season to comply with the league’s overager limit.

Every team in the WHL passed him up, a decision some clubs might now regret following his stellar run in London.

The 21-year-old from Strathmore, Alta., boasts an eye-popping 50-3 record this season — 53-3 if you include his 3-0 start in the WHL — heading into Friday’s Memorial Cup semifinal against the Moncton Wildcats. The winner meets the Medicine Hat Tigers in Sunday’s final.

As Elliott slid through waivers, the Knights pounced on the opportunity to add an experienced netminder while 17-year-old Alexei Medvedev developed. 

"We watched him play, he was a good goalie. He was 3-0 out there,” Knights president and head coach Dale Hunter said, smiling. “It's a great thing about hockey, you get second chances. He got a second chance, and he took advantage of it.”

London ultimately acquired Elliott from Barrie for a couple late-round draft picks after the Colts won the waiver claim.

Elliott went on to lead all Ontario Hockey League goalies with a .924 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average, motivated every step of the way to stick it to his doubters.

"I've experienced a couple setbacks in my career,” he said, referencing cuts from teams growing up. “I've sort of always tried to use it as fire. Try to use it as encouragement to try and get better.

“Try to prove people wrong."

Knights star forward Easton Cowan — a Maple Leafs draft pick — met Elliott at his first Toronto training camp in 2023.

“He was super good and very calm in the net,” Cowan said. “I knew he was going to be good for us."

Others quickly discovered for themselves what kind of impact Elliott could have in the crease.

“We kind of looked at his stats a bit, that was kind of all we could go off of,” forward Denver Barkey said. “When he came over here, I remember the first practice everyone was kind of like, ‘Oh geez. We got a good goalie on our hands.’

“He kind of took off ever since then.”

Tigers coach and general manager Willie Desjardins was one of the WHL executives who let Elliott slip through waivers unclaimed.

Desjardins acquired overage netminder Harrison Meneghin two days before Elliott hit the wire. He said Elliott only went unclaimed because it was early in the season.

“He's a great goaltender, and I thought he was a really good goaltender for Saskatoon last year. I think he's even playing better now,” Desjardins said. “I don't know for the other GMs, but I would assume they all were trying to see where their goaltenders were at at that time.

“He goes later on, for sure he gets picked up.”

A couple Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League teams showed interest in acquiring Elliott before the Knights came calling. The opportunity to backstop a powerhouse Knights team — even though it meant moving across the country — was too good to pass up.

“Even out West, you hear about how good of an organization it is, you see all the winning they've had in the past,” Elliott said. “I was super pumped when they came calling. It was a no-brainer to come here."

One thing he’s become used to is a lighter workload. The Knights rolled through the OHL with a 55-11-2 record in the regular season before going 16-1 in the playoffs.

Long stretches without a shot on goal against are routine for Elliott thanks to the loaded squad with an impressive 12 NHL draft picks — including four first-rounders — dominating in front of him.

“When you're going long stretches without a shot, it can definitely be challenging sometimes,” he said. “I've definitely gotten better with that side of the game, like the mental side, staying dialed.”

The Knights hope that’s the case on Friday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.