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Knight Watch: London salvages two points in disappointing road trip; Knights sit second in division and fourth in conference entering weekend; Former first-round pick Alex Campeau is GOHL Prospect of the Week; Home and home series vs. Saginaw up next.
It was a less than ideal start to the Knights’ road trip last weekend, but the club did manage to salvage two points with a win in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday.
London surrendered a pair of third period goals but held on to beat the Greyhounds, 4-3, recording their only victory of the busy weekend up north.
The contest was their third game in three nights and, on paper, it presented their toughest matchup of the three. But the Knights endured disappointing performances in losses to North Bay and Sudbury on Thursday and Friday (the Wolves had just five wins going into last Friday’s matchup).
So, with just the two points over the weekend, the Owen Sound Attack leapfrogged London for top spot in the Midwest division — although the Knights have played two fewer games. In the conference, the Knights sit fourth, a single point ahead of both the Greyhounds and Kitchener Rangers entering action this weekend.
And what will this weekend bring? A home and home series with the struggling Saginaw Spirit, who currently sit eighth in the conference and have won just twice in their last nine games. It’s the first time the two teams will meet this season.
Sam O’Reilly and Braidy Wassilyn have enjoyed some solid chemistry the last few weeks, and they’ve been carrying London’s offence during that time. Both players have points in five straight games, and Wassilyn has goals in four straight.
Knights first round pick Alex Campeau is the GOHL Prospect of the Week. He produced two goals and four points in a pair of games with the London Nationals. He’s the third Knights prospect to receive the distinction this season following Jake Ritson (Strathroy Rockets) and Brendan Gerber (Elmira Sugar Kings).
UPCOMING GAMEDAYS
Friday (Nov. 28, 7:00pm at home) & Saturday (Nov. 29, 7:05pm on road) vs. Saginaw Spirit (8-11-3-3, 8th in Western Conference)
Nikita Klepov leads all rookies with 33 points, putting him 7th in league scoring. He isn’t afraid to shoot the puck, as his 104 shots on goal are second most in the OHL this season. Egor Barabanov and Dimian Zhilkin are the only other Spirit players at more than a point per game pace. Levi Harper leads all rookie defencemen with 20 points. Goaltender Stepan Shurygin has been the busiest goaltender in the OHL this season, seeing action in 21 of Saginaw’s 24 games. He has the most minutes played with 1,208, and he’s faced an OHL-high 671 shots. He’s one of just two goalies with more than 600 saves so far this season.
Wednesday (Dec. 3, 6:30pm) vs. Kitchener Rangers (14-7-2-0, 5th in Western Conference)
The Rangers enter the weekend with just two wins in their last six games. This follows a relatively strong start to the season where they won eight of their first dozen. They are captained by Aylmer’s Cameron Reid, who is ninth among OHL defencemen in scoring. Christian Humphreys leads the team in scoring, followed by fellow American Jack Pridham. Meanwhile, Luke Ellinas, Carson Campbell and Andrew Vermeulen have all returned to the lineup after missing the first chunk of the season with injuries. Ellinas, who scored 20 goals last season, has three goals through his first six games. Christian Kirsch has started a bulk of the games in net for Kitchener, including both games against London. He wasn’t particularly sharp in London’s 6-1 victory back on Oct. 17, but was much improved when Kitchener got the better of the Knights in overtime two days later. He’s among the league leaders in both wins and goals-against average and is top 10 in save percentage. Kitchener’s penalty kill is 7th best in the league. They’ve scored six shorthanded goals, second most in the OHL.
KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS
9 – Braidy Wassilyn has nine goals in his first dozen games as a London Knight (including goals in four straight).
5 – Sam O’Reilly has three goals and six points during a five-game point streak.
12 – The Knights have allowed a league low 12 goals against on the penalty kill, successfully killing of 86.4% of penalties.
A LOOK AT THE LOCALS
– Brennan Faulkner is in his most productive stretch as an OHLer, scoring twice against Kingston on Saturday, his third multi-point effort in his last six games. He has five goals and eight points.
– Guelph Storm co-captain Jett Luchanko, who had five assists in a 10-7 loss to Owen Sound on Friday, was traded to Brantford this week.
– Beckham Edwards and Ryan Roobroeck competed in the CHL USA Top Prospects Games this week.
– Londoner Jeff Carter had his number 7 raised to the roof in Sault Ste. Marie.
AROUND THE OHL
– Already with the best record in the OHL, the Brantford Bulldogs have made a major acquisition, acquiring Jett Luchanko from the Guelph Storm.
– The Storm will be the hosts for the 2027 Memorial Cup. They last hosted the tournament in 2002.
– The OHL has suspended Brampton’s Luke Dragusica for the remainder of the season, including playoffs, for a violent slash in a game against Oshawa.
– The Flint Firebirds won their 10th straight game Wednesday night, the franchises’ longest winning streak since they won 15 in a row during the 2019-20 season.
– The Sarnia Sting have completed a pair of trades. They acquired Tyler Challenger from Erie for Kase Kamzik. The trade was completed just after the Otters and Sting played Saturday night. A couple days prior, they traded forward Carter Kostuch to Sudbury for a pair of draft picks.
– More changes in Sarnia, as the Sting named Mathieu Turcotte as head coach, weeks after parting ways with Alan Letang.
