Red-hot Knights go road-tripping

Knight Watch: Pair of shootout wins keeps streak alive; Cowan’s point streak reaches one year; London heads on Eastern Conference road trip. It’s Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa this week. What to expect? …

Austin Elliott is a perfect 9-0 since joining the Knights, posting a 2.29 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in those games. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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The London Knights hadn’t required a shootout yet this season, but they saw two last weekend — and they secured both en route to bumping their win streak to 15 games. It’s the longest win streak in the OHL this season, and it’s helped propel the team into first place in the overall standings.

Things have certainly been going well over the last month, but captain Denver Barkey says the club is still focused on getting better and rounding out their overall game.

“We’re just looking to keep improving every day, working on those little things and continuing to build to what will hopefully be another long playoff run,” Barkey told Gameday London.

Austin Elliott backstopped London to both shootout wins — against Owen Sound Friday and Ottawa Sunday — while stopping nine of 11 attempts in the shootout. He’s now a perfect 9-0 since joining the Knights. Jacob Julien was successful in both of his shootout attempts to help lift London to the wins.

It seemed like the Attack were about to bring an abrupt end to London’s winning streak Friday night. The Knights trailed by two goals late until Kasper Halttunen and Oliver Bonk scored with the goalie pulled to force extra time. It’s the second time this season the Knights have come back to win despite trailing after two periods. It was also the third time in three meetings this season that the Knights and Attack have gone to overtime.

On Saturday, London picked up their second straight win over Saginaw. Sam Dickinson had a career-high six points in the win, as London pulled away with a 6-2 lead before getting into some penalty trouble late, helping Saginaw storm back to make it a 6-5 final.

Easton Cowan’s regular season point streak has officially reached a full calendar year. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect recorded points Friday and Saturday, but missed Sunday’s matinee with a lower-body injury. His point streak stands at 54 and is officially more than one year old. The last time Cowan was held pointless was Nov. 24 of last year. Since then, he’s scored 39 goals and tallied 93 points during the streak, which he will look to extend as the team heads east for a road trip through Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa this weekend.

The Knights celebrate their shootout win over Ottawa on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

Barkey also missed Sunday’s game with an injury, but he says he’ll be making the trip and hopes to get back into the lineup this weekend.

“It’s always fun to hop on the road, spend a couple nights at a hotel and some hours on the bus,” the veteran forward said. “It’s good bonding time, always great memories and a couple laughs on the road.”

Halttunen and Ryder Boulton also missed Sunday’s game as the pair served suspensions. Halttunen was given a four-game ban for a check from behind in Saginaw, while Boulton’s suspension is still under review by the OHL. Halttunen will be eligible to return Dec. 4, although not long after that he’ll be joining Finland for the World Juniors — one of several Knights likely to take part in that tournament.

There were a couple of firsts last weekend. Logan Hawery scored his first OHL goal in Friday’s win, and then potted his second on Sunday. Blake Montgomery scored his first in Saturday’s win over Saginaw.

The Knights completed a trade with the Niagara IceDogs this week, sending forward Blake Arrowsmith to Niagara for three draft picks: Brantford’s 3rd round pick in 2026, Niagara’s 3rd round pick in 2028, and Sarnia’s 6th round pick in 2025. Arrowsmith joins an IceDogs roster that includes former Knights Mike Levin, Mathieu Paris, and Owen Flores.

The Knights’ next home game will be Dec. 4 when they host Owen Sound for what will be this year’s Teddy Bear Toss game.

Blake Montgomery has a pair of points in seven games since joining the Knights. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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UPCOMING GAMEDAYS

Thursday (Nov. 28, 7:05pm) @ Peterborough Petes (2-16-1-4, 5th in East Division)

It’s certainly been a rough start to the season for the Petes, but they’ve shown some promise recently and have points in two straight games. Aiden Young has been a bright spot for the young squad. The former London Junior Knight has two goals over his last three games, giving him seven on the season. This is a Petes team that surprised a strong London team last year despite being outside of the playoff picture. There are plenty of locals on the Peterborough roster, including Brennan Faulkner, Ingersoll’s Gavin Bryant, and Ilderton’s Liam Ladds and Matthew Jenken, who is the younger brother of Knights defenceman Noah Jenken.

Friday (Nov. 29, 7:00pm) @ Kingston Frontenacs (15-6-4-0, 1st in East Division)

The Fronts are off to a solid start. They have five players with double digit goals and three with more than 30 points. Calgary Flames prospect Jacob Battaglia leads the team with 16 goals and 35 points. Kingston has some solid special teams with the OHL’s fifth best powerplay and third best penalty kill. Emil Pieniniemi is tied for second in the OHL in powerplay assists with 13, while Ethan Miedema leads the league with five game-winning goals, one more than both Easton Cowan and Sam Dickinson. London has enjoyed a significant amount of success against Kingston over the years, having won the last nine games between the two teams. The Knights’ last loss against the Fronts came in September of 2017.

Sunday (Dec. 1, 2:00pm) @ Ottawa 67s (8-8-2-4, 4th in East Division)

This is a rematch of last Sunday’s matchup that saw these two teams need additional time for the fifth straight meeting. The last time these teams settled things in regulation was Feb. 17 2020, a game that saw goals from Connor McMichael and Liam Foudy. The game features the two top powerplays in the OHL. Despite this, they combined to go 0-for-7 with the man advantage last Sunday when London earned the 2-1 win in a shootout.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS

1 - Logan Hawery scored his first OHL goal in Friday’s win over Owen Sound, and then added his second Sunday against Ottawa.

38 - Sam Dickinson is third in the league in scoring with 38 points. He leads all defencemen in points and goals with 13.

2 - After scoring on none of his three shootout attempts last season, Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Julien scored on both his opportunities last weekend to help London secure shootout wins over Owen Sound and Ottawa.

A LOOK AT THE LOCALS

- Ryan Roobroeck is on a seven-game point streak for the Niagara IceDogs, scoring seven goals and 13 points over that stretch.

- Beckham Edwards keeps finding ways to score. The Sarnia Sting rookie scored both his team’s goals in a loss to Barrie on Sunday, giving the Komoka-born forward 11 goals on the season. It was his third multi-goal game so far during his rookie campaign.

- Parker Vaughan scored his third of the season as the Barrie Colts continue to roll. They lead the Central Division with 30 points.

AROUND THE OHL

- Niagara teammates Michael Levin and Andrei Loshko scored hat tricks in Niagara’s win over the Soo on Thursday. Three days later, Brampton teammates Carson Rehkopf and Kieran Witkowski both recorded hat tricks against the Greyhounds.

- It was a successful showing for the CHL top prospects, who beat a group of USA prospects twice this week, 6-1 in London and 3-2 in Oshawa.

- The CHL has announced that the Kelowna Rockets will host the 2026 Memorial Cup. Kelowna previously hosted the tournament in 2004 and was scheduled to host in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.