One week earlier, Max McCue threaded a pass to Easton Cowan for the game winner in overtime against the Ottawa 67’s.
Exactly a week later, the two headed across the opposition blue line on another two-on-one, this time against the Brantford Bulldogs.
And this time it was Cowan setting up McCue to create the exact same result: a game-winning goal and a 3-2 final as the London Knights opened a busy weekend victorious in front of their home fans at Budweiser Gardens.
It was Cowan’s second assist of the game and helped London to overcome a couple of hurdles that they found in their way en route to an important two points in the standings.
The Knights put 55 shots on the Brantford net and were denied 52 times by Matteo Drobac in goal for the Bulldogs.
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London also had to battle back after an odd bounce on a dump-in gave Brantford a 2-1 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
Denver Barkey opened the scoring when he finished a short-handed two-on-one with Cowan with a tidy little backhand through the legs of Bulldogs goalie Matteo Drobac after being set up by Cowan at 9:26 of the first period.
The goal was Barkey’s eighth of the season.
Former Knight Luca Testa tied the game at 2:22 of the second period when he took a pass in front of the London net and scored his sixth goal in 2023-24. Testa was involved in a trade in January of 2023 that helped the Knights to acquire Ryan Winterton and Ryan Humphrey who helped London to a long playoff run.
Lucas Moore scored a goal at 10:45 that he never expected to score. He and his teammates were starting a line change so he just chipped the puck off the glass and it hit a stanchion and bounced right into the Knight net.
That lead was erased just over a minute later when Will Nichol potted his second of the season as he corralled a puck at the side of the Brantford goal and jammed it in to tie the game and make way for the overtime heroics of Cowan and McCue.
London outshot the Bulldogs 55-27.
Defenceman Jared Woolley made his OHL debut in the game. Woolley was a sixth round pick of the Knights in 2022 and has five goals and 12 points in eight games this year in the GOJHL with the St. Thomas Stars.
Knights sign Brendan Gerber
The London Knights have signed Brendan Gerber to an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement. Gerber was selected by the Knights in the sixth round of the 2023 OHL Priority Selection and has been on a tear with the Elmira Sugar Kings to start this season.
Gerber leads the Sugar Kings in scoring as a 16-year old and Elmira sits in first place with a 12-3-0-1 record heading into the weekend. London now has five of their top six picks from 2023 signed to play for the team. William Moore was the Knights first-round selection and he is currently with the U.S. National Development Team Program. Moore is currently playing for Team USA at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge. Moore has a goal and an assist through two games in the tournament.
Up next
London will continue a jam-packed weekend against the Attack in Owen Sound on Saturday, Nov.4.
The game will mark the first of six meetings between the clubs this season.
The Attack have a nucleus that has been together for the past three seasons and there are high expectations for Owen Sound in 2023.24. The Attack made a coaching change early on relieving Greg Walters of his duties behind the bench. He was replaced by Darren Rumble on Oct. 18. Owen Sound has a 2-4 record since then.
After that game the Knights will return home to face the Kitchener Rangers on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m., at Budweiser Gardens. The Rangers have been one of the biggest surprises this season. Despite having their roster racked by graduation Kitchener has had the top three and at times even the top four scorers in the OHL at various points over the first month of the schedule.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on Nov. 4, and at 5:30 p.m., on Nov. 5 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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