Jared Woolley will never forget his first goal in the Ontario Hockey League.
It came five minutes and 15 seconds into his fifth OHL game and it brought thousands of Teddy Bears raining down to the ice at Budweiser Gardens in what would end up as a 4-1 London Knights victory over Sarnia.
Woolley took a pass from Jacob Julien and beat Sting goalie Nick Surzycia through the legs, setting off the fuzziest of celebrations in support of the Salvation Army.
The final count was 11,924 Teddy Bears which broke the Knights record of 10,671 set in 2012 when Seth Griffith scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal.
Max McCue put London ahead 2-0 at the 3:10 mark of the second period when he was first stopped on a breakaway by Surzycia but Jacob Julien got to the rebound and fed McCue at the right side of the Sting net.
Knights forward Julien led the way offensively for London with a goal and two assists.
Denver Barkey had two assists and Easton Cowan had a goal and an assist.
After a penalty for a faceoff violation on the ensuing faceoff put Sarnia on the power play, rookie defenceman James Barr found a lane from the middle of the blue line and slung a shot that found the back of the net to make the score 2-1 through two periods.
Cowan appeared to put the Knights up 3-1 but a review of the goal ruled the play was offside.
Two power play goals broke the game open for London in the third period as first Julien finished a nice passing play by putting a puck into the top corner of the Sting net 55 seconds after the period began and then Cowan one-timed a shot past Surzycia at the 7:11 mark.
That finished the scoring and evened the Battle of the 402 at a win apiece in 2023-24.
The Knights outshot Sarnia 44-23 as Michael Simpson earned his 12th victory of the season for London.
The Knights power play stayed hot by going 2-for-7 and their penalty kill went 7-for 8.
Three Knights named to Hockey Canada’s Selection Camp
Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan and Denver Barkey of the Knights have received their invitations to Hockey Canada’s final selection camp. All three London players are 18 years old.
The world junior tournament is commonly referred to as a 19-year-old tournament but Hockey Canada’s senior director of hockey operations, Scott Salmond, disagrees.
“It’s the best player tournament,” Salmond says. “Look at (the Knights), you have Barkey, you have Cowan, you have Bonk. Those are really good 18-year-old players. You can’t dismiss them because of their age. If they can play, they are going to play. (Macklin) Celebrini is playing with men in the NCAA and he’s 17 years old…. If we have five 18-year-olds (on the final roster) people will say that we are building for next year but we’re trying to win it every year.”
Up next
London will play host to the Saginaw Spirit on Friday, Dec.8 at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
It will mark the second meeting between the clubs in less than a week.
Saginaw knocked off the Knights 7-5 on Dec. 2 at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Mich., in a game that saw the teams combine to go 5-for-6 on the power play. London was 3-for-3 and the Spirit were 2-for-3.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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