The London Knights have won their 14th consecutive game and moved past the Kitchener Rangers into sole possession of first place in the overall Ontario Hockey League standings.
London drubbed the Kitchener 10-3 on Jan. 20 at Budweiser Gardens less than 24 hours after beating the Rangers 4-2 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
The Knights have beaten the last three visitors to their home rink by a combined 26-4.
Those teams featured first-place Kitchener, Memorial Cup host Saginaw and a team built to win in 2023-24 in the Owen Sound Attack.
The game between London and the Rangers featured growing angst and animosity and raised the already combustable rivalry between the clubs.
The third period was penalty-filled and stretched the game to almost three hours in length.
Reigning OHL Player of the Week, Oliver Bonk recorded two goals and two assists and stretched his personal point streak to double-digits.
Kasper Halttunen and Ruslan Gazizov each had a goal and three assists for the Knights, while rookie forward Evan Van Gorp had a three-point game with two goals and an assist.
Gazizov helped to get the scoring going as he fed Jacob Julien for Julien’s milestone 20th goal of the season 5:46 into the game to get London on the scoreboard first. Julian now has at least one point in nine straight games.
The Knights doubled their lead just 51 seconds later when Kasper Halttunen extended his point streak to 18 games as he slipped a pass to Evan Van Gorp at the side of the Ranger net and Van Gorp roofed a shot for his fifth goal of the season.
Anthony Romani of the North Bay Battalion has the OHL’s longest current point streak of the season. Romani has at least one point in 19 consecutive games.
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London exploded for four goals in the second period.
Gazizov started it off with his 18th goal of the year.
That was quickly followed by Alec Leonard’s first of rhe season as he cashed in on a puck that pinballed off sticks and legs until he found it at the right hash marks and buried a wrist shot.
Knights defenceman Isaiah George got to a loose puck just over five minutes later and scored London’s fifth goal of the afternoon and Easton Cowan made it 6-0 at 13:41 of the second period. Cowan’s point streak is now 12 games long.
Kitchener scored twice before the middle period ended. Rookie Luca Romano scored on the power play and Matt Andonovski got a wrist shot through from the left point for a goal that nearly mirrored one he scored the night before.
The final 20 minutes featured 27 penalties and four more goals.
Bonk’s first of the day and 13th of the year made it 7-2 for the Knights and then Edoaurd Sale responded for the Rangers to cut the London lead back to four.
Halttunen’s 23rd of the year combined with Bonk’s and Van Gorp’s second goals closed out the scoring.
London is now one point ahead of Kitchener for first overall with two games in hand.
The next closest team to the Knights is the Soo Greyhounds who are four points back with two games in hand on London.
Sam O’Reilly’s point streak was increased to seven games while Max McCue’s is now at five. Each player had an assist.
Owen Willmore earned the win in net for the Knights as he made 18 saves.
Tristan Malbouef and Jackson Parsons split the goaltending duties for the Rangers.
London outshot Kitchener 45-21.
The Knights also went 3-for-3 on the power play.
Don Brankley 2024 Hall of Fame Class unveiled
Billy Carroll, Jim McKellar and Marc Methot will be inducted into the Don Brankley London Knights Hall of Fame at a ceremony held on February 16, 2023 at Budweiser Gardens. The three Knights alumni were named as the Class of 2024 on Jan. 15.
Carroll played in London from 1976 to 1979 and then went on to win three Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and another with the Edmonton Oilers. McKellar was hired by Mark and Dale Hunter as they took over the Knights franchise and as assistant general manager helped to build the Team of the Century in an 11-year run in London.
McKellar then moved to the Chicago Blackhawks as an amateur scout where he has helped to win two Stanley Cups. Methot was a key contributor to the Knights first memorial Cup Championship and then had an outstanding National Hockey League career with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Ottawa Senators and the Dallas Stars.
Area connections to take part in MacPherson Tournament
Each year St. Andrew’s College hosts the MacPherson Tournament and the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League selects a team to compete in it.
Londoner Ethan Weir, Parkhill, Ont., native Ethan Facchina and four members of the London Knights will be playing. Defencemen P.J. Fagan (London Nationals) and Noah Jenken (Strathroy Rockets) will join goaltender Alexei Medvedev (St. Thomas Stars) and forward Brendan Gerber (Elmira Sugar Kings) are on the GOJHL roster. Weir is a draft pick of the Kingston Frontenacs and is playing this season in St. Marys. Facchina is a teammate of Jenken’s in Strathroy.
Up next
The Knights will host the Peterborough Petes on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
The teams met in last year’s OHL Championship series but have gone in very different directions ever since.
Peterborough elected to move veterans before and at the OHL trade deadline while London is primed for another run at a championship.
Coverage will start at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.