On a night when the London Knights honoured the 2024 class of the Don Brankley London Knights Hall of Fame, it was their opponent that put up a Hall of Fame performance as the Soo Greyhounds downed London 8-2 at Budweiser Gardens on Feb. 16.
The loss was the first in regulation by the Knights since a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the same Soo Greyhounds on Dec. 10 in Sault Ste. Marie.
London had gone 21-0-0-2 since that point.
The Knights honoured former assistant general manager Jim McKellar, former forward and captain Billy Carroll and former defenceman Marc Methot as the newest members of the Don Brankley Hall of Fame.
Saginaw lost 6-3 in Sudbury so London remains in first place in the overall Ontario Hockey League standings two points ahead of the Spirit.
The Knights had talked about getting off to a good start against the Greyhounds and made it happen as Max McCue took a pass from Easton Cowan and wristed a shot into the Sault Ste. Marie net at 5:44 of the opening period.
The assist for Cowan extended his point streak to 22 games. Since 1997 only Sergei Kostitsyn’s 25-game point streak from 2006-07 ranks as a longer streak by any player in a London uniform.
At that point the shots were 6-0 for the Knights.
The Greyhounds took away the momentum shortly after that as they came up energized after a big penalty kill later and wound up tying the game as Jack Beck found Gavin Hayes at the edge of the London crease for his 30th goal of the year.
Three goals on three different deflections turned a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 Sault Ste. Marie lead before the second period was eight minutes old.
Londoner Jordan D’Intino got the first goal just 91 seconds into the second to make it 2-1.
Greyhounds defenceman Andrew Gibson wristed a shot off a Knights skate and in at the 7:04 mark and then 34 seconds later Travis Hayes tipped in a shot and the Sault Ste. Marie lead was three.
Owen Willmore entered the London net at that point and the Knights began to push back.
Sam O’Reilly hit a goal post and a three-way passing play deflected wide of the Greyhounds net, but London kept coming and cashed in on a two-on-0 breakaway as Max McCue fed Sam Dickinson.
Sault Ste. Marie added four more goals in the third period as Gavin Hayes scored his second and his younger brother Travis added a goal of his own. Gibson’s second of the game and Jack Beck’s first rounded things out.
The Greyhounds outshot London 43-29.
Back to the playoffs again
When the Flint Firebirds edged the Sarnia Sting on Valentine’s Day it was the London Knights who received the greatest gift. The lost point by the Sting meant that they could no longer catch the Knights in the standings, which clinched a playoff spot for London for the 23rd consecutive season.
The Knights are now tied with the Plymouth Whalers (1992-2014), the Oshawa Generals (1978-2000) and the Guelph Storm (1993-2015) for the second-longest streak of playoff appearances in Ontario Hockey League history. The only team with a longer streak is the Peterborough Petes, who made the post-season in 27 straight seasons between 1976-77 and 2002-03.
Up next
The London Knights and the Owen Sound Attack will meet for the final time in the 2023-24 regular season on Feb. 17 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound, Ont.
London has won all five of the games between the teams this year. Some have been lopsided, like the 10-0 game at Budweiser Gardens on Jan. 14 that saw the Attack arrive late after getting through a snowstorm that saw their bus slide off the road into a snowbank. Other games have been as close as you can get. The Knights have won games in Owen Sound in both overtime and a shootout.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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