Henry Brzustewicz has not played a whole lot of forward in his life.
When he is near a goal crease, it is usually his own and he is usually trying to keep opposing players from getting shots on goal.
With two veteran forwards out of London lineup, Brzustewicz was called on to fill one of the spots.
That had him set up to the right of the Oshawa crease exactly two minutes into double overtime and able to tip in an Isaiah George wrist shot from the left point to complete one of the most improbable comebacks in Knights history.
That completed a four-goal comeback that saw London down 6-2 to begin the third period.
The Knights now lead the best-of-seven series 3-0.
Oshawa scored three times in quick succession in the opening period as Calum Ritchie and Luca D’Amato got goals 24 seconds apart to make it 2-0 for the Generals.
Just 43 seconds after that, Knights goalie Michael Simpson shot out his right leg to make a big save on a Dylan Roobroeck shot but Simpson’s former Peterborough Petes teammate Connor Lockhart was there to poke the puck across the goal line and Oshawa’s lead was three.
Before the end of the first period, Sam Dickinson got London on the board as a puck kicked back to him off a blocked pass and Dickinson drained a wrist shot low to the blocker side of Jacob Oster and eventually the teams headed to their dressing rooms with the Generals ahead 3-1.
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The middle period featured more rapid fire scoring as London and Oshawa combined for three goals in a span of 58 seconds.
Those came after Roobroeck put the Generals ahead 4-1 with a power play goal at the 10:47 mark.
Kasper Halttunen got that goal back for the Knights at 13:35 on a shot from the left side on a power play but just 23 seconds later Lockhart’s second goal made it 5-2 and D’Amato’s second goal (also on a deflection) had Oshawa up 6-2 heading into the third period.
In the final 20 minutes London hit the gas.
Owen Willmore entered the Knight net and Oliver Bonk banged in a power play goal at the other end of the ice at 1:04 to get the Knights to within three.
At 11:09 Halttunen scored his second of the game on another man advantage to bring London within a pair and then less than two minutes later Cowan took a shot that Halttunen deflected across the Generals goal line to make it 6-5 and then Sam O’Reilly got to a puck to the right of the Oshawa net, made a move and poked it through Oster to complete a four-goal comeback by the Knights with 2:57 left in regulation.
London continued to push through to the buzzer but Oster and the Generals kept the puck out and forced overtime.
The first overtime period saw Oshawa outshoot the Knights 11-8 but no one managed to score.
That set the stage for Bruzustewicz’s heroics in doubt OT.
London outshot the Generals 44-36.
Halttunen ended the game with three goals and an assist and became the second Knight in these playoffs to record back to back hat tricks after Jacob Julien completed the feat in London’s second-round series.
Cowan had three assists giving him 11 points in three games in the series.
Bonk had a goal and two assists and Barkey had two assists and was an engine and a catalyst for London all game.
McGregor and Dunn win gold at Worlds
James Dunn of Wallacetown, Ont., and Tyler McGregor of Forest, Ont., are headed home from Calgary with gold medals after capturing gold with Team Canada at the 2024 World Para Hockey Championship. Canada edged Team USA 2-1 in the tournament final on May 12. McGregor led the entire championship in scoring with nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in just five games. Dunn was fifth in scoring with three goals and six points. Canada last won gold at the event in 2017.
Up next
Game 4 of the OHL Championship Series will take place on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.