William Nicholl scored twice and added an assist as the London Knights defeated the Guelph Storm 5-1 at Canada Life Place on Oct. 12, 2024.
The victory gave the Knights their third win in a row.
Nicholl had been denied twice on early rushes that saw him get the puck right to the Guelph net, only to be stopped by Storm goalie Brayden Gillespie but was rewarded at 17:47 of the first period when Cohen Bidgood got the puck into the Guelph crease and Nicholl got it across the goal line for a 1-0 London lead.
P.J. Fagan gave London a 2-0 lead with his first Ontario Hockey League goal. Fagan ripped a wrist shot past Gillespie at 6:34 of the second period.
Fagan then took a hit to make a play on London’s third goal. He absorbed a heavy check on the left side of the Storm zone but got the puck deep and it eventually wound up on the stick of Nicholl, who tried to feed it across the crease only to have it go off a Guelph defender and into the net. Fagan ended up leaving the game after the goal was scored and did not return.
In between, Storm first rounder Alex McLean scored on the power play as Guelph found an open spot in behind Owen Willmore and the score sat 3-1 in favour of the Knights through 40 minutes.
The Storm hit the post three times in the second period.
Easton Cowan scored his second goal of the season off a faceoff in the third period as he skated into the high slot and ripped a shot over Gillespie to make it 4-1 and then Evan Van Gorp finished the scoring into an empty net.
Van Gorp took a pass from Nicholl and then appeared to try to get it back to Nicholl to finish his hat trick but it wound up going in to complete the scoring.
London outshot the Storm 35-27.
Owen Willmore recorded his first win of the season in the Knight net as he made 26 stops.
Guelph was 1-for-4 on the power play.
London was 0-for-1.
Up next
The first meeting of the 2024 Memorial Cup finalists will take place on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Canada Life Place as the Knights host the Saginaw Spirit.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.