Cam Allen had a goal and two assists in his London Knights debut as the Knights earned a 6-1 victory over the Erie Otters at the Erie Insurance Arena on Dec. 18, 2024.
Allen had been acquired a day earlier from the Guelph Storm.
The win was London’s 22nd in their past 24 games.
A successful high flip got the scoring started as Knights defenceman P.J. Fagan sent a puck into the air that bounced down at the Erie blue line as a charging Landon Sim raced after it.
Sim got to the puck and caught Erie goaltender Charlie Burns out of position as he contemplated going after the puck himself.
Sim ripped a wrist shot by Burns for his 10th goal of the season and London led 1-0 at the 10:19 mark of the opening period.
The Knights went up 2-0 at 18:30 of the first as Cam Allen put a puck to the Otters net that Jacob Julien chipped in front to Evan Van Gorp and Van Gorp notched his 10th of the year as well.
Allen scored his first goal in a London uniform just 16 seconds into the second period on a beautiful feed from Blake Montgomery behind the goal line.
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Erie forward Dylan Edwards scored off the rush on a nifty shot from the left side of the Knights zone at the 8:11 mark of the second to tighten the score to 3-1 before Julien and O’Reilly scored back to back just 11 seconds apart to break the game open a little over five minutes later.
Logan Hawery did the work on Julien’s goal as he won a puck battle on the right side of the Otters end and slid a pass into the slot to Julien and the Winnipeg Jets prospect made no mistake as he put London up 4-1.
Julien ended the game with a goal and an assist.
Right off the faceoff at centre ice, O’Reilly came storming into the Erie zone and snapped a shot past Burns for a 5-1 lead.
Blake Montgomery finished the scoring as he jammed a puck underneath Burns at 8:11 of the third period.
The Knights outshot Erie 34-21 and both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play.
London was playing without Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan, Sam Dickinson, Jesse Nurmi and Kasper Halttunen who are all getting set for the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The Otters were without defenceman Matthew Schaefer and forward Carey Terrance who are also with their respective World Junior teams.
Cam Allen makes London Knights debut
London acquired 19-year old defenceman Cam Allen from the Guelph Storm for 17-year old defenceman Noah Jenken, two second round draft picks, two third round picks, two fourth round picks and a fifth round selection.
Allen is in his fourth year in the OHL and was the third overall pick in the 2021 OHL Priority Selection, which was the draft that brought the Knights players like Denver Barkey, Easton Cowan and Oliver Bonk.
Asked how the transition is feeling heading into his first game, Allen replied, ” If you would have told me at the beginning of the season this is what was going to happen I would have told you that you were crazy… but I couldn’t be happier.”
Up next
The Knights will play their final game before the holiday break on Friday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place against the Sarnia Sting.
London and Sarnia will actually see each other three times in 11 days if you count their New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day games against one another.
Coverage will start at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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