The London Knights celebrated the return of six players to their lineup but the Brampton Steelheads celebrated a win as they downed London 2-1 at Canada Life Place on Sept. 26.
Jared Woolley, Sam O’Reilly, Noah Read, Henry Brzustewicz, Aleksei Medvedev and Linus Funck all made their regular season debuts against Brampton after coming back from National Hockey League training camps.
Woolley took no time to get noticed as he scored on a power play goal at 9:49 of the opening period.
Woolley walked into the high slot and wristed a shot past former London goaltender Zach Bowen for a 1-0 Knights lead.
Linus Funck and Rene Van Bommel assisted on the goal. The assist was the first of Funck’s OHL career.
Get breaking National news
Bowen was acquired by the Steelheads from the Peterborough Petes prior to the offseason after Jack Ivankovic elected to go to Michigan for the 2025-26 season.
Aleksei Medvedev became the story in his return to the London lineup as he stopped 12 shots in a scoreless second period.
Medvedev was selected in the second round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks.
A long pass early in the third period sprung Julian Demiglio as he got behind the Knights defence and went in alone to score his third goal in three games for Brampton to tie the game 1-1.
Gabe Chiarot gave the Steelheads their first lead just over four minutes later as he held the puck on a two-on-one and snapped home his first goal of the year at 9:53 of the third period. That put Brampton ahead.
The Steelheads held off London through the final 10 minutes and walked away with the victory.
London rookie forward Mike Zakharov deked his way into the slot for the Knights best chance but a defender’s stick blocked a shot at the side of the Brampton net to keep the Steelheads in the lead.
Brampton outshot the Knights 25-16.
London was 1-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Up next
The Knights head for Erie, Penn., on Saturday, Sept. 27 to face the Erie Otters for the first time in the 2025-26 regular season.
The clubs played twice in the pre-season and London came away with 2-0 and 2-1 wins.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
Comments