The London Knights put pen to paper Saturday, signing four of their draft picks from the 2018 OHL priority selection.
Luke Evangelista, Antonio Stranges, Sahil Panwar and Gerard Keane were all introduced at Budweiser Gardens as four cornerstones of the team’s future.
“Just being in London on draft day, you knew this city is really something special,” said Knights’ first round pick, Luke Evangelista.
With the 14th selection overall, the Knights drafted right-winger Luke Evangelista from the Oakville Rangers. Evangelista is a skilled forward who has high-end skill and a huge competitive level.
“London is just the mecca of junior hockey, and so I’m just really looking forward to getting started with the team.”
The Knights took forwards Antonio Stranges and Sahil Panwar in round two, who played for Detroit’s Little Caesars and Detroit’s HoneyBaked last season, respectively.
“My teammates and I were all watching the draft on a computer two minutes before having to play a game,” said Antonio Stranges.
“When the Knights picked me, they all went absolutely crazy for me in the locker room. It was nuts!”
Stranges drew all kinds of attention as part of Detroit’s Little Caesars program last season. He is the kind of player who makes you notice him on the ice because he has the chance to do things that bring people out of their seats every time he touches the puck. Stranges was regarded as one of the most skilled and electrifying junior players available.
“I came up to a game last year on a Tuesday night, and the streets were packed with Knights fans. I’ve never seen a city as crazy for hockey like London,” he said.
Forward Sahil Panwar also played in Detroit in 2017-18, and is another player with the potential to put up points in the OHL.
“My family means everything to me, and getting drafted by London, I know it’s an organization that will teach me the skills to make them proud,” Panwar said.
Panwar has a low centre of gravity, which makes it very difficult to take the puck away from him once he gets it on his stick.
“To get to put on the same jersey as Marner, Kane and Tavares, it’s awesome. Hopefully I can keep working hard here and one day make my way up to the NHL as well!” he said.
Their final signing, Gerard Keane, is the younger brother of Barrie Colts defenceman Joey Keane and played last year with the Chicago Mission.
“There is already a strong sibling rivalry, and getting drafted to a rival team is gonna make things really interesting,” Keane said.
“In some ways, it’s almost better that I wasn’t drafted to Barrie, too, because Joey and I will get to push each other to make one another better every time we’re out on the ice,” he said.
Normally announcements of this kind take place sometime in the summer and very rarely do they come as a quartet.
In 2015, London introduced Evan Bouchard and Robert Thomas at the same time. Others like Alec Regula last off-season came by themselves.
Next up, all four players will be take part in the Knights’ mini-camp and come late August, the start of the team’s main training camp will begin to get the team ready for the 2018-19 season.
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