Chad Yetman scored the only goal of the shootout to end a wild game in Erie as the Otters defeated the London Knights 6-5 on Saturday night.
Erie outscored the Knights 3-1 in the first period, while London outscored the Otters 4-2 in the second period.
Then, in true junior hockey fashion, things went completely the other way in the third period as neither team scored at all, setting the stage for an overtime that featured close calls at either end but still no goals.
The puck found the back of the net much more easily through the first 40 minutes of the game.
Chad Yetman’s 13th of the season put Erie ahead 1-0 before the games was five minutes old, then Knights forward Connor McMichael scored his 12th of the year to tie the game at 13:14 of the opening period.
Hayden Fowler of the Otters sent Danial Singer in on a breakaway to give Erie a 2-1 lead and then Fowler popped in a rebound to complete a three-point period for him and the teams went to the dressing room with the Otters ahead 3-1.
The second period saw the Knights battle back, but Erie didn’t make it easy.
Jonathan Gruden banged in a Luke Evangelista pass to make it 3-2, only to have Daniel D’Amato of the Otters restore the two-goal bulge one minute and 47 seconds later.
Tonio Stranges went to work for London just over seven minutes into the middle period as he scored goals 31 seconds apart to even the score 4-4.
Emmett Sproule got Erie back in front on a breakaway goal at 11:40 and then the Knights tied the game for a third time on a slow sizzler of a shot from McMichael at 15:02.
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That’s where the scoring stopped for almost 30 minutes of play.
McMichael recorded his second consecutive two-goal game for London. He also had an assist. Stranges has three goals in his past two games.
Liam Foudy saw a three-game goal streak end but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Foudy led all skaters with six shots on goal, chipping in a pair of assists. Evangelista and Cole Tymkin had two assists in the game. Evangelista put a puck off the crossbar in the third period.
Jordan Kooy played goal for the Knights and stopped 29 shots. Daniel Murphy was replaced by Aidan Campbell after the fifth London goal. He did not allow a goal.
The Knights were 0-for-1 on the power play. The Otters were 1-for-2.
Mailloux still making noise with the Nationals
If you were to look at Logan Mailloux’s stats amongst the GOJHL scoring leaders you might expect him to be a shifty, playmaking forward. He has six goals and 21 points in 17 games. He just saw an eight-game point streakcome to an end. He’s shifty and can make plays. But Mailloux, a second-round pick for the London Knights in 2019, is a six-foot-three-inch, 205-pound defenceman who is still just 16 years old. He ranks second in scoring by a defenceman in the GOJHL behind 20-year old Ryan Wells of the Caledonia Corvairs. Wells spent the better part of two seasons in the OHL with the Mississauga Steelheads, a place Mailloux can expect to be with the Knights in the future.
Three players and five draft picks swapped in trade
Former London Knight Dalton Duhart is heading very close to home. He was part of a package traded to the Saginaw Spirit by the Barrie Colts in a deal to acquire Dallas Stars prospect Nicholas Porco and 17-year old defenceman Ian Lemieux. The Spirit will also receive two second-round picks, two third-round picks and a fifth-round pick. Duhart was acquired by the Colts from London in 2018-19. He is a native of Grand Blanc, Mich., which is a 46-minute drive from Saginaw.
In another deal made on Saturday, the North Bay Battalion traded overage defenceman Nick King to Kingston for a 12th-round pick in 2021.
Brochu’s big start
Brett Brochu earned his fifth OHL win in seven tries when the London Knights defeated the Saginaw Spirit 5-1 on October 25. The Tilbury native has battled his way to the majority of the starts this season for London, picking up where he left off with the Dresden Jr. Kings of the PJCHL last year. As a 16-year-old, Brochu went into the season with the mindset that he could be the starter and then made it happen. Brochu backstopped Dresden to a 29-9-2 record and appeared in more games than any other goalie in that league. Brochu backed up in Erie on Saturday and is expected to be in goal against Niagara on Sunday.
Up next
The Knights will complete their first set of three games in three days on Sunday afternoon as they host the Niagara Ice Dogs at 2 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens. Both teams will come into the game on short rest. The Ice Dogs played in Barrie on Saturday and scored three third-period goals to tie the game only to lose with less than two minutes to go when Tyson Foerster of the Colts was awarded a penalty shot and scored.
The pre-game show will begin at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.
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