Jacob Julien’s first Ontario Hockey League goal in the third period made the difference in the London Knights 2-1 victory over the Niagara IceDogs at Budweiser Gardens on Friday night.
Julien is from London, Ont., and was playing just his fourth game in the OHL. He banked a puck off Niagara goalie Josh Rosenzweig from behind the net at the 10:43 mark of the third period.
Julien deflected a George Diaco shot past Rosenzweig on a first period power play but the goal was waved off after being ruled that Julien made contact with a high stick.
London has won seven in a row and 11 of their last 12 games and sit one point back of the Owen Sound Attack for first place in the Midwest Division. The Knights have a game in hand on the Attack.
Ruslan Gazizov opened the scoring at 8:07 of the second period on a feed from Easton Cowan and it was 1-0 London. Gazizov now has points in five consecutive games.
Juan Copeland tied the game on a power play in the final minute of the middle period as a blocked shot in front of the net bounced right to Copeland and he ripped it into a top corner of the Knight net to send the teams into the final 20 minutes tied 1-1.
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Goals and shots were tough to come by all game. When shots did get through Brett Brochu of the Knights and Rosenzweig were there to make saves at times.
Niagara outshot London 26-24.
Monthly honours for McGurn and Bonk
The London Knights went 10-2 in the month of November and that doesn’t just happen. Brody Crane won Player of the Week honours on Nov. 14 and once the 30 days of November had run their course two other London players were recognized.
Defenceman Oliver Bonk was named Rookie of the Month and forward and co-captain Sean McGurn was named Player of the Month. McGurn led the OHL with 20 points in 12 games. He had six goals and 14 assists and was a plus-7 as well. McGurn currently eads the Knights in points. Bonk had a point in 10 of the 12 games the Knights played. He was technically only held off the scoresheet once because Bonk scored the shootout winner on one in one of the games in which he did not register a goal or an assist.
Bonk had three goals and 11 assists for 14 points in November.
Up next
The Knights will visit the Mississauga Steelheads for a 4 p.m. start on Sunday, Dec. 4.
Mississauga edged London 5-4 in overtime on Oct. 14.
London has gone 15-4 in the 19 games they have played since then.
Coverage will start at 3:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.