It was a tale of two teams in the first half for the London Knights, who entered the holiday break in second place in their division and the Western Conference overall, just one point behind the Guelph Storm, who overtook the lead in the final game before the break.
London opened the year with an impressive run of nine straight victories – nearly a month of undefeated play. There were a lot of familiar opponents during that span, with five of those nine wins coming against Owen Sound, and another two each against Windsor and Sarnia. After dropping two straight (Flint and Guelph) to end the winning streak, the Knights went 7-3 over their next 10 games to maintain a healthy first-place lead in the West.
But then there was a road bump. Coinciding in part with goaltender Brett Brochu’s departure to represent Team Canada at the World Juniors (and captain Luke Evangelista for a few games while attending Canada’s selectin camp), the Knights dropped four of their final five games before the holiday break, including two more against Guelph (making the storm 4-0 against London this season).
A break appeared to be just what the Knights needed, though, as the team came out of the holiday break firing on all cylinders – and with some new faces in the lineup. Russian import Kirill Steklov returned to the team for the first time since 2019-20 (he’d played in four different leagues since, and had represented Russia at this year’s World Juniors before the tournament got canceled due to COVID-19). As did another defenseman, Logan Mailloux, who returned from an OHL suspension. Camaryn Baber, too, was added to the lineup – having been acquired from the Saginaw Spirit, where he was serving as team captain.
With Brochu and Evangelista also back, the result was a quick two wins to open the second half, with the Knights outscoring their opponents (Flint and Kitchener) 12-3. Steklov had an immediate impact, tallying three assists in his first game back. At press time, London held a 19-8-1-0 record through their first 28 games, good for top spot in the Western Conference. Thanks to an all-star goalie and strong defensive corps, their 74 goals against were also best in the conference.
Offensively, the Knights were led by captain Luke Evangelista in the first half. As of the second week of January, the 19-year-old had racked up 23 goals and 22 assists for 45 points in his first 24 games. His average of 1.88 points per game was second-best in the OHL. Sean McGurn was second on the team in scoring through London’s first 28 games, tallying 31 points. Antonio Stranges, meanwhile, had 27 points (in just 22 games), while Cody Morgan had 26. Colton Smith led all rookies with 12 goals.
At press time, Brochu’s 2.40 goals against average and .922 save percentage were both second-best in the OHL, while he was tops in the league with 18 wins.
Contributions by London Knights
