Knights look to continue momentum vs. American foes

Knight Watch: Easton Cowan has been a force since his return, while Barkey and Halttunen continue to score; It’s an American weekend vs. Erie and Saginaw; Columnist Jake Jeffrey has the latest Knights news — plus notes from around the OHL …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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The London Knights will look to keep the momentum going following a midweek win in Brantford as they play a pair this weekend — both against American foes.

They’ll host the revamped Erie Otters on Friday, and travel to Saginaw on Sunday to take on a strong Spirit squad that’s preparing to host this year’s Memorial Cup.

Earlier this week, London made their first trip to the Brantford Civic Centre since 1984, and they beat the Bulldogs, 5-1, in their return. The Civic Centre was home to the Brantford Alexanders from 1978 to 1984 and underwent some offseason renovations to accommodate the Bulldogs’ move from Hamilton.

Easton Cowan continued his strong start to the season, posting two goals and two assists Wednesday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect has four goals in his first four games back with the Knights. Denver Barkey, meanwhile, has 11 points during his current five-game point streak, scoring seven goals over that stretch.

Kasper Halttunen showed off his elite shot again Wednesday night while scoring a pair of goals in the London win. He has three two-goal games already this year.

Sam Dickinson, a top prospect heading into next spring’s NHL draft, is tied for second in OHL scoring with 10 points. He’s only been held off the scoresheet once so far this season.

The Knights have won four of their last five games, with the lone loss coming in Sarnia. They sit in top spot in the Western Conference — although the Kitchener Rangers and Soo Greyhounds are just a single point behind entering action this weekend. Only Mississauga, in the East, has more wins than London to start the season.

London was bumped from the top spot in the Week 3 installment of the OHL’s Power Rankings, falling to third behind Ottawa and North Bay. The Knights are one of four OHL teams in the CHL Top Ten Rankings, sitting in the second spot. Saginaw (7th), Mississauga (9th) and Ottawa (10th) are the other OHL teams on the list.

In their first trip to Brantford since 1984, the Knights won a 5-1 contest Wednesday. Easton Cowan and Kasper Halttunen both had a pair of goals in the win. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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UPCOMING GAMEDAYS

Friday (Oct. 20, 7:00pm) vs. Erie Otters (2-4-1-0, 5th in Midwest Division)

The Otters struggled out of the gate, losing their first five games to start the season, before they acquired goalie Ben Gaudreau from Sarnia. The overage netminder won his first two starts with his new team to help the Otters get on track. Gaudreau has 56 regular season wins in the OHL, six of which have come against the Knights. The Otters have the first overall pick in 2023, Matthew Shaefer, and second overall pick in 2022, Malcolm Spence, in their lineup. Spence, one of the top OHL players available for the NHL draft, has six points through his first seven games. Schaefer recently scored his first OHL goal.

Sunday (Oct. 22, 5:30pm) @ Saginaw Spirit (3-3-0-0, 3rd in West Division)

The Spirit head into the weekend 7th in the CHL Top Ten Rankings. They’re getting prepared to host the Memorial Cup later this year, but they’ve been a little hot and cold to start the season. The Spirit have looked very impressive in their wins, but not so much in some of the games they’ve lost. They’ll be in Windsor Saturday night, coming off two losses last weekend, before they host London on Sunday. This contest could be a good special teams showdown, as the Knights boast one of the league’s best penalty kill (90.9%) and the Spirit have the top powerplay (42.9%). Saginaw has three locals in their lineup, including Will Bishop, Aiden Young and Strathroy’s Hunter Haight.

A LOOK AT THE LOCALS

Ilderton’s Noah Van Steensel recorded his first OHL hat trick in North Bay’s win over Oshawa last weekend. He then added a goal and an assist against Mississauga on Thursday, giving him six goals and 10 points on the season.

Saginaw’s Hunter Haight has five goals and 10 points through six games this season. He’s a prospect of the Minnesota Wild.

In his second game with the Windsor Spitfires, Londoner Jack Greenwell potted his first OHL goal in the Spits’ loss to Kitchener on Sunday.

KNIGHTS BY THE NUMBERS

4 - Easton Cowan has four goals in four games, leading the team with nine points during that stretch.

11 - Denver Barkey has 11 points during his current five-game point streak. He’s scored seven goals during that span and leads the Knights with 14 points overall in nine games this year.

7 - Barkey and Kasper Halttunen both have seven goals this season, two behind the league leader.

6 - Halttunen has recorded six shots on goal in each of his last four games. He leads the Knights with 39 shots this season.

146 - London is the OHL’s second most penalized team, behind only Mississauga’s 162 penalty minutes.

PROSPECT PIPELINE

The Knights assigned forward Blake Arrowsmith to the GOJHL’s London Nationals. He made his debut Wednesday night in London’s win over St. Marys.

AROUND THE OHL

The Owen Sound Attack announced that assistant coach Darren Rumble will be taking over as head coach after the team parted ways with Greg Walters.

A slew of suspensions came from the Brantford and Peterborough game last Saturday, when both teams got involved in a fracas following the overtime winning goal. Peterborough’s Konnor Smith was suspended four games, while Brantford’s Lucas Moore and Noah Roberts were both suspended for two games.

Already with one of the OHL’s stronger rosters, the Sudbury Wolves have gotten even better, as they signed St. Louis Blues first rounder Dalibor Dvorsky this week.

Sarnia Sting head coach Alan Letang was named head coach of Canada’s National Junior Team.

Kitchener’s Carson Rehkopf (5G 3A) was the OHL Player of the Week. Ottawa’s Collin MacKenzie made 22 saves in a pair of wins and was named the OHL Goaltender of the Week.