Knights crowned Memorial Cup champs

The London Knights put an exclamation mark on their dominant season Sunday with a 4-1 win over Medicine Hat to become 2025 Memorial Cup champions — the third time the franchise has accomplished the feat.

(Photo: Vincent Éthier / CHL).

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For the third time in franchise history, the London Knights are Memorial Cup champions.

Despite falling to Medicine Hat in the round robin portion of the tournament, the Knights won when it mattered most, beating the Tigers 4-1 in the championship game Sunday.

Captain Denver Barkey and Easton Cowan led the tournament in scoring with seven points apiece, making Cowan the first player since 1972 to lead or co-lead the tournament in points in consecutive years.

“That was some of our best hockey we played all year,” Cowan said after the win. “We locked it down when we had to, and we scored when we had to. I am just super proud of this group.”

Cowan also equaled Mitch Marner for most total points at a Memorial Cup by a London Knight with 15.

“The feeling of winning a championship is special … especially to do it with your best friends. It’s just awesome.”

(Photo: Vincent Éthier / CHL).

Barkey and Cowan became the first set of teammates to share the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as the tournament’s leading scorers. The award, introduced in 1996, had never previously been shared between two players. 

Barkey, who scored a pair of goals in Sunday’s finale, says the win has been years in the making.

“We’ve been building to this for four years,” he said. “We went through the whole process last year and came up short with 20 seconds to go in a hockey game. We remembered that whole summer and talked about it all year. That’s been our motivator, so to get the job done today is surreal.”

The Knights had a 1-0 lead going into the second period before Cowan scored and then Barkey added a pair to open up a four-goal lead for the Knights. The Tigers’ Gavin McKenna cut into the lead for Medicine Hat with an early third period goal, and another that would eventually be disallowed. But that’s as close as the Tigers got, as London held on for the 4-1 win.

(Photo: Vincent Éthier / CHL).

Austin Elliott, who stopped 31 of 32 shots in the final, led the tournament in goals-against average (1.59) and save percentage (.943), earning him the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the tournament’s top goaltender. 

After starting the season with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Elliott came to London in October and wasted no time getting adjusted to his new league. He won 55 of his 58 starts across the regular season, playoffs, and Memorial Cup.

“Even out west you know how good of an organization London is, everyone knows,” Elliott said. “It was a no-brainer to come here, to have a chance to win it all.”

London joins the Cornwall Royals, Kamloops Blazers, and Windsor Spitfires as the only CHL clubs to claim three Memorial Cup titles since 1972. London’s previous Memorial Cup championships came in 2005 and 2016.

(Photo: Vincent Éthier / CHL).

With those three championships, head coach Dale Hunter moved into a tie with Don Hay for the most Memorial Cups in CHL history.

Hunter says he’s been fortunate to coach some talented groups — and the champions seem to always have something in common.

“We’ve had players with skill, who have the will to win, and that’s always the key,” he said. “Skill and will together … character kids … that makes it easy for the coach.”

The championship follows a natural three-year progression for the club, with many of its players being around for all three. First, losing to Peterborough in the 2023 OHL finals. Second, winning the OHL championship one year later but losing in the Memorial Cup finals to Saginaw. This year, they reached the ultimate goal, winning the final game of the season. 

Sam Dickinson, who had three assists in the championship win, says it was the perfect way for the players to complete the journey.

“It really was a last-dance kind of thing. We knew this was kind of the end for the main core,” the all-star defenseman said.

“This is my family, these guys are my brothers ... It feels like it’s a perfect ending for this core, and this group. This is how it should have gone out.”

The Knights finish their remarkable season with 75 wins — with just 15 losses scattered between the regular season, playoffs, and Memorial Cup, making them one of the most successful teams in CHL history.