Gameday in 5

A look to the week ahead — and a recap of the week that was (Dec. 6-12) — for London’s teams and athletes.

(Photo: Bruce Laing).

London Knights

It was a rough weekend for the Knights, who dropped both of their games at home — though they did win a road game earlier in the week. That bright spot came Tuesday when defeated the Kitchener Rangers, 6-2. With the game tied 1-1 in the first period, Cody Morgan scored what turned out to be the first of five unanswered goals for the Knights. Two of those came in the second and two more in the third, including a pair by Sean McGurn. Antonio Stranges also had two goals in the contest, while Luke Evangelista racked up three assists.

Unfortunately for the Knights, it was downhill from there. Playing the weekend without their captain, Evangelista, and their star goaltender, Brett Brochu (due to their involvement at Canada’s World Juniors Selection Camp), London lost 4-1 to the Windsor Spitfires Friday night. The Knights fell behind early, allowing three first-period goals, and were down 4-0 before Cody Morgan scored the team’s lone goal — 8:10 into the second period. The Knights were outshot 42-22 in the contest.

Looking to gain ground on the second-place Guelph Storm (Western Conference) on Saturday, the Knights fell flat, losing 4-0. It was the first time the team had been shut out in nearly two years. Guelph scored a goal in every frame, including twice in the second period. London was again outshot, this time 39 to 27, and the team was unable to convert on any of their four powerplay chances.

Up next:

The Knights (17-7-1-0) will look to get back in the win column this week after losing two in a row. After Evangelista was left off Team Canada’s roster (a surprise move, given his performance in the OHL this season), he’ll return to the lineup to provide an offensive boost. London will remain without Brochu, though, for an extended period of time since he was chosen as one of Canada’s three goaltenders for the tournament. Saturday’s road game will be must-watch hockey, as the Knights will have a chance to regain some points on the Guelph Storm. They entered the week just one point ahead in the standings.

Fri. Dec. 17 (7:30pm vs. Owen Sound Attack)
Sat. Dec. 18 (2:00pm @ Guelph Storm)

London Nationals

The Nationals had all three of their games postponed last week due to two positive cases of COVID-19 within the organization. London was the first team in the GOJHL to deal with an in-season outbreak (the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL had 12 people test positive two weeks ago, which led to postponed games).

Fortunately, following a series of negative tests, the Nationals returned to the ice (minus one player and one coach who remained isolated) for a practice Monday. The team is slated to resume their schedule at home Wednesday and will play again Friday before entering their holiday break.

Up next:

The Nationals (17-3-1-1), despite missing their three scheduled games last week (against Komoka, St. Marys and LaSalle), remained in first place entering the week, three points ahead of Komoka (16-8-1-0) in a tightly-contested Western Conference.

Wed. Dec. 15 (7:00pm vs. Chatham Maroons)
Fri. Dec. 17 (7:30pm @ St. Thomas Stars)

London Lightning

Things have remained quiet on the Lightning front since the team announced the return of Doug Plumb as coach for the 2022 season — and released their six-player ‘Protected Players List,’ which includes Xavier Moon, AJ Gaines, Marcus Capers, Cameron Forte, Jaylon Tate and Terry Thomas (the List allows for teams to retain the rights of players — if the two parties work out an agreement — who were part of their 2019-20 rosters).

A Lightning alumnus, Elliott Etherington, was promoted to head coach and general manager of the rival Sudbury Five last week. The 28-year-old Chippawa, Ont., native joined the Five at the beginning of the 2019-20 season, after two years with the Lightning as associate coach and interim head coach, helping the team to an NBLC Championship.