2025 Memorial Cup: London Knights Capture Crown And Redemption With Win In Final

Yahoo

2 days ago

The London Knights are once again Memorial Cup champions. The OHL's most dominant franchise over the last quarter century has once again asserted itself as CHL royalty, and it was a long, winding road to get there.
Almost three years ago, the London Knights began what was supposed to be a rebuild or retool, an unusual spot for the franchise. That year, they made it all the way to the OHL final with a new core of stars emerging along the way. Denver Barkey, Easton Cowan, Oliver Bonk and Sam Dickinson were the future of the franchise and their growth and improvement over the following two seasons would set the Knights up for a historic run.
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Last year, they were looking to build off that relatively surprising season and they were dominant en route to an OHL championship before falling just short in the Memorial Cup final, losing on a last-second goal against Saginaw. They took a step – winning the OHL championship – but ultimately still finished their season with an agonizing loss in their final game.
This year, they weren't going to let the heroics of an opposing player or anything else get in there way. After dismantling every opponent that they came up against in the OHL and cruising to a league title for a second straight year, along with gaining entrance into the Memorial Cup, they finished second in the round robin. This was because of a loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers in a very hard fought game, but they breezed by the Moncton Wildcats to reach the final and a rematch with those same Tigers.
After Jacob Julien opened the scoring in the first period, the Knights' core began to take over in the second period. Cowan scored on a net drive play, tapping a pass from below the goal line in from the top of the crease. About a minute and a half later, Barkey picked up a puck in the neutral zone, burst up ice for a breakaway and scored a beauty to put the Knights up three goals early in the second period.
After Barkey added another for his second of the night, the Knights were up 4-0 heading into the third period against a very strong Medicine Hat squad that hadn't lost a game to this point at the Memorial Cup tournament after ripping through the WHL for a league title. A team that strong wouldn't go down without a fight.
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As London looked to park the bus a bit and lock down their big lead, Medicine Hat pushed back, and it was no shock that 2026 NHL draft phenom Gavin McKenna was at the center of it all.
Under three minutes into the final frame, McKenna caught a pass on the half wall and cut to the middle quickly before firing a laser by the London netminder. The shiftiness of McKenna finally broke through the tight defense that London had played on him to that point.
The Tigers continued to push, but the Knights continued to do their best not to break. With time winding down and their hopes beginning to be lost, McKenna found the back of the net once again, but the goal was reviewed and called back for a high stick earlier in the play by the Tigers. McKenna and the Tigers were understandably upset on the bench, but they kept pushing.
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When the Tigers pulled their goalie, it was all of the Knights' core players who were leading shifts out on the ice. Barkey was blocking shots. Dickinson was clearing the slot. Bonk was making defensive stops. Cowan was winning puck races. The core four were doing what it took to win in the biggest game of the year.
The London Knights were celebrating on the bench as the clock wound down and gloves went flying as the clock hit zero and the CHL finally crowned their kings.
This was a team of destiny. They began a rebuild and immediately got to the league final before losing. They came back the next year to win the OHL final but lost the Memorial Cup. They followed that up with this year's Memorial Cup win. The progression of the core and the team around them was incredible.
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Dale Hunter had a special tournament in his own right behind the bench. He became the winningest coach in Memorial Cup tournament history, finishing off with 17 wins after the championship game. He tied Don Hay for most Memorial Cup wins by a head coach as well. He didn't want any of the spotlight, though, making it very clear in the aftermath of the game that this was a special team that he had the opportunity to coach.
'Skill and will to win, that's always the key,' noted Hunter. 'We came up short last year, it hurt a lot, these boys were determined right from the get-go.'
The stars were grateful for the opportunity that this team and the fans in London gave them over the years as they look to appreciate this championship before the large group of them look to move to pro hockey this year.
'We hung out every day. We'd get ice cream together and watch horror movies together, even though I'm not a big fan of the horror movies,' laughed Cowan, who won MVP and led the tournament in scoring. 'What a team we had.'
Denver Barkey, Jared Woolley, Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan and Sam O'Reilly (Vincent Ethier / CHL)
The Knights were a deserved champion. They built this team up and developed all of the key players on this team.
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'We've kind of been working towards it for all four years here. To come up short last year and then get it done tonight, it's a surreal feeling,' Knights captain Barkey said, overjoyed. 'I'm so proud. I went down in the Kitchener series, and I didn't know if I'd play again this year, but these guys stepped up and made sure I played hockey again this year.'
The London Knights are sitting atop the CHL throne, once again as Memorial Cup champions.
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