Latest news with #OHLChampionship
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
PLAYOFF TRACKER: London Knights to go on to semi-final after loss to Medicine Hat Tigers
The London Knights have won their second straight OHL championship. The London Knights will play in the Memorial Cup semi-final, after losing their final group stage match to the WHL champions, the Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 on Tuesday night. Knights forward Kasper Halttunen opened the scoring in the first period with his second of the tournament. The Tigers responded in the second period with a goal by Ethan Neutens. Medicine Hat took the lead early in the third period on a goal by Mathew Ward. The Tigers sealed their win with an empty-net goal in the game's late stages. The win qualifies Medicine Hat for the Memorial Cup Final on Sunday. London will have to play in Friday's semi-final against whoever wins Wednesday night between the tournament hosts, Rimouski, and the Moncton Wildcats. Round 1 Game 1 – March 28, Attack 1, Knights 6 Game 2 – March 30, Attack 3, Knights 6 Game 3 – April 1, Knights 7, Attack 4 Game 4 – April 3, Knights 8, Attack 4 Round 2 Game 1 - April 10, Knights 6, Otters 3 Game 2 - April 12, Knights 7, Otters 2 Game 3 - April 15, Knights 4, Erie 0 Game 4 - April 17, Knights 4, Erie 3 Western Conference Championship Series Game 1 - April 25, Knights 5, Rangers 2 Game 2 - April 27, Knights 6, Rangers 2 Game 3 - April 28, Knights 3, Rangers 2 Game 4 - April 30, Knights 4, Rangers 2 OHL Finals Game 1 - May 8, Generals 4, Knights 2 Game 2 - May 10, Knights 5, Generals 2 Game 3 - May 12, Knights 7, Generals 5 Game 4 - May 13, Knights 5, Generals 2 Game 5 - May 15, Knights 5, Generals 2 Memorial Cup Game 1 - May 24, Moncton Wildcats 2, London Knights 3 Game 2 - May 25, Rimouski Oceanic 1, London Knights 3 Game 3 - May 27, London Knights v. Medicine Hat Tigers, 7 p.m. Game 4 - May 30, London Knights v. TBD
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
OHL Heavily Represented in Craig Button's Recent Mock Draft
The 2025 NHL Draft is just around the corner, and many pundits are starting to project what the first round will look like. Craig Buttons' recent mock draft projects the OHL to be well represented in the opening round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Historically, the OHL has always featured prominently in the opening round of NHL Drafts. Last season, nine of the players picked in round one played for OHL teams, meaning the league claimed 28 percent of the players picked. That was the highest percentage for any individual league. Based on Buttons' projections, the OHL could receive an even larger share of this year's first-round picks. Picks 1-5 1. New York Islanders - Matthew Schaefer2. San Jose Sharks - Porter Martone 3. Chicago Blackhawks - Michael Misa4. Utah Mammoth - James Hagens 5. Nashville Predators - Jake O'Brien According to this mock draft four of the opening five picks could be OHL players. While Schaefer going first feels like a no brainer based on every projection seen since January, some people are asking whether the Islanders might take James Hagens instead seeing as he is a Long Island native. Porter Martone going second is a bit of a surprise given that he has slipped down prospect lists in the second half of the season. The Steelheads forward fell from fourth to sixth in NHL Central Scouting's latest rankings. Jake O'Brien has risen up draft boards in the second half of the year. He jumped up from eighth to fourth on NHL Central Scouting's rankings. Seeing him go fifth to Nashville would round out a dominant showing for the OHL in the first five picks. The London Knights Hang On To Win OHL Championship For the second time since 2010, the London Knights are the winners of back-to-back OHL Championships. The Knights took game five of the OHL Final to hoist the J. Ross Robertson Cup on home ice. Picks 6-10 6. Philadelphia Flyers - Brady Martin7. Boston Bruins - Caleb Desnoyers8. Seattle Kraken - Anton Frondell9. Buffalo Sabres - Radim Mrtka10. Anaheim Ducks - Lynden Lakovic After dominating the top five picks, Button projects just Brady Martin being taken in this segment of the first round. Martin is a riser when it comes to prospect rankings having moved from 17th to 11th on NHL Central Scouting's rankings. His dominant performance at the U-18 Men's Championship will only have served to boost his stock higher. In seven games at the tournament he scored three goals and added eight assists while looking like a man playing amongst boys. As a side note, when it comes to recent history, the Flyers have tended towards OHL players when they have a first round pick. Since 2020, they've drafted an OHL player three times in the first round. In 2021 they did not have a first-round pick and in 2022 they selected Cutter Gauthier of the USNDTP. 2025 NHL Draft Profile: Jacob Cloutier With the OHL season finished, and the London Knights crowned champions for the second consecutive season, many OHL fans are turning their attention towards the NHL Draft in June. Questions abound about where certain players will be picked and who will rise or fall on draft boards. Picks 11-16 11. Pittsburgh Penguins - Roger McQueen12. New York Rangers - Kashawn Aitcheson 13. Detroit Red Wings - Victor Englund14. Columbus Blue Jackets - Jackson Smith 15. Vancouver Canucks - Cole Reschny16. Montreal Canadiens - Justin CarbonneauAgain, the OHL becomes somewhat sparse in this segment of Buttons' mock draft, with just one pick predicted to come from the league. Kashawn Aitcheson is a hard-nosed defender who is gifted on both sides of the puck. He also rose up NHL Central Scouting's rankings, going from 15th to ninth. It is possible we could see players like Malcolm Spence, Henry Brzustewicz and Jack Nesbitt creep into these picks as well. There is a fair amount of disagreement between pundits on this segment of the draft. Based on Buttons' draft, six OHL players project to be picked in the first half of the draft. If the percentages pan out, that would mean a total of 12 OHL players get picked in the first round, which would be a 33 percent increase from last year. This does seem a bit far-fetched, though. It seems much more likely that by the end of round one, the OHL will have around 10 players taken. What is clear is that the OHL is very well represented at the top of this year's draft class, with pundits predicting a large number of OHL players being taken in the first 10 picks of the 2025 NHL Draft. As always, the draft is unpredictable, and while it is fun to look at mock drafts and projections, we will never know how the chips will fall until teams start making picks. The 2025 NHL Draft will take place on Friday, June 27th at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Global News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Global News
The London Knights win both games in Oshawa and return home up 3 games to 1
It was not deja-vu all over again. The London Knights entered the third period with a 5-1 lead for the second time in two nights but gave up very little on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Game 4 of the OHL Championship series. The win gives London a three-games-to-one lead heading home to Canada Life Place for Game 5 on Thursday May 15. Knights forward Kasper Halttunen recorded a hat trick for the second consecutive game. London defender Sam Dickinson scored twicde and added two assists. Easton Cowan of London had a pair of assists to give him ten points in his past three games. Story continues below advertisement The teams came through the first period scoreless despite a shared five power play chances. The second period was a totally different story. London scored five times and took the same 5-1 lead to the third period that they brought into the final frame in Game 3. Sam Dickinson opened the scoring at 6:27 when Henry Brzustewicz forced a turnover just inside the Oshawa blue line just as the Generals were leaving the zone. Dickinson picked up the puck behind the defence and beat Jacob Oster with a deke for his eighth goal of the playoffs (most among OHL defencemen) and first goal of the Championship series. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy London went up 2-0 when Kasper Halttunen swept home a rebound off a Jared Woolley slap shot and then Easton Cowan fed Dickinson for his second of the game on a two-on-one and the Knights lead was 3-0 just over 13 minutes into the middle period. The assist for Cowan moved him into a second place tie with Stan Drulia on the Ontario Hockey League's all-time playoff points list. Cowan would later move one point ahead of Drulia. Just 11 seconds after that goal, Oshawa defenceman Andrew Gibson scored off a faceoff in the London end to make it 3-1 but the Knights responded right away as Landon Sim knocked a puck across the Generals blue line that goaltender Oster came out to play. Story continues below advertisement The puck deflected up into the air and Sim batted it into the Oshawa net for his 11th goal of the playoffs, only 35 seconds after the Generals goal and London's lead was back to three. A later second period power play goal by Halttunen pushed the score to that familiar 5-1. Cal Ritchie scored 41 seconds into the third period for Oshawa to cut make it a three-goal game. Halttunen completed his hat trick at 9:37 by beating Isaac Gravelle who entered the Generals net to begin the final 20 minutes. That ended the scoring for the game. The Knights outshot Oshawa 39-25, while London was 2-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. Former Knights and area players into AHL quarter-finals The quarterfinals are set in the American Hockey League and there are four former Knights and three area players chasing the Calder Cup. Andrew Perrott – Hershey Michael Houser – Rochester Logan Mailloux – Laval Tonio Stranges – Texas (injured) Ty Glover from London, Ont., is playing for the Abbotsford Canucks and Isaac Ratcliffe of London, Ont., and Navrin Mutter of Lucan, Ont., are both with the Milwaukee Admirals. Story continues below advertisement Up next Game 5 of the OHL Championship series will take place on Thursday, May 15 at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place in London, Ont. For tickets or ticket information you can visit Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL at and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
Global News
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Global News
London Knights hold off Oshawa Generals to take a 2-1 series lead in OHL Championship
The London Knights survived a wild third period and held off the Oshawa Generals to win Game 3 of the OHL Championship series with a 7-5 win on May 12 at the Tribute Communities centre. London entered period three with a 5-1 lead only to have Oshawa get to within a goal with plenty of time remaining. The Knights now own a two games to one series lead. Kasper Halttunen recorded a hat trick and Easton Cowan had a pair of goals and an assist. The Generals got the first six shots of the game in front of their home crowd but the Knights got the game's first two goals. A high flip by Oliver Bonk dropped down at the Oshawa blue line and Cowan stripped a puck away from Owen Griffin and then backhanded a shot past Jacob Oster to become London's all-time franchise leader in playoff scoring with his 90th career point. Story continues below advertisement The goal came at the 7:59 mark of the opening period. Just over three minutes later Evan Van Gorp tracked down a puck along the end boards and got it to Will Nicholl who fed Halttunen for a one-timer and Halttunen's eighth goal of the post-season and a 2-0 Knights lead after 20 minutes. Sam O'Reilly of London was hit hard by Beckett Sennecke of the Generals near the end of the first period. The hit saw O'Reilly go to the dressing room. It saw Sennecke go to the penalty box and in a power play that carried over into the second period it saw London stretch their lead just 5 seconds in. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy In a play that left all 6000 fans at the Tribute Communities Centre wondering what they had just seen Cowan brought the puck across the Oshawa blue line, jumped and spun in the air, landed and fed Halttunen for a slap shot that broke Halttunen's stick but propelled the puck into the Generals net to give the Knights a 3-0 advantage. Oshawa got on the board less than three minutes after that as an Owen Griffin deflection found the back of the London net on a Generals power play to make it 3-1. With Oshawa on another man advantage Jacob Julien and Cowan broke out on a two-on-oh breakaway and Julien kept the puck and wristed it underneath Oster to give the Knights a 4-1 lead. Story continues below advertisement Halttunen completed the hat trick at 16:09 of the second with his tenth goal of the playoffs and London lead 5-1 at the end of the middle period. It would have been hard for the best prognosticators on planet earth to predict. Oshawa fought back with three goals to get to within one of the Knights in a span of five minutes and 33 seconds as Luca D'Amato, Colby Barlow and Luke Torrance all scored and the score sat 5-4 for London with 6:18 remaining in regulation. With the Generals pressuring for the equalizer O'Reilly flipped the puck ahead to Jesse Nurmi and he skated across the Oshawa blue line and scored to make it 6-4 with 2:11 left. With the Generals net empty Oshawa kept on pressing and got to within a goal a second time as Sennecke turned and backhanded a shot under the crossbar with 1:29 to go and it was 6-5. The Generals pulled the goaltender a second time but O'Reilly made a second play on a high flip that found Cowan and his second goal of the game went into an empty net to finish the scoring. O'Reilly ended with two assists. Oshawa outshot 36-27. Story continues below advertisement The Knights were 0-for-2 on the power play. The Generals were 1-for-5. Cowan new franchise leader in playoff points and OHL Player of the Week Easton Cowan moved into a place by himself with three points in Game 3 giving him 92 career playoff points. Cowan is now the Knights all-time franchise leader passing Robbie Schremp who recorded 90 total playoff points. Schremp had 89 with London from 2005 to 2006 and one point with the Mississauga IceDogs in 2004. Cowan is currently second overall in OHL playoff scoring this year with 12 goals and 23 assists and leads all other players in post-season in 2025. His five-point performance in Game 2 saw Cowan named OHL Player of the Week. Knights forward Noah Read won Rookie of the Week honours and London goalie Austin Elliott was named OHL Goaltender of the Week. Up next London and Oshawa will go back at it on back-to-back days when they play Game 4 of the OHL Championship on Tuesday, March 13 at 7 p.m., at the Tribute Communities Centre. Game 5 will be Thursday, May 15 at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place. There are tickets available at Story continues below advertisement Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL at and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
Global News
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Global News
The London Knights advance to the OHL Championship Series for the 3rd year in a row
Sam Dickinson scored once and assisted on another as the London Knights defeated the Kitchener Rangers 4-2 to sweep their Western Conference Championship series in four games and advance to their third consecutive OHL Championship. London has gone 12-0 in the 2025 playoffs equalling the Windsor Spitfires run of a dozen straight in 1988 and the Hamilton Bulldogs from the 2021-22 season. The Ottawa 67's hold the record for most victories in a row in an OHL post-season. They won 14 consecutive in 2019. Kitchener took advantage of an early power play and scored 2:16 into the game as Jack Pridham found Luke Ellinas at the right post for his second goal of the series and eighth of the playoffs and the Rangers had the fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on their feet. The Knights doused the crowd noise 56 seconds later as Noah Read scored on a goal mouth scramble to make it 1-1. Story continues below advertisement After Kitchener veterans Matt Andonovski and Luke Ellinas took back-to-back roughing penalties London made them pay. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Easton Cowan slid a pass to Sam Dickinson and he blasted a one-timer by Jackson Parsons for his seventh goal of the post-season to put the Knights in front 2-1 through 20 minutes. Kasper Halttunen of London scored the only goal of the second period as he hammered home a rebound on a Knights power play at 13:21 to give London a 3-1 advantage. Oliver Bonk and Jacob Julien picked up the assists on the play. Julien's assist gave him eight points in the series. Dickinson fired a shot off the pad of Parsons on a dash down left win in the third period and Jesse Nurmi drained the rebound to give the Knights a three-goal lead. The Rangers pulled goaltender Parsons with a little over four minutes left and got a goal from Pridham but London held from their to win the game and the series. The Knights were missing forwards Evan Van Gorp and Denver Barkey due to injury and defenceman Jared Woolley due to suspension. Woolley was given a one-game suspension after receiving a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing in Game 3. London outshot Kitchener 36-27. Story continues below advertisement The Knights were 2-for-6 on the power play. The Rangers were 1-for 3. Knights playoff scoring on a franchise record pace The Knights have now played a dozen games in the 2025 OHL Playoffs and they have scored 62 goals. That has them averaging 5.5 goals per game and that is the highest goals per game average of any London team making it to at least the third round. In fact they are the only Knights team that is averaging better than five goals per game this far into the playoffs. Here are the top-5: 2025 5.16 2024 4.8 2016 4.67 2004 4.60 2005 4.56
