Knights come back to beat Barrie in overtime to open busy weekend

Landon Sim snapped in a rebound just under three minutes into overtime as the London Knights defeated the Barrie Colts 5-4 on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens.

Knights co-captain Sean McGurn carried the puck into the Colts zone and cut to the net. Sim followed to the net and put the puck in to give London their sixth victory in eight games.

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Easton Cowan stole a puck in the Barrie end and quickly threaded a pass to Denver Barkey in the high slot and Barkey zipped a pass to George Diaco who stood by himself to the right of the Barrie net. Diaco wired in his eighth goal of the season to put London ahead 1-0.

Another steal in the Colts zone led to another Knights goal at the 2:47 mark of the second period as Brody Crane grabbed an errant pass, walked into the slot and snapped a shot past Barrie, Ont., native Ben West to make it 2-0 for London.

After Nick Yearwood of the Knights came close with a shot off the crossbar, Evan Vierling of the Colts zoomed into the London end, circled the net and scored to cut the Knights’ lead in half.

London entered the final minute of the second period with that 2-1 advantage but a centering feed by Beau Jelsma of Barrie hit a leg and then hit Brett Brochu and found its way in to tie the game at 19:22. Vierling then backhanded home a puck that was stuck in a scramble in front of the Knight net with less than ten seconds remaining on the clock — the Colts suddenly had the lead going to the dressing room.

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The Knights tied the game 3-3 when Ruslan Gazizov scored his first goal of the year on a one-timer early in the third period, but Barrie pulled back in front on a goal by Jacob Frasca.

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London thought they had tied the game when Landon Sim scored on a wrap-around, but the goal was disallowed because a whistle had gone that called the Colts for a penalty. A second penalty to Barrie gave the Knights a two-man advantage and Brody Crane ripped in his second goal of the game to make it 4-4 and send it to overtime. There, Landon Sim ended it to give London an important victory.

The Knights outshot Barrie 36-19.

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The Knights held their annual Remembrance Day ceremony prior to the game. It ended with both teams coming off their benches to pay tribute to all of the veterans in attendance as they walked along a red carpet that stretched all the way to centre ice.

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Round-robin finishes up at Under-17 World Hockey Challenge

The medal round is set at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in Langley, B.C. Team Black with defenceman Sam Dickinson of London as their captain and Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman will face Finland for Bronze at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Team USA will play Londoner Jett Luchanko and Team Canada Red for gold at 8 p.m. Knights draft picks James Hagens and Shane Vanseghi are members of Team USA. Hagens leads the tournament in scoring with 16 points in six games.

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Up next

The Knights will meet the Spitfires for the first time in 2022-23 as they travel to Windsor on Saturday, Nov. 12, for a 7 p.m. faceoff.

Windsor leads the Western Conference with a record of 11-2-3 and they are coming off a 3-2 victory over the Peterborough Petes on Nov. 10.

The Spitfires no longer have Wyatt Johnston and Will Cuylle who led them offensively last year. Cuylle is in the American Hockey League and Johnston made the Dallas Stars as a 19-year-old but players like Matt Maggio and Ryan Abraham have stepped into their spots.

London will return home to face the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.

Coverage of both games can be heard on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the Radioplayer Canada app.

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