London Knights strike early to knock off Saginaw Spirit 5-1

Denver Barkey scored once and added two assists as the London Knights swept their season series against the Saginaw Spirit with a 5-1 victory at Budweiser Gardens.

London came out firing as they put 16 pucks at Saginaw goalie Tristan Lennox in the opening period and scored four times.

The first two goals came just 14 seconds apart from Ryan Humphrey and Barkey.

Logan Mailloux scored short-handed by ripping a shot into the Spirit net off a faceoff in the Saginaw zone to make it 3-0 and then London scored on a late power play courtesy of Ruslan Gazizov at 19:49 for their fourth of the night.

Saginaw made a change in goal to begin the second period and Andrew Oke turned aside 15 Knights shots and Strathroy, Ont., native Hunter Haight banged in a rebound on a Spirit power play to get them on the scoreboard.

Sam Dickinson added the fifth goal of his rookie season to round out the scoring at 11:12 of the third period.

London went 4-0 in four games against Saginaw this season and outscored the Spirit 19-8 in those games.

Mailloux ended with a goal and an assist and Ethan MacKinnon had a pair of assists for the Knights.

Brett Brochu earned his 21st win of the season and 82nd of his career as he made 31 saves.

The Knights outshot the Spirit 41-31.

London is now back to within a point of the Windsor Spitfires for first place in the Western Conference. The Knights have a game in hand and will continue a busy schedule that will seem them play five games in the next eight days.

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Levin leads Israel to silver

Mike Levin recorded 12 goals and 18 points in six games as Israel advanced all the way to the gold medal game at the U20 Division III World Junior Hockey Championship.

Levin is a draft pick of the Knights who has played four games in London this year and 25 games for the St. Thomas Stars. Levin has put up 45 points in those 25 games in the GOJHL. Israel lost 4-1 to Australia in the championship game.

Levin finished third overall in tournament scoring.

Talk Today

Friday’s game against the Spirit was the Knights Talk Today game presented by Syngenta and the Grain Farmers of Ontario.

Talk Today is recognized as one of the most comprehensive mental health programs in amateur sport in Canada. Proceeds from the evening’s 50/50 draw will go to support the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

If you would like more information about Talk Today you can email talktoday@ontario.cmha.ca.

Up next

The Knights head to Erie, Pa., on Saturday Feb. 4 and they hope to be able to get in and back out.

The last time London ventured on the road to face the Otters they had to turn off the interstate on the way home because of terrible weather conditions and stay for the night.

The weather this time around looks chilly but not nearly as snowy.

The Knights will be sure to pack toothbrushes just in case.

They also hope to pack in another two points. London is 1-1 in Erie this year. They snagged a win in a shootout in their last visit when Mathieu Paris potted the winner and Zach Bowen booted away six of the seven shots he saw from Erie shooters in the skills contest.