OHL Notebook: Knights acquire goaltender from Storm

The talk of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights potentially looking for a goaltender ahead of January’s trade deadline may be done.

The team has acquired the rights to former Western Hockey League goaltender Brendan Burke.

Burke, the son of former NHL goaltender Sean Burke, started the season with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen but found himself as the odd man out in the Hitmen overage situation.

After not being able to arrange a trade for the 20-year-old, the Hitmen put Burke on waivers, which he subsequently passed through.

“It’s just a tough decision,” Calgary General Manager Mike Moore told the Calgary Herald’s Laurence Heinen. “It’s not just about the short term, it’s about long-term planning too. We’ve got three terrific 20-year-olds that are here still and a guy that’s leaving (Burke) that’s a terrific person with character.”

Burke was eventually claimed on Canadian Hockey League waivers by the Guelph Storm, who eventually dealt the veteran goaltender to the Knights for a sixth round draft pick in 2016.

Burke gives the Knights another option to work with Tyler Parsons, who has carried the load for London in goal this season.

“You need two goalies playing,” Knights Coach Dale Hunter told the London Free Press. “It’s too hard work for one goalie to play 90 per cent of the games. Someone could get hurt, there is World Juniors and Parsons is in the mix (for the U.S. team).

“We did a lot of research on Burke and we liked what we saw.”

Burke started his WHL career with the Portland Winterhawks where he appeared in a Memorial Cup in 2013. He was dealt to Calgary at the WHL trade deadline last season.

In 144 career games in the WHL, Burke posted an 88-31-4-7 record with a 2.83 goals against average and 0.906 save percentage and 10 shutouts.

Burke is expected to arrive in London on Monday.

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WEEKLY RESULTS

Wednesday
In Mississauga, Nathan Bastien had a goal and two assists as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 5-1. Ryan McLeod and Alexander Nylander added a goal and an assist each while Daniel DeSousa and Thomas Lattavo also scored. Everett Clark assisted on a pair of goals for the Steelheads. Joseph Mizzi had the lone goal for Hamilton.

In Peterborough, Matthew Mancina stopped 36 shots as the Peterborough Petes beat the Ottawa 67’s 6-3.  Kyle Jenkins assisted on three goals for Peterborough while Steven Lorentz, Greg Betzold, Jonathan Ang and Hunter Garlent added a goal and an assist each for the Petes. Eric Cornel and Adam Timleck also scored for Peterborough. Dante Salituro scored twice for Ottawa. Ben Fanjoy had the other 67’s goal.

Thursday
In London, Mitchell Marner and Christian Dvorak had a goal and two assists each as the London Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 5-2. Matthew Tkachuk assisted on a pair of goals while Owen MacDonald, Aaron Berisha and J.J. Piccinich also scored for London. Sam Harding and Sullivan Sparkes scored for the Generals while Jacob Graves assisted on both Generals goals. Goaltender Jeremy Brodeur made 30 saves.

In St. Catharines, Vanya Lodnia’s goal at 3:27 of overtime gave the Erie Otters a 4-3 win over the Niagara IceDogs. Kyle Maksimovich, Taylor Raddysh and Dylan Strome added a goal and an assist each for the Otters while goaltender Devin Williams stopped 31 shots. Mikkel Aagaard, Jordan Maletta and Brendan Perlini scored for the IceDogs.

In North Bay, Spencer Watson’s goal at 18:28 of the third period was the game-winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the North Bay Battalion 4-3. The Frontenacs built up a 4-1 lead before the Battalion scored twice 42 seconds apart in the final two minutes of the contest to make things close. Ryan Verbeek, Jared Steege and Juho Lammikko also scored for Kingston. Cam Dineen, David Sherman and Mike Amadio scored for North Bay. Mathew Santos assisted on two goals for North Bay.

In Windsor, Christian Fischer’s goal at 6:57 of the second period was the eventual game-winner as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Guelph Storm 3-2. Fischer had a pair of goals while Logan Brown also scored for the Spitfires. James McEwan and Garrett McFadden scored for the Storm while goaltender Bradley Van Schubert made 27 saves.

In Barrie, Mackenzie Blackwood made 30 saves as the Barrie Colts beat the Sudbury Wolves 4-1. Kevin Labanc scored twice for the Colts while Julius Nattinen had a goal and an assist. Andrew Mangiapane assisted on a pair of goals while Josh Carrick also scored for Barrie. Chad Heffernan had the lone goal for Sudbury.

Friday
In Sudbury, Dominik Masin’s goal four minutes into overtime gave the Peterborough Petes a 6-5 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Masin and Eric Cornel finished the night with a goal and two assists each while Greg Betzold added two goals and an assist for the Petes. Hunter Garlent assisted on three Peterborough goals. Kyle Jenkins and Matt Spencer also scored for Peterborough. Dmitry Sokolov had three goals and an assist for Sudbury while Matt Schmalz and Kyle Capobianco also scored.

In Sarnia, Jeff King’s power play goal at 4:07 of the second period was the game-winner as the Sarnia Sting beat the Owen Sound Attack 1-0. Justin Fazio made 25 saves for the shutout while Owen Sound netminder Michael McNiven stopped 30 shots.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Brandon Halverson made 25 saves as the Soo Greyhounds beat the Kingston Frontenacs 2-1. Makar Tokarev and Zach Senyshyn scored for the Greyhounds while Jared Steege scored for Kingston.

In Guelph, Ryan Moore scored a pair of goals as the Flint Firebirds beat the Guelph Storm 5-2. Connor Chatham assisted on three goals for Flint while Mathieu Henderson added a goal and an assist. Zack Pittman and Zach Grzelewski also scored for Flint. Will Bitten assisted on two goals. Luke Burghardt and Nick Deakin-Poot scored for Guelph.

In London, Ryan MacInnis had a pair of goals while Luke Opilka stopped 32 shots as the Kitchener Rangers beat the London Knights 4-2. Dmitrii Sergeev assisted on three goals while Darby Llewellyn added a goal and an assist. Jeremy Bracco also had a two-point night with a pair of assists for Kitchener. Adam Mascherin had the other Rangers goal. Aaron Berisha and Mitchell Marner scored for London.

In Mississauga, Jack Flinn made 31 saves as the Mississauga Steelheads blanked the North Bay Battalion 7-0. Alexander Nylander had three goals and an assist to pace Mississauga offensively while Ryan McLeod and Owen Tippett added a pair of goals each. Nathan Bastien and Michael McLeod assisted on three goals each while Damian Bourne and Luke Kutkevicius added two assists each. Jake Kment made 24 saves for North Bay.

In Oshawa, Kyle MacLean’s goal at 9:17 of the third period was the winning goal as the Oshawa Generals beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-3. Joe Manchurek scored twice for Oshawa while Mitchell Vande Sompel assisted on a pair of goals. Alexandre Renaud also scored for Oshawa. Jesse Saban, Matthew Strome and Mason Marchment scored for Hamilton.

Saturday
In Guelph, Gustaf Franzen had a goal and an assist while Connor Bunnaman assisted on a pair of goals as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Guelph Storm 5-1. Jeremy Bracco, Adam Mascherin, Mason Kohn and Dylan DiPerna also scored for the Rangers. Vladislav Barulin had the lone goal for the Storm.

In Hamilton, Charlie Graham made 32 saves as the Hamilton Bulldogs doubled up the Ottawa 67’s 4-2. Matt Luff had a goal and an assist while Stephen Harper, Niki Petti and Brandon Saigeon also scored for Hamilton. Jacob Middleton and Trent Mallette scored for the 67’s.

In Saginaw, Nick Betz’s goal at 2:18 of the third period was the game-winner as the Erie Otters beat the Saginaw Spirit 3-2. Vanya Lodnia had a goal and an assist while Kyle Maksimovich also scored for the Otters. Spirit goaltender Evan Cormier made 37 saves. Artem Artemov and Mike Davies had a goal and an assist for the Spirit. Kris Bennett assisted on both Saginaw goals.

In Sarnia, Pavel Zacha had three goals and two assists as the Sarnia Sting beat the Niagara IceDogs 6-2.Jeff King added a goal and two assists while Patrick White had a goal and an assist for Sarnia. Nikita Korostelev also scored for the Sting. Defenceman Jakob Chychrun assisted on a pair of goals. Sarnia goaltender Justin Fazio stopped 32 shots. Johnny Corneil and Anthony DiFruscia scored for Niagara.

In Windsor, Daniel Dekoning made 35 saves as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-1. Bryson Cianfrone scored a pair of goals for the Attack. Josh Sterk also scored for Owen Sound. Liam Murray had the lone goal for Windsor.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Matthew Mancina made 39 saves as the Peterborough Petes blanked the Soo Greyhounds 3-0. Josh Maguire, Steven Lorentz and Eric Cornel scored for the Petes. Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 32 shots.

In Flint, Brendan Lemieux scored three times and Kevin Labanc assisted on three goals as the Barrie Colts beat the Flint Firebirds 4-1. Ben Hawerchuk also scored for Barrie while goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 30 shots. Connor Chatham had the lone goal for Flint while goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots.

Sunday
In Mississauga, Matthew Tkachuk had three goals and two assists as the London Knights beat the Mississauga Steelheads 9-4. Aaron Berisha added a pair of goals while Christian Dvorak and J.J. Piccinich had a goal and two assists. Victor Mete had a goal and an assist while Cliff Pu also scored. Mitchell Marner assisted on three goals while Olli Juolevi and Chris Martenet assisted on two each. Stephen Gibson scored twice for the Steelheads. Owen Tippett and Michael McLeod also scored.

In Sudbury, Warren Foegele had a goal and two assists as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-2. Jason Robertson had a pair of goals while Jared Steege had a goal and an assist. Lawson Crouse assisted on two goals for Kingston. Patrick Murphy and Alan Lyszczarczyk scored for the Wolves.

In Windsor, Brent Moran made 23 saves as the Niagara IceDogs blanked the Windsor Spitfires 3-0. Vince Dunn scored a pair of goals for Niagara. Anthony DiFruscia also scored for the IceDogs. Windsor goaltender Michael DiPietro stopped 28 shots.

In Saginaw, Mackenzie Blackwood made 39 saves as the Barrie Colts beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-3. Kevin Labanc had two goals and two assists for Barrie. Cordell James, Julius Nattinen and Brendan Lemieux had a goal and an assist each. Dylan Sadowy had a pair of goals for Saginaw while Mike Davies also scored.

In Flint, Will Bitten’s goal at 4:37 of the third period was the game-winner as the Flint Firebirds beat the Erie Otters 6-5. Bitten scored three times for the Firebirds while Nicholas Caamano had a goal and an assist. Ryan Moore assisted on three goals. Josh Wesley had a pair of assists. Francesco Vilardi and Zach Grzelewski also scored for Flint. Dylan Strome had two goals and two assists for Erie. Travis Dermott and Alex DeBrincat had a goal and two assists each for Erie. Jack Mayenschein also scored for Erie.

In Oshawa, Dante Salituro had three goals and an assist as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Oshawa Generals 6-2. Travis Konecny assisted on five goals. Nathan Todd, Trent Mallette and Jeremiah Addison also scored while goaltender Leo Lazarev stopped 32 shots for the 67’s. Matt Mistele and Owen McDade scored for Oshawa.