OHL Notebook: Knights strike first in league final

The London Knights have taken an early lead in the Ontario Hockey League final.

After falling behind 1-0 early in the second period, the Knights scored four unanswered goals to beat the Niagara IceDogs 4-1 at Budweiser Gardens in London to take a 1-0 series lead in the OHL final.

The loss ends a 10-game winning streak for the IceDogs while the Knights have now won 10 consecutive games in the playoffs.

London Coach Dale Hunter called the early part of the game a feeling-out process but was impressed with the game overall.

“Both teams were feeling each other out in the first period and see what the matchups were,” said Hunter. “It was a high-paced game, lots of speed out there.

A three-goal second period that saw the Knights outshoot the IceDogs 12-7 was the difference.

“The second period I’d like to forget about but the rest, we’ll learn and get better,” said Niagara General Manager/Coach Marty Williamson.

“We just made some mistakes in the period and they’re a team you can’t make mistakes against,” Williamson said of the middle frame. “We made some silly plays and they came back to haunt us.”

Knights goaltender Tyler Parsons made 27 saves while Alex Nedeljkovic made 19 stops for Niagara.

“The goalies were good,” Hunter said. “They both made some big saves.”

Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist for London while Matthew Tkachuk assisted on a pair of goals. Christian Dvorak, Chandler Yackimowicz and Owen MacDonald also scored for the Knights.

Pavel Jenys had the lone goal for the IceDogs.

Game two is Saturday night in London.

In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies opened the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final on Wednesday night with a 4-2 win on home ice over the Shawinigan Cataractes. Philippe Myers had a goal and an assist for the Huskies. Gabriel Fontaine, Anthony-John Greer and Nikolas Brouillard also scored while Martins Dzierkals assisted on two goals for Rouyn-Noranda. Gabriel Gagne and Samuel Girard scored for Shawinigan. Game two in the series is Friday night in Rouyn-Noranda.

The Western Hockey League final gets underway on Friday night as the Brandon Wheat Kings host the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The three league champions will then travel to Red Deer, AB later this month for the MasterCard Memorial Cup, which kicks off with game one on May 20.