Game Preview: Spirit at London Knights
OHL Saginaw Spirit

Game Preview: Spirit at London Knights

Published on March 14, 2025 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Saginaw Spirit News Release


London, Ont. - The Saginaw Spirit (36-24-2-1) visit the London Knights (52-9-2-0) on Friday, March 14th at the Canada Life Place.

Tonight's Game:

Puck drop is at 7:00 PM.

Broadcast:

Radio: 100.5 WSGW, WSGW.com

TV: OHL Live, CHL App, OHL Action Pak Ch. 466 / Rogers TV, X, Facebook, YouTube

Last Game:

Saginaw last played on Saturday, March 8th where they fell to the Brantford Bulldogs 11-3. Jacob Cloutier, Dima Zhilkin and Liam Storch each scored in the loss.

London last played on Wednesday, March 12th where they defeated the Guelph Storm 6-3. Kasper Halttunen scored twice while Jacob Julien picked up three assists. The Knights' win clinched their second consecutive Hamilton Spectator Trophy as Regular Season Champions.

This Season:

Saginaw and London have faced off three times this season with the Knights winning the last two games. Zayne Parekh and Michael Misa have performed well against London this season. Parekh has three goals and three assists while Misa picked up one goal and five assists. Sam Dickinson and Sam O'Reilly have made an impact in the season series for London. Dickinson has three goals and six assists and O'Reilly has two goals and two assists. Saginaw's prior trip to London this season came all the way back in October, in the form of a 5-1 win.

These teams last met on November 23rd where the Knights came out on top 6-5. Both teams scored in the first with goals coming from Blake Montgomery and Jacob Cloutier sending it to the second period tied at 1-1. London found the back of the net twice in the second with Saginaw netting one to give the Knights a 3-2 lead heading into the third period. London kept the scoring going as they opened the third with three straight goals to go up 6-2. The Spirit answered late in the third with two powerplay goals and another goal off the stick of Zayne Parekh with nine seconds left. However, the comeback fell just short as London secured a 6-5 win.

Players to Watch:

Though his 28-game point streak came to an end last week, Michael Misa still leads the OHL with 124 points headed into the final five games of the season. In 60 games this year, Misa has 58 goals and 66 assists. His point streak that brought about 63 points was the second longest in the OHL this season next to Easton Cowan's 29-gamer, but was the highest scoring. Zayne Parekh is currently on an 11-game point streak. During that span Parekh, has scored six goals and tallied 20 assists. After Parekh hit the 100-point mark earlier this month, this marks the first time in team history the Spirit have had multiple 100-point players in the same year. Igor Chernyshov has recorded a point in 15 of his 18 games played this season. Chernyshov has 17 goals and 27 assists on the year.

Sam Dickinson has been excelled against Saginaw this season. In just three games, Dickinson has three goals and six assists. The Sharks prospect leads London in scoring with 83 points (28G-55A). Austin Elliot currently leads all OHL goalies in both save percentage and goals against average. In 30 games this season, Elliot has a 29-1-0-0 record with a 2.18 goals against average and .921 save percentage. Flyers prospect Denver Barkey leads the Knights in assists with 55. Barkey has totaled 23 goals and 55 assists through 49 games this season, though he has missed the last six games with an upper body injury.

Saginaw's NHL Drafted Players:

Zayne Parekh (CGY)

Igor Chernyshov (SJ)

London's NHL Drafted Players:

Easton Cowan (TOR)

Sam Dickinson (SJ)

Sam O'Reilly (EDM)

Kasper Halttunen (SJ)

Jacob Julien (WPG)

Jesse Nurmi (NYI)

Blake Montgomery (OTT)

William Nicholl (EDM)

Denver Barkey (PHI)

Landon Sim (STL)

Cam Allen (WSH)

Jared Woolley (LA)

Oliver Bonk (PHI)

Check out the Saginaw Spirit Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 14, 2025


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