OHL London Knights

Knights Get Stung by the Sting

Published on December 14, 2019 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
London Knights News Release


The London Knights fell just shy of a four-goal comeback on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens as they fell 5-3 to the Sarnia Sting.

Down 4-0 with under five minutes remaining in the second period London began a three-goal surge that brought them to within one goal through the final 10 minutes and 24 seconds of the third period but they could not manage the one more they needed and Sean Josling sealed the Sarnia victory with an empty-netter at 18:23 of period three.

Marek Berka opened the scoring on a breakaway at 7:55 of the first period. That goal was followed up by a snapshot into the London net from Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Jamieson Rees and then a shot from the point at the end of a Sarnia power play was knocked home by former Erie Otter Joseph Mack.

The Sting added to their lead just 13 seconds into the second period when Eric Hjorth stepped across the blue line and zipped a wrist shot past Brett Brochu, who had entered the game in place of Dylan Myskiw.

The game actually featured two fights. There was an early tussle between Cole Tymkin and Marko Jakovlevic that saw more gloves dropped to the ice than landed punches and then a spirited little tilt between 16-year-old Max McCue of London and Theo Hill of Sarnia.

McCue headed to the penalty box and urged on his teammates and the move seemed to add some momentum the Knights way.

With the Knights still pressing, the Sting managed to score a goal at the other end of the ice that was immediately waved off on a call of goaltender interference. Sarnia head coach Derian Hatcher used a coach's challenge on the play but the call on the ice was upheld.

Not long after that, Ryan Merkley got the puck deep into the Sarnia end. It bounced off the end boards to Luke Evangelista and he banked a shot off Ethan Langevin and into the Sting net for Evangelista's 11th goal of the season, cutting the Sarnia lead to 4-1 through 40 minutes.

Jonathan Gruden scored a power-play goal 1:05 into the third period that came on a 5-on-3 man advantage to carry London's momentum into the final 20 minutes.

Ryan Merkley's third assist of the game was a shot into the slot that was tipped in by Nathan Dunkley at 9:26.

From there the Sting held off the Knights charge and won their second straight game.

London outshot Sarnia 16-6 in the third period and 38-26 overall

They now finish out the rest of their pre-holiday on the road, beginning with a game in Windsor on Sunday afternoon.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 14, 2019


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