Super Performance Sunday as Knights Outlast the Storm
January 27, 2020 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
London Knights News Release
London Knights rookie goaltender Brett Brochu earned his 10th-consecutive victory on Sunday afternoon as the Knights knocked off the Guelph Storm 4-2.
It was Super Hero day at Budweiser Gardens and Brochu continued to play as if he has a cape on his back. The 17-year old turned aside 29 Storm shots and made key saves at key times to keep London rolling. The Knights now have 11 wins in their past 12 games.
"It's hard to explain how good he has been," said London forward Antonio Stranges. "He's been hot and that's been good for the entire team."
Since a loss to Kitchener on Dec. 28, Brochu has delivered victory after victory. He currently owns the second-best save percentage in the Ontario Hockey League and leads all rookie goalies in every category except for shutouts - and Brochu does have a pair of those.
He was helped by an early lead on Sunday and an excellent penalty-killing performance.
Knights co-captain Liam Foudy picked up his 16th goal of the season just 21 seconds into the game.
"It's a big confidence booster. You always want to start off with the lead and scoring that quickly helped us and gave us momentum for the rest of the game," Foudy said.
Foudy had a goal and an assist. Connor McMichael had two assists and stretched his latest point streak to 10 games.
London killed off all four Storm power plays that seemed to come at times when Guelph was applying all kinds of pressure. The Knights limited scoring chances on those man advantages to almost none.
"Our special teams play was huge tonight and killing off those penalties was huge," said London forward Nathan Dunkley.
The Knights handed Guelph their 10th-straight loss and got some help in the standings from Ottawa and Mississauga to move closer to the top of the Western Conference.
The 67s defeated Saginaw 5-2 and the Steelheads came back to beat the Kitchener Rangers 5-4 in overtime. London is now tied with the Spirit for the second-best record in the West and just one point back of the Rangers for first overall. The Knights have at least one game in hand on both teams.
London celebrated Super Hero day by wearing their "Spider-Knight" uniforms that they used from 1994-2002.
How the goals were scored Liam Foudy got the first goal of the game just 21 seconds into it as a Ryan Merkley shot hit a skate and deflected right to Foudy who wristed the puck into an open side on Guelph goalie Nico Daws. Foudy and Daws were teammates with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship that wrapped up Jan. 5 in the Czech Republic.
Markus Phillips put London ahead 2-0 with his first goal as a Knight just 41 seconds into the second period against the team he won an OHL title with last May.
The Storm quickly got that goal back on a wrist shot at the 3:25 mark of the second as he cut across the slot in the London zone.
Jonathan Gruden scored his third goal in two games and 21st of the year on a nice feed from Tonio Stranges and Nathan Dunkley that saw Dunkley tap a rink-wide feed from Stranges right to Gruden on the right side of the Guelph end. The goal came just 51 seconds after the goal by Hillis.
Guelph tightened things up on the scoreboard in the third period as forward Keegan Stevenson whacked a puck into the London net to make it 3-2.
Defenceman Alec Regula scored an empty-netter with less than a minute left to seal things for the Knights.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2020
- Hockey Canada Names Program of Excellence Management Group, National Junior Team Head Coach for 2020-21 Season - OHL
- Wrap-Up January with the Rangers - Kitchener Rangers
- Promotions: Firebirds to Host 90's Night this Saturday - Flint Firebirds
- Firebirds' Ty Dellandrea Named OHL 'On the Run' Player of the Week - OHL
- Firebirds' McCourt Sets New Club Mark for Career Points by a Defenceman - Flint Firebirds
- Hockey Canada Comes Calling for 67's Tourigny and Boyd - Ottawa 67's
- Sergey Popov Named Huron Tractor Attacker of the Week - Owen Sound Attack
- London Knights Announce Don Brankley London Knights Hall of Fame Class of 2020 - London Knights
- Super Performance Sunday as Knights Outlast the Storm - London Knights
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