KNIGHTS CROWNED 2024 OHL CHAMPIONS
Oshawa, Ont. – The London Knights scored another dominant win over the Oshawa Generals on Wednesday, skating to a 7-1 victory in Game 4 to be crowned 2024 OHL Champions. The Knights hoisted the J. Ross Robertson Cup after scoring 31 goals in the series, the most by a team in the OHL Championship Final since 1999.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan led the way with a goal and three assists in Game 4, finishing the playoffs with a league-leading 34 points (10-24–34) to earn the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as OHL Playoff MVP. Kasper Halttunen followed-up back-to-back hat-tricks with two goals and an assist and Denver Barkey had three points as well, scoring while adding two helpers. Halttunen wrapped-up the postseason as the league’s goal-scoring leader, lighting the lamp 17 times.
London climbed out to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes, added three more goals in the second period before William Nicholl finished off the scoring with his first of the postseason in the third.
“They’re a bunch of good kids that just wanted to win all year and coming into the playoffs here we played some great teams,” said Knights head coach Dale Hunter. “All four rounds. Oshawa was hard to play against, they played well but our kids stepped it up another level.”
The win secures the Knights their fifth J. Ross Robertson Cup in franchise history following previous championships in 2016, 2013, 2012 and 2005. The Knights get redemption after coming up short in last year’s OHL Championship Series against Peterborough.
“It’s more the feeling of losing, nobody wants to go through it again,” said Hunter. “You had that feeling last year, the kids wanted to come back and win really bad to redeem ourselves and they sure did.”
London outshot Oshawa 30-26 in the win, going 3-for-4 on the powerplay. Michael Simpson stopped 25-of-26 to secure his second straight OHL championship in the crease.
The Knights were OHL regular season champions, claiming the Hamilton Spectator Trophy with a record of 50-14-1-3, resulting in 104 points. They won their fifth consecutive Midwest Division title, entering the playoffs where they took consecutive series sweeps over the Flint Firebirds and Kitchener Rangers. London eliminated the Saginaw Spirit in six Western Conference Championship Series encounters to capture the eighth Wayne Gretzky Trophy in franchise history, setting up a date with the Oshawa Generals where they prevailed in four straight contests.
The Generals were first place finishers atop the Eastern Conference in the regular season, closing out the campaign with 12 straight victories to finish at 40-19-7-2. The Generals eliminated the Barrie Colts in six first round contests before sweeping the Ottawa 67’s in round two. Oshawa outlasted the North Bay Battalion in a hard-fought seven-game series to secure the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions. This trip to the OHL Championship Series was Oshawa’s first since their most recent Memorial Cup title in 2015. Overage veterans in captain Stuart Rolofs, forward Connor Lockhart and defenceman Connor Punnett played their final OHL contest in Game 4.
The J. Ross Robertson Cup was presented to the leadership group of the London Knights by Commissioner David Branch, who will be retiring from his position this summer after 45 years of leading the Ontario Hockey League. Knights defenceman Ethan MacKinnon, who had his season cut short due to concussion-related challenges, was the first to hoist the trophy for London.
The Knights advance to the 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Dow that gets underway on Friday, May 24th in Saginaw, Michigan. The Knights will compete against the host Saginaw Spirit, QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs and the WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors in pursuit of the 104th Memorial Cup.
