LONDON ENDS HOMESTAND WITH LOSS TO BARRIE
Ryan Suzuki and Zachary Magwood each scored twice as the Barrie Colts doubled up the London Knights 8-4 on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens.
The Colts broke out after back-to-back losses to Owen Sound and Sault Ste. Marie and moved into a tie with the Niagara Ice Dogs for the second seed in the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Eastern Conference.
Magwood also had two assists in the game, playing on a line with Jaden Peca that combined for nine points against the Knights in the game, which was London’s fifth consecutive game on home ice.
Evan Bouchard added to his lead atop the scoring race among OHL defencemen with two goals and an assist for the Knights. The Oakville native now leads Ryan Merkley of the Guelph Storm by five points. Both are eligible for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft in June.
For the second straight game, London gave up the first goal and found themselves chasing. Like they did against the Storm on Sunday, the Knights got to within a goal, but could not find a way to tie the game against a Barrie team that was aggressive and opportunistic.
How the goals were scored
Londoner Ryan Suzuki admitted before the game that he was letting his father handle the ticket requests for his first OHL game in his hometown. He gave friends and family in attendance something to cheer about just 5:05 into the first period as he scored his 10th goal of the season to give Barrie a 1-0 lead.
The Knights tied the game only 35 seconds later as a Bouchard slapshot beat Kai Edmonds in the Colts’ net.
Before the end of the first 20 minutes, Barrie took their second lead as Aaron Luchuk knocked a rebound past Joseph Raaymakers to make it 2-1.
Zachary Magwood’s 20th and 21st goals of the season increased Barrie’s lead to 4-1 by the 9:59 mark of the second period. His second goal ended up going in off a skate in front of the London net.
Bouchard cut the Colts’ lead to 4-2 with a shorthanded goal at 12:16, set up by Liam Foudy. The goal gave Bouchard his 18th goal and 62 points as he continues to lead all OHL defencemen in scoring.
Just over two minutes after that, NHL draft prospect Andrei Svechnikov restored Barrie’s three-goal advantage. Svechnikov chipped the puck into the London crease, found it and wristed it into the net.
Once again the Knights cut the lead to a pair on Jacob Golden’s first OHL goal. He went to the net from the left point and converted a Sergey Popov pass to end the second period with Barrie ahead 5-3.
London got to within a goal to start the third period as Bouchard controlled a puck inside the Barrie blue-line, faked a shot to freeze a Colts defender and then slid a pass in front to Alex Formenton, who deked to his backhand and scored his 16th goal of the year to tighten the score at 5-4…
For the full story, head to https://globalnews.ca/news/4004244/knights-end-homestand-with-loss-to-barrie/
The Knights will return home to take on the Erie Otters on Friday, February 9 at 7:30pm. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Aluminum Associates London Knights Armoury, at the OMAC Mortgages London Knights Box Office, over the phone by calling 519-681-0800 EXT. 1, or by CLICKING HERE.
