RISE UP – KNIGHTS VS. ERIE PREVIEW
By: Brandon Piper
There’s no place like home to rekindle old rivalries.
With the 2016-17 season now underway – the London Knights will look to bounce back from a 4-1 opening night loss to the Sarnia Sting as they host the Erie Otters at the Budweiser Gardens with puck drop at 7:30PM.
A lot has changed since these teams last faced off in the OHL Western Conference Finals back in April.
History shows how the Knights made short work of Erie, as Mitch Marner, Christian Dvorak and company swept Dylan Strome and the favoured Otters to punch their ticket into the OHL final – on route to their fourth championship in 11 years.
Erie was no slouch in the regular season – after they narrowly edged the Knights out in the standings to clinch 1st place in the league and it goes without saying that most hockey fans expected a series for the ages – but few expected the outcome.
In six matchups last year – the Knights and Otters were fairly evenly matched.
The Otters took the first two games before London claimed the next three head-to-heads while Erie’s final win of the regular season not only evened the series at 3 games apiece – but it sealed up 1st place for Erie heading into the playoffs.
The teams both appeared to be set for a title run last season and the regular season bouts were fairly indicative of that.
The playoffs however, proved otherwise.
Now fast forward to the present and it’s only one game into the 2016-17 – but both London and Erie find themselves both searching for that first win of the season.
Over a dozen Knights are currently attending NHL camps and aside from a hunger to win their first game of the year – there might be even more of a thirst for many younger players to carve a role for themselves as the season winds down.
Until it is known who will be returning from their respective NHL training camps – it will provide ample opportunity for many of the young and untested players to get their names out there.
Erie will be short a few notable players as well including the likes of Strome and Alex DeBrincat – which will make it all the more interesting to see how Knights Coach Dale Hunter decides to play against an opposing team which will be missing more of its notable star players.
The same can be said for Otters bench boss Kris Knoblauch – who will be facing off against a Knights squad that looks nothing like the one he lined up against in the Western Conference finals.
Friday will also mark a special occasion for the London Knights franchise – who will be raising their Memorial Cup banner from last season prior to the start of tonight’s game.
Fans in attendance, looking to flaunt some Knights pride – are asked to be seated before 7:30PM for the start of the ceremony.
London’s 2016-17 regular season continues next Friday night at the Budweiser Gardens when they host the Sault Ste Marie.
