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London Knights to face Windsor Spitfires
Ryan Pyette, March 16, 2019
They will open the playoffs against familiar foe Windsor Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
“That’s what we needed to get into playoff mode,” said London captain Evan Bouchard. “Coming off three losses, we needed to bear down on our chances, especially on this good of a goalie (in Ivan Prosvetov) and we did that.”
The Knights’ best players were better than the top guns on the Saginaw side.
Bouchard had a goal, two points and seven shots on net. Prize trade deadline acquisition Kevin Hancock kicked it in to another gear and scored twice, including the winner, to give him 52 goals and 107 points in 70 games.
“It was like a playoff atmosphere in here,” Hancock, the overage centre, said, “and we came out firing. To go through something like this and come out with a win in our final game, it brings a team closer together. We took it like a playoff game.”
This is the seventh time in the past 15 years London finished the regular season as the first seed in the West. This one, though, was the most difficult to wrap up with a final-week schedule against fellow heavyweights Saginaw, Sault Ste. Marie and Guelph.
“You want to win it sooner,” Knights coach Dale Hunter said, “but it’s good teams we’re playing and the kids battled hard on the road against a good team to win it. The kids deserve all the credit. They wanted it bad. They stuck together as a team.”
OHL: London Knights to face Windsor Spitfires in opening round of playoffs