The London Knights were in a home and home series with the Windsor Spitfires, long story short, the final score combined for those two games is 14-3 for the Knights. The London Knights cruised past the Spitfires in Friday night action on home ice. The Knights have made it known to the league that, if you walk into their house you’re in for a tough one.
The game didn’t have that fast pace to it, and it definitely didn’t have that playoff atmosphere. If you watched the game, you had the feeling that the Knights were going to put on a clinic, and that’s never good if you are a fan of the opposing team. If you have that feeling, you know it’s going to be a long night. The puck was dropped and things got underway, Liam Foudy had his struggles in the month of December but, he has found his form again. Foudy is currently on a 7 game goal streak so, it was only fitting for him to open things up. He stepped on this ice for his first shift, and after being on the ice for only 7 seconds Foudy slides it through the legs of the Spitfires goaltender.
“It was nice to get that one of the hop, it got our team going, and it gave us that early jump that you always want to get early in a game. At the end of the day we had 7 different goal scorers, and it showed how much depth our team had, and it was a good win.”
Joseph Raaymakers has been working his tail off ever since backup goaltender Jordan Kooy went down with an injury. Raaymakers earned his 100th career OHL win in Windsor this past Thursday, and what better way to celebrate than to get yourself a shutout on home ice.
“It’s awesome having 100 career wins, not many goalies can say they’ve done that so, that’s a really cool feeling. As for the work load, it is a lot, but you just have to take it one game a time, once you’re done one game you rest up, reset, and you get ready for the next one.”
Raaymakers was asked if he was looking forward to Kooy coming back so he can finally get a game or two off and his response is what you would expect from a veteran goaltender like him.
“Obviously it would be nice to sit a game or two, but if I had to play all 68 games then I’d play 68 games. Right now the team needs me to step up and give them a chance to win so, that’s what I’m trying to do every time I get the nod.”
When you win back to back games, it can give you an extra boost of confidence. The Knights have plenty of confidence as the season slowly comes to an end, but you can tell that these last two games didn’t mean too much. Coming out with 4 points is definitely something to be happy about considering they are in a race for first overall in the OHL, but the games that mean something are in February. The Knights take on the Guelph Storm, and those are the games that will mean something because, they are a potential second round playoff matchup.
A lot of OHL fans seem to think that if it were to come down to a playoff matchup between the Guelph Storm and the London Knights, the winner of that series will win it all, and eventually make a trip to the Memorial Cup. Not to look too far ahead, but the Knights also face the Saginaw Spirit 3 more times before the end of the season, and they’ll be a tough task as well. The Knights are enjoying themselves right now, but they know what is coming ahead, and they know there is no such thing as a sure win.
The Knights take on the Oshawa Generals on Sunday, which will be another test for them. The Knights are ready for the final push, and fans around the OHL should be ready to witness some of the best Junior Hockey in the final months of this regular season, and get set for some of the best playoff series yet.
