Dale Hunter has had his fair share of celebrations recently. He cracked the 50 wins threshold for the seventh time in his career and welcomed in another Hamilton Spectator Trophy. He had a reunion with the finest team he ever coached in the form of the 2004–05 London Knights. The biggest of them all would be tonight, however, as the Knights honored Hunter for his 1,000th career win (joining Ottawa 67s legend Brian Kilrea as the only coaches throughout the history of the entire CHL to hit this mark), which he recorded a week ago via London’s 3–2 regulation defeat of the Kingston Frontenacs at home at Canada Life Place. Prior to a matchup which may not mean much in the grand picture of the season itself but meant a lot to the Knights for emotional reasons, the ceremonies were plentiful. A video package commemorated Hunter’s achievements since taking over the head coaching role after purchasing a stake in the club, while he was additionally presented with a plaque that included a commemorative graphic for Hunter’s milestone, as well as the Kingston game’s official scoresheet. Personal messages were delivered by London alumni throughout Hunter’s years as head coach, including but not limited to Danny Syvret, Mitch Marner, Liam Foudy, and Luke Evangelista, as well as current captain Denver Barkey. Hunter’s speech was filled with humility, as he thanked many of the members of his supporting cast that helped having this much success come easier to him. It was a worthy celebration of such a terrific coaching career. To add a cherry on top, it was a throwback night for London, as they were adorned in their “Spider Knight” jerseys. While these jerseys and the logo adorning them were hated for many years due to being associated with their lowest times, their overall image and standing seem to have been changed with a more positive reception.

The here and now, though, had them placed against a squad that had caused them their greatest pain last season. While London defeated Saginaw in the Western Conference playoffs (particularly the Western Conference Finals) en route to capturing the J. Ross Robertson Cup and beat them once again in the Memorial Cup round robin, it was ultimately Saginaw having the last laugh, as they emerged forward the victors against the Knights. This was the one stain on an otherwise dominant campaign. While this game did not matter for the Knights via their already guaranteed home ice advantage as the number one seed across the entire OHL, every game against Saginaw, who perhaps have become a rival to London only exceeded by eternal foes the Kitchener Rangers, is consequential for making statements. This fourth and final matchup between the two clubs in the regular season would have quite an audience, as well, as it was the OHL’s Friday Night Faceoff matchup and therefore broadcasted free by the OHL’s digital outlets.

The first few minutes were unwelcoming to London, as Saginaw had the territorial advantage and the Knights could not accrue many shots on goal. Eventually, D Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames, 2024 NHL Entry Draft) would fire a shot from up high completely clean through a considerable amount of traffic after his first attempt was blocked and beat London G Austin Elliott (UMass Lowell commit) to put Saginaw up 1-0 3:50 in, with Dimian Zhilkin and Nic Sima being credited for assists. Just 15 seconds later, London F Ryder Boulton would be sent to the box for a two-minute minor for a blindside hit, making matters worse for London as they would have to kill off a penalty immediately after falling into the game’s first hole. London subsequently pulled this off and some pleasantries exchanged between Saginaw’s Hayden Barch (son of ex-NHLer Kris Barch, a London Knights alumnus) and London’s PJ Fagan II turned into a tilt. Some fantastic blows were exchanged by both, but Fagan landed the punch and takedown that ended it after Barch started off strong. Saginaw D PJ Forgione was called for a slashing penalty and London were able to even the score on the ensuing power play. Saginaw LW Kristian Epperson was removed from the play in the London defensive zone by Knights LW Landon Sim (St. Louis Blues draft pick, 2022, left unsigned), which led to London having even better numbers going back the other way. A shot by London D Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks, 2024 NHL Entry Draft) was stopped by Saginaw G Kaleb Papineau, but D Oliver Bonk (Philadelphia Flyers) was there to pick up the garbage and lift one out of Papineau’s reach. Subsequently, Sim did some excellent, timely work on the backcheck to prevent a scoring chance by Saginaw before the TV break. Afterwards, it seemed as though London spent about 75% of the next three minutes cycling in Saginaw’s zone, but were not able to take the lead. London then had a draw in their own zone, but were able to force it back into Saginaw’s own zone multiple times, forcing them to regroup and change lines. London F Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs) iced the puck with 55.6 left, giving Saginaw one more look, but London C Jacob Julien (recent Winnipeg Jets ELC recipient) was able to win the faceoff. Parekh had the puck but was knocked off of it by Cowan. London was subsequently able to kill a lot of time off the clock before icing the puck again, then did the last of the work to end the first period still knotted up 1-1. Shots finished at 9-8 in favor of Saginaw after twenty entertaining minutes. London, meanwhile, were dominant on the draw, winning 17 of the 19 faceoffs in the first period.

A slash by Barch just under two minutes in that knocked the stick out of the hands of London C William Nicholl (Los Angeles Kings, 2024 NHL Entry Draft) gave London their second power play of the match. On the ensuing faceoff, an accidental keep off the shoulder of Dickinson landed in the right spot for Cowan, who found Sim inside the crease with the latter doing the finishing work to bring the score to 2-1. The ice seemed to tilt in Saginaw’s favor after this. On a subsequent possession by Saginaw, Epperson got a strong shot off from a high danger area. Saginaw C Michael Misa (2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible) was waiting in close, but Cowan tied up his stick to prevent a strong shot from being made, with Elliott freezing the puck. Parekh had a lot of open net on a subsequent opportunity some plays later, but couldn’t find twine. Sima got a strong shot off after conducting a controlled entry with pace, but was stopped, and the net was knocked off its moorings. After this sequence, shots were marked as being 11-10 in favor of Saginaw, but it seemed like they had and would maintain a considerable possession advantage on those few sequences. London would facilitate seemingly strong transition plays but would get them snuffed out before they could sustain pressure, and Saginaw would get looks going back the other way. Jesse Nurmi would pickoff an attempted breakout pass by Parekh, however, and got a strong release off but Papineau saw it and caught it with the glove. The Knights would sustain some pressure in the OZ after this, but Papineau stood tall. After a Saginaw icing, Blake Montgomery (Ottawa Senators draft pick, University of Wisconsin commit formerly of the USHL’s Lincoln Stars) got off a great one-timer on a pass from behind the goal line but Papineau once again made a big save. Igor Chernyshov (San Jose Sharks) rifled one off the junction of the post and the crossbar for a close call of Saginaw’s own before Dickinson iced it. London D Henry Brzustewicz (2025 NHL Entry Draft) had a good look in close with some speed but couldn’t settle the puck enough to adequately challenge Papineau. Subsequently, Montgomery had a fantastic look after passing the puck off the back of the net to himself but Papineau made a phenomenal save. Later still, Julien and Nurmi played well off of each other on a rush but couldn’t quite finish it, nor did Julien on a five-hole attempt on a play between him and Sim. After, London youngster forward Logan Hawery was sent to the box for two minutes for blindsiding on Saginaw’s Liam Storch. London would more than hold their own on the ensuing kill, though Saginaw did have some looks. Before the period ended, London had some lethal looks after a rush chance by Nurmi, but Papineau was somehow able to stop them all. Nevertheless, though, London exited the middle frame up 2-1 and ahead on shots on goal 23-17 (15-8 in the second period). London had the second period faceoff advantage, 11-6, for a cumulative edge of 28-8.

There wasn’t much high danger activity in the first five minutes but it did end with back-to-back opportunities in all alone for Julien, but Papineau stopped them both. Just after five minutes had elapsed, London winger Kasper Halttunen (San Jose Sharks, 2023 NHL Entry Draft) got his strongest release of the game off but Papineau trapped it and froze the puck for the final stanza’s first stoppage (entailing a considerable amount of uninterrupted play). Saginaw C Sebastien Gervais tried to roof one on Elliott after, but was stopped. After an initial attempted play from Nicholl to Cowan was broken up, Sim (who carried in the original zone entry) sniped one past Papineau for his second of the night to make it 3-1 at 7:03. In the ensuing handful of minutes, it seemed as though London was snuffing out attempted offensive zone pressure by Saginaw before it could start. They would generate some more shots of their own, though nothing that significantly threatened to increase the lead to 4-1. This was fine, though, as it kept pressure on Saginaw and Papineau. However, the situation changed when Montgomery launched Sima into the boards away from the play in retaliation to a takedown by Sima, sending Montgomery to the box for interference. Elliott was zoned in, cutting off an attempted centering pass and freezing it after the first draw. Misa would win the next one and get it back to Parekh, but the defenseman fired it wide. Subsequently, Julien stole possession from Parekh and cleared it, and Saginaw didn’t get much going in the remaining ~50 seconds. Curiously, Papineau was never pulled to create a 6-on-4 during this sequence. He was only yanked for the extra attacker after Saginaw RW Calem Mangone (Lake Superior State commit) fired a shot into Elliott from basically the goal line at around 2:10 remaining. With two minutes left, Dale Hunter elected to use his timeout so assistant coach Rick Steadman could draw up a defensive play. London would ice it after the ensuing draw but after the following draw, Saginaw would have to regroup, but sailed the puck out of play. This would afford them another OZ faceoff, but the play went nowhere as London would press back multiple times and have some looks at the empty net, though they missed them all. Before time ran out, Sim would knock Parekh down in the neutral zone with a huge hit and the seconds would tick off after one last shot attempt was blocked. Tensions boiled over one more time, but London emerged forward the victors, 3-1. With the victory, London would emerge forward as the winners of the season series, with 3 victories to Saginaw’s sole win between the two in their first matchup. Despite the best efforts by Papineau in between the pipes to give his Spirit a chance to win the game, at the end of it all, Dale Hunter was able to further commemorate 1,000 victories by attaining his 1,003rd, growing his team’s point total on the year to 108. There is a chance that the Knights may see the Spirit again in the playoffs, this time in the second round. Even bearing in mind the devastation of last year, I would wager that the Knights have something of a psychological edge in this matchup because of this season’s attempts at exorcising demons.