The London Knights and Rimouski Océanic’s paths have only crossed once – or, in an official sense, twice – before this year. 20 years ago, at the 2005 Memorial Cup, London’s “Team of the Century” squad featuring the likes of Corey Perry, Marc Methot, Rob Schremp, Dave Bolland, and Dan Girardi defeated a powerful Rimouski team led by that year’s first overall pick Sidney Crosby 4-3 in overtime to kick off the round robin stage, in a game in which both Perry and Crosby scored goals and Methot found twine twice, including the OT GWG. Subsequently, they faced off in the championship game, and the apparent team of destiny conquered the final challenge from Crosby & co., defeating Rimouski 4-0 (with Dan Fritsche, Bryan Rodney, Bolland, and Schremp all getting on the board) and capturing the last, coveted accolade of their storied campaign on their home ice. This time around, Rimouski are the host team, with a respectable season in their pockets as Gilles-Courteau Trophy finalists, while London are again OHL champions and seeking to avenge what happened to their group last year in Saginaw.

The first period felt like a long feeling out process, as both teams were trying to play preventative, trepidatious hockey to avoid making mistakes. The Knights did look pretty solid in their defensive structure, but the teams probably came out about even in terms of time spent as meaningful offensive threats to one another thanks to Rimouski utilizing their speed. London did have the best offensive possession of the period after a TV timeout regathering helped them play with more jump, but it did not yield a goal. Notably, also, they gave Rimouski the first power play of the game as Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs) was called for a slash on Rimouski G Mathis Langevin while he was trapping a slow-moving puck (additionally making incidental contact with Langevin’s head, but Langevin was able to remain in the game). Rimouski therefore ended the period on the power play and started the next one with it, but did not score. Shots on goal ended up tied at 9-9 in the first period.

2:14 into the beginning of the second period, Rimouski scored first, as Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals) picked up a loose puck in front of London G Austin Elliott (UMass Lowell commit) and tucked it home, with Mathieu Cataford (Vegas Golden Knights) being credited with the assist. London D Henry Brzustewicz (2025 NHL Entry Draft) would respond seven minutes and thirty-three seconds later as he scored an unassisted goal from inside the circle. Just under a minute later, Landon Sim and the Knights were arguably beneficiaries of a generous call, as Mateiko was sent to the box for a perceived slew foot. The power play, unfortunately for London as they were facilitating a strong cycle with some good shots on net on what ended up being their only man advantage of the game, was negated as D Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks) was called for interference. London would go back to the penalty kill twice more in the game, with Blake Montgomery (University of Wisconsin commit) being called for interference at 16:47 of the second and Brzustewicz being penalized for hooking 7:44 into the third period. The Knights did terrific while down a man in this game, however, not allowing any power play goals and additionally generating shorthanded offense in a way that you would anticipate from the team that led the entire CHL in shorthanded goals (19) during the regular season. It certainly helped them look like the better team in the second period, out-shooting RImouski 14-8.

The Knights saved their best and most effective offensive zone play for the third period, sustaining a lot of pressure and gaining zone entries seemingly at will. Eventually, this would culminate in the game-winning goal, as Jacob Julien (Winnipeg Jets) finished a terrific tic-tac-toe play from Kasper Halttunen (San Jose Sharks) and Cowan (who had redeemed himself after previously not making the most of a fantastic no-look pass set-up from Julien) at 14:53. Langevin was pulled for the extra attacker with a little over two and a half minutes to play and while Rimouski looked pretty decent with the extra attacker, they couldn’t quite get the job done and then it became pretty apparent that London was going to ice the game. Cowan would eventually pot the empty net goal, with assists credited to captain Denver Barkey (Philadelphia Flyers) and Sam O’Reilly (Edmonton Oilers). Barkey was given a ten-minute misconduct and shown the gate for some extracurriculars after the goal, but it didn’t matter. London won to bring their Memorial Cup record to 2-0. This game was also significant in that it broke Dale Hunter’s tie with Kamloops Blazers legend Don Hay as the head coach with the most wins in Memorial Cup history since 1972, having previously surpassed Ottawa 67’s longtime mainstay and the only coach with more victories in the OHL than Hunter, Brian Kilrea, with the win against the Moncton Wildcats in their tournament opener yesterday. A victory against Medicine Hat in their final round robin game will give London an auto-berth for the final and a direct path to their shot at redemption. Speaking of Medicine Hat, though, they are next up in the Memorial Cup’s pool stage, as they take on Moncton tomorrow night at 7:00 PM ET.