The London Knights ended their 2024 pre-season schedule with a 5-3 road loss in Sarnia on Saturday.
The Sting set a tone with a goal just 47 seconds into the game as Easton Wainwright was sent in on a breakaway by James Barr and put a backhand into the Knight net for a 1-0 lead.
Sarnia followed that with two more first period goals from Alessandro Di Iorio and Tyson Doucette and took a 3-0 edge into the second period where the clubs exchanged goals late.
Sting defender Mitch Young deked home a Tyson Doucette set-up at 15:57 of the middle period to make it 4-0 for Sarnia and then London got on the board at 19:24 as Henry Brzustewicz ripped in a wrist shot from the top of the left circle for his first goal of the pre-season and his first in a game since a game-winner in double overtime in Game 3 of the 2024 OHL Championship series.
Rene Van Bommel brought the Knights to within one with a pair of third period goals.
His first came on a solo effort that saw Van Bommel come blazing up the middle of the ice where he split the Sarnia defence and then got to the Sting net where he lifted a puck past Nick Surzycia at the 1:27 mark of the third to cut Sarnia’s lead in half.
Van Bommel’s second goal made it 4-3 at 12:26 as he and Cohen Bidgood came through centre ice on a short-handed two-on-one and Van Bommel deflected a puck out of the air and into the Sting net.
Sarnia held off some late London chances and then sealed it on an empty-net goal from Ruslan Karimov who was playing his first game in a Sting uniform. It came on a power play.
Sarnia outshot the Knights 26-19.
Harrington, Keane, Gagner and Houser get training camp invites
Four former Knights players are getting a shot to show their stuff after receiving training camp invitations. The captain of the 2013 OHL Championship team, Scott Harrington, is attending camp with the St. Louis Blues. Sam Gagner is in Carolina with the Hurricanes, defenceman Joey Keane is with Detroit and Michael Houser is attending camp with the Sabres. Of the four only Gagner spent time playing in the NHL last season. He appeared in 28 games with the Edmonton Oilers. Keane has played the past two seasons in the KHL.
Up next
The 2024 Ontario Hockey League Championship banner will be raised to the rafters in London as the Knights kick off their 2024-25 regular season on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.
London will host the Flint Firebirds in the first of a home-and-home series.
The two teams met in the first round in the 2024 post-season in a series that may have gone just four games but did so with a goal differential of a measly seven and a Game 3 that went into overtime.
The Firebirds are poised to take a step this year and should contend for one of the top spots in the Western Conference.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at 980 CFPL.ca and on the Radioplayer and iHeart Radio apps.
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