Sarnia, Ont. – The London Knights skated to a 5-1 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference Championship Series on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Auto Sales Arena to be crowned 2023 Western Conference Champions of the Ontario Hockey League.
Each member of the London unit consisting of Ryan Winterton, Denver Barkey and Easton Cowan recorded a goal and an assist in front of a 23-save performance by goaltender Zach Bowen as the Knights claimed the Wayne Gretzky Trophy for the seventh time in franchise history.
“We had a better start today,” said Knights Head Coach Dale Hunter. “They had jumped 0n us two games in a row in this building and we fell behind and that’s hard to come back from. Today we were better. We got it out of our zone quicker and made better outlets.”
Marcus Limpar-Lantz opened the scoring for the Sting 12:08 into the first period before London responded with five unanswered goals from Barkey, Cowan, Logan Mailloux and Ryan Humphrey along with an empty-netter by Winterton.
“We’re not a team with top-10 scorers in the league,” Hunter remarked when asked of London’s success. “We work as a team together and every line has to be going. Together we get it done and everyone has to contribute.”
London outshot Sarnia 25-24 in the game, with the Sting winning 65 percent of the game’s faceoffs.
The loss concludes the most successful season in Sarnia Sting history as the club made its first-ever appearance in the Western Conference Championship Series.
“We had a tough time penetrating, getting second and third opportunities around the net,” said Sting Head Coach Alan Letang. “Give them the credit they deserve. They locked their d-zone down and frustrated us a little bit and ended up coming out on top.”
Sting captain Nolan Dillingham joined overage teammates Ethan Ritchie and Nolan Burke in playing their final OHL contest. Dillingham spoke to the progress of the Sting organization over his five seasons with the club.
“I’ve never seen an OHL team have this sort of support and have the community rally around us,” he said. “It’s meant so much to us. It’s sad to finish this way and lose our last game, but we’re proud of how far we’ve come and how far this organization has come.”
Sarnia ousted the Guelph Storm and Saginaw Spirit prior to reaching the West Final. They played to a regular season record of 41-18-5-4 for second place in the West Division.
The Knights won Game 6 in front of a crowd of 4,500 at Progressive Auto Sales Arena. London advances to the OHL Championship Series that will begin next week against either the North Bay Battalion or the Peterborough Petes, who hit the ice for Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Championship Series tonight in Peterborough with the Battalion leading the series 3-2.
The Wayne Gretzky Trophy was presented to Knights co-captains George Diaco and Sean McGurn by OHL Vice President Ted Baker. The Knights have won the Wayne Gretzky Trophy seven times since it was first presented to the OHL’s Western Conference champion in 1999. This year’s title follows previous triumphs in 1999, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
SERIES SUMMARY:
London wins series 4-2
Game 1, Apr. 28 – Sarnia 1 at London 4
Game 2, Apr. 30 – Sarnia 1 at London 3
Game 3, May 2 – London 3 at Sarnia 5
Game 4, May 3 – London 3 at Sarnia 6
Game 5, May 5 – Sarnia 2 at London 5
Game 6, May 7 – London 5 at Sarnia 1
