3 Memorial Cup appearances. 2 OHL Championships. For some franchises, that could sum up all the accolades they’ve ever achieved. For the London Knights, that’s what they’ve accomplished in the last three years.
The London Knights are in the midst of their most successful run in franchise history, but a Memorial Cup title has proved to be elusive. Perhaps this, their 50th anniversary campaign, could prove to be the year.
Of course, it is still September, and if you ask anyone on the team they will say that kind of speculation is not something they believe in. Deep down, of course, they want to win it.
If Game 1 was any indication, the Knights have a lot of work to do.
The Knights welcomed the Plymouth Whalers to Budweiser Gardens for their season opener Friday night and were run out of their own building, losing 5-0.
A lack of discipline and poor defensive zone coverage led to a barrage of shots on rookie goaltender Tyler Parsons, who did his best to keep his team in it stopping 34 shots. Parsons says he wasn’t too nervous in his first ever start.
“It feels pretty good to get that first start out of the way and especially the home opener. It’s always an awesome game”
Parsons has great confidence that his team will bounce back from a rocky first game.
“I think we played pretty good but we just made a couple of mistakes that ended up in the back of our net. We’ve just gotta improve on the little things and then we’ll start winning some games.”
There was a pre-game video before the game showing many of the highlights from the history of the Knights, and local legend Pete James addressed the sellout crowd of 9,046. Parsons knows this anniversary is a big deal.
“It’s an honour to be a part of this team. It’s an awesome thing and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
The Knights will try to rebound from this loss against Owen Sound Saturday night at the Bayshore Community Centre. London plays their next home game October 3rd against Kitchener.
