For the first time since their championship run in 2016, the London Knights have made it to the Ontario Hockey League finals.
This comes after defeating the Sarnia Sting in enemy territory at Progressive Auto Sales arena with a score of 5-1, taking the series 4-2.
With the final matchup now being set between the London Knights and the Peterborough Petes, who recently defeated the North Bay Battalion in their series 4-3, the Knights and the city of London are getting prepared for the upcoming best-of-seven series.
(Credit: London Knights) The arena will play host to the Peterborough Petes as the Knights look to capture the J. Ross Robertson Cup.
With the success of the team bringing plenty of buzz to Budweiser Gardens and to the streets of downtown London, the buzz also spreads to the local businesses in the area who benefit from the team’s success.
“We love the Knights, we love them doing well, and we love that the arena is right downtown,” says Troy Hutchison who owns Grooves Records on Dundas street.
“We do get a bit of a spike on days the Knights play.”
Hutchison goes on to talk about how their store, which primarily sells CDs and vinyl records, sees a slight increase of traffic flow from London Knights games, but that other events contribute more to direct sales.
“There’s not a total overlap of our clientele with the Knights,” says Hutchison.
“We tend to get busy on nights where there’s a big concert. We love the vibe though, we don’t really care that we don’t go off the charts when there’s a Knights game.”
(Credit: Grooves Records) Grooves Records, located on Dundas street in London, just three blocks away from Budweiser Gardens.
That being said, while you’d expect businesses would have more of a forethought on how a hockey team could affect sales for businesses, Hutchison talks about how there are other areas that benefit from their success as well.
“It’s always a great thing when there’s an exciting game going on or really anything for that matter from Budweiser Gardens,” says Hutchison
“Whenever there are more people downtown, there’s more energy and vibrancy to the area, and we definitely feel that.”
Dundas street and the downtown core as a whole have seen plenty of changes recently as well as plenty of events lined up over the summer to attract locals to the area, making business owners excited for the future of downtown London.
“People realizing that their downtown is “cool”, for lack of a better term, helps us out a lot. It may not help us directly, but it’s good for us for sure.”
Game one of the OHL finals is set for Thursday May 11 on home ice at Budweiser Gardens, with game two scheduled for Saturday at the Gardens as well. For more information or to purchase tickets, be sure to head to www.budweisergardens.com.
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