The Erie Otters topped the London Knights 6-4 on March 23 at the Erie Insurance Arena as the Knights completed their 2024-25 regular season schedule.
Will Nicholl recorded his first Ontario Hockey League hat trick for London in a game that saw the Knights missing 11 regulars. The Knights are getting ready to meet the Owen Sound Attack to open the post-season on Friday, March 28 at Canada Life Place.
On Sunday, the teams sat tied 1-1 through 20 minutes after a power play goal for each side.
Otters forward Dylan Edwards put Erie ahead 1-0 at the 2:50 mark of the opening period with his 20th goal of the year as he fired a shot from the top of the right circle off the left post and in.
Nicholl evened the score for the Knights with less than 11 seconds to go in the first period as he took the puck to the net and tried to slip it to Evan Van Gorp for Van Gorp’s 20th of the year only to have it go in for Nicholl’s 19th goal of the season.
Erie went ahead 3-1 on goals by Gabe Frasca and Kayden Edwards.
Kayden Edwards’s goal was his first in the OHL.
Noah Read got London to within one heading to the third period as he fought his way to a loose puck in front of the Otters net and buried his 10th goal of the season.
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The Knights tied the game 3-3 on Nicholl’s 20th of the year as he finished a play set up by P.J. Fagan and Jaxon Cover at 6:40 of the third period.
Three goals in the span of one minute and 22 seconds see-sawed things between a tie and an Erie lead as Callum Hughes took a puck hard to the London net and had it go off a body and in to put Erie ahead 4-3.
Just 34 seconds later Fagan and Cover set up Nicholl and his shot from the slot completed his first OHL hat trick.
The Otters responded only 48 seconds after that as Oliver Phillips tipped in his first OHL goal at 10:25 of the third. The goal stood up as the eventual game-winner.
Pano Fimis added an empty-netter in his final regular season game in an Erie uniform.
Fimis is one of the best faceoff guys in OHL history and even got to take a draw against his younger brother, Andoni of the Knights as London acting head coach sent Andoni out to take the opening faceoff of the second period.
Knights head coach Dale Hunter missed a second straight game after undergoing a minor surgical procedure. Hunter will be behind the bench to begin the playoffs.
London had four players in their lineup who had five games or fewer worth of OHL experience coming into the afternoon. Two of those players – Eddie Hickson and Brody Cook – were making their Ontario Hockey League debuts.
All-time leaders
Sam Dickinson and Denver Barkey have finished the 2024-25 season as all-time leaders on the London Knights.
Dickinson became just the 17th different OHL defenceman since 1980 to hit 90 points in a single season. Dickinson finished the year with 91 points in 55 games. That is the most points in a single season by any London defender going back to the very beginning of the franchise.
Knights captain Denver Barkey ended the year as the all-time leader in short-handed goals. Dickinson fed a pass to Barkey in the third period of the game against the Windsor Spitfires on March 21 and Barkey went in on a breakaway where he scored his 14th career short-handed goal. Barkey and Easton Cowan led the OHL in short-handed goals in 2023-24. Barkey finished tied for second in that category in 2024-25 with five overall.
Alec Leonard commits to Bentley
Former London Knights defenceman Alec Leonard has committed to Bentley University for the upcoming 2025-26 season. Leonard has played his overage season with the Owen Sound Attack and will now graduate to the NCAA. Bentley is located in Waltham, Mass. Bentley won their first-ever Atlantic Hockey Championship on March 22 and have earned an automatic bid to NCAA hockey’s national championship.
Up next
The London Knights will open the 2024 Ontario Hockey League post-season on Friday, March 28 at 7 p.m., at Canada Life Place.
Fans are reminded to wear white for the “White Out” that London is having during this year’s playoffs.
Coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL, at 980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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