Around the OHL: Knights vs. Attack stir up rivalry

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The London Knights travelled to Owen Sound on November 19 to play arguably the best OHL rivalry in recent years. The Knights still have a previous incident hanging over their heads from last year's first round of playoffs, involving Knights' captain Stephen Sanza and Owen Sound's Joey Hishon. Sanza was forced to miss the rest of the playoffs due to an injury caused by a spear from Hishon. Even though both players are not in the OHL this season, the incident is still fresh in the Knights' memories.

The game on November 19 started with the Knights scoring five unanswered goals in under 20 minutes of play. Things got ugly after Attack forward Artur Gavrus was sent off the ice on a stretcher after receiving an openice hit from Knight Max Domi. Tyler Ferry received a hit in front of the Owen Sound bench that started two fights including Jared Knight, Ferry and Attacks' Cameron Brace and Gemel Smith. The initial hit did not receive a penalty, but the real main focus was Michael Houser leaving his crease, dropping his blocker and glove and skating towards Owen Sound goalkeeper, Jordan Binnington. The Referees managed to restrain both goalies before any punches could be thrown, however Houser received a two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty for leaving the crease and crossing the opposition zone. This was probably the worst decision Houser could have made, the back-up goalie for the Knights was newly called up Mark Foley. When you look at Foley's statistics from the last two years in Junior B action, he has a big fat zero in his wins column and posting a 7.52 goals against average, Houser getting suspended for a minimum of two games while second-string Jake Patterson is out for at least one month with mononucleosis, not thinking about the team, to his credit, he did realize afterwards that it was a poor decision.

The Knights won the game 7-5, and travelled back to London to prepare for their game against the Attack, this time having home ice advantage.

On November 20, The Attack lived up to their name by hitting everything that moved at the John Labatt Centre, although Owen Sound out hit the Knights, London outshot them 49-38 due to their amount of time spent on the power-play from Owen Sounds' aggressive style of play. The Knights and Attack exchanged goals in the second period to pull the score to 2-1 for the Knights going into the third period. Daniel Catenacci from the Attack tied up the game midway through the third period with his second goal on the night and number 15 on the year. The game fittingly went to overtime where Seth Griffith scored from the point on a slapshot on the power play. The final score of the game was 3-2 for the London Knights in overtime.

These teams will continue their rivalry on December 3 in Owen Sound. Expect the Attack to come out physical again but with more discipline, while London will play with their aggressive break-out and continue to drive the net with their great speed.