London Downs Drummondville 4-0

ByMichael Oxlong

May 26, 2024 #Drummondville Voltigeurs, #Jackson Edward, #Jacob Julien, #Kasper Halttunen, #London Knights, #Max McCue, #Memorial Cup, #Memorial Cup 24, #Michael Simpson, #OHL, #Oliver Bonk, #QMJHL, #Riley Mercer, #Ruslan Gazizov, #Sam Dickinson

The London Knights kickstarted their Memorial Cup tournament against the QMJHL champs, Drummondville Voltigeurs. The game ended with a resounding 4-0 victory for the Knights. The win was largely attributed to the outstanding performance of goaltender Michael Simpson, who made several crucial saves throughout the game. Additionally, Oliver Bonk, a top prospect for the Philadelphia Flyers, showcased his ability to impact the game at both ends of the ice. Omsk, Russia native Ruslan Gazizov opens up the scoring for the Knights to make it a 1-0 game at 8:04 of the first period with the assists going to Sam Dickinson and Jackson Edward.

Oliver Bonk the Philadelphia Flyers 1st rounder from 2023 makes it a 2-0 game at 13:53 of the first period with the assists on the goal going to Jacob Julien and Max McCue. Bonk could be one of very few that return to Canada’s World Junior team next year if he is not playing a big role with the Flyers, which could be hard at 19.

Shots on goal in the first period were 10-9 for London

Shots in the second period were 12-7 for Drummondville

Then just 20 seconds into the third period London makes it 3-0 when Ruslan Gazizov gets his second of the night from Winnipeg Jets 2023 5th rounder Jacob Julien.-Jacob Julien made a nifty move off the faceoff, going forward off the draw, and swinging the puck to Gazizov who once again put the puck through Mercer’s fivehole, giving the Knights a 3-0 lead just 20 seconds into the third frame.

London then makes it 4-0 at 2:27 of the third period when Kasper Halttunen the assists on the goal to Oliver Bonk and Sam Dickinson–Two minutes later, Bonk threw the puck towards the net from the point which took a double deflection off of Landon Sim’s stick first, and then Kasper Halttunen’s shoulder to extend London’s lead.

Shots on goal in the third period were 10-5 for Drummondville. The Voltigeurs outshot the Knights 31-22 in the game.

London, Ontario native Michael Simpson made 31 saves on the 31 shots that he faced for the win and the shutout for the OHL Champion London Knights. For the Drummondville Voltigeurs Riley Mercer made 18 saves on the 22 shots that he faced.

The player of the game was London Knight Oliver Bonk

Attendance in Saginaw was 4936

Game Summary