London Knights open Memorial Cup with a shutout victory

London shutout Drummondville 4-0 Saturday afternoon to get their first victory, and guarantee at least a playoff spot in the Canadian Hockey League championship tournament.

A dream start for the London Knights at the 2024 Memorial Cup tournament.

London shutout Drummondville 4-0 Saturday afternoon to get their first victory and guarantee at least a playoff spot in the Canadian Hockey League championship tournament.

“It's a tough tournament,” said Knights head coach Dale Hunter.

“Whenever you can win a game against these teams — they're the best from where they from, so it's definitely, it's tough competition. To get a win is real nice.”

Ruslan Gazizov got the first of his two goals 8:04 into the first period. That one stood up as the game winning goal. Oliver Bonk scored later in the first as London took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

“We had a quick start that was important in this game,” said Bonk, who added an assist on Kasper Halttunen’s goal in the third period. “These are just single games, so quick starts are important. I think we let up too many chances and we were not happy with it, but we still got the win. Mike [Simpson] played great, and we played enough defense to win it.”

Simpson was the difference maker. In the second period, the veteran goalie made two or three key stops including a breakaway as the Voltigeurs were charging hard and putting on the pressure after a slow start.