Knights battle Generals in Game 1 of OHL Championship Series on TSN
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The London Knights are taking on the Oshawa Generals in Game 1 of the Ontario Hockey League Championship Series on Thursday for the right to lift the J. Ross Robertson Cup.
London finished first in the Western Conference with a 50-14-4 record in the regular season, while Oshawa ended as the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed with a 40-19-9 record.
Watch the Generals take on the Knights LIVE at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TSN3, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.
The Knights swept the Flint Firebirds and Kitchener Rangers in the first two rounds and defeated Memorial Cup host Saginaw Spirit in six games in order to reach the OHL Championship Series.
Oshawa dispatched the Barrie Colts in the first round in six games and swept the Ottawa 67's in Round 2. They then went up 3-0 against the North Bay Battalion in the Eastern Conference Championship Series, but North Bay battled back to force a Game 7.
New York Rangers prospect Dylan Roobroeck recorded two goals and an assist in Game 7 to lead the Generals to a 6-1 victory over the Battalion on Monday for the right to face the Knights in the final.
The series features a matchup between two of the best players in the OHL in London Knights winger Easton Cowan and Oshawa Generals centre Calum Ritchie.
Cowan won the Red Tilson Trophy as the league's most outstanding player this season after finishing seventh in league scoring with 34 goals and 96 points in 54 games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect also had a 36-game point streak to end the regular season, he recorded 25 goals and 68 points during that stretch. His streak was the third longest in OHL history and the longest since Windsor Spitfires forward Bill Bowler had a 41-game streak during the 1994-95 campaign.
Ritchie missed the first 17 games of the regular season while recovering from shoulder surgery due to an injury he sustained last season. Once he returned to the lineup, Ritchie led the Generals in scoring, registering 28 goals and 80 points in 50 games.
The Colorado Avalanche prospect continued his pace in the playoffs, leading all remaining playoff performers with six goals and 25 points in 17 games.
Fans will also have an opportunity to watch Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson and Generals winger Beckett Sennecke, who both could be lottery picks in the 2024 NHL Draft in Vegas.
Dickinson led the Knights defence in scoring this season with 18 goals and 70 points and is highly regarded as one of the most complete defencemen in the league. The 6-foot-3 left-shot defenceman has four goals and eight points in the playoffs and is the CHL's second highest ranked player at No. 6 on TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie's May draft rankings.
Sennecke has been outstanding in the playoffs recording 10 goals and 22 points, including four goals and seven points against the Battalion. The 6-foot-3 winger finished third on the team in regular season scoring with 27 goals and 68 points and is ranked No. 14 on McKenzie's most recent draft rankings.
The London Knights have the luxury of putting Michael Simpson in net a year after he was named the OHL Playoff MVP while playing for the Peterborough Petes. Simpson was acquired by the Knights prior to the season in September and led the league with a 2.61 goals-against average to go along with a .905 save percentage and 34-10-2 record.
In the playoffs, the 6-foot-1 netminder has a 2.59 GAA and .911 save percentage with a shutout.
Jacob Oster has been outstanding in the Generals' net in the playoffs, leading all goaltenders with a 2.29 GAA and .923 save percentage with two shutouts. The 6-foot-3 netminder led the OHL with a 35-16-8 record and finished second behind Simpson with a 2.82 GAA to go along with a .905 save percentage.
The Knights and Generals played each other twice in the regular season with the season series split 1-1.