London Knights win both games against Windsor to begin the season

Three London Knights scored their first career OHL goals in a 6-2 road victory over the Windsor Spitfires on Sept. 19.

Eloan Le Gallic, Jake Ritson and Thomas Zocco all found the back of the net as London scored a half dozen times on just 18 shots to sweep the home-and-home series to start the 2026-27 season.

Brian Cooke held the Knights in through a first period that saw Windsor come out hard in front of a big opening night crowd at the WFCU Centre.

Cooke made 12 of his 28 saves in the opening 20 minutes as London survived a 12-2 shot onslaught.

Evan Van Gorp led the way offensively with two goals and an assist.

After Le Gallic, Ritson and Cooper McAslan had helped to stake London to a 3-1 lead Van Gorp raced down the ice at the end of a penalty kill and grabbed a loose puck that he eventually slipped between the pads of Spitfires starter Michael Newlove.

“I worked hard on my cardio in the summer just hoping for a moment like that,” laughed Van Gorp who somehow found the energy at the end of a penalty killing shift.

That goal became key when Bogdan Yakushevsky scored late in the second period.

Instead of a one-goal lead the Knights rode a two-goal advantage into the third period where Van Gorp took a hit to make a play to Zocco for his first.

Zocco has been a big producer wherever he has been.

Last year he led the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede to a championship and led the team in scoring at the same.

Two years ago Zocco led the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL in points.

Van Gorp finished the scoring into an empty net.

Windsor outshot London 30-18.

Caleb Mitchell and Jonathan Kapageridis each had a pair of assists.

London will now have all week to get ready for one game next weekend as they host the Owen Sound Attack on Sept. 25.

Note: The Philadelphia Flyers have assigned Maksim Sokolovskii to the Knights. He is expected to return to practice early in the week.