A late third period surge by the London Knights earned the OHL Champions a 3-1 triumph over the host Rimouski Océanic at the 2025 Memorial Cup on Sunday evening.
Jacob Julien’s tally with just over five minutes remaining in the final frame would hold up as the difference maker, as the Knights guaranteed themselves at least a Semi-Final berth in this year’s tournament. Henry Brzustewicz and Easton Cowan also scored for London. Cowan also recorded an assist while netminder Austin Elliott made 28 saves for the win.
Eriks Mateiko replied for the Océanic while Mathis Langevin kicked aside 33 shots. In order to stay alive at the tournament, Rimouski must now defeat the Moncton Wildcats in an all-QMJHL battle to close out the round robin portion of the event on Wednesday.
After an evenly played first period that produced nine shots from each side but no goals, the Océanic broke the deadlock at 2:14 of the second. Mathieu Cataford, under heavy pressure while skating behind the Knights net and with the home side creating traffic down low, muscled the puck in front where Mateiko maintained position at the edge of the crease and pushed a ricocheting shot past Elliott.
London would knot the game at a goal apiece at the 9:47 mark as Brzustewicz walked off the blue line, intercepted an errant Océanic clearing attempt and rifled a low blocker side wrist shot past Langevin. London held an edge in overall play as well as a 14-8 advantage in shots through 40 minutes.
The clubs traded chances and found themselves employing a more cautious style as the third period progressed. Finally, the Knights broke through to take the lead at 14:53 on a perfectly executed sequence. Cowan moved the puck into the Rimouski zone, made a move to create space and initiated a nifty three-way passing play down low with Kasper Hulttunen and Julien, who finished it off on the back door. Cowan then capped off the scoring on the evening with an empty netter with 1:53 remaining. The Knights earned a slight 13-12 edge in shots during the final period.
Tournament action resumes tomorrow night at 7pm ET/8pm AT when the QMJHL Champion Moncton Wildcats take on the WHL Champion Medicine Hat Tigers. All tournament games are available on TSN and RDS.
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(Photo: Vincent Ethier)
