RIMOUSKI, QC — Edmonton Oilers prospect Sam O’Reilly scored the overtime winner as the London Knights began their 2025 Memorial Cup campaign with a 3-2 win over the Moncton Wildcats in Rimouski, Québec.
O’Reilly buried the game-winner at 4:23 of overtime as after London Knights forward Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs prospect) spun around Moncton’s Caleb Desnoyers (2025 NHL Draft prospect), he found the Oilers prospect to the right side of Rousseau, where he tipped the puck high for his second of the night.
“I just try to get to the net,” O’Reilly said. “[Cowan] does all of his creative stuff up top. It’s always the best place to go is to the net, he throws pucks there a lot and fortunate enough to be able to score one.”
With London’s 3-2 overtime win over Moncton, Dale Hunter recorded his 14th career Memorial Cup victory as a head coach, tying Don Hay for the most all-time since 1972. Hunter, who owns a 14-7 record at the tournament, has now pulled even with Hay (14-4) atop the all-time coaching wins list at the Memorial Cup.
In addition to his OT winner, O’Reilly also scored in regulation, along with San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen, while Austin Elliott turned aside 27 shots for the Knights. On the Moncton side, Calgary Flames prospect Etienne Morin and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Dyllan Gill found the back of the net, with Mathis Rousseau making 45 saves in the loss.
London – finalists at the 2024 Memorial Cup – needed all of 91 seconds to strike as O’Reilly got a piece of Sam Dickinson’s (San Jose Sharks prospect) point shot to grab an early 1-0 lead. But Moncton battled back to level things up at the first intermission as Etienne Morin’s shot from the blue line hit London defenceman Jared Woolley (Los Angeles Kings prospect) to change directions and beat Elliott at 6:59.
The Knights restored their lead at 5:11 of the second through Halttunen, who unloaded a one-timer on the power play to register his fifth career Memorial Cup goal. In doing so, the Finnish forward now has a goal in five straight Memorial Cup outings, matching the longest goal-scoring streak at a Memorial Cup since 2000 – a mark set by Ty Rattie (Portland Winterhawks), who found the back of the net in all five games of the 2013 Memorial Cup.
However, once again, the Wildcats found the tying goal in the period as it was Gill’s time to convert on the man advantage as his shot from the blue line beat Elliott.
After a goalless third, that saw London outshot Moncton 16-3, it was O’Reilly who played hero at night’s end.
“They’re good players and they want to win really bad,” Hunter said. “They play hard, and when the big games are on the line they come through.”
Next up, the London Knights (1-0) will be looking to earn their second win in as many nights when they hit the ice for Game 3 of the round-robin tonight at 6 p.m. ET against the host Rimouski Océanic (0-1). Meanwhile, the Océanic will be in search of their first win of the tournament after falling 5-4 to the Medicine Hat Tigers in their opening game.
Looking ahead, the round-robin continues Monday night as the Moncton Wildcats (0-1) take on the Medicine Hat Tigers (1-0) at 7 p.m. ET in a pivotal matchup for both teams. On Tuesday, the London Knights will close out their round-robin schedule with a showdown against the Tigers.
Every game of the 2025 Memorial Cup will air on TSN and RDS in Canada and be available via live stream on TSN.ca, the TSN app, RDS.ca, and the RDS app. In addition to full coverage in Canada on TSN and RDS, the 2025 Memorial Cup will air in the United States on NHL Network and be available to stream live for free on Victory+ for viewers outside of Canada.
Game 3 (Round-Robin) @ 6 p.m. ET – Today – Rimouski Océanic vs. London Knights
Game 4 (Round-Robin) @ 7 p.m. ET – Monday, May 26 – Moncton Wildcats vs. Medicine Hat Tigers
Game 5 (Round-Robin) @ 7 p.m. ET – Tuesday, May 27 – London Knights vs. Medicine Hat Tigers
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OHL Writers 