The London Knights usually begin a season like a swimmer getting into a cool pool.
They are allowed to ease in.
In 2015-16, it was two games in the first week.
Last year, London had two games in the first nine days.
This year, it was as if London was strapped into the seat of a funny car at Grand Bend Motorplex and sent down the track.
The Knights played three games in 45-and-a-half-hours in three different cities to get their schedule started.
It began with a loss at home to Windsor, continued with an overtime win in Saginaw and closed with a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It was definitely an up-and-down weekend,” said London assistant coach Rick Steadman. “I thought we put in a great battle and great effort, we just didn’t get some of the bounces we needed.”
That can happen with a young roster. Seven players made their Knights’ debuts on opening night. Another four who were playing had less than 15 games of experience. London has seen that kind of an infusion of youth out of training camp and the pre-season because of the absence of five top forwards and a top defenceman, Victor Mete, who are away at National Hockey League camps and performing well.
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The man with “grandfather” status on the roster right now is Adrian Carbonara, who turned 20 in March.
So far, he is leading the way for the Knights offensively, with a goal in each of the first three games.
“Our weekend didn’t go as planned, but it is good to get some goals early,” Carbonara said.
Entering his fourth season in the OHL, Carbonara has seen almost as many first weekends as a junior hockey career allows and liked what he saw from his younger teammates.
“This is a big step from Minor Midget and Junior B and I think they are handling it really well.”
The Greyhounds led off Sunday afternoon with a couple of power-play goals in the first period by Tim Gettinger and Keeghan Howdeshell, to lead 2-0 after 20 minutes.
With London in search of their first goal on the man advantage this year, the Knights went to the power play in the second period and were creating chances when Greyhounds’ forward, Morgan Frost, blocked a shot and got a step into the clear. London defenceman Alec Regula caught up to him and tied up Frost enough to award a penalty shot.
Frost made good on the attempt and Sault Ste. Marie led 3-0.
Before the end of the second period, Barrett Hayton snapped a shot past Knights’ goalie, Tyler Johnson to extend the Greyhounds’ lead to four.
The teams exchanged goals in the third as Hayden Verbeek scored for Sault Ste. Marie and Carbonara netted the Knights’ first power play goal of the year.
London did not score their first goal on the man advantage until their fourth game in 2016-17 and wound up with the third-best power play in the league, with the top percentage at home.
READ MORE: Here is a look at the 2017-18 London Knights
Steadman said the coaching staff will take away quite a few positives from the whirlwind start.
“We had a lot of good D-zone coverage and a lot of offensive looks. We’ll go over some things this week and if we get the same work ethic (next weekend), we’ll be in good shape.”
The Knights return home to play Kingston on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
Robert Thomas remains in St. Louis, where he has scored two pre-season goals. His stay might be extended even further by the news that Robby Fabbri’s latest knee issue needs a little more time. Max Jones played a second game for the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Jesper Bratt, Alex Formenton, Sam Miletic and Mete remain with their NHL teams.
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