Logan Hawery picked a good night to snap out of his scoring funk.
The 18-year-old forward scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead goal, and the Sarnia Sting rallied past the London Knights 6-4 on Wednesday at Progressive Auto Sales Arena. It was the kind of response that turned a back-and-forth rivalry game into another showcase for Sarnia’s power play and another reminder of how well the Sting have fit Hawery into their attack.
Hawery and Ryan Brown were part of the swap between the two clubs last December, a deal that sent former OHL first-round picks in opposite directions. On this night, Brown struck first with two goals in his debut as captain, but Hawery had the final say against his old team.
“I try not to think about it too much and try to just treat it as a normal game, but obviously it feels good,” Hawery said after beating the Knights.
He wasn’t interested in turning the matchup into a personal comparison, either.
“I don’t really care about it,” Hawery said. “I don’t really focus on what he’s doing. I just control what I can control and do my thing.”
That approach showed once the game opened up. Hawery had entered the night with only one goal, but his two-goal burst gave him his first multi-goal game in a Sting uniform and pushed him deeper into what has already become a breakout season. He was tied with teammate Cole Emerton for the OHL lead with 13 assists after the win, and he shared the league lead with Easton Walos with 13 power-play points.
That man-advantage unit was once again the story of the night. Sarnia went 4-for-9 on the power play, a major reason the Sting could dig out of a 4-2 hole after trailing early in the second period. The group, which led the OHL with a 35.9 per cent success rate, kept chipping away until it finally took control.
“We just have so many different options,” Hawery said after scoring twice with a man advantage. “All five guys are unbelievable.
We just move it around really good. We’re just finding ways to score.”
The game-tying stretch came midway through the second period, when Alessandro Di Iorio and Simon Katolicky scored 54 seconds apart to bring Sarnia level at 4-4. From there, the Sting kept leaning on special teams until the door opened again late in the third.
Jonathan Kapageridis, a former Sting draft pick now on London’s blue line, was handed a major penalty for slashing. Hawery made the Knights pay at 8:03 of the third to break the tie, then struck again at 10:40 while Kapageridis was still in the box to add insurance.
It was the third two-goal game of Hawery’s career, with the previous two coming during his Knights rookie season in 2024-25.
Jack Van Volsen also scored on the power play for Sarnia, which had fallen behind 4-2 early in the second period before climbing all the way back. Jonas Gulbrandsen added the other goal for the Sting, who improved to 6-6-1-0.
The Knights, meanwhile, saw a four-game point streak end and dropped to 7-2-0-1. Brown’s two goals, plus a marker from Cody Wood, had given London a 4-2 lead after a burst of three goals in 2:43 late in the first and early in the second. Marcus Nordmark had London’s other goal, and Aleksei Medvedev made 25 saves.
Sarnia’s response was built on more than just the power play. Hawery pointed to the way the Sting handled the rest of the night after falling behind.
“The power play was really good again tonight,” Hawery said. “I feel like we’ve just been really good recently.
“The kill was unreal. Guys were blocking shots and doing everything to help the team out.”
The penalty kill and the structure in front of it mattered just as much as the scoring surge. Sarnia allowed only 20 shots, a season low for the opening game of the rivalry series. First-year defenceman Dracen Campbell, making his first Battle of the 402 appearance, said the Sting stayed inside the system.
“(The defence is) just sticking to our structure,” Campbell said. “Doing what the coaches say, protecting the slot and then getting the pucks out and just doing our job on the forecheck.”
Campbell also stepped into a bigger role when Cole Emerton left with an injury, finishing with two assists. The Sting have kept their top power-play group moving even when pieces have been missing. Matthew Manza scored in back-to-back games against Saginaw last weekend after filling in for injured Di Iorio, and on Wednesday the same unit kept humming with Campbell in the mix.
“It’s unreal,” Campbell said. “Growing up watching them play against each other and being able to play in one of those games, it’s huge and it means a lot to me.”
Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko started rough, allowing four goals on London’s first eight shots, but he settled in when the Sting needed him most. His third-period work helped Sarnia halt its season-high four-game losing streak.
Walos had four assists for the Sting and moved into third in the OHL scoring race with 20 points in 13 games. Brown, who turns 19 next week, finished with a three-point night.
The teams are set to meet again Friday in London, and Sarnia will carry plenty of momentum into the rematch. This time, the Sting had the answers when the game got messy, and Hawery’s hands provided the finishing touch.
“Everyone was going tonight,” Hawery said. “We were just doing the little things right, playing good defence, had a good forecheck. I think everyone just stepped up and played a good game.”
This weekend is also the only stretch in the first half of the season when the Sting won’t play on a Saturday or Sunday, something head coach Mathieu Turcotte noted after the win.
“That’ll be a bit of a break for our group,” Turcotte said.
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