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Jakob Knowles stretches out to stop the puck in the third in the Squires' loss to Seaforth Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.

Knowles backstops Squires to victory in regular season finale

February 2, 2026

Barry Wright/The Independent

Jakob Knowles was a brick wall for the Petrolia Squires in a 3-2 win over the Centenaires in Ontario Elite Hockey League action in Seaforth Saturday.

The one time Sarnia Legionnaire and Petrolia Flyers made no fewer than 60 saves as the home team outshot the Squires, 62-34. It was Knowles’ tenth win of the season.

Ryan Barwitzki, Curtis Helps and Daniel Gibson scored for the Squires who had period leads of 1-0 and 3-0 before the Centenaires scored twice in the final frame.

Petrolia will take a six-game winning streak in postseason finishing the regular season in second place in the South Conference with a record of 15-5.

The Squires will take on the Tillsonburg Thunder in the first round of the playoffs but dates have yet to be announced.

The Thunder finished seventh in the conference with a record of 8-11-1. Petrolia won both contests against Tillsonburg during the regular season by identical scores of 6-5; the latter last month in a shootout.

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