Michael Houser used to try to score all the time.

Steve Mason had eight assists in his best London season.

But according to OHL archives and a quick search of old season summaries, Tyler Parsons is the first goaltender in the 51-year history of the Knights to be credited with a goal.

His wacky second-period tally in this increasingly strange month actually stood up as the game winner in a 6-2 victory over the Sudbury Wolves before 8,922 Friday at Budweiser Gardens.

"It's a once in a lifetime thing," the 18-year-old from Michigan said. "It doesn't happen very often and it means something to me.

"It was a pretty cool experience."

Parsons is the eighth goalie in league annals to score. He is the first since Niagara's Mark Visentin did it for the IceDogs in the 2012 playoffs.

This one,of course, didn't involved shooting the puck the length of the ice into an empty net.

It came after a clearing attempt that hit mountainous Sudbury forward Matt Schmalz on a delayed penalty call against the Knights and Wolves goalie Troy Timpano on the bench for an extra attacker. Schmalz tried to send a back hand pass to the point, but there were no Wolves around to receive it.

The puck slid down the ice and Sudbury rearguard Reagan O'Grady chugged down towards the open cage to try to knock it away.

He couldn't quite make it and slammed into the net, was injured and needed assistance to the dressing room.

He never returned to the game.

"I was just trying to clear the puck away and I ended up getting a goal out of it," said Parsons, who last scored when he was eight-years-old, before he strapped on the pads. "I didn't think about it too much. I didn't know it was my goal right away.

"The guys were celebrating and chirping me a little bit, but they were good chirps."

The only downer?

He was hoping to record the shutout, too.

The Wolves, after enduring a five-goal blitz in the second period, beat Parsons twice late.

"It would've been cool to have both," he said, "but sometimes, it can't go that way.

"It's been a pretty crazy year so far."

No kidding. There were three overturned goals in the same five-minute overtime against Kingston. There was Aaron Berisha's empty-net marker in Oshawa with Generals goalie Jeremy Brodeur off wandering in the corner.

"Every game, you ask, 'what's going to happen next'," London coach Dale Hunter said. "It's weird, isn't it?"

Bizarre, to be honest.

Hunter can't remember ever playing or coaching a game where a goalie scored. Neither could Sudbury boss David Matsos, whose club had just put together its best first period of the season.

"It wasn't the most timely goal (against) for us," Matsos said. "You hope you get those, but we were on the wrong side of it. We've seen Patrick Kane do that in the NHL, so it happens."

But it's always freaky when it happens.

So was seeing London star Mitch Marner, moved back from centre to wing, drop his gloves and try to fight a big guy like Schmalz. He did it in the third after the 6-foot-6 Kings prospect caught Christian Dvorak in the knee on an open-ice collision.

The Leafs first-rounder was handed four minutes in penalties.

"No one really wants Mitch to do that," Hunter said, "but he's standing up for his teammate. Christian's OK."

Defenceman Tyler Nother, who was supposed to play for London, was a late scratch because he was dealt to the Knights' new favourite trading partner -- the Windsor Spitfires -- for a 3rd round pick in 2018 and a 6th rounder in 2020 right before the game.

The two GMs -- Basil McRae and Warren Rychel -- met earlier in the day at the Wendy Dufton Memorial tournament in London, where they were scouting midget players. Nother is the third 17-year-old the Knights have traded in the past three days.

"Tyler will get more ice time there," Hunter said.

Rookie first-rounder Evan Bouchard took Nother's place and former Oshawa first-rounder Cliff Pu made his season debut for London.

Knights Bouchard and forward Robert Thomas were named to Hockey Canada's World Under-17 Challenge roster earlier in the afternoon. So were Londoners Nick Suzuki (Owen Sound) and Isaac Ratcliffe (Guelph).

The tournament will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 7 in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C.

ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress

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GAME GLANCE

Knights 6, Wolves 2

London goals:Brandon Crawley (2), Tyler Parsons, Mitch Marner, Kole Sherwood, Christian Dvorak

Sudbury goals: Jacob Harris, Dimitry Sokolov

Next:The Knights are in Owen Sound Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.