Moment of silence for Canadian juniors

A moment of silence for this year's Canadian national junior team, who again have missed their date with destiny and will not play for the gold medal for the second year in a row at the World Juniors after being blasted by the Americans 5-1.
It was a squandered championship - not often are NHL-calibre teens such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins available for the Canadian team.
Too bad they didn't ask London Knights coach Dale Hunter to take the helm this year. Hunter, who quit this spring as coach of the Washington Capitals, has only been guiding the Knights to a 24-game win streak in the Ontario Hockey League.
Maybe next year, Canada. Maybe next year, Dale.

Fighting, exit stage left

London Knights GM and coach Mark Hunter, one of the brightest guys in Canadian major junior hockey, has seen the writing on the wall and is OK with it: Fighting is on the way out in teenage hockey, even at the highest levels.
Hunter tells the hometown London Free Press he's been on both sides of the issue, but the bottom line is protecting young athletes and, as we understand more about head injuries, we've confirmed what should have been obvious all along: Blows to the head from fists can cause concussions with life-long ramifications.
Eliminating or reducing fighting would follow the lead of university hockey rules, using significant suspensions.
The comments from Hunter are no small matter, given the family's professional hockey pedigree. Hunter's brother, Dale, is the former coach of the Knights and now coaches the NHL's Washington Capitals. As a player, Dale Hunter committed one of the most brutal on-ice assaults in the history of the game against Pierre Turgeon of the New York Islanders.

London's gift to Washington

Dale Hunter spent more than a decade coaching some of the best teenage hockey players in the world with the major junior London Knights, Corey Perry, Patrick Kane and Rick Nash among them.
Now Hunter's back in the city where he gained fame himself - Washington, D.C. Hunter's taken over as the head coach, looking to embrace the lifestyle with the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. I wonder if they'll break the ice with a beer or vodka. Someone needs to have taxis on speed dial in every city.
Hunter and his brother Mark have created a hockey goldmine in London, transforming a sleepy, ordinary major junior franchise only the diehards cared about into the centrepiece of this city. The Knights are likely the most valuable major junior franchise in Canada, regularly selling out the 9,100-seat John Labatt Centre.
An NBC sports website has a great piece on why Hunter made the move to the Capitals. Here's hoping he has great success as an NHL coach - and that the Knights rock on without him.