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.

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.

Perry honoured

How much does playing major junior hockey mean to a teenager?
Ask NHL superstar Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks, who cried Friday night at the John Labatt Centre when his number 94 was retired and raised to the rafters.
Perry, for my money the best Knight ever, couldn't contain his emotions as he recalled arriving in London as a 16-year-old, armed with dreams and desire but uncertain of where hockey would take him.
Turns out it took him to a Canadian major junior Memorial Cup, Stanley Cup and Olympic gold medal.
Not to shabby.
By the way, Corey makes his off-season home in London. Just a two-hour drive to Toronto and the Maple Leafs.

Knights honour Perry

Corey Perry, the best player to lace up for the major junior London Knights in the past decade, will have his No. 94 retired on Friday. His jersey joins those of successful NHLers such as Darryl Sittler (9), Rob Ramage (5), Dino Ciccarelli (9) and Brendan Shanahan (19). Oh yeah, Brad Marsh (22).
Ceremonies like this are fun, but largely overdone. I prefer the Toronto Maple Leafs system of honouring, but not retiring, numbers. Otherwise, it gets silly as is the case with the Montreal Canadiens, who have no cool numbers left after retiring so many numbers of so many great players.
Details about the Perry event are here.

Fellow goalie pays tribute to Jenkins

Nice tribute to Ian Jenkins by fellow goalie Brandon Hope of the OHL Sarnia Sting.
Hope's mask this season honours Jenkins, the 15-year-old Michigan goalie who died in an accident before realizing his dream to play in the Ontario Hockey League. Jenkins was a prospect of the London Knights.
Hope and Jenkins were friends whose minor hockey careers intersected.

Knights land Max Domi

To no one's great surprise, hot major junior prospect Max Domi has arrived as a member of the London Knights after failing to report to the Kingston Frontenacs, the team that drafted him a few months ago.
Max, a skilled forward and sure bet to have a pro career, postured about playing NCAA in the U.S. But whispers, nods and winks always had it that Doug Gilmour's Frontenacs and Mark Hunter's Knights would swing a deal.
The London Free Press has the story and an official press conference is on at the John Labatt Centre in downtown London as I write this.
Max starred for the Don Mills Flyers midgets and is expected to be a key cog in the offensive wheel of the Knights for three or four years. Landing him creates a team that should contend for the OHL crown a year or two from now - maybe even the Memorial Cup for the first time since Corey Perry led the team.
The next shoe to drop is whether or not Knights owners Mark and Dale Hunter will give Max's dad, Tie, a job with the club. Assistant coach, anyone?

15-year-old Knights prospect dies

The always excellent Morris Dalla Costa of The London Free Press wrote an excellent column today about Ian Jenkins, the London Knights goaltending prospect who died of head injuries Monday (May 23, 2011) after falling out of a pickup truck near Ann Arbor, Mich., last week.
Life's not always fair.

15-year-old goalie off life support

Ian Jenkins of Michigan had a bright future ahead of him in major junior hockey. Drafted two weeks ago by the London Knights, everyone expected he would eventually become the team's No. 1 goaltender.
No longer.
Ian was thrown from the back of a pickup truck near Ann Arbor, hit his head and has now been taken off life support in hospital.
His father issued a detailed statement, reported by Morris Dalla Costa of The London Free Press. On behalf of the family, Joel Jenkins expresses heartfelt appreciation for the concern and sympathy of the hockey community.

Max Domi a London Knight?

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun writes that maybe he was duped in reporting Tie Domi's son, Max, would be heading to the U.S. to play junior. Simmons says many in the OHL believe the impressive prospect will be drafted by my hometown London Knights and eventually play with them.
As Simmons says, time will tell. But can't you imagine proud papa Tie wanting Max to be coached by Dale Hunter?

Russia's bright Knight returns to London

The biggest sports story in Canada continues to be the collapse of the national junior team, blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period and eventually losing the gold medal 5-3 to the Russian juniors at the world championship in Buffalo.
Apart from the sad and subdued Canadian players returning home to their various junior teams, the main storylines were the drunken Russian team members who were booted from a flight home (albeit with no mention that all the kids were underage in New York where you have to be 21 to drink) and the backup goalie who blanked the Canadians in the third period.
But not so much here in London, where the hometown Free Press buried Bobkov and his gold medal on the sports front instead of page 1 where the editor choose a feature on Colombian deportees instead of the topic of the day.
Bobkov is the backup goaltender for the local Major Junior London Knights - not even the starter on a mediocre Ontario Hockey League team.
As Free Press writer Steve Green expertly tells it here, Bobkov and his teammates never gave up hope of winning, despite the odds. It's a lesson in effort, tenacity and hope and luck that should inspire all sports teams to play hard until the final buzzer. Bobkov himself delivered a sparkling performance, although the Canadians played a confused third period.
The fact that Bobkov played a key role in the win and was player of the game at the world championship after a disappointing season in the OHL for the hometown Knights is a wonderful story line.
If he were the hero for a Canadian junior win, would his photo have made Page 1?