Kids we know

It's always fun when the hometown newspaper writes about kids you know.
This past season, The London Free Press has written about the hockey experience of several kids we've shared teams with.
There was an excellent piece about a teen goaltender who suffered a concussion during his major midget season, not by being injured on the ice but by hitting his head in a household mishap. He came back to tend net for his London, Ont., high school hockey team and was the subject of this piece in The London Free Press.
I'm working at The Free Press as a copy editor and suggested to sportswriter Steve Green that he should do a story on two cousins facing off against each other in the local Junior B semifinal playoff series. He did and, as luck would have it, the story came to me in the "rim" to copy edit and write the headline.
Scott Lombardi of the London Nationals and Michael Mandarelli of the St. Marys Lincolns both were classmates of my son's since junior kindergarten at St. George school in London. They played together on school teams a couple of years. Scott was drafted into major junior by the Guelph Storm and is the captain of the London Nationals. Here's Steve Green's story.

Girl talk: Ice time debate

Is minor hockey getting in the way of women's recreational leagues?
London, Ont., adult player Katie Harding should have been so bold as to make that argument in her Vox Pop column published and posted by The London Free Press.
Her argument is the standard one heard in many communities. Prime ice time in public arenas is grandfathered to traditional renters such as minor hockey, figure skating clubs and long-established men's leagues. New users wishing to use taxpayer-funded public arenas are left with the crumbs or forced to turn to more expensive, and sometimes ramshackle, private venues.
Some might say women's hockey could rent late-night hours, but seriously how safe is it for women, even athletic ones walking in groups, to be leaving arenas in dubious neighbourhoods at 1 a.m.?
The solution, at least in London, Ont., is to look at minor hockey hours.
How can it be that youth registration is declining, with entire organizations being forced to fold in recent years, yet there is still a crunch in finding hours for new users? Could it be that overly enthusiastic, pie in the sky coaches are renting too much practice time? Could it be that well-meaning league officials are creating schedules that are too long?
Is it possible that marrying minor hockey organizations catering to girls and boys would result in better allocation of precious ice time?
Food for thought.

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?

Buy the book: Hockey tomes

My page of hockey book reviews is published today in the London Free Press and lfpress.com.
The excellent photo featuring skates as bookends is by Morris Lamont, a hockey dad and former neighbour in residence way back when we were both students at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Enjoy the reviews at London Free Press Books.