London Knights

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The NHL's Top Feeders: London Knights

May 28, 2010

The NHL is the highest level of hockey that exists in the world.

The best of the best come from far and wide to play in the big league, but a lot of the best come from a little closer to home. The Canadian Hockey League has provided the NHL with the best players to ever play the game, and they continue pump more talent into the league every year.

The Ontario Hockey League specifically have been particularly successful at sending the big names to the big show, and our focus this week is with one of the greatest junior teams in the game today.

The London Knights.

The Knights have a very rich history that dates back to its conception in the early 1960's. The Knights originally called the Nationals were a farm team for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When the NHL sponsorship ended the Nationals, they became the Knights, but little success in the 70's and early 80's led to small crowds and the eventual sale of the team.

The club seemed to turn things around from their, finishing near the tops of their division in several consecutive years.

The Knights success really started to come in the Hunter years. Building strong teams year in and year out that eventually culminated in their unreal run in 2004-05. Highly regarded as one of the greatest teams in Junior history, the Knights went 31 games to start the season without a loss (29-0-2), and finished with only 7 losses in a 68 game season.

This run set a record for most points in a season, with 120. The previous record was set a season before by the very same London Knights.

The Knights went from there to win their first and only OHL title, as well as their only Memorial Cup.

The Knights have continued that success throughout the following years having only given up their division crown once since winning it all.

The Knights have sent over 140 players to play in the NHL, and the following is an all time all-star team comprised entirely of former London Knights.

Forwards:

Brendan Shanahan—Darryl Sittler—Dino Ciccarelli

Rick Nash—Garry Unger—Patrick Kane

Rick Kehoe—Walt McKechnie—Corey Perry

Dennis Maruk—John Tavares—Jason Allison

Defense:

Brad Marsh—Rob Ramage

Steve Smith—Doug Crossman

Rick Green—Dennis Wideman

Goaltenders:

Steve Mason

Dan Bouchard

Coaches:

Dale Hunter

Bill Long

Gary Agnew

*This article was the first of a series of articles outlining the NHL's greatest feeder teams.

Image Courtesy: The Hockey News

Tavares is Number One

Jun 27, 2009

Friday was a day for New York Islanders fans to celebrate a promising future as general manager Garth Snow made the right choice in selecting Ontario Hockey League scoring sensation John Tavares with the first overall pick. Heading into the draft it was not clear whether the Islanders who finished last with only 61 points would select Tavares who scored 58 goals with the Oshawa Generals/London Knights this past season or 6 foot 6 Swedish rear guard Vctor Hedman. When Snow approached the stage to make his selection he had no second thoughts on who he wanted to rebuild his team around and that was Tavares who last season eclipsed Peter Lee’s 33 year scoring record of 213 career goals scored in the OHL. “He’s an offensively-gifted hockey player,” Snow who picked goalie Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 said. “Whether it’s shooting the puck or distributing it, he sees the puck at a different level than any other young player that I’ve seen in this draft.” Prior to making the selection Tavares who is from Oakville Ontario had no idea that he would be selected by the Islanders and was even more surprised by the warm welcome he received from the New York fans who were shown at a draft party in Long Island where they were celebrating the pick. “I didn’t see it but I heard things and obviously they are really interested in having me, and I definitely have the support of the fans and the community that’s huge,” Tavares said. “I’m very thankful to be going there and I appreciate the opportunity to be part of Long Island. It’s going to be great and I can’t wait to get things going knowing where it’s headed. It’s going to be a great future for all of us.”