Local Knights alumni celebrate (Updated)

It wasn’t the game that everyone expected, when the London Knights cruised to an easy 4-0 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Rimouski Oceanic in the Memorial Cup final, but that didn’t stop Tom Hedican from celebrating.

After the final buzzer sounded the North Bay native grabbed a Cuban cigar and went out onto his balcony to smoke it wearing his London Knights T-shirt.

The former North Bay Centennials associate coach and G.M. had two tours of hockey duty with the London Knights; as an assistant coach from 1990-1993 and associate coach and assistant general manager with the Knights again in 1997-98.

It’s a sweet victory for all those who have worked or played for the organization, but Hedican feels the most excitement for longtime trainer Don Brankley who’s been with the organization for 35 years and literally has his own apartment at the London arena.

“I’m happy for the organization but mostly I’m happy for Don,” Hedican told BayToday.ca.

“He is the most loyal friend to players and families and after 35 years he really deserves it,” added Hedican who got an email Monday morning from Brankley who thanked him for helping build the franchise and thanked him for his support.

But success hasn’t always followed the London Knights, who finished with an amazing 79-9-2 record including the regular season and playoffs.

Hedican re-joined the London franchise in 1997 after two of the worst seasons in CHL history, grabbing 3 wins and a CHL worst 9 points in 1995-96 and following that up with a 13 win, 28 point campaign in 1996-97.

The Knights under Hedican and new head coach Gary Agnew resurrected the franchise in 1997-98 going from worst to first.

“London was infamous how bad they were, and it took a long time to shake that,” Hedican said.

But after 40 years without an OHL crown or Memorial Cup championship, the Knights are now the toast of junior hockey in Canada and have been dubbed one of the greatest teams ever.

“I’m thrilled for the fans, I was at the OHL championship and there were people there that I saw that had been there since the beginning,” Hedican said.

“They are what junior hockey is all about.”

A year to remember?

North Bay’s Ron Newhook is another former London Knight. The small forward played one season in London back in 1996-97 when the club finished dead last in the OHL.

“It was kind of a different era,” Newhook said in a phone interview with BayToday.ca.

I’m happy for the fans and for Branks (Don Brankley), I can’t say enough about the guy, it kind of hit me when he lifted the trophy.”

Newhook hasn’t really kept in close touch with the organization, but that’s because he’s played the past four seasons in Germany.

He plays hockey a long way from Southwestern Ontario but he still felt a bond with the current players who hoisted the Memorial Cup trophy for the first time in franchise history.

“It was really good to see, they’ve been around a long time and they waited long enough for a championship.”