"That's the key. If you dump it to the right spot, you can go after it and if you don't, then you do

In Washington, his preferred style of play was deemed "coin-flip hockey" and described as boring by folks used to the previous run-and-gun incarnations. Some junior hockey onlookers who watched the Knights at the Memorial Cup in Shawinigan said they would rather gouge out their eyes than watch another London game and joked about bringing pillows to the rink when the OHL reps suited up.
"There's defensive rent a car san francisco responsibility," Hunter said, "but people rent a car san francisco say there's no forechecking and that's not true. There's forechecking. We send guys in. That's something we do, but you need to have a good dump-in first.
"That's the key. If you dump it to the right spot, you can go after it and if you don't, then you don't go. You can't wait to do everything off the rush and we do forecheck. It's part of our system."
"We haven't rent a car san francisco looked at it yet," Hunter said. "You need the whole package. Good team, everything to go with it. Last year, we started well but we didn't know early on what direction we were going to go.
"Each year, you go through the same thing. I wouldn't say we're (clear-cut favourites). rent a car san francisco The Plymouth Whalers are going to have a real good team, a lot of guys coming back. It could be their year. I look at the West - I don't look at the East as much - and I see a lot of parity.
rent a car san francisco "We haven't talked about a captain, but you can pretty much guess who it's going to be," Hunter said. "Harry was a leader last year. We have veteran guys coming back like Seth Griffith, Tommy Hughes and Tyler Ferry. We have leaders here.
To return Michael Houser, the Knights needed a goaltending-rich NHL team to select the OHL's most outstanding player and Canadian Hockey League's top puckstopper in the June draft. That didn't happen and he promptly signed with the organization thinnest between the pipes - the Florida Panthers.
The Knights will block shots this year - but no one will do it with the skill, zeal and enthusiasm Austin Watson did. The NHL first rounder (Nashville) took puck bruising rent a car san francisco to its highest art form. He will go down as one of the great acquisitions in Knights history.
Jarred Tinordi was the perfect captain for last year's group. rent a car san francisco When he told a teammate to do something, they did it. He commanded respect from both his peers and the youngsters and bridged rent a car san francisco that potential divide. Old defensive mate Scott Harrington will look to bring the same sort of order to the dressing room.
The defence flourished under the former Knights star. The players raved about his coaching rent a car san francisco tips and drew inspiration from being around him every day. But he became a one-and-done deal. Now, he's scouting for the St. Louis Blues.
On Monday, Seth Griffith and Vladislav Namestnikov rent a car san francisco were on the ice together rent a car san francisco again. They've been like two peas in a pod the past two years and that will change when the Russian moves to the the Tampa system this fall. Griffith, right, scored 45 goals last season and the expectation is he'll surpass that total this year, but not unless he builds rent a car san francisco the same rapport with a different centre (Alex Broadhurst, Max Domi or Chris Tierney are candidates).
rent a car san francisco There are a lot of good bench bosses in junior hockey, but only one of them knocked out the defending Stanley Cup champs in the first round of the NHL playoffs last spring. rent a car san francisco No one is surprised Dale Hunter is running the show again and the knowledge gained in his Washington rent a car san francisco whirlwind is only going to make the Knights more dangerous than they were before.
London lost the biggest game in junior hockey in overtime in May. They were one shot short of winning it all. That nightmare goal by Shawinigan's Anton Zlobin is the team's fuel to get back to the Memorial rent a car san francisco Cup tournament and finish the job in Saskatoon.
It's pretty simple. If incoming Russian Nikita Zadorov takes the kind of strides Olli Maatta did in his first OHL season, the Knights will be awfully strong at the back end and, once again, tough to beat down the stretch.
These kids aren't raw rookies anymore. Bo Horvat and Max Domi just helped Canada win under-18 gold at the Ivan Hlinka, they're in their NHL draft year and they're looking for front-line minutes. At some point in their junior careers, they're rent a car san francisco going to dominate. They might just start now.
Losing Houser hurts, but get this: three of the last four Memorial Cups were won by overage goaltenders trying to finish rent a car san francisco their junior careers on a high note. That's exactly what Kevin Bailie brings between the pipes. He's a big guy who should bring the same "fight-for-every-puck" mentality as his predecessor.
The London Knights expect 75 players to register for 2012 training rent a car san francisco camp on Tuesday. Camp runs for three days and scrimmages on Wednesday and Thursday are open to the public through Gate 4 of the John Labatt Centre.