A tradition unlike any other — an OHL coach saying the London Knights are diving.
Any playoff series between London and Windsor is must-see TV, but Spitfires coach Rocky Thompson ramped up the intensity by joining the roll call of coaches who have suggested Knights players kind of, sort of, embellish contact to get a call. Thompson held little back after the Knights defeated the Spitfires 5-2, squaring the series 1-1 with the next two games slated for Windsor on Tuesday and Thursday.
“There’s certain things in hockey that the NHL is trying to get rid of,” Thompson said in a video posted to the Spitfires’ Twitter account. “For example hooking, holding and obstruction, they don’t want. That’s exactly what London was doing to us all night. And the refs chose not to call it; that’s fine. The other thing the NHL is trying to get rid of is diving. Any time there was the slightest amount of contact with the London Knights, they dove. And they got rewarded for it. And a national audience (on Sportsnet 360) saw it. That’s disrespectful to the game. And that’s why the NHL is trying to get rid of this. They’re finding these players after the fact; they get put on a watch list. We talked about this at the start of the year at the OHL meetings with the head coaches, etc., because you’re getting rewarded for situations that you’re trying to get rid of in the game. You should have to earn what you get, not have to act and be rewarded as a result of it. And that’s what happened here tonight.”
POSTGAME VIDEO: Rocky didn't hold back in his assessment of today's 5-2 Game Two loss in London. pic.twitter.com/8HFEFu3Z2q
— Windsor Spitfires (@SpitsHockey) March 26, 2017
Rocky Thompson had an epic post-game rant. About the London Knights diving, he said, "They invented it here."
— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) March 26, 2017
Thompson: Stephens, a character guy. He comes to London and all of a sudden, diving is going to be rewarded so let's start (it).
— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) March 26, 2017
Rocky's rant: Get at 'er: https://t.co/p2stknfGhL
— Ryan Pyette (@RyanatLFPress) March 27, 2017
Thompson will surely be levied a sizable fine for his comments, which also mentioned referees Mike Cairns and Scott Oakman, breaking an OHL taboo. Through two games, London is 3-for-9 on the power play and Windsor is 2-for-7. On Sunday, London had a 5-1 edge in extra-skater opportunities.
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Above and beyond the finger-pointing and side-taking — who has the time for it — what’s fascinating is how ingrained the London diving narrative has become in the OHL. The Knights’ success, the four OHL and two MasterCard Memorial Cup championships, certainly plays a part in the phenomena of people looking for evidence of favouritism. Another reality is there’s probably never been a good team that was guiltless of trying to gull referees into making a call. This wouldn’t have metamorphosed into an OHL meme if Dale Hunter had a team which just went through the standard load up, tear down, and rebuild ebb and flow of the junior hockey cycle.
It’s worth working the Google on the internet machine to get a reminder of how much D-word drama involving the Knights has happened in recent years.
March 2011: Hunter said Owen Sound Attack scoring leader Joey Hishon was “diving and he’s very good at it” following a game that served as a playoff preview for a matchup between retooling, eighth-place London and top-seeded Owen Sound. Following a series-tying Knights win in Game 4, the Owen Sound coach, the late Mark Reeds, riposted: “We worked hard all year to be in this position, to be in first place and then to have the Hunters … obviously they’re men of power. Men of influence and it showed in the arena again.”
Owen Sound won the next two games and went on to win the league title.
April 2013: Plymouth Whalers coach-GM Mike Vellucci, during a televised post-game press conference, used the word “incompetent” multiple times after a loss against London in the Western Conference final. The Whalers were fined $7,500 by the OHL and the Knights closed out the series by winning the next two games.
May 2013: Hunter turned the narrative around after Game 4 of the OHL final against the Barrie Colts, saying star centre Mark Scheifele (now a standout with the Winnipeg Jets) and his teammates “love to dive and draw penalties.” Barrie led the series 3-1 and the just-completed Game 4 was the first of the series where they had more power plays. London won three close games in a row to win the OHL championship.
March 2015: Kitchener Rangers coach Troy Smith said Knights players were embellishing after his team fell behind 2-0 in a second-round series. “It’s happened for a long, long time — well before I was here,” Smith told the London Free Press.
Three games later, Hunter claimed Smith had sent captain Liam Maaskant out to injure star Max Domi, whom Maaskant had elbowed during a first-period collision. Smith denied the charge. Hunter was fined $5,000 although the OHL determined that there should have been a penalty against Maaskant. London won the series.
May 2016: During the OHL final, the Niagara IceDogs mascot displayed a “London Diving Team” sign behind the Knights bench. The video board also featured a diver leaping in the pool. London, led by Mitch Marner, won the series 4-0.
In not so few words, it makes for great theatre. In a hockey world that skews toward bland, it’s fairly refreshing to actually see enmity and a team in London that surely embraces being the heel. That doesn’t remove the onus on the OHL to work toward creating a league where competitors would be less inclined to publicly cast aspersions on the officials, which can also have a negative effect.
In the short run, if Windsor wins the series, the fine Thompson has coming will seem cheap at twice the price.
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Barzal back with T-Birds’ teammates
After being a ghostly presence with the Seattle Thunderbirds for more than two weeks, playmaker extraordinaire Mathew Barzal is with his team, if not with them on the ice.
The centre was kept in isolation due to concern that he had the mumps. It does appear he’s closer to a return, although there could be less urgency to push it since Seattle has a 2-0 lead against the Tri-City Americans in their WHL division semifinal series.
Barzal was in the building tonight.
— Tim Pigulski (@tpigulski) March 26, 2017
That is the first we've seen of Barzal since he left the blue line during the anthem two weeks ago. No longer in isolation. @gdrinnan
— Tim Pigulski (@tpigulski) March 26, 2017
Seattle also banked the two wins with barely 17-year-old rookie backup goalie Carl Stankowski subbing for injured Rylan Toth. Stankowski stopped 61-of-65 shots. That series resumes on Wednesday.
Firebirds’ Moore loses cool
The Flint Firebirds will host a playoff game for the first time on Monday, but leading scorer Ryan Moore could be a spectator. The 19-year-old centre received a game misconduct last Saturday after directing a homophobic slur at the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ Bobby MacIntyre, whom coincidentally was the Soo’s top point-getter.
The OHL has handed out suspensions as long as eight games, albeit during the regular season, to players who violated its diversity policy. The bans get shorter in the playoffs, but it’s reasonable to expect that the Moore will face some sanction. The run-in came at the end of a game where Moore had two points and was named the second star after helping the Firebirds earn a series-tying 6-3 win.
More on the Ryan Moore situation from Peter Ruicci #OHL #OHLPlayoffs https://t.co/eI6XyZh6Vd
— Peter Kneulman (@PeterKneulman) March 27, 2017
Flint has a fairly balanced attack, so the underdogs aren’t necessarily doomed to lose even if they lose Moore.
Canadian NHL team prospect of the week: Michael Spacek, C, Red Deer Rebels (WHL)
Spacek doesn’t represent the only hope for the Rebels in their division semifinal against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but the 19-year-old will have to produce for underdog Red Deer to have any shot. So far, the selection of the Winnipeg Jets (No. 108 overall in 2015) has had four points across two games, helping the Rebels get a split to wrest home-ice advantage in the series.
New name to know: Jonathan Yantsis, RW, Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Yantsis, who was passed over in two OHL priority selection drafts, scored the early third-period game-winner on Sunday when Kitchener won 2-1 to tie its series against the heavily favoured Owen Sound Attack 1-1. The goal was also a long time in the making for the mid-season free-agent addition out of Markham, Ont., whom the Rangers added on Jan. 10 after seeing the 6-foot-2, 186-pound Yantsis show some promise as a good-sized skilled player with the Markham Waxers midget team.
Yantsis had three goals and five points across 24 regular-season games while getting acclimated to the OHL.