Go back ten years before the era of the John Labatt's Centre. Go way back before Dale and Mark Hunter bought the Knights and made them into the perennial powerhouse that they now are. The era under the Hunters has produced a wealth of players that have not just made it to the NHL, but have starred in it.
Dale has shown his superior skills behind the bench while Mark and his scouts continually scour the OHL and beyond for more talent and possible trades. The players pick up on their responsibility to play and act like professionals even though they are in a Junior A League. The system works. How else could they compete and play at such a high level and make the playoffs each year without fail. There are usually down years in Junior Hockey as the best players move on.
It was inevitable that a sportswriter from outside of London would write an indepth article about the Knights under the Hunters in the JLC. Click here to read the entire article by a CBC writer. It was only a matter of time before the hockey world outside of London picked up on this transformation engineered largely by the Hunter brothers and helped along by the City of London's willingness to build the JLC.