YEAR IN REVIEW: TEAM OF THE YEAR
Knights slay competition
CBC Sports Online | Dec. 20, 2005
The London Knights celebrate their Memorial Cup Championship. (Getty Images)
They decimated opponents and rewrote the record books with aplomb, while capturing the imagination of a hockey-starved country during the protracted and painful NHL lockout.
With no Stanley Cup playoffs to contend with, the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights took centre stage and capped one of the greatest seasons ever in Canadian junior hockey by winning their first Memorial Cup in the team's 40-year history.
OHL MVP Corey Perry, defenceman Bryan Rodney and forward Robbie Schremp were the main architects behind what many pundits say was a team unparalleled in the history of junior hockey.
London's amazing run to the title began with a 31-game unbeaten streak, a Canadian Hockey League record. That was followed by a 59-win regular season and a 16-2 record in the playoffs, as the Knights won their first-ever OHL title.
The Knights topped that feat by skating to a convincing 4-0 win over Sidney Crosby and the high-flying Rimouski Oceanic in the Memorial Cup final before a boisterous hometown crowd of 8,905 at the John Labatt Centre, where they only lost two games during the 2004-05 season.
Ranked No. 1 coming into the tournament, London cruised to a perfect 3-0 record in the round robin and then claimed the Memorial Cup by keeping Crosby and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champions off the scoreboard.
The gravity of what the Knights accomplished was not lost on David Branch, the CHL president.
"The London Knights are one of the greatest junior teams ever to play," said Branch.
"We were No. 1 all year and to finish on top is amazing," said Knights captain Danny Syvret.
They were No. 1, and that's why CBC Sports Online has recognized the London Knights as the team of the year for 2005.
