If you read Canadian Press sports stories a lot, or maybe stumbled upon a feature about Max Domi of the London Knights on tsn.ca, Metro papers or Yahoo Sports!, what you might not realize is that as a freelancer I was the writer.
Anyway, here's the version I submitted. As per usual, CP did a good job of editing -- shifting some sentences and improving flow.
Max Domi destined for pro hockey career
Mark Schadenberg
LONDON -- Ignore the name on the back of the jersey -- simply watch and admire his game.
Max Domi is a remarkable talent -- possibly the top future-pro prospect among all 1995 players in the Ontario Hockey League. The London Knights centre leads all rookies with eight goals, including 19 points and just 16 penalty minutes in 18 games, and displays a rare combination of composure, creativity and vision.
Domi has the ability to back-check inside his own zone, start an offensive rush, stop on a dime and click with an accurate pass to a teammate. The OHL leader in plus/minus is London defenceman Scott Harrington at +18. Max Domi is +14, to simply confirm that his hockey sense is beyond his years, and depicts why NHL scouts looking at the horizon to the 2013 draft, look closely at Tie Domi's son.
Tie Domi played 16 years in the NHL and is third all-time in penalty minutes. Max's coach Dale Hunter, meanwhile, is second all-time on that same list.
While Max certainly demonstrates a tenacious effort -- his future is all about displaying a flair for offence and becoming a complete player in all three zones.
"I like to try to play in my own zone first and work from there -- play from 'D' side and then out," says Max. "I also try to play a little physical. I find that I've had my most success in the offensive zone when passing the puck."
A grad of the Don Mills Flyers AAA program, Max Domi paced Don Mills to a GTHL (Greater Toronto league) title last year and then second place at the OHL Cup season-ending tourney. Under head coach Bob Marshall, the Flyers (blueliners Darnell Nurse in Sault Ste. Marie and Adam Bateman in Windsor are also Flyers grads and first-round OHL draftees) would win 60 of 74 games.
"Max has outstanding offensive skills and instincts," says Marshall. "I think what gets lost with all his offensive abilities is how sound he is defensively and how hard he has worked to learn and continue to learn how to play in his own end and without the puck. Some kids are gifted and they just take it for granted and get by on that, but Max is one of the hardest working kids I have been around in practice and in his off ice training.
"I think that's what will seperate him from the pack," added Marshall.
When talking about his own abilities, Max Domi is quick to be modest and deflect instead to team goals.
"He is a very polite well-mannered kid," continued Marshall. "He makes everyone around him feel welcome and important."
After Don Mills, Max Domi was drafted eighth overall by the Kingston Frontenacs at last May's OHL priority selection, but opted not to report to the club operated by two of Tie's former teammates in Toronto -- general manager Doug Gilmour and coach Todd Gill. On Aug. 30 as league training camps began, Kingston would trade Max's rights to the Knights for what amounts to three future second-round picks.
Elite hockey is certainly a year-round pursuit. Working with skating coach Darryl Belfry this past summer, Max Domi feels he made a lot of progress in preparing for a 68-game OHL schedule. If a golf coach can dissect a swing, Belfry could be described as a skating analyst.
"(Darryl) works a lot with video. He'll take a look at my stride -- cross-overs and my shooting stride -- and he will break it down," described Domi. "This summer I was working on my cross-overs a lot. I had a choppy cross-over. I've had three other skating coaches in the past that couldn't crack the code in improving my cross-overs."
Listed at a somewhat generous 5'10" in the Knights program, Max Domi is a skilled forward, and not the agitating player his dad was with the original Winnipeg Jets, Rangers and Maple Leafs.
"I like to pass and make the guys around me better," said Domi. "Since I was very young, I've always liked to pass. My dad used to get mad at me for passing too much.
"It's a natural instinct for me to pass and not shoot on a two-on-one."
In his first OHL regular season game, Max Domi had no problem shooting, recording a hat trick in an 8-0 win over Saginaw on Sept. 23.
Knights first-year assistant coach Dylan Hunter knows all about the difficulty in following a famous parent. Dylan, who won a Memorial Cup with the Knights in 2005, is Dale Hunter's son and another hockey mind who is impressed with the young Domi.
"Max has exemplary skills. He is a very powerful skater with a strong stride, and for his age he's very hard to knock off the puck," said Dylan Hunter. "He's a tremendous athlete, who passes the puck hard -- he doesn't chip it forward to his teammates, he wires it."
Domi and London teammate Bo Horvat both were members of Team Ontario Under-16 at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax. Both are now hoping to have their names announced in the next week or so for the Ontario Under-17 entry at the World Hockey Challenge, set for Windsor, Dec 29 - Jan 4.
Under coach Dale Hunter's systems, Max plays mostly at centre, but is also taking a few shifts on the wing. Hunter doesn't believe in lines set in stone, and at the same time Max says he enjoys learning some different concepts.
"I'm practising a lot lately at centre and the wing," says Max. "It's fun to learn both positions."
Max maintains his high-level of activity despite a requirement to monitor a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes, which is an ailment he has in common with teammate and Bruins prospect Jared Knight. While Tie wore jersey 28 and Max's hero Mats Sundin was No. 13, Tie selected 16 to recognize Bobby Clarke and the extensive NHL career compiled by the former Philadelphia captain who was a NHL star despite diabetes.
The Knights have completed more than a quarter of the schedule and not only reside in top spot in the league at 15-2-1, but have been ranked No 1 four consecutive weeks in the CHL.
London appears to be a good mix of veteran forwards like Knight, Tampa draftee Vladislav Namestnikov, plus Seth Griffith and Dane Fox, along with a tremendous trio of sophomores in twins Matt and Ryan Rupert, along with Andreas Athanasiou. The blueline is likewise formidable with Montreal-signed tower and first-rounder Jarred Tinordi, and Pittsburgh pick Harrington.
Maybe it's the surname recognition or the obvious immense potential, but Max Domi appears to have all the tools. With dad Tie now a regular at Knights home games, Max doesn't have far to look for inspiration.
"I've never seen anyone with as much heart and work ethic as my dad had in the NHL. He played many many years in the NHL and has shown me with his intensity what it takes to be a professional athlete, and he's always there for me if I have a question to ask," said Max.
The younger Domi wants to follow the likes of Corey Perry, Patrick Kane, Dave Bolland, Sam Gagner, John Carlson and Brandon Prust -- from London to the NHL.
"He's an elite player," adds Knights assistant GM Misha Donskov. "He's a great kid and a character player. He has vision on the ice and impresses everyone with the hard passes right on the tape."
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