Hunter family hailed for their coaching abilities
Did you know that on the four days that Both Dale Hunter and Mark Hunter have been coaching playoff games, the Capitals are 4-0 and the Knights are 4-0. Here's a story I wrote about the Hunter family and Knights hockey for Canadian Press (It was circulated on Sunday, May 6):
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By Mark Schadenberg
LONDON -- While the London Knights are in a battle to win the Ontario Hockey League championship versus the Niagara IceDogs, now knotted 1-1 in the best-of-seven, the Washington Capitals are competing against the New York Rangers in the NHL's Eastern Conference semifinal.
The common thread is Dale Hunter. As majority owner of the Knights he continues to be listed as club president even though he was hired as head coach of the Capitals back on Nov 28.
"We certainly miss his leadership here," says Knights governor (lawyer) Trevor Whiffen, who was quick to continue. "Dale is the ultimate leader in the dressing room on game night, but everyone else here has done their best to fill the gaps very nicely."
London rolled out a smooth transition to Mark Hunter as head coach, as he added one more name plate to his office door along with general manager and vice president. Mark Hunter won a Stanley Cup in 1989 with Calgary and played more than 600 NHL games with stops also in Montreal, Hartford, St Louis and Washington.
Within days of Dale's departure, the club promoted NHL veteran and former Knight (1975-78) Rob Ramage to full assistant coach from status of a consultant coach who was on ice at practice only, but not on the bench in games. The club was already utilizing assistant general manager Misha Donskov on the bench as an assistant coach, along with Dale's son Dylan, who was an OHL star when London won its only Memorial Cup in 2005.
Donskov has been on staff for four years and sees more similarities in Dale and Mark than any differences.
"The word I always like to use about the coaching change is seamless," says Donskov. "When Mark stepped in, he obviously already knew all the guys. Dale and Mark share all the same philosophies. They expect the players to be accountable, and from the standpoint of systems, their expectations are the same -- be responsible on defence and play all three zones."
With the evolving coaching staff, the Knights maintained its course, completing the OHL regular schedule first overall with 99 points (Mark won 29 of 42) and the CHL's No. 3 ranked club, including 49 wins.
Dale Hunter's mark on the bench was 20-5-1 before answering the call to the NHL.
"Dale is the ultimate warrior and motivator," says Whiffen. "He played 19 years in the NHL -- a dozen years with Washington and (five) of those as team captain, and has over 1,000 games and 1,000 points."
Dale Hunter's NHL career, which started in Quebec City in 1980 and ended in the spring of 1999 with the Colorado Avalanche, actually included 1,407 games and 1,020 points.
Whiffen recalled that almost at the same moment Dale Hunter was accepting the Capitals post, another client and friend was relieved of his duties.
"I helped Bruce Boudreau negotiate his contract with Washington and after he's let go by George McPhee, Bruce is calling me to commiserate," said Whiffen. "I had just talked to Dale (about unrelated matters) the night before. For me, it was a surreal day."
Under Boudreau's helm the Capitals had won four straight Southwest Division regular-season pennants and had started the current campaign with seven consecutive victories. However, at the time Boudreau was dismissed they were in the midst of an eight-game stretch of losing six, and falling to a tie for eighth in the conference at 12-9-1.
Under Dale Hunter, Washington moved up to the No 7 seed in the final East conference standings thanks to a 30-23-7 record with Dale at the helm.
With the pressures of OHL playoffs continuing, everyone in the Knights dressing room is also glued to the Capitals' results.
"There's a lot of Washington Capitals ball caps in our dressing room," added Donskov, who recalled the recent sweep of the Kitchener Rangers for the OHL Western Conference final, clinching the series on the road. The Knights bus has a satellite connection, so on the coach down the highway, the Knights were watching their former coach eliminate Boston.
"Instead of celebrating (our conference championship), everyone was watching Dale's game go into overtime. You could hear a pin drop on that bus," said Donskov. "The bus erupted when Washington won in OT. It was an awesome scene."
As London's bench boss, Dale had amassed quite a resume -- 451 wins and the fastest-ever OHL coach to reach both the 300- and 400-win plateaus. An impressive list of Knights reached the NHL from Dale's rosters, led by Corey Perry, Rick Nash, Dave Bolland, Brandon Prust, Rob Schremp, Marc Methot, Sam Gagner, Patrick Kane, Sergei Kostitsyn, plus current Capitals John Carlson and Dennis Wideman.
If there is more interest in London now focused on the progress of the Capitals, the media in Washington has taken notice of the OHL as Washington Times reporter Stephen Whyno spent a few days in London and wrote a four-part series on Canada's "New York Yankees" of junior hockey."A championship (in 2005) sure helps, but it doesn't make a franchise," wrote Whyno. "No, the Hunters built a perennial contender and a season-ticket base that now exceeds 7,000 by unearthing and cultivating talent that's hard to match around junior hockey. Mark Hunter puts about 50,000 miles on his diesel truck every year driving around to find the next Knights superstar."
Upon returning to Washington, Whyno asked Dale Hunter about his on-going dedication to the Knights. Dale responded by saying he talks or texts hockey with Mark, Dylan and Misha several times a week and still finds a way to track the Knights.
"I put (the Knights games) on my computer and I watch it at night," said Dale Hunter in the Times article. "If (the Capitals) don't play on a Friday night, I'll sit in my room and watch (the Knights)."
Donskov confirmed about talking to Dale often.
"Dale is always just a phone call away. I still talk to him a couple times a week."
On Saturday night, London came back from a 2-0 deficit for a 5-3 victory to even the OHL final 1-1. On the same day and in a much different league, the Capitals edged the Rangers 3-2 to tie the NHL Eastern semifinal 2-2.
London/Niagara Championship Connection
Before his nine years with London as franchise governor, Whiffen played an integral role with the IceDogs as part of the initial group, including Don Cherry, who applied for a Mississauga OHL franchise in the late 1990's. However, after the 2006-07 season, and with the St. Michael's Majors moving into Mississauga, the IceDogs relocated to St Catharines.
Only a few years later, with hockey circles somewhat small, the IceDogs are attempting to win its first OHL title (lost in finals to Guelph in 2004) against London.
"I was the one who wrote the expansion bid for the (Mississauga IceDogs)," said Whiffen during Game 1 of the championship series, adding he was the club president for four years for Cherry and general manager for two seasons.
About the only resemblance to the expansion IceDogs is the club's logo continues to use a dog similar to Cherry's famed Blue, a white bull terrier.
"I was more involved with the IceDogs back then compared to the Knights now, but I've been with London now for nine years, and even though I still have some affinity for the IceDogs organization, I am now a London Knight," says Whiffen.
The OHL final continues Monday, May 7 in London for the J Ross Robertson Cup.
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