Seek And Ye Shall Not Find

Looking for flaws in Connor McDavid?  Nothing to see here.  

Is Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters too good to be true?  He's too good, that's for sure. 

One OHL general manager feels the 3rd year forward could get 70 points in the NHL - this season.  He won't be 18 until January.  

McDavid has 8 goals and 25 points in his first 9 games.  If healthy, he'll get about 130 points this season and play a huge roll for Canada at the World Junior hockey tournament.  

Otters captain Connor McDavid got 1 goal, 2 assists vs. Knights on Oct. 18

He is a mix between Sidney Crosby and Peter Forsberg.  McDavid is two inches taller than Crosby and similar in hockey IQ.   While he may not have Forsberg's nasty edge, he might score more goals.  

"It's almost unfair that he's out there," says Erie Times-News writer Victor Fernandes. "He's that much better than anyone else.  I don't think there's anybody out there who can stop him or at least slow him down. This year, he is so much stronger and so if you can catch up to him, which doesn't happen often, you are not going to knock him off the puck."   

If there is a discouraging word about McDavid you can probably ignore it.  John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad were the last early OHL entrants who had their games picked over for three years.  No such thing will happen with McDavid.  He has everything to be a franchise player including leadership and  good character.  Jack Eichel of Boston University might win over the NHL scouts because, by all accounts, he too is a wonderful player.  But if that happens it won't be because of anything McDavid can't do.  Anyone looking for flaws is wasting their time.  You just won't find any. 

UN-ZERO

Antoine Bibeau stops Bo Horvat on a penalty shot in Memorial Cup opener.

This time, battle-conditioned beat well-conditioned.   
The Val d'Or Foreurs barely finished a game seven war in Quebec's eastern townships on Tuesday.  They marched into game one of the MasterCard Memorial Cup in London not having time to change anything about their game - or even think they might be tired after a last minute, game seven win vs. Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
The Foreurs used the same formula to beat the host London Knights 1-0 - a big goal by sniper Anthony Mantha (82 goals in 82 games played this year) and the goaltending of Antoine Bibeau (51 saves).  
The London Knights couldn't kick the rust off after a month long practise.  The Knights had energy and territorial advantages, but were missing the finish around the net.  


TURNING POINT

With the Knights trailing 1-0 in the third period when Max Domi hit Bo Horvat with a beautiful breakaway pass.  Horvat was hooked and a penalty shot was awarded.  Horvat tried to beat Bibeau high blocker side and the QMJHL playoff MVP made the save.  
The Knights pulled goalie Anthony Stolarz with just under two minutes remaining in regulation and had several more chances, but couldn't beat Bibeau, who was named the first star. 

"This was the Bibeau of the whole year," Mantha would say after the game. 

MANTHA 

Anthony Mantha showed why he is a grade-A NHL prospect.  His goal was a pure goal scorer's goal at  16:20 of the first period.  He sensed he had a step on Knights defenseman Brady Austin and in three strides was by Austin and able to take a pass on his backhand and cradle the puck AT FULL SPEED.  Mantha protected the puck by planting his left leg and made a powerful move to finish on Anthony Stolarz.  It appears Mantha has dedicated this year to answering any questions NHL scouts might have had about his compete level, consistency and speed - and he did it all on one play.  The Detroit Red Wings appear to have a gem with Mantha, taken with the 20th pick in 2013.  Ironically, for moving down to 20 from 18th, the Wings picked up an extra second-round draft pick.  They used that pick to select Guelph winger Tyler Bertuzzi, who was a key player in the OHL championship drive of the Guelph Storm this year with 10 goals in 18 playoff games. 

Anthony Mantha scores his 82nd goal of the season vs. Knights in Memorial Cup opener

The Trews open the MC Memorial Cup with live singing of "Highway of Heros" 

A HONEYBAKED DRAFT

London Knights draft room - April 5, 2014

London GM Mark Hunter (on phone) and staff. 

The London Knights think power forward Max Jones (Detroit Honeybaked) will one day where the green and gold.  When, doesn't really matter.

"If he goes to the (U.S. development) program at 16, there's a learning curve anyway," said General Manager Mark Hunter.  "If it's the year after or the year after that, as long as we see him in a London Knights uniform."

The Knights use an established track record of producing NHL talent, a winning heritage and favourable location and arena as a way of sometimes turning the draft upside down.  Most pre-draft lists had Max Jones as one of the top five players available. The Knights selected him with the 18th pick in round one.  London followed by selecting defenseman Ben Gleason from the same Honeybaked organization.

Of course, elite U.S. born players have plenty of hockey options.  The Knights will now try to convince another elite hockey talent that Jared Tinordi, Pat Kane, John Carlson and others made the right choice by coming to play for the Knights.

 Click here for a Max Jones audio mash-up.  Voices include the announcement from the Ontario Hockey League, Knights head scout Lindsay Hofford, Max Jones and Knights GM Mark Hunter.