Suspended in the glass arch above the lobby entrance is an antique cannon.Īs the players arrived at the hotel and prepared for the festivities, many undoubtedly were excited about the gala but also eager for what might come after, when Hockey Canada’s leadership headed back to the hotel to sleep. The original structure, built in 1905, served as a militia headquarters for Canadian land force branches. It’s a sleek glass-paneled high-rise that emerges from an imposing sienna-bricked building flanked by turrets and framed by crenelated towers.
Most of them would stay at the Delta Hotel London Armouries, the most luxurious accommodation in town. Hockey Canada would use the weekend to raise money, and the players were an attraction that would help open wallets.
Some Hockey Canada executives also attended, as did sponsors and corporate partners, local business leaders and more. It was a two-day “star-studded” celebration to recognize the champions and others, and it included a lavish dinner and a golf event in which many of the players would participate. The players, the World Juniors champions, were brought to London as part of the Hockey Canada Foundation Gala & Golf event. In the restaurants and bars downtown, the jerseys of former Knights players hang on the walls. The London Knights, a powerhouse junior program, average 9,000 fans a game at Budweiser Arena - an attendance that rivals some NHL teams. As many as 45,000 students, most attending Western University, make the city home during the school year. It has 400,000 residents but can feel smaller or larger, depending on the time of year. They descended upon London from some of the country’s hockey hotbeds, but also its leafy suburbs and far-flung prairie towns, minted royalty coming to a place that, even for Canada, embraces hockey heroes with fervor. “Drink it in, Canada,” a story about the triumph began. They were almost five months removed from a gold medal run at the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, an achievement that the Globe and Mail called Canada’s “hockey glory of the year.” They arrived in London, Ontario, on June 17, 2018, nearly two dozen young men from all over Canada.