hoto of the 1997 all-Ontario bantam champion Thunder Bay Kings
Monday, March 27, 2017
Kings no stranger to Ontario bantam medals
THUNDER BAY — The Fort William Gardens will be the site this week of the all-Ontario AAA bantam championship, which runs through Friday.
Among the seven competing teams will be the host Thunder Bay Kings, who will look to replicate past achievements of other local bantam clubs from over the past couple of decades.
It was just two years ago that the Kings mined silver at the 2015 event in Timmins.
Back in 2000, Thunder Bay won it all with a line-up that boasted Eric Staal, who has gone to play over 1,000 NHL games and is a member of the IIHF’s prestigious Triple Gold Club by virtue of winning a Stanley Cup, an Olympic Gold medal as well as a World Hockey Championship.
The Kings also claimed the Ontario title the year previously under head coach Darryl Blazino.
1998 saw the bantams win bronze while 1997 was celebrated as the best season ever for the Kings organization.
In the 20-year anniversary of that successful campaign, not only did the bantams win the provincials in ‘97, the midget Kings captured their second Air Canada Cup National Midget Championship and the peewees took home silver at that all-Ontario event.
That ’97 juggernaut bantam squad featured the likes of three-time Stanley Cup champion and Olympic Gold medalist Patrick Sharp along with future NHLers Alex Auld, Taylor Pyatt, Jason Jaspers and Aaron MacKenzie out of a 17-player roster.
Thunder Bay was runner-up in ‘96 and started their impressive run at the provincials by winning the 1995 bantam title.
FUTURE STARS: Another reason to check out the bantam provincials will be an opportunity to see some potential NHLers before they become household names.
The last time the bantams were held in the Lakehead, some of talent on display was first round NHL draft choice and current Florida Panthers prospect Jared McCann, who went on to be named most valuable player of the 2011 tournament.
Among those who played for the eventual champion Mississauga Rebels that year was Robby Fabbri, who is now a member of the St. Louis Blues.
When Thunder Bay hosted the AAA bantam provincials in 2005, the plethora of up and coming talent was unmistakeable.
The eventual champion Toronto Jr. Canadiens featured current St. Louis Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo on defence.
Meanwhile a strong Markham Waxers side, that finished second in a highly-skilled final, boasted the likes of Steven Stamkos and Michael Del Zotto while Nazim Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs skated for the London Jr. Knights.
You can even go back to the 1984 event at the Gardens when the Current River Comets, coached by Dave Siciliano, won a silver medal at the then Purolator Cup falling to the eventual champion Mississauga Reps that featured future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, multi-Stanley Cup winner and Olympic champion Brendan Shanahan in their line-up.
