The Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights began life in 1965 as the London Nationals. The team was originally affiliated with the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
For the 1968-69 season, the Nationals became the Knights and the colours were changed from blue and white to the current green, gold and white.
The team owns the Ontario Hockey League’s records for both most points in a season, 110 in 2004-05 and the least points in a season, 9 in 1994-95. The 2004-05 season brought the team a Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the OHL’s top regular season team, a Robertson Cup as the OHL’s playoff champion and a Memorial Cup as the CHL’s champion.
The Knights have developed five first overall picks in the NHL Entry Draft. The first was Rick Green in 1976, going to the lowly Washington Capitals. Rob Ramage was the first overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, going to the Colorado Rockies. Rick Nash went first overall in 2002 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Patrick Kane first the first overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2007. John Tavares was the first overall pick in 2009, going to the New York Islanders.
The Knights originally played out of the London Gardens London
Great ownership in the form of the Hunter Brothers and the high seating capacity John Labatt Centre have combined to provide the brains, connections, skill and money to ensure that the Knights finish near the top of the league annually, despite it being historically a cyclic league.
Other than the great first overall picks mentioned above, other greats have worn the Knights jersey before going on to wonderful NHL careers. Darryl Sittler, Dino Ciccarelli, Brad Marsh, Pat Riggin, Steve Mason, John Erskine, Tom Kostopoulos and Sam Gagner are just some of these players.
The Knights have been to the OHL finals on four occasions, winning the Robertson Cup just once. They lost to the Ottawa 67’s in 1977; They lost to the Belleville Bulls in 1999; They won over Ottawa
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