London Knights preach patience with Jordan Kooy, expect more from whole roster
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The sitting of veteran goalie Jordan Kooy Saturday in Saginaw was a warning signal to the entire London roster.
Everyone on the club is under scrutiny right now. The team held a series of closed practices this week and obligatory video cram sessions to try to improve on a pedestrian 3-3-1 record so far.
“We have to find where everybody stands,” London GM Mark Hunter said. “We all know we have to be better and I wouldn’t disguise that. I want players to perform up to their capabilities and I don’t think we have all of them playing up to that level right now.
“We’ve got to find our way, yet. They know they can be better and play the hockey that wins, not the kind that makes you a .500 club. We want to be a winning team, not an inconsistent one. The top teams are consistent.”
The Knights have been undone by 10- to 15-minute lapses in each of their four losses. The hope was that a veteran goaltender would help smooth over those rough patches early in the schedule.
But in the Vegas-drafted Kooy’s small sample size of work this season, the numbers don’t reflect his talent and experience. He is 0-1-1 with a 4.88 goals against average and .818 save percentage and has been used sparingly.
The Knights hoped a day of rest would help the 19-year-old, not create premature trade speculation.
“We haven’t given up on Jordan Kooy,” Knights associate GM Rob Simpson said Wednesday. “We see him as part of the future. We believe in him. Sometimes, people have ups and downs and they get their game going. That’s what we think will happen with Jordan.”
The Knights aren’t afraid to consider different options at every position. Two years ago, they limped 1-8-1 out of the gate and that resulted in the acquisition of goalie Joseph Raaymakers.
The biggest positive in the London net this fall has been the discovery that rookie Brett Brochu appears to be a legitimate major junior goaltender. But it’s difficult to win at any significant level in the OHL without a proven and experienced stopper.
Kooy always has been regarded as key to the Knights’ fortunes this season.
“We haven’t come to the decision (who’s going to start Friday against Windsor), but Jordan’s with us,” Simpson said. “He’s been practising with us and looking good in practice and trying to get ready to go for this weekend.”
Kooy was one of four Knights named to Team OHL for next month’s Canada Russia series. He is slated to form a tandem with Ottawa’s Cedrick Andree at the London game Nov. 11 while Knights Connor McMichael, Ryan Merkley, Liam Foudy and London native Ryan Suzuki (Barrie) are scheduled to play in both OHL-based games, including Kitchener Nov. 7.
Dale Hunter will be the coach, as he will for Canada’s world junior team. In a perfect world, he will use Kooy at some point against the Russians.
“Are there some goals (Kooy) would like to have back? I think he would agree,” Simpson said, “but are there some goals the whole team would wish they haven’t given up chances on? You can say that as well. As much as it’s goaltending, it starts everywhere, in how you defend and how you play in front of him. Collectively, we have to be better on the defensive side of the puck.”
Co-captain Foudy, poised to return to the lineup Friday, should make a difference. The question of potential overage forward Paul Cotter, still with Vegas farm team Chicago Wolves, should be answered fairly soon.
But no course can really be charted until the Knights figure out how to handle their net the rest of the year.
They’re not an organization known to let these things linger.
AROUND THE RINK:
The Knights tumbled right out of the Canadian Hockey League’s weekly Top 10 rankings. Oshawa remains first while Owen Sound jumped to eighth and Ottawa is 10th . . . Rookie forward Max McCue was the lone Knight among 24 OHLers named to Hockey Canada’s 66-player roster for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which will be held Nov. 2-9 in Medicine Hat and Swift Current. Former Jr. Knight Brett Harrison, an Oshawa first-rounder, was also selected . . . Top NHL prospects Quinton Byfield (Sudbury), Cole Perfetti (Saginaw), Jamie Drysdale (Erie) and Ryan O’Rourke (Sault Ste. Marie) were the 17-year-olds included in the Canada Russia Series roster . . . The Clarke clan is following in the Foudy’s footsteps. Last year, Liam (Blue Jackets) was part of the Canada Russia Series while younger brother Jean-Luc, then a Spitfires rookie, played in the World Under-17s at Saint John. This year, Ottawa forward Graeme Clarke (Devils) will play in the Kitchener game while younger brother Brandt, a Barrie first-year d-man, will be at the u-17s . . . Kingston’s Shane Wright, the OHL’s No. 1 overall pick last spring, will play in the u-17s as a 15-year-old . . . The OHL roster for the Canada Russia Series was selected by a committee including National Junior Team manager Mark Hunter, Owen Sound’s Dale DeGray and Ottawa’s James Boyd, along with Hockey Canada head scout Brad McEwan . . . Clarkson D Ella Shelton was the lone local named to Canada’s senior women’s team roster for the two-game rivalry series against the United States in Cranberry Township, Pa., right near Pittsburgh and close to former Knights goaltender Michael Houser’s home, Nov. 8-10.
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