The London Knights have announced that Billy Carroll, Jim McKellar and Marc Methot will be inducted into the Don Brankley London Knights Hall of Fame.
All three had outstanding careers as members of the Knights organization and all three moved to great successes afterward in the National Hockey League.
The trio will be officially inducted at a ceremony on February 16 at Budweiser Gardens when London plays host to the Soo Greyhounds.
Jim McKellar
Jim was one of the first employees hired by Mark and Dale Hunter after they purchased the Knights franchise in 2000. McKellar ascended to the role of assistant general manager and then moved to the Chicago Blackhawks as an amateur scout where he has been part of two Stanley Cup championships.
“I started two weeks after (Mark and Dale Hunter) bought the team,” said McKellar. “The leadership, the direction and the management that Dale and Mark provide is (key). They work in unison and they are very supportive of one another but they challenge each other and I would say that I had the best opportunity in this business to work with and alongside them for 11 years.”
McKellar was one of the architects of the Team of the Century that went 59-7-2 and went on to capture the Memorial Cup in 2005.
His move to the Chicago Blackhawks began just before the 2010-11 Knights season.
“I had kept it low-key that I was interested in scouting in the NHL,” recalled McKellar. “Mark said at one point that you have to let people know if you are interested in moving to something like that and so I did and going into the (year) with the Knights I got a call from the Blackhawks.”
McKellar worked part-time for the Blackhawks along with his assistant general manager job in London for that entire year and then received another call.
“At the end of the year I was driving home from my first draft and (Chicago) had drafted a couple of OHL players that I had been involved in and I got a call from my boss that they wanted to make me full-time,” said McKellar. “I started with the Blackhawks full-time on July 1 of 2011 and left the London Knights. In a way I don’t feel as though I have ever had to completely leave (the Knights) because they have always made me feel a part of the family.”
Marc Methot
Marc was London’s sixth round pick in the 2001 OHL Priority Selection. He was part of the foundation of players who would eventually form the Team of the Century and played a major role in helping the Knights to capture their first Memorial Cup title.
“My first year was the first year of (what was) the John Labatt Centre and I was playing in front of 9,000 fans as opposed to a couple hundred (before that)”, recalled Methot. “The McInerney family were my billets and their son Eoin had played for the Knights and they knew the dynamic of a hockey player and I cannot thank them enough.”
Methot left his OHL career as a champion in 2004-05.
“It was the NHL lockout season so there was a ton of media attention and plenty of scouts were in the building and it was just about everything coming together at the right time,” said Methot.
Methot played 624 games in the National Hockey League with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars.
He is now a broadcaster with TSN and says that the transition came pretty naturally.
“Once I got into the NHL I would be doing interviews with reporters and sometimes the reporter would say that you should think about doing this when you are finished your career,” remembered Methot.
“Compounded with that was the old advice for athletes that you should never go into your retirement without a plan because that can be dangerous and very difficult mentally. I haven’t looked back. I really enjoy it.”
Billy Carroll
Carroll joined the Knights in 1976 and spent three seasons in London. Carroll was a part of the first Knights team to make it to a league championship in 1977. That was the year that London finally got by the Fincups and they did it with drama in Game 8 at a sold out London Gardens.
“We were not even getting dressed yet and standing room was three deep,” chuckled Carroll. If you can’t get excited to play in front of something like that then you have a problem.”
Dan Eastman scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
Carroll and the Knights didn’t get a chance to hoist a trophy that season but it wasn’t long before he was holding the Stanley Cup over his head as a member of the New York Islanders and then later with the Edmonton Oilers.
“I was playing in Indianapolis in the Central Hockey League and the coach came to myself and Hector Marini and asked if we were ready and he said we were going up for the weekend,” remembered Carroll. “And we were fortunate enough to stay.”
We played (former Knight) Dino Ciccarelli and Minnesota in the final that year. Carroll and the Islanders followed that STanley Cup win with two more before he moved to the Edmonton Oilers to win it all again.
“With the Islanders we were all married and had kids and then you get to Edmonton and I think the average age was 22,” said Carroll. “They were just full of skill and talent and loved to play hockey.”
Carroll finished his career in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings.
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