Londoners are known for their love of the Knights but next month they will be making their love of the Toronto Maple Leafs known.
"London Loves the Leafs" was announced Wednesday as the theme to the 2016 Rogers Sports Celebrity Dinner. The dinner, now it its 60th year, is being held at the Metroland Media Agriplex at the Western Fair District on February 23.
Former Maple Leaf team captains Doug Gilmour, Darryl Sittler, and Rick Vaive will dominate the head table. They will be joined by current London Knights Mitch Marner and Christian Dvorak, London Lightning head coach Kyle Julius, and Katelyn Gosling of the Western women's hockey team.
London decathlete and reigning Pan-Am champion, Damian Warner, will be honoured at the dinner as the Sportsperson of the Year. The honour comes ahead of Warner's upcoming competition at the Rio Olympics.
"We have given it to Damian for what he has accomplished on the world stage," says Event Co-chair, Jim Cressman. "We have this identity crisis in London but when he is at the Olympics they are going to say Damian Warner from London, Ontario. He is a great role model, not only for young track and field athletes but for young people in general. I don't think we could have a better ambassador for this city than Damian."
"For me the honour is very cool because I walk down the street and people are like, good luck at the Olympics, good luck at the world championships, and that is very encouraging," says Warner. "I couldn't be more proud to be from any other place than London."
Warner is also interested to meet and chat with the former NHLers.
"It's always exciting to meet other athletes ," says Warner. "That's one of my favourite things about being an athlete myself, being able to travel the world and being able to meet so many other people that have or have had similar goals. You always pick up one or two things that are very encouraging when you meet them."
Sam Denton, 17, has been named the Thames Valley Children's Centre Ambassador at this year's dinner. Denton is a member of the Canada's Paralympic soccer team.
For the first time in 19 years the dinner is being held at a new venue. Cressman explains the move to the Metroland Media Agriplex is a strategic effort to grow the festivities.
"We are hoping this venue will attract more people who we may not have attracted in the past," says Cressman. "It's $150 for a dinner ticket and a lot of people can't afford that. Now we have 1,500 bleacher seats here that we can sell at $20 a pop. It's a chance for families to bring their kids, hockey teams to bring their players. We are hoping to partner with a bunch of minor league hockey teams. All of the proceeds go to the Thames Valley Children's Centre so every bit more that we can raise goes to a worthy cause."
A wide variety of items will also be on the auction block at the annual dinner.
"We always have tickets to Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors games, we have trips with Via Rail and WestJet, we have jerseys and sticks," says Cressman. "Of course with the three ex-Leafs here we are going to have some jerseys and have them autograph them. One of the other unique things we have is a dessert auction. You get to bid to have one of the head table celebrities sit with you for dessert. There is always some good intense bidding."
Tickets for the dinner and auction can be purchased at www.ldnsportsdinner.com.
