The city of London officially recognized the London Lightning basketball team Tuesday, for their championship win in the National Basketball League of Canada.
Mayor Matt Brown and city politicians greeted players on a red carpet laid out on the front steps of city hall at around 11:30 a.m. before heading into council chambers.
“We’ve been watching you right from the beginning to the end,” Brown said, thanking the team for their hard work and an “absolutely tremendous season.” He gave each player a certificate on behalf of the city, and posed for photos with the newly won trophy.
The Lightning defeated the Halifax Hurricanes 129-116 at Budweiser Gardens Monday night and became the first team to win a league title with a Canadian head coach.
Brown added how incredible it’s been to see the league grow over the years, and recognized achieving milestones like having a team with four Canadian players.
“Six years ago … people said ‘you know maybe basketball is not going to work in London.’ And boy are they ever eating their words.”
While thanking the city for the recognition, head coach Kyle Julius gave a nod to the Lightning’s fan base.
“We have fans that come to practice and take care of us and bring us food and snacks, and that happens all the time. We have fans that travel on the road with us on their own dollar, and they help us on the road with different things, they invite us into their home. This is just another example of how much the community cares about us, and cares about the team in general.”
Julius says he and the players will be taking some much-needed downtime after six months’ worth of “seven days a week pressure,” but noted that “you’ve gotta work really hard to bring as many of these guys back as possible to do this again next year.”
“The fan support has always been good here, throughout the whole year,” said Kyle Johnson, who found himself inside city hall for the first time on Tuesday. “To be honest it’s nice that they have something like this so quickly after the win.”
Councillors Phil Squire and Maureen Cassidy were on hand for the informal recognition ceremony. Not all council was able to make it on short notice.
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