The London Knights named Sean McGurn and George Diaco co-captains of the team on Monday evening.
The announcement was made at an event at Labatt’s Amber Lounge in London, Ont.
Both players are in their overage seasons in London and number one and number two in team scoring.
Diaco joined the Knights in October from the Hamilton Bulldogs where he won an Ontario Hockey League championship in 2021-22.
McGurn was selected by London in the third round of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection and spent a season with the St. Thomas Stars before joining the Knights full-time as a 17-year old in 2019.
Now, more than four years later, the memory of the first time McGurn walked into the arena he would call home for his entire OHL career is still fresh.
“Coming to Budweiser Gardens for my first training camp, seeing the building and thinking this is crazy,” McGurn remembers.
At that moment the brand new Knights prospect could not exactly have envisioned one day being a team captain.
“I was just trying to make the team at that point,” McGurn laughs.
Diaco’s memories of games in London go back a whole lot further.
Diaco was born in London and figures he was about eight years old when he started closely following the Knights.
“It’s a true honour. It’s really hard to put words to it,” Diaco explains. “With the fan support just to be a part of this team and to wear the ‘C’ as well is such an honour.”
Diaco was a young fan as London was winning back-to-back OHL championships in 2012 and 2013.
“I still remember the big guys like (Max) Domi and Bo (Horvat) and even waiting to get autographs,” said Diaco.
Ironically, the former London Jr. Knight said he was handed a ball cap with a Knights logo on it to sign.
And Diaco now owns his own OHL championship ring.
He and McGurn don’t just share the captaincy. The pair is currently on equal six-game point streaks and will continue to lead the Knights as London goes after their sixth victory in eight games on Friday, Nov. 11, at home to the Barrie Colts at 7 p.m.
This marks the third time since the 2015-16 season that the Knights have named co-captains. Christian Dvorak and Mitch Marner shared the captaincy and led London to a Memorial Cup championship in 2016.
Four seasons later Liam Foudy and Alex Regula shared the “C” in a year that had all kinds of promise before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season and the OHL playoffs.
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