The London Knights confirmed Thursday that former head coach Wayne Maxner has died. He was 80 years old.
Maxner served as the head coach of the Knights for four seasons from 1986 to 1990, leading the Knights to an Emms Division title in his final year in 1989-90.
“Our thoughts are with Wayne’s family and friends,” the Knights said in a social media post.
A native of Halifax, Maxner was the leading goal scorer of the Ontario Hockey Association (the OHL’s predecessor) in 1962-63 while playing for the Niagara Falls Flyers.
He would turn professional the next year and go on to play professionally for 10 years, most notably 62 games with the Boston Bruins. Other professional stops came in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Hershey, Pa., Long Island, N.Y., Montreal and Springfield, Mass.
After his playing days, Maxner had three stints as the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires, with his first the longest between 1975 and 1980. Maxner then led the Adirondack Red Wings in the AHL before being promoted to the NHL as head coach of Detroit for two seasons until 1982.
Maxner would then return to Windsor for a single season before a single season in Sudbury in 1985-86 ahead of his London days.
While leading the Knights, Maxner compiled a 143-105-16 record. London reached the third round once in Maxner’s tenure, in 1988-89. After his Knights tenure, Maxner coached Windsor for two more seasons.
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