May. 23/25 Memorial Cup Availability – Denver Barkey (London Knights)
Another day at practice for you guys. Just uh you know, how are the wheels? How do they travel? And how excited are you guys to finally get this one started tomorrow? Yeah, the travel was fun obviously getting on a plane with the boys and you know, getting here last night with uh you know, the opening ceremonies and all that. It was really cool. Builds the excitement and you know to get out for two good practices before game one. You know, it’s uh it’s good for us to get our feet under us. Are you guys going to have an opportunity to check out the opening game of the tournament tonight and get a feel for how crazy the fans here are? Um, you know, we’re not going to be coming, but we’ll be watching, you know, back at our hotels and, um, you know, it’ll be exciting. It’s game one of, you know, biggest tournament, uh, we all look forward to our whole lives. So, um, you know, it’ll be exciting and fun to watch. Um, where are you at? 100%. Would you say? Uh, I’m feeling really good. Um, really confident and, you know, I’m just excited to get ready and get out there and play. Okay. Do you like would you say you’re you’re beyond what you were in game five of the South Final? Yeah, I think I’ve come a long way uh in the past, you know, week and a half. I think it was huge to get that series over with, you know, as quick as possible. Uh gave me a lot of time to rest and continue to heal. So, uh yeah, like I said, I’m I’m really confident, not really thinking about that, just uh you know, um trying to put my best foot forward and do whatever it takes, you know, to help our team win. When when we saw you here, you’re taking one-times and then I’m sure you’ve been working with the power play unit. You know, it struggled when you were gone and I think you add something dimension to it. Is that is that something where you you see you can help it you know the PP1 are are you there ready to go ready to go for that? Yeah, I think um you know we got a lot of good players on this team and you know we played a really good team in Ashawa and they had a good PK that you know did a good job of shutting us down and um you know I’m excited to get back on the ice with my teammates and you know I I bring a level of you know compete but also you know vision and being able to make and create plays. So, um, yeah, like like I said, I’m just excited to, you know, get on the ice and get this tournament underway. You you haven’t played a lot in the last month, but what do you expect of yourself here? Do you think you can drop right in here and be a factor? Yeah, 100 100%. I think um done done put a lot of work in this last uh you know, 3 weeks to a month. So, um yeah, like I said, I’m feeling really confident and you know, I’m ready to jump back into it and make an impact. Who who was the like to get you back to what we saw what happened to get back to where you are actually playing and and producing and stuff who was it Luca? Was it deer? How who uh helped you along the way there? I think it was the whole night staff to be honest. you know, everyone kind of um swooped in and helped me out big time and, you know, they they put all the resources in front of me and it was, you know, up to me to take advantage of those and I think we we worked together as a team, you know, me and the night staff and and we we we put as much work as we could uh into the healing rehab process and, you know, we’re really happy with where we’re at. We’re ahead of schedule, so you know, it’s all positives. It’s not a playoff series. It’s obviously a tournament. What did you learn from last year’s tournament you can bring into this? Yeah, exactly what you said. I think it’s a really short tournament. Every game, every shift, you know, matters uh so much. So for the guys that haven’t been here kind of stressing that uh you know to them before game one starts you know uh every shift you go go out there it matters so much. It comes down to one game at the end of the day and you know we got to be we got to be ready. How big is it also just to do other things rather than hang out in the hotel just practice. Yeah it’s it’s great being down by by the water here on the river. It’s it’s cool to just go out and go for a walk. It’s you know it’s relaxing and it’s something different for us. We don’t really have that uh you know back in London or or on in Ontario really. So um yeah it’s it’s a cool change of scenery. Tell us about the prep. the coaching staff preparing you forward. Obviously, you’re ready for Monton. Yeah. Uh obviously we haven’t played them, so um just just video for the most part. Um just watching how they play systems, all that. You know, every team here’s really good. They got top end talent, you know, a good goalender, good D. So, um we’ve done a lot of video and you know, I think I think we’re ready. Are you saying you don’t go down to Port Stanley in mid January and take a walk through the the snow? No. No, I don’t. That’s good. Have you seen Gavin McKenna and studied anything from him and any comments on his game and how how he is a challenge? Uh yeah, I got the chance to play against him at the World Junior camp this past uh I don’t know what it was, December now, but um you know, haven’t haven’t really played with him. Uh I played against him once, so um you know, obviously see a lot on social media. He’s a really good player. He he can make plays. He’s high in talent and you know, his competes there, too. So, um, you know, he’s a fun player to watch, but, uh, you know, he he’s our enemy this week. Danner, how similar is the feeling maybe this year or maybe how different is it this year compared to last year at about this time getting ready for game one? Uh, I think it’s pretty similar. I think it’s just really exciting right now. Um, that whole ceremony yesterday with the Jets and bringing the trophy, you know, up to the stage, it was I think it just builds a lot of excitement and passion within us to, you know, go get that trophy. So, I think right now we’re just really excited and looking forward to getting going tomorrow. This this place is amazing. Like, and for us that we’re here in09, it’s it’s it’s such a great environment. Do you think playing in London, uh, Kitchener, Ashawa, that sort of prepares you for this stuff? Yeah, I think playing in front of big crowds like that that are, you know, loud and they’re involved in the game, I think that helps prep us for, you know, situations like this where, uh, you know, the home team might score and the fans are into it. So, you know, I think we’ve dealt with that in the past and we’ve done a good job at, you know, battling back and and fighting through adversity, uh, when the fans are getting involved. So, um, yeah, like I said, um, confident in our team and I think we’re ready to go. You’ll probably be less anti anti-nuts than Yuri or Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
London Knights captain and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Denver Barkey spoke with the media prior to their first game at the 2025 Memorial Cup in Rimouski, Quebec.
Watch OHL Hockey Live on any device: https://watch.chl.ca/ohl
Breaking news, scores, stats & highlights: https://ontariohockeyleague.com
Follow the OHL on Social Media!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OHLHockey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohlofficial/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ohlhockey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OHLHockey/
#OHL #OntarioHockeyLeague #JuniorHockey #OHLHockey #NHLDraft