Corey Perry remembers playing on what felt like hockey’s biggest stage well before reaching a Stanley Cup final.
The year was 2005. The NHL was locked out. Rabid fans in Canada were starved for high-level hockey.
Perry’s powerhouse London Knights, meanwhile, were hosting a Memorial Cup headlined by 17-year-old Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Océanic, captivating fans across the country.
“It was pretty much on the North American stage,” said Perry, now 40 and chasing the Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers. “No NHL, and Sid being in Rimouski. And then our team, the season that we had.
“Well worth the watch because there's nothing else going on.”
This year’s Memorial Cup, which began last Friday and runs through Sunday, marks the 20th anniversary of the famous ‘05 tournament in London, Ont.
And the parallels between the two editions are striking.
London’s back — and once again, coach Dale Hunter’s got a team stacked with NHL prospects. Rimouski’s back too, this time as host.
And while Crosby stole the spotlight 20 years ago, the star this year is 17-year-old Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers, another phenom expected to take the NHL by storm in a couple of seasons.
The 2025 tournament also carries a stellar field — with fierce competition in tight round-robin matchups through Monday — but the 2005 Memorial Cup still resonates two decades later.
“In 04-05, there were some special players on that ice who are still playing,” Hunter said.
The defending champion Kelowna Rockets — featuring future Hall of Fame defenceman Shea Weber — were also in the tournament alongside the Ottawa 67’s, led by Hall of Fame coach Brian Kilrea.
"Everyone was looking for entertainment, and junior hockey was on the map,” Kilrea said.
Now 90, Kilrea still recalls what undid his team that year.
“That Sidney Crosby, we just couldn't stop him,” he said. “Whenever he had the puck, he was beating somebody and either setting up or scoring a goal. He was phenomenal.
“Everyone knew that you had to stop Sidney Crosby. Well, we didn't. London did."
Crosby led the tournament with six goals and 11 points, including a three-goal, two-assist performance in a 7-4 win over Ottawa in the semifinal.
London then slowed “Sid the Kid” down with a 4-0 victory in the championship game, after edging Rimouski 4-3 in an overtime thriller to begin the event.
The 2005 Knights were named the Canadian Hockey League’s “Team of the Century” in 2018. London began the season on a 31-game unbeaten run on the way to 59 wins and 120 points, Ontario Hockey League records that still hold up today. Eleven players later made the NHL.
“Special team, pretty special group of guys,” said Perry, the Memorial Cup MVP who returned to London and reunited with his former teammates for a 20th anniversary celebration in March. “A lot of NHL players ended up playing on that team and had great careers.”
With no NHL and Crosby as the star attraction, the event became a spectacle for fans and the media.
Kelowna Rockets owner Bruce Hamilton remembers a party atmosphere in London, inside and outside the arena.
Spectators packed the 9,000-capacity John Labatt Centre, now Canada Life Place, and thousands more watched a big screen outdoors.
“It was a major event there, and I remember the whole downtown was alive,” said Hamilton, who’s also the Rockets’ president and GM. “They had the big tent outside, there was a street party that was going on, and it was packed every day.”
Rimouski forward Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Crosby’s linemate, can still picture the steady stream of cameras and microphones flooding the dressing room after games and practices.
"I was still in junior, but I felt like we were professional with all the big TV (networks),” said Pouliot, who played 192 NHL games. “I had never seen anything like this before.”
PLAYING WITH SID
Pouliot had grown accustomed to the buzz after two seasons with Crosby, instantly the QMJHL’s best player when he entered the league at 16.
“He's playing a pre-season game and scoring hat tricks and having like five or six breakaways,” Pouliot said. “Right away, we knew he was the real deal.”
Crosby led the league with 135 points in 2003-04 before exploding for 168 in 62 games in 2004-05, finishing 52 points ahead of second-leading scorer Dany Roussin, his Rimouski linemate.
Pouliot said Crosby’s physical strength and burst of speed were next-level, but what stood out most was his maturity and commitment to detail, including his superstitious pre-game rituals.
No one was allowed to touch No. 87’s stick before games. Crosby also followed a step-by-step process for putting on equipment, including some gear he still holds onto.
“I don't know if it was his jock or his underwear, but I'm sure he's still wearing this, or somehow kept it 20 years after,” said Pouliot, who still keeps in touch with the Pittsburgh Penguins captain.
Despite Crosby’s intensity at the rink, Pouliot said he was an easygoing guy who liked to crack jokes.
“He's very humble, that was a plus,” he said. “You never know with those superstars, how they act off the ice, but this guy was really humble and a really amazing guy.”
— With files from Gemma Karstens-Smith.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
