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Former NHLer, Gary Roberts, provides sound advice to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

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Pucker up for these pretty presents

<p>When you live in a hockey hotbed nestled between Toronto and Detroit, there&#8217;s really no way to completely get away from the sport during the summer. For Reid McNeill, that&#8217;s not a problem. When McNeill returns home to London, Ontario every summer, he finds himself in a city practically over-run with pro hockey players coming back to the place where they either grew up or started their careers.</p><p>Along with the chance to spend time with other pros, McNeill also takes advantage of the numerous summer hockey training programs offered in London. In fact, McNeill loves London so much, he sounds like he&#8217;s working for the tourism bureau when asked to talk about the good points of the city.</p><p>A highlight for McNeill was playing juniors for the London Knights, the same club he watched as a kid in the stands where he first saw a current NHL and Pittsburgh greats hit the ice.</p><p><strong>Player:</strong> Reid McNeill</p><p><strong>Hometown:</strong> London, Ontario</p><p><strong>Type:</strong> Urban</p><p><strong>Population:</strong> 366,151 (2011 Canadian Census)</p><p><strong>Distance from Wilkes-Barre:</strong> 391 miles</p><p><strong>What kind of a city is London?</strong> &#8220;It&#8217;s a hockey city. A lot of NHL players come through there - Drew Doughty, Logan Couture, Corey Perry, Pat Kane, Nazem Kadri, Brendan Shanahan, John Tavares to name a few. The list goes on and on of players who were born there or played for the London Knights. During the summers we have a pro skate and there&#8217;s about 40 guys - all pros. Former Penguin Danny Syvret runs it.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Were you a fan of the Knights while growing up in London?</strong> &#8220;I grew up watching the London Knights. We hosted the Memorial Cup in 2004-05 and that was the year London had the best junior team in the history of the CHL. They made it to the finals against Rimouski, who had Sidney Crosby. I went to every Memorial Cup game, second row, and I got to watch London win the Memorial Cup over Crosby. I actually got to chat with Sid and training camp about it. It was cool picking his brain about the experience.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Is London known for anything else in addition to hockey?</strong> &#8220;It&#8217;s a big university city. There&#8217;s several schools there with close to 45,000 to 50,000 students all in London. It&#8217;s a pretty busy city during the school year.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Maple Leafs or Red Wings?</strong> &#8220;It&#8217;s a big Maple Leafs city, but there are a lot of Red Wing and Habs fans too. I grew up in a Habs family, but I was a Detroit Red Wings fan myself. The other side of my family is all Leafs fans, so we had a mixture. But the London Knights are really the heart of that city.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Safe to call London a &#8216;hockey hotbed&#8217; in Canada?</strong> &#8220;Yes. They had a special on Hockey Night in Canada about all the guys that live in London, grew up there or played for the Knights and the list is unbelievable. They hold the rookie tournament there and the arena, Budweiser Gardens, is beautiful. It holds 9,000 fans and they fill it every game for the Knights.&#8221;</p><p><strong>What do you do for fun in London outside of hockey? </strong>&#8220;A lot of golf. There&#8217;s also a beach called Grand Bend just outside, and Toronto is only two hours away, as is Detroit and Buffalo going the other way. You&#8217;re pretty central to a lot of cool areas. The downtown is full of sports bars and restaurants, and there&#8217;s always festivals going on downtown in Victoria Park.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Would you like to move back to London one day? </strong>&#8220;Absolutely. I moved to Toronto one summer, but every other summer I&#8217;ve gone back home. It&#8217;s so convenient for me with so many pro hockey players and hockey programs there. It&#8217;s also nice to unwind and get home after the season and stay with family and friends. I&#8217;m proud to call it my hometown.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">McNeill </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_McNeill.jpg</photo0><caption0>McNeill </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

My Hometown with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Reid McNeill