from Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press,

Bo Horvat was pooped.

He was just wrapping up his final summer workout at the Total Package Hockey training centre in the bowels of the Western Fair sports centre.

He was officially ready to fly back to Vancouver.

Jarred Tinordi, the Montreal Canadiens defenceman, sensed a glorious opportunity.

"Bo had the power clean (lift) record in the gym," Mitch Stewart, the TPH trainer and current strength and conditioning coach of the London Knights, said. "It was his last day here, he was kind of tired and Tinordi says, 'I'm going to break Bo's record'. So he did it -- 295 pounds -- and Bo was pissed.

"Now, he doesn't have a chance to beat it until he comes back after his NHL season."

That, in the competitive gym culture of pro hockey players, is known as a prank well played.

All over London and southwestern Ontario this summer, the men and boys who will entertain us by chasing pucks for the next nine months have been preparing their bodies for the work to come.

The gym Stewart oversees has been an epicentre of that iron-pumping pursuit for many years.

The impressive part isn't just the growing number of London-bred stars hanging around the place. It's the guys who aren't from this area -- the former Knights and friends -- who keep coming back.

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