Once a General, always a General

One of the Generals’ youngest players is being remembered after losing a brave battle to acute myeloid leukemia.

Alex McKeown, eight, signed a one-day contact with the team on Feb. 2, 2020 for a puck drop, an experience the Gens say the boy would say was one of the greatest days of his life.

“It’s amazing what effect a young person can have on your life in such a small amount of time,” says General Manager Roger Hunt. I only had the pleasure of being with Ali and his family for a few hours and I will never forget that day.”

He says the players and staff embraced the young boy the same way he embraced them.

“We meshed right away and he had us in his corner to the end,” Hunt continues.

According to the team, McKweown touched everyone he met that day, “truly defining what it means to be an Oshawa General.”

In one of many tweet from his teammates, Alan McShane expressed what McKeown meant to him and the team.

“We are grieving the loss of a member of our Generals family. Alex McKeown, a true symbol of strength and positive that inspired our whole organization,” he writes. “We will keep Ali close to us while battling on the ice, to honour his memory and the impact he had on us all.”

Generals’ Ty Tullio, David Jesus, and McShane each wrote “4Ali” on their gloves as they play out the remainder of their time in Slovakia.