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<\/p>\nAs a part of our prospects coverage this season on LA Kings Insider, please welcome Jon Paul Morosi to the Insider family! A new Insider for the Insiders! Morosi will provide first-person coverage of several LA Kings prospects, centering around coverage from the World Junior Summer Showcase and the 2027 World Junior Championships. <\/p>\n
Jimmy Lombardi had earned the right to wear the Team Canada jersey. There was only one problem: His parents couldn\u2019t find him on the ice.<\/p>\n
In photos of practices at the World Junior Summer Showcase, John and Lorrie Lombardi noticed their son was wearing No. 11. So as those red sweaters whirred around the WFCU Centre ice during the warmup for Wednesday\u2019s opener against Sweden, John and Lorrie searched for that number. Eddie Lombardi, Jimmy\u2019s younger brother, scanned the ice, too.<\/p>\n
When they finally found No. 11, the nameplate said RUDOLPH and not LOMBARDI.<\/p>\n
Panic set in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought he got scratched,\u201d Lorrie said.<\/p>\n
Had they driven four hours from their home in The Beaches section of Toronto, only to watch Jimmy sit upstairs in a polo shirt?<\/p>\n
No. A moment later, they saw him: the skating strides they\u2019d watched him develop with the Don Mills Flyers, the determination that led to this first-ever opportunity to play for Hockey Canada.<\/p>\n
Turns out, Canada gave him No. 23 \u2014 a number Lombardi won\u2019t wear for the Los Angeles Kings, who drafted him in the fourth round last year, because the franchise has retired it in honor of Dustin Brown. Lombardi was assigned No. 10 with the Flint Firebirds, with whom he had a breakout, 36-goal campaign in the Ontario Hockey League last season.<\/p>\n
But what\u2019s in a number, anyway? Lombardi is here, playing for the junior national team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was coming in as the new guy,\u201d Lorrie said. \u201cThat\u2019s nerve-wracking, but he was excited and ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
It showed. Lombardi scored on his very first shift, as he showed equal parts patience and grit to curl in the remnants of a goal-mouth scramble initiated by Canadian winger Tyler Hopkins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat goal was a perfect example of what he\u2019s developed in the last few years in the OHL, as a leader in Flint,\u201d John said. \u201cHe could have backhanded it right into the goalie\u2019s chest. But he took it around and tucked it in. That composure, in your first shift of a Team Canada game? Wow. That\u2019s amazing. You\u2019ve arrived, man. I was so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canadian fans in the vicinity of John, Lorrie, and Eddie didn\u2019t realize they were seat-neighbors of the goal scorer\u2019s family \u2014 until their celebration revealed their identity in an unbridled, unrehearsed, unforgettable way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started jumping up and down like fools,\u201d Lorrie said, laughing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jimmy Lombardi\u2019s family \u2014 father, John; brother, Eddie; mother, Lorrie \u2014 after he scored in his first-ever Canadian national team game at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario, on July 29<\/p>\n
Jimmy\u2019s hockey journey helps to explain their reaction. He didn\u2019t hit his growth spurt until Grade 10. He\u2019s always had plenty of skill, but it\u2019s difficult to forecast stardom for a 130-pound teenager.<\/p>\n
Now he stands 6-0 and weighs 187 pounds, with a scoring touch that has become more prominent with each passing year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first Hockey Canada camp, so I\u2019m super excited to be here,\u201d Lombardi said. \u201cEverything is so pro. Getting right into it, all the meetings. The staff and players are great. I\u2019ve never gotten the invite before. This is probably the most important camp. Saved the best for last.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lombardi\u2019s path to the final Team Canada roster for the 2027 World Juniors in Alberta could be as a smart, dependable center with strong penalty-killing credentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an intriguing player for us,\u201d said Alan Millar, the Team Canada general manager. \u201cHe\u2019s got good energy, good speed, has really good puck skills, obviously had a really good year in Flint. He\u2019s a guy who hasn\u2019t spent a lot of time in our programs. This is an opportunity for us to get to know him better, and for him to understand what the expectations are to put the jersey on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his hockey development, Jimmy benefited from the wise perspective of parents who work as physical education teachers. He played on the same local team, with his best friends, for seven seasons of youth hockey.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was never on the top team,\u201d Lorrie said. \u201cIt never felt like he was chasing other teams. He was really happy where he [was] and trying to win with the team he was on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lombardi relies on a network of coaches, familiar and new, to broaden his skillset. Since being drafted by the Kings, Lombardi has worked on the art of winning draws with Jarret Stoll, the two-time Stanley Cup winner who serves on the team\u2019s player development staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of the year, my face-offs weren\u2019t as good,\u201d Lombardi said. \u201cThen he came in, gave me a couple pointers about draws, and I started winning a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lombardi was only 5 years old when he began working with Rob Desveaux, the renowned skills coach who heads the 3 Zones Hockey School in Ajax, Ontario. One summer day in 2016, Jimmy and Eddie were delighted by an unexpected visitor to the rink: the Memorial Cup, in the possession of then-London Knights forward Mitch Marner.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Marner has become a favorite player of the Lombardi family; last summer, Desveaux decided that Jimmy earned the right to work with Marner in a small-group session.<\/p>\n
A very small group: Desveaux, Marner, and Lombardi.<\/p>\n
John made sure to capture some video of the trio on the ice together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was pretty special,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Jimmy Lombardi met Mitch Marner \u2014 one of his favorite NHL players \u2014 through Rob Desveaux, a renowned hockey skills coach in the Toronto area. After Marner won the 2016 Memorial Cup with the London Knights, he brought the trophy to a summer skate and took a photo with Jimmy and Eddie Lombardi.<\/p>\n
The Lombardi family has NHL ties through John\u2019s mother, Evelyn Garrett. Evelyn\u2019s brother was John Garrett, the beloved Vancouver Canucks broadcaster and former NHL goaltender who died earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Kings GM Ken Holland played with Garrett in the Hartford Whalers organization. It was Holland who called Jimmy \u2014 his longtime friend\u2019s great-nephew \u2014 with the news that he had been drafted.<\/p>\n
Jimmy and Eddie grew up surrounded by Hockey Canada sweaters at home, dreaming but never knowing if either would wear the Maple Leaf in an official capacity. Eddie is entering Grade 12 at Malvern Collegiate Institute in Toronto, where he plays football, hockey, and lacrosse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shared a room until about five years ago,\u201d Eddie said. \u201cIt was flags and posters of the guys playing for the team \u2014 all Canada stuff. It was unreal to see my brother wearing the jersey. You hear everyone wants to. Everyone thinks, \u2018I\u2019ve got a chance.\u2019 It\u2019s pretty awesome to see him actually put on the jersey and score a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of John\u2019s most treasured hockey possessions is a Wayne Gretzky Team Canada jersey, an impulse buy in downtown Toronto as he and Lorrie celebrated Canada\u2019s gold medal victory in men\u2019s hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were marching down Yonge Street with tens of thousands of people,\u201d John said. \u201cI almost brought it today. Then I thought, \u2018No, it\u2019s an exhibition game. He\u2019s not even officially on the team. I\u2019ll wait.\u2019 I\u2019ll wear that if he goes to Edmonton.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Jimmy Lombardi keeps playing like he did on Wednesday night, his dad should have that opportunity.<\/p>\n
What a finish by Jimmy Lombardi! \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n
Quelle belle touche finale de Jimmy Lombardi! \ud83d\udd25 pic.twitter.com\/ZSWQirg5ZS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n