Misplaced Pages

#283716

38-742: Founded in 1960 as the Hespeler Shamrocks, the team became the Cambridge Shamrocks in 1979 due to a town amalgamation. In 1982, the Shamrocks were purchased by Joe Holody and moved to Guelph to become the farm team to the Guelph Platers (OHL). The team kept the "Platers" moniker until 1996, despite their parent club moving and stranding them to become the Owen Sound Platers in 1989. The team became known as

76-899: The BCHL in the 2024–25 season. The regular season league champions receive the Dave Duchak Trophy. The playoff champions receive the Inter Pipeline Cup (previously known as the Carling O'Keefe trophy and Gas Drive Cup). The winner of the AJHL playoffs continues on to play in the Centennial Cup tournament, which determines Canadian Junior A champion. The early 1960s saw a much different junior hockey scene in Alberta than what currently exists. The Edmonton Oil Kings were

114-474: The Blackfalds Bulldogs , Brooks Bandits , Okotoks Oilers , Sherwood Park Crusaders , and Spruce Grove Saints would join the BCHL in the 2024–25 season , the teams' remaining AJHL games for the 2023–24 season were cancelled. An official statement from the AJHL said that it had received expressions of interest from "various partners and stakeholders" about joining the league. In April 2024,

152-880: The CMC's until 1972, the Biltmore Mad Hatters until 1975, and then took on the name Platers. The Platers were promoted to the Ontario Hockey League in 1982 and moved to Owen Sound in 1989. The franchise played in the Guelph Memorial Gardens . The CMC's were founded as members of the Central Junior B Hockey League, now the Ontario Junior Hockey League , in 1968. In 1970, the CMC's merged with and took

190-694: The Canadian Hockey League . In 1986, the Guelph Platers caught the entire Canadian Hockey League off-guard. Led by coach Jacques Martin , the team reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history by finishing second in the Emms Division (Western Conference). The Platers continued their hard work through the playoffs, winning the J. Ross Robertson Cup by defeating the Belleville Bulls 8 points to 4 in

228-737: The National Hockey League (NHL), including Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier . One of the AJHL's most famous franchises, the Red Deer Rustlers , joined the league in 1967, capturing the championship in their first season. The Rustlers had attempted to join the Western Canada Junior Hockey League , but were blocked by the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association , and instead placed in the AJHL. In 1971,

266-588: The Portland Winter Hawks (hosts), Kamloops Blazers (WHL Champs) and the Hull Olympiques (QMJHL Champs. Guelph finished first in the round-robin and took a bye to the finals, where they would play the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL for the championship. The surprise season ended with two pairs of surprise goals 11 and 13 seconds apart respectively. The Platers won the game 5–2 to capture

304-753: The 1971–72 season. In the Ontario Championship, they took on the Thunder Bay Vulcans of the now defunct Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League . The CMC's were leading 3-games-to-2 (5-4, 5–4, 3–7, 0–7, 6-2) when they won the series by default after the Vulcans discontinued. Moving onto the Eastern Canadian Final, the CMC's faced Charlottetown from the Island Junior Hockey League . The result of

342-608: The AJHL approved a request from the St. Albert Steel to relocate the team from St. Albert to Whitecourt to become the Whitecourt Wolverines . On January 20, 2024, the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) announced that the Blackfalds Bulldogs , Brooks Bandits , Okotoks Oilers , Sherwood Park Crusaders , and Spruce Grove Saints would join the BCHL in the 2024–25 season . Following

380-627: The AJHL champ played for the Doyle Cup against the champion of the British Columbia Hockey League . The winner of the Doyle Cup then advanced to the national championship tournament. From 2013 to 2017, instead of the Doyle Cup, the AJHL playoff winner participated in the Western Canada Cup . Teams from the AJHL have captured the Centennial Cup 11 times, as Canadian Junior A champions. The championship trophy had previously been named

418-542: The Beef King's place. Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League ( AJHL ) is an Alberta -based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. The 2023–24 season began with 16 teams, however 5 teams did not finish the season after it was announced that they planned to join

SECTION 10

#1732798090284

456-599: The Centennial Cup. Platers CMC's/Mad Hatters SOJHL Years OPJHL Years The Guelph Platers played at the Guelph Memorial Gardens located in downtown Guelph. The team and the arena played host to the OHL All-Star game in 1984. Demolition of the Gardens began in 2006. The City of Guelph was unhappy with the fact that their Junior A team had been moved to Kitchener in 1963. Left with only

494-802: The Edmonton Mets, then moved to Spruce Grove to become the Spruce Grove Mets in 1974. They lasted only three seasons in Spruce Grove; however, they won the AJHL title twice, and the Manitoba Centennial Trophy in 1975. In 1976, they moved again to become the St. Albert Saints , where they won three more league titles. In 2004, the team returned to Spruce Grove as the Spruce Grove Saints . This well-travelled franchise has sent over 30 players into

532-720: The Fire in 1996 for four seasons before rebranding once again as the Dominators until 2009. The team first played in the Central Junior C Hockey League , a league now known as the Western Junior C Hockey League . In 1970, they joined the Mid-Ontario Junior B Hockey League , and in 1971 joined the new Central Junior B Hockey League , the precursor to the Ontario Junior Hockey League . In 1974 they moved to

570-819: The Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters. The Biltmores won the SOJHL championship again in 1975, then defeated the Smiths Falls Bears of the Central Junior A Hockey League in 6 games (8-3, 3–4, 7–2, 6–4, 3–6, 5-2) to reach the Centennial Cup finals a second time. The Biltmores were defeated 4-games-to-2 (3-4, 2–3, 4–1, 5–2, 6–3, 6-5 OT) by the Spruce Grove Mets of the Alberta Junior Hockey League . The 1975 Biltmores were bolsterted on defence by late season pick-up Craig Hartsburg of Minnesota North Stars fame. Following

608-679: The Guelph CMC's at the OHA Junior B level, the City jumped at the 1968 offer of the newly-renegade Western Ontario Junior A Hockey League to give the city a new Junior A team. After a pair of losing seasons and a name change to the Beef Kings, the league was reincorporated into the OHA as a Tier II Junior A league and the franchise being bought out by the CMC's. From that point on, the CMC's took

646-659: The Guelph Holody Platers. The team remained in the SOJHL for the next two years, finishing first both times. The SOJHL folded in 1977. Two of its four teams, Guelph and the Hamilton Mountain A's , became part of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior "A" League . The Platers, featuring future Montreal Canadiens goaltender Brian Hayward , won the 1977–78 Manitoba Centennial Trophy as national Junior 'A' champions. It

684-788: The Memorial Cup. Fame was short-lived for the Platers however. The team suffered through more losing seasons with poor attendance. After the 1988–89 season, the Holodys moved the team to Owen Sound , Ontario , retaining the name "Platers". Alec Campagnaro was given the Bill Long Award for distinguished service to the OHL in 1989. Jacques Martin was a former NCAA goalie turned coach. In his one year in Guelph, he completely turned around

722-689: The Royal Bank Cup. After a game on February 21, 1980, the AJHL was shaken by a tragedy. Twenty-year-old Trevor Elton, Captain of the Sherwood Park Crusaders was hit cleanly along the boards by a player on the St. Albert Saints in St. Albert . Elton landed and went into convulsions and died later that night while in hospital. On November 26, 2010, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and Drayton Valley Thunder played

760-711: The Rustlers captured the first Manitoba Centennial Trophy as national Junior A champions. The Rustlers, who featured all six Sutter brothers who would go on to the NHL, won eight AJHL titles and two Centennial Trophies during their existence. They were expelled from the league, however, in 1989, and formally folded in 1992 when the Red Deer Rebels joined the WHL. In 1971, the Calgary Canucks were founded following

798-648: The Waterloo-Wellington Junior B League, which, in 1977, became the Midwestern Junior Hockey League and have been there ever since. During the mid to late 90s the Guelph Platers operated as the "farm team" for the Guelph Storm . They would wear the same colour scheme as the original team (with the classic lightning bolt theme) and played out of Guelph Memorial Gardens. While the team generally did not fare well on

SECTION 20

#1732798090284

836-587: The announcement, the teams' remaining AJHL games for the 2023–24 season were cancelled, and nearly all trace of the five departing teams, including statistics for the current and previous seasons, had been removed from the AJHL website. The 2023–24 season began with 16 teams organized into 2 divisions; the North Division and the South Division. Following the announcement in January 2024 that

874-583: The demise of the Cowboys and Buffaloes. Today, the Canucks are the oldest franchise still operating in the AJHL. It was founded with a mandate to focus on giving Calgary-area kids a place to play while focusing on their educational needs. The Canucks have captured a league record ten AJHL championships and won the Centennial Cup in 1995, the Canadian Championship of Junior A hockey, now known as

912-539: The final. Guelph travelled to the Memorial Cup that year, bringing home the national championship to complete their Cinderella season. The Memorial Cup championship of 1986 was hosted by the Western Hockey League , with games originally scheduled for New Westminster, British Columbia , but were switched to Portland, Oregon due to a hotel shortage caused by Expo '86 . Their opponents would be

950-580: The first modern-era regulation outdoor junior hockey game, at MacDonald Island in Fort McMurray . The game was known as the "Northern Classic". The 5,000 tickets available for the game sold out in less than an hour, and consequently broke the league attendance record of 4,400. A new attendance record was set in 2017 as 5,989 fans watched the Okotoks Oilers and Spruce Grove Saints play the last game at Northlands Coliseum . On May 2, 2012,

988-637: The franchise making them into national champions. He was awarded the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the year in 1986. The following year he was hired as the head coach of the NHL St. Louis Blues . 18 - Paul Fendley , a member of the SOJAHL 's Guelph CMC's who died in an on-ice accident at Guelph Memorial Gardens in 1972. His number has not been issued to a player since, by the Guelph CMC's, Guelph Platers, or Guelph Storm. Paul Fendley's number

1026-407: The game. He tried to catch his balance while still handling the puck and lost his helmet in the process, falling and striking the bare back of his head on the ice. Fendley was the 1972 SOJHL Leading Scorer with 20 goals and 24 assists in 43 games. He also scored 14 goals and 18 assists in 26 playoff games before his accident. The game in which he was fatally injured was the final and clinching game of

1064-453: The ice during most of this period, they had several players drafted into the OHL, receive walk-on tryouts to Major Junior teams, and US college scholarships. Eventually the Platers would become the Guelph Fire. This lasted just four seasons before the team was purchased by a local pizza shop owner who rebranded the team as the Guelph Dominators. In 2009, the Dominators became the Guelph Hurricanes, calling Sleeman Centre home. In May 2018, it

1102-545: The last season for the Platers in the OHA-A. As they won their second Dudley Hewitt Cup, they were announced as the latest expansion team of the Ontario Hockey League. After being turned down as an OHL expansion team in 1981, Guelph was approved the next year for the 1982–83 season. Guelph's first season in the OHL was dismal. The team set OHL records at the time for losing 63 of their 70 games, for most home and away losses, and most goals against in one season with 555. All of these records have since been surpassed by other teams in

1140-450: The league announced that the Devon Xtreme would join the North Division as an expansion team in the 2024–25 season . The AJHL playoff championship cup was originally known as Carling O'Keefe Cup before it began going by several other sponsored names: The winners of the AJHL playoffs then advance to the Centennial Cup tournament, which determines the Canadian Junior A champions. Historically, from 1971 to 2012 and from 2018 to 2019,

1178-432: The only true Junior-A-calibre team in the province and drew most of the top talent Alberta had to offer. The Oil Kings were the Western Canadian champions from 1962 until 1966, Abbott Cup champions in 1954 and from 1960 to 1966, and Memorial Cup national champions in 1963 and 1966. In 1966, the Oil Kings helped create the Western Hockey League . The issue in 1964 was that there were hundreds of junior-calibre players in

Cambridge Redhawks - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-424: The place of the Guelph Beef Kings of the Western Junior "A" Hockey League (formerly the Western Division of the Big 10). The league was reincorporated into the Ontario Hockey Association and changed its name to the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League for the 1970–71 season. CMC was an acronym for Central Mechanical Contractors. After two years playing in the SOJHL, the CMC's won the Junior 'A' league title, in

1254-452: The province, but really only one team to play for. A group of business and hockey people got together in 1964 and decided to form a Junior "A" league in an attempt to truly develop Alberta hockey. The original league consisted of the Edmonton Safeway Canadians , the Edmonton Maple Leafs , the Lethbridge Sugar Kings , Calgary Cowboys , and the Calgary Buffaloes . The Edmonton Safeway Canadians and Maple Leafs later merged in 1971 to become

1292-399: The season, the Biltmores were bought by the Holody family, the owners of a local electroplating company. The Holodys changed the team name to the Guelph Holody Platers. In 1975, the Biltmores of the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League (SOJHL) were bought by Guelph , Ontario 's wealthy Holody family, the owners of a local electroplating company. The Holodys changed the team name to

1330-417: The series was a four-game sweep (5-2, 6–3, 5–2, 5-2), in favour of Guelph. Guelph travelled to the Centennial Cup versus the Red Deer Rustlers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League . The CMC's swept the Rustlers (4-2, 3–2, 3–1, 3-0), taking the National title. The team was coached by Bill Taylor and starred Paul Fendley, Doug Risebrough , and John Van Boxmeer . In 1972 the CMC's changed their names to

1368-441: Was announced the Hurricanes were relocating back to Cambridge , taking over the market recently occupied by the Cambridge Winter Hawks who left the league in 2017. Guelph Platers The Guelph Platers were a junior ice hockey team based in Guelph , Ontario, Canada. The team played in the Ontario Hockey League , Ontario Junior Hockey League , and Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League . They were originally known as

1406-446: Was officially retired on Nov 15, 2008. Paul Fendley of Georgetown, Ontario was a member of the 1971-72 Guelph CMC's who died as a result of an on ice accident at Guelph Memorial Gardens during Guelph's Centennial Cup 1972 victory. The 19-year-old player died at Kitchener-Waterloo General Hospital on May 8, 1972, seventy-three hours after striking his head on the arena ice. Fendley was checked by an opponent with 11 minutes to play in

1444-405: Was the second national title for the franchise, which had also won the Centennial Cup in 1972 as the CMC's. In 1978–79, the Platers became the first team to win the Dudley Hewitt Cup as provincial champions. In the 1980–81 season, the Platers reached the Tier II championship for southern Ontario, but were defeated by another future OHL team, the Belleville Bulls . The 1981–82 season proved to be

#283716