The Rouyn-Noranda Capitales were a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Rouyn-Noranda , Quebec , Canada.
41-628: This defunct hockey team was a part of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League . The team disbanded to make way for their city's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League franchise, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies . The Capitales were the first Québécois team in NOJHL history. The Capitales left in 1996. There would not be a new Quebec-based team in the league until 2008 when the NOJHL allowed the expansion of
82-644: A 14.75 goals against per game. Players who have played for the organization include Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Chris Thorburn . Past greats include Doug McEwen who went on to become the all-time leading scorer for the Cardiff Devils in the British Hockey League and Shannon Hope who also had a lengthy career with Cardiff. For the 1997–98 season, the Vikings were renamed the Ice. In 1999
123-686: A deal fell through with a group from Kirkland Lake. With the Manitoulin Islanders relocated to Kirkland Lake, the team became the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils to commemorate the 1940 Allan Cup champions by the same team name. However, in December 2011, the Blue Devils were folding mid-season as a result of owner Bob Kasner being suspended for 6 months for roster violations. Days later, a new group came and created
164-562: A lease renewal with West Ferris Arena and also because of the thriving OHL market with the North Bay Battalion . The Espanola Rivermen were added to the NOJHL for 2013–14, but left after one season to join the non-Hockey Canada sanctioned Canadian International Hockey League . The Elliot Lake Bobcats relocated to Cochrane, Ontario and became the Cochrane Crunch , who became the league's most-northern team. Weeks later,
205-639: A member of the league, but opted to drop to the NOHA Jr. B Hockey League in 1971; the Canadiens joined them in 1972. The NOHA Jr. B Hockey League was formed in 1970 with a North and South division and teams in Capreol, Levak, Kapuskasing, amongst others. In their first season, the Capreol Hawks won the league championship. In 1971, Espanola jumped on board, followed by Chelmsford in 1972. In 1973,
246-405: A non-profit organization and relied on various fundraising activities to meet its financial requirements. Prior to the 1974 season, a new executive was elected, holding over several of the previous board of directors members, and John Berthelot Sr. was appointed as the new president and head coach. Through the generosity and assistance of two of the major creditors of the club, and with the work of
287-775: The Hearst Lumberjacks . In May 2023, the Cochrane Crunch announced they were moving to Iroquois Falls , and became the Iroquois Falls Storm . This would be the third franchise in Iroquois Falls, after the Iroquois Falls Eskis/Abitibi Eskimos (1999-2015) and the Iroquois Falls Eskis (2015-2017). The league had a single conference with 12 teams, as of the 2024–25 NOJHL season . In 2008–09,
328-785: The Ontario Major Junior Hockey League to compete in the higher league. The next best team, the North Bay Trappers , then chose to leave and joined the Ontario Hockey Association 's new Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League . With the top tier of talent gone, the only remaining team in the league was the Chelmsford Canadiens . A season before, the Espanola Screaming Eagles had been
369-874: The Owen Sound Greys 4-games-to-2 for the right to compete for the Dudley Hewitt Cup —the Central Canadian Junior "A" Championship. The next year, the Canadians were back and a new team known as the Thessalon Flyers entered the league. In 1988, the Haileybury 54's joined the league and in 1989 so did the Rouyn-Noranda Capitales . Thessalon folded in 1990, Haileybury moved to Powassan in 1991 and
410-745: The Royal Bank Cup as national champions. There were six teams in the NOJHL as of 2007. The 2006–07 league champions, the Soo Indians , took a year off in an attempt to sell the franchise. A year later, in 2008, they came back as the Soo Eagles . Also, in the summer of 2008, the Temiscaming Royals jumped from the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League to the NOJHL to expand the league to eight teams. Temiscaming
451-562: The Soo Thunderbirds were founded. Also in 1999, Parry Sound moved to a new OPJHL (founded in 1993). A year later, Nickel Centre moved to Blind River and the Sudbury Northern Wolves were founded. In 2002, Sturgeon Falls moved to North Bay. A season after that, a team from Manitoulin joined and Espanola jumped over to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan . Finally, in 2005, the league's most dominant team in history and
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#1732787900882492-550: The Temiscaming Royals . This Quebec -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Canadian ice hockey team-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) is a Junior ice hockey league and member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Northern Ontario Hockey Association . The winner of
533-556: The Timmins Golden Bears joined as well. A season later, Sudbury became Nickel Centre and then later folded. In 1994, Powassan moved to Sturgeon Falls and the Parry Sound Shamrocks joined the league. In 1996, Rouyn-Noranda folded to make way for a new Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team that was moving to their town. In 1999, Timmins moved to Iroquois Falls, Elliot Lake moved to Nickel Centre, and
574-655: The Canadians moved to Rayside-Balfour and became the Canadians. The Onaping Falls Huskies moved from Levack in 1974, and the Nickel Centre Native Sons , Coniston Flyers, and Sudbury North Stars joined in 1976 when the NOHA merged their small Juvenile league into Jr. B. In 1978, the top teams of the NOHA Jr. B Hockey League created the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and were promoted to Tier II Junior "A". With
615-689: The Elliot Lake Vikings. The team was fairly competitive until 1970 under the coaching of Barry Johnston, at a time when from 1966 to 1971 the dominant teams in the league were the Chapleau Huskies, the Blind River Beavers, and the Soo Michigan Indians. From 1971 to 1973, the team was poorly managed, was not competitive, and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The original charter for the team was set up as
656-795: The Elliot Lake market was replaced with the Elliot Lake Wildcats. Over the summer of 2015, the league saw the resurrection of the Rayside-Balfour Canadians , who were the Sudbury Nickel Barons from 2012 to 2015. The Sudbury Nickel Barons, for the second time pulled out of hosting the Dudley-Hewitt Cup due to the relocation and the lack of support in the community. The 2016 tournament was allocated to Kirkland Lake, Ontario and hosted by
697-885: The French River Rapids joined the league, the Espanola Express joined the league putting membership to a record 11 teams - the most the league has carried. In May 2015, the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League applied and were approved to return to the NOJHL after leaving in 2012 due to the Michigan-based NAHL teams either folding or relocating. In April 2017, the Iroquois Falls Eskis announced they were moving to Hearst, Ontario , and became
738-707: The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners to keep the team in the league. During the 2011–12 season, the NOJHL implemented concussion safety policy and drug testing programs. The NOJHL is the first league in Canadian Junior A hockey to target either of these hot button issues. In 2012, the Soo Thunderbirds became only the second NOJHL franchise to qualify for the Royal Bank Cup, ending a 10-year drought that saw no NOJHL franchise at
779-696: The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners. The Abitibi Eskimos left Iroquois Falls after 16 years to move to Timmins and become the Timmins Rock . Mattawa, the smallest market in the NOJHL lost the Mattawa Blackhawks to Iroquois Falls to replace the departed Abitibi Eskimos and became known as the Iroquois Falls Eskimos . The league grew to 10 teams with the addition of the French River Rapids of Noëlville, Ontario. Weeks after
820-528: The NOJHL granted expansion to Espanola. A community that have been without an NOJHL team since 2003 when the Screaming Eagles relocated to Northern Michigan. The re-addition brought the league up to 8 teams - the most since the 2004–05 season. The North Bay Trappers relocated out of North Bay to Mattawa at the end of the 2013–14 season and became the Mattawa Blackhawks because the Trappers were denied
861-638: The NOJHL instituted divisions. Overall champions are bolded . Elliot Lake Vikings The Elliot Lake Vikings were a Canadian junior ice hockey team that originally began playing in the International Junior B Hockey League in 1965. In 1981, the team moved to the Tier II Junior A Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League . The team was located in Elliot Lake , Ontario, Canada. The Elliot Lake Vikings junior hockey team
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#1732787900882902-585: The NOJHL playoffs competes for the Centennial Cup along with the winners of the 8 other tier 2 junior A leagues across Canada. The current incarnation of the NOJHL comprises twelve teams located in Ontario and Michigan . The teams are currently located in: Blind River , Iroquois Falls , Elliot Lake , Espanola , Hearst , Kirkland Lake , Noelville , Powassan , Rayside-Balfour , Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario , Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan , and Timmins
943-529: The Rangers home rink and later in Elliot Lake in front of crowds so big that the fire marshal was limiting fans to the building due to the size of the crowds. The Vikings did lose the series 3-games-to-2 to the Rangers. The team was made up of talent that had been developed in the local Elliot Lake organizations with one exception. The Vikings did so with players who benefited from Mr. Berthelot's controversial decision from 1975 as referenced above. Included on
984-702: The Royal Bank Cup, despite making the Dudley-Hewitt Cup finals three times since the round-robin format in 2002. Over the summer of 2012, the Sudbury Jr. Wolves severed ties with the OHL's Wolves and became the Sudbury Cubs, and that moniker only lasted one season and became the Sudbury Nickel Barons. The Michigan-based Soo Eagles would also leave to join the USA Hockey Tier II North American Hockey League . In 2013,
1025-412: The Vikings back then at the age of 14 and 15. Some of these players were very talented and their personal hockey careers may have gone further had they been given the opportunity to hone their skills within their appropriate age groups, rather than having been thrust into playing against 20-year-olds before they were ready. By 1976 the Vikings were a competitive team, ranking in the upper tier of teams in
1066-488: The club by way of sponsorship, but more importantly they agreed and enabled the team to properly recruit talent. A decision which proved to be controversial at the time, made by Mr. Berthelot and the executive of the club, was to stop the practice of bringing under-age players up from the Elliot Lake Minor Hockey System until they were of proper age to play Junior hockey. Many players came up to
1107-399: The executive, the team started rebuilding the club's finances. In 1974 the club had great difficulties in acquiring not just enough talented players, but often weren't even able to ice a full roster for games. During this time, the Blind River Beavers, the Soo Thunderbirds and the Soo Michigan Indians were the dominant teams. Starting in 1975, both Rio Algom Mines and Denison Mines assisted
1148-613: The five former Jr. "B" clubs and the Sudbury Cubs , the league was back in action. In 1981, the Elliot Lake Vikings jumped into the fold. In 1983, the Onaping Falls Huskies dropped out despite winning three league titles in the past four seasons. After a one-season hiatus, they came back for two more years and then folded for good. In 1986, Rayside-Balfour went on hiatus and Capreol folded, dropping
1189-713: The last remaining shred of the original NOJHL, Rayside-Balfour, folded. They did not go without leaving their mark. Early in the 2005–06 season, the Sudbury Northern Wolves became heavily involved with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves and the Northern Wolves became the Sudbury Jr. Wolves. The remaining players from the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats joined the Jr. Wolves. From 1996 until 2002, the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats won 7 straight NOJHL Championships, three Dudley Hewitt Cups , and once came within one win of winning
1230-625: The league and eventually lost a dramatic overtime loss in the final game of the League semi-finals against the Thessalon Flyers who would eventually lose out to the Soo Thunderbirds in the finals. During the rebuilding of the team's finances and competitiveness, another important footnote in Canadian Amateur Hockey history occurred. With the poor on ice performance and finances of the club there were few volunteers during
1271-539: The league down to four teams. The Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League, also down to four teams, operated with the NOJHL as essentially two divisions of the same league. With an interlocking schedule, the NOJHL survived the 1986–87 season, the OPJHL did not and folded after the season concluded. Also, after 8 years of trying and failing, an NOJHL champion defeated an OPJHL champion for the Ontario Hockey Association championship. The Nickel Centre Power Trains defeated
Rouyn-Noranda Capitales - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-553: The league finals to the Onaping Falls Huskies. The 1982–83 season proved to be the Vikings' most successful season ever, finishing second in the league standings, winning the NOJHL championship. They became the first NOJHL team to ever win a game against an Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League team, beating the North York Rangers in Guelph , Ontario , where the game was played due to arena scheduling conflicts with
1353-475: The league is spread across the southern region of Northeastern Ontario . The current NOJHL origins were in 1970 when the previous NOJHL was unstable footing while competing as a Junior "A" league. In Southern Ontario , the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League was looking to expand north and the league's two top teams, the Sudbury Wolves and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds , accepted an invitation from
1394-570: The league started off promising. They won the league in their second year and 6 of their first 9 seasons had above .500 records. In the 1982–83 season, the Vikings, as NOJHL Champions, took on the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League Champions, the North York Rangers , for the Ontario Hockey Association championship and the right to play the Thunder Bay Flyers for the Dudley Hewitt Cup . Elliot Lake lost
1435-602: The rebuilding years. In 1974, Mrs. Arlene Berthelot became the first woman to hold the position of manager (later to be referred to as a general manager) of a junior hockey club in Canada. She signed the NOHA card and acted as the manager, trainer (later joining Hockey Ontario in the Hockey Trainers Certification Program as one of the first Certified Hockey Trainers in the NOHA in 1979), team mother, and any did all other tasks as required to help
1476-403: The roster in the late 1980’s were Matthew Alpajaro, Robin Tessier, and Dean Bowles, three certified beauties. The one exception and only import player on the team was a highly skilled defenceman named Shannon Hope, who was acquired in a trade late in the season from the Capreol Hawks . The Vikings survived from 1981 through to 1997, and were renamed the Ice in the summer of 1997. Their stretch in
1517-459: The series 3-games-to-2. When the team was at its peak in the 1980s, fans either packed Centennial Arena or listened to Bobby Alexander calling the game on CKNR radio. Seemingly in 1990–91, the floor fell out from beneath them when the mines shut down. They would not see another winning season until 1998–99, their last season in the league. A low point in the team's history was the 1991–92 season. The team only had one victory in 48 games and averaged
1558-408: The team succeed. In 1979 a new executive was elected, with Gord Ouimet becoming the team's president. From 1976 until the team joined the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) in 1981, the team never finished lower than 3rd place in the league standings. During this time the team played in front of the largest crowds in the league. In their inaugural season in the NOJHL, the Vikings lost in
1599-440: The team's owner, Ian Mills, abruptly left the city and moved the franchise to Nickel Centre , where the franchise became the Nickel Centre Barons. After a year in Nickel Centre, they moved to Blind River as the Blind River Barons. They were renamed the Beavers for the 2001–02 NOJHL season. Most Shorthanded Goals, One Game: 3 - Denis Castonguay, Rayside Balfour, 1983–84 3 - Rob Demers, Elliot Lake, 1983–84 Fastest Goal, Start of
1640-431: Was founded and first played in the International Junior B Hockey League in 1965 under the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) jurisdiction. The league also consisted of the Blind River Beavers , Thessalon Flyers , Sault Ste Marie Thunderbirds (1976), Sault Ste Marie (Michigan) Indians, Wawa Travellers , Chapleau Huskies , and the Marquette Americans (1977). Peter Svela was the original catalyst for starting
1681-442: Was the second Québécois team in NOJHL history, after the Rouyn-Noranda Capitales who were in the league from 1989 to 1996. In the spring of 2011, the Royals failed to find new ownership and folded. The Manitoulin Islanders left Little Current, Ontario at the end of the 2010–11 season and relocated to Kirkland Lake, Ontario . At the same time, Temiscaming Royals owner Steve McCharles was attempting to sell his team, but folded after