GMHL Growing Again

July 18, 2011

GRAVENHURST, ON - This off-season has certainly been a busy one for those leading the charge at the GMHL offices. With the league entering its 6th season on the heels of a very intriguing 2010-11 campaign, interest in the league surged and has resulted in a slew of new teams to learn in time for the start of this season.

First there were those who left the scene. The Oro-Medonte 77's shut down operations after 3 seasons of failing to break through to the elite group of teams in the GMHL. Always a tough game (especially on the road) for the Shield, the Highway 11 rivalry was one that became very heated at time likely due to the fact the squads featured many players who had stints with each team at one point or another such as Sylvester Spencer, Morgan Didsbury, Mark Wardell and Mike Telford. The Jamestown Jets also had to take a leave of absence due to a lack of ice time at their home arena which has spurred a legal battle between the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and their Jamestown Ironmen franchise - formerly the Motor City Metal Jackets. The Jets were a great addition to the fold last season and proved to be a very competitive bunch before bowing out to the Toronto Canada Moose in the GMHL Quarter-Finals.

Two teams that will enter the new season dawning new uniforms and colours are the Powassan Eagles (formerly Dragons) and the Lefroy Wave (formerly the Vaughan Wild). The former Dragons of Powassan were sold by Lui Ricci to a group from the Czech Republic headed by Mike Ilitky. The Dragons had a European flavour last season with the bunch of players from Poland and will certainly continue to have that Euro flair with the new ownership group in place actively recruiting in European countries. The Vaughan Wild has moved to Lefroy to become the Wave. They will play their home games in the South Innisfil Community Centre, the same rink that played host the Innisfil Lakers a mere season ago.

New to the GMHL line-up this season are teams based in Vaughan, Mattawa, Halton, Orangeville, as well as the return of Temiscaming, Quebec. With the Vaughan Wild moving to Lefroy, a new ownership group headed by Andrej Kluka and Gina Nickola was granted a franchise that will go by the name of the Vaughan Stars. The Mattawa Voyageurs will also take to the ice this season under the guidance of Dan Pedneaud and Marc Dumont who have left their positions with the Sturgeon Falls Lumberjacks to begin this new endeavour. The Halton Huskies will play out of Burlington, Ontario are now the most southerly team in the GMHL with the departure of the Jamestown Jets. The team in Orangeville is backed by the support of GMHL President Bob Russell similarly to how teams such as the Elliot Lake Bobcats and Innisfil Lakers were at various points in the past. They will play as the Orangeville Americans and there's no doubting that their roster will feature a large chunk of talent hailing from the US.

Undoubtedly the most notable new team taking the ice this season is the Temiscaming Titans. The GMHL is familiar with the Temiscaming area as the Temiscaming Royals joined the league in its second season only to join the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) the very next season. In their one season in the GMHL the team from Temiscaming finished second overall in the regular season before losing out to the Innisfil Lakers in the semi-finals. The Titans will be operated under an entirely different management group than what was previously in place with the Royals of old as they hope to renew the town's interest in the local junior team.

With all the changes to the GMHL this off-season the current count stands at 16 teams, a number that seems to lend itself all to easily to the creation of 2 divisions. Nothing has been made official as of yet with regards to the alignment for the upcoming season so anything is still possible. The Shield are the 8th most northerly team given the current set of teams so one would have to assume they would play in the Northern Division if the GMHL decides to go with a North-South alignment.

How would you align the GMHL this season Shield fans? Do you think playing in a northern division would create for some exciting rivalries? Or maybe you want to see more games against our old friend the Bradford Rattlers? We encourage you to let us know what you think on our Facebook page. I'm sure you have some interesting opinions on how all these additions will affect the Shield this year, and we'd LOVE to hear them!

- Garrett Hamel