1976 Valor Cup Tournament

 

1976 Valor Cup Tournament: Vancouver B.C.

Teams: Lethbridge Cougars, Kitchener Legionnaires, Moncton Bears.

Standings

Lethbridge Cougars: 3 W, 1 L.

Kitchener Legionnaires: 3 W, 1 L.

Moncton Bears: 0 W, 4 L.

Story:

This year's tournament was a successful showcase for both the Cougars and Legionnaires performed great as both teams finished in a tie for first place with three wins, one loss. As for the Bears, not so much as they finish a 0-4 record, and as the tournament rules go, if the last place team ends without a win, they are eliminated.

The Valor Cup Final was an epic back and forth game. In the first period, the Cougars draw first blood with Cliff Burns scoring two goals, followed by Herb Holmes putting in a goal to make it 3-1. The second period was a turning point for the Legionnaires where goalie Jake Phillips came in after Kirk Smith twisted his knee late in the first; Jake played so well it gave John Herbco to score with one minute left in the second to make 3-2. The third period is where John Herbco shines as he sets up a pass to defence Leon Kirkland as he slaps it and goes past goalie Tony Will into the net, and the game is tied 3-3 as the third period hits zero. For the first time in Valor Cup history, the finals will be decided in overtime. Shots after shots save after saves. With 3:50 minutes to go in overtime, John Herbco dash through two defensemen then shoots the puck and scores the Valor Cup clincher goal. As the Legionnaires celebrate a 4-3 overtime win, both Jake Phillips and Tony Will shake hands with each other in respect for their performance. The 1976 Valor Cup MVP John Herbco raises the Valor Cup as the Legionnaires become the first OMJHA team to win it all.

1976 Off-season

 

1976 WCLH Draft

Moose Jaw selects forward Kyle Ferrell of Edmonton, AB. Brandon Buffalos takes Pat Myles, a forward from Prince Albert, SK. The 3rd pick to the Nanaimo Sharks after a trade with Medicine Hat Hawks as they received forward Alex Jorden. The Sharks pick goalie Max Tayler of Surrey, B.C.

1976 OMJHA Draft

Ever since the Diamonds and Generals trade, some top teams offer players for draft picks, but both the Micmacs and the Admirals would not budge as they made their picks. Micmacs choose Milton local forward Bo Chapman. The Admirals select forward Shawn Greene of Barrie. The Generals wasted no time and picked forward Patrick Herbco of Thamesville. With Pat and some good players on their roster, the Generals are set for a deep run. Generals GM Todd Holmes said, "Get ready for a dynasty in the making!"

1976 AQHL Draft

Saint John, New Brunswick local forward Frank Logan becomes a Clipper as Portland took him 1st overall. Sherbrooke Loups rebuild continues as they take Christian Dupont, a forward from Saint-Jerome, QC. Trois-Rivieres Titans pick JP Laflamme, a forward from downtown Trois-Rivieres as he would be one of many locals to represent Trois-Rivieres for a deep run as team co-owner. Lance Chouinard said, "This is it! It is all or nothing for us, and we must finish first place no ifs or buts about it.

News

After a big meeting with owners within all three leagues during the Valor Cup tournament in Vancouver, they all agreed and sign in print that Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the location for the 1977 Valor Cup. The arena will be the Winnipeg Memorial Centre, formerly home of the Manitoba Pro Hockey Club.

Also, in the meeting, the owners had agreed to increase the numbers of games for both the season and in the playoffs, but only the 1976-77 playoff games will rise from the best 2 of 3 games in rounds 1 and 2 to the best 3 of 5, and the finals will be from the best 3 of 5 now the best 4 of 7 games. The season will increase from 40 games to 50 games a year later in 1977-78, just in time for the CIHA 5th anniversary.

 As speaking of 1977-78, the OMJHA have announced that they will be adding two more teams in their league. OMJHA will welcome Peterborough and Orangeville. For Orangeville, it is an excellent opportunity for the city. As for Peterborough, it is a significant return to the league as the city was once part of the OMJHA; from 1946 until 1961, the team folded from low attendants to high prices for travelling. "Today is a great day for both cities to be part of the top tier league," said OMJHA President Franklin Name.

The OMJHA is not the only league to add more teams; the AQHL is also adding two teams to the league but in a different way. 1977-78 season, the league welcomes Shawinigan, QC. While a year later, Manchester, New Hampshire, joins in, making them the 2nd American team to be part of the AQHL. John Rome said, "this is what this city needs after losing a minor pro hockey team that was part of the city in almost 40 years. Finally, we can have a team that we can cheer and enjoy the good old game of hockey."

WCLH got a taste of international flavour as the Nanaimo Sharks signs Kenta Takamachi, a forward from Osaka, Japan, who moved to Vancouver with his Uncle. "He played outstanding hockey in his homeland," said GM Paul Rowe, "but it's a risk to take from word of mouth, but after his tryout, I feel that this could pay off for us down the road."

The town of Lethbridge would hear one of sad news the Cougars star Cliff Burns got drafted 1st overall by the Vancouver Pro Hockey club, along with Tony Will got drafted in 2nd round by the Minnesota Pro Hockey club, and Shane Louis by the Denver Pro Hockey club in the 3rd round. With those three key players going pro and some other players they got could go pro or commit to a college, the writing is on the wall for the team being the top of the league. "This one will be a tough road for us, but we have been there and overcome it. This one will test us, and we will prevail," Cougars GM Rick Hill said.

In OMJHA, two teams made one of the most significant trades ever as Burlington Metros gets forward Thomas Marksman, defence Joe Edwards and Backup goalie Jake Mills. While the Waterloo Maroons received forward Sam O'Brian, defence Luke Stevenson, and goalie Roger Stevenson, this became a turning point for both teams. For the Maroons, it's a need in the hope of staying in contender form for the Smyth Cup. As for the Metros, they realize they need an overhaul after 5 top players from their roster got drafted in the Pro Hockey League draft.

1975-76 AQHL Season

 

Standings

1. Drummondville Les Rouges

2. Cape Breton Warriors

3. Moncton Bears

4. Fredericton Vikings

5. Verdun Knights

6. Laval Tigers

7. Portland Clippers

8. Trois-Rivieres Titans

9. Sherbrooke Loups

10. New Glasgow Highlanders

Story:

The Titans show some good progress from their previous season to make it bigger for them; they even beat the defending Bronz Cup champions Les Rouges twice. Those two wins help the Titans finished 8th place and enter the playoffs, where they gave Drummondville a run for their money. In the end, the Titans fell one win short as they got eliminated by the Les Rouges 2 games to 1.

The league would witness one of the most lopsided trades in history. The Highlanders traded forward Sam Wilkinsburg, goalie Nathen Williams and 1st round pick to the Portland Clippers for forward Paul Frank, forward Tim Keith, and 5th round pick. The trade looks good on paper, but Frank got injured and was out for the season, while Tim got the call to play for Denver Pro Hockey club; with them out, New Glasgow finished the last place and with the 1st round pick belongs to the Clippers the Highlanders are outside looking in. For the Clippers, it was not much improvement, but with the 1st pick in their hand, things are looking up in a big way.

Despite losing two games in the season series to an 8th seeded team, the Les Rouges squeezed in 1st place with a 3-1 win over the Verdun Knights and thanks to Fredericton Vikings 4-2 win over Cape Breton Warriors.

In the 1st round, it all top seed teams moving on, but in the 2nd round, both the league and the top 2 teams received a shocking upset. The first place Drummondville Les Rouges lost both games 2 and 3 to fourth place Fredericton Vikings after winning a 9-0 blowout win in game 1. Second place Cape Breton Warriors got swept by third-place Moncton Bears. What's worse for the Warriors, they got outscored by the Bears with a total score of 10-4 in 2 games.

In the all New Brunswick series, both teams went back and forth until game number 5. It was all Moncton where Forward Rick Wilson scored two big goals in the 3rd period as the Bears win the series and become the first maritime team to win the Bronz Cup.

1975-76 OMJHA season

 

Standings

1. Kitchener Legionnaires

2. Waterloo Maroons

3. Burlington Metros

4. Kitchener Generals

5. Guelph Crusaders

6. Oakville Oaks

7. Owen Sound Arrowbirds

8. Oshawa Diamonds

9. Barrie Admirals

10. Milton Micmacs

Story:

Before the season starts, the Diamonds made a vital trade with the Generals. The Diamonds get forward Greg Lewis in, the 2nd round and 3rd round. While the Generals take 1st round, 5th round and forward Jack Hillmen. This trade benefits the Generals as they finished 4th place, while the Diamonds take 8th place and show better things to come soon in Oshawa.

The big news that happened was the Milton Micmacs as the team fired head coach Jim Jackson after winning only 2 out of the first 20 games. Shawn Harper became the team's new coach as they would win four more games and finish in tenth place.

With all rumours about teams being relocated during the off-season, the Owen Sound Arrowbirds are not on the list as the city agreed in adding more years to the arena lease. Trevor Thunder, the team's owner, hopefully, makes enough money to build a new arena and keep the team in Owen Sound. 

Another Coaches change in the league happened in Waterloo; the Maroons hire Louis Kelly to coach after Ron Pool stepped down for personal reasons as the team finished 2nd with a big 15-game winning streak.

In his second season with the Legionnaires, John Herbco became the team's captain after Roger Walton got the call to play for the New York pro hockey club. John steps up to the plate as the team leader and leads them to 35 wins, two losses, and three ties skyrocketing to 1st place. John would win the scoring title, best forward player, MVP and was named number 2 of the pro hockey's top prospect player of the year.

John Herbco and the Legionnaires would roll through the playoffs and swept the Metros in 3 games to win the Smyth Cup, their first since 1965. The Legion has punched its ticket to Vancouver for the 1976 Valor Cup.

1975-76 WCLH Season

 Jersey changes

Nanaimo Sharks: As was told by Jake Peterson, the Sharks showed off their new set. The logo is the word "SHARKS" across with bite marks on it with the letters "H" and "C" on the background. Jerseys are blue and teal, along with black and grey as a tribute to the team's previous owner Greg Peterson.

The North Battleford Crusaders updated their jerseys with the future not looking good. Stripes on both arms and hem were put together, and a new collar design and nameplates got added. The rest is still the same.

Standings

1. Lethbridge Cougars

2. Fargo Owls

3. Saskatoon Cats

4. Abbotsford Forest Kings

5. Kenora Pioneers

6. North Battleford Crusaders

7. Nanaimo Sharks

8. Medicine Hat Hawks

9. Brandon Buffalos

10. Moose Jaw Wings

Story:

For the fourth year in a row, the Lethbridge Cougars takes the top spot in the league, while both the Owls and the Cats went back and forth for the 2nd place. In the season finale, both the Owls and the Cats got the same record, but the Owls takes 2nd place by having more goals than the Cats.

 The Crusaders made lots of wins and sold out at every home game. Still, however, the hopes for a new arena are looking darker than ever, with both sides cannot agree on it even with Ron Jackins offer 100% of his share to build the arena. Still, the city council believes the arena is still good to play in. However, it is located outside the city, and it's small. The only thing big is the ice rink; if both sides don't agree, Ron would have no other choice but to find a new city to move the team in.

 The Sharks are pretty much in rebuilt mode with Jake Peterson now the owner he had to hand over his GM job to his assistant Paul Rowe, even the coaching staff changed as well were Frank Billiton took a head coaching job for the Seattle Pro hockey club, and he took the rest of the coaching staff with him. With fresh faces on the bench, the Sharks finished 7th but played poorly in the playoffs as they swept by the Owls; both games were shutouts.

The Cougars make it back to back as they beat the Owls 3 to 1, but the Cougars had a hard time with the 5th seed, the Kenora Pioneers were all three games ended in overtime, and in all three games, the Cougars dropped a three-goal leads.