1980 Valor Star Tournament

 1980 Valor Star Tournament (Ottawa, ON) (Arena: Ottawa Civic Forum)

Many fans got a treat; during the round-robin, many fans not only got the chance to watch all four teams showcase talents but also got a tour at the Ottawa Royal Banquet Hall as they witnessed a hall of jerseys, but they were not just jerseys; they were KI-LO jerseys that all three leagues are going to wear for the 1980-81 season.

Team CIHA had some strong offence, but the lack of defence hurt them as they won only one out of six games. “We didn’t do well at this tournament. We are a young group that hasn’t clicked on the defence side of the game; in the end, we had a great experience in this tournament, and everyone is going to keep an eye on these young guns closer than ever.” Team CIHA coach Leon Cowern said at the round-robin post-interview.

Team WCLH and Team AQHL battled back and forth to finish 2nd place. WCLH suffered a heartbreaking loss to AQHL (2-1) in the first game against each other. Their second game against each other was a controversial 3-3 tie game where the WCLH had a lead but one call by the referee that gave the AQHL the penalty shot instead of a power play with 1:19 left in the third period. Both got the same record of 2-3-1, but Team AQHL took second place while Team WCLH finished third place.

Team OMJHA top the tournament with a perfect 6-0-0 record with their top stars in their roster, forwards scoring goals, defence keeping the opponents from getting to the net, and the goalies were brick walls as 4 of their six wins were shutouts. Team OMJHA is determined to win it all in Ottawa.

In the semi-finals, Team OMJHA shut out Team CIHA for the third time in the tournament; unlike the last two matchups were blowouts (8-0, 10-0), they scored only two goals, but they were enough as Team OMJHA moved on to the finals with the score of 2-0. Team AQHL and Team WCLH battled back and forth to a 4-4 tie game going into overtime. With 5:33 left in overtime, Team WCLH Matthew Atlas scored the overtime winner as Team WCLH beat Team AQHL 5-4. In the finals, it was all Team OMJHA as they kept on the offence all over Team WCLH; as the clock hit zero, Team OMJHA celebrated with a 5-1 win and was named the Valor Star champions.

1980 Off-season part 2: News

New CIHA President Randy Howard had been checking out all three league drafts this year, and he saw some numbers of players from Europe being drafted. He may consider putting together an import draft, but the numbers are not big enough. But if more Europe players are being drafted next year, then Randy and the trio presidents would be in a meeting about creating the import draft.

With new uniforms made by the KI-LO, all three Presidents announced that teams will have to wear white jerseys in their home games and dark uniforms for road games. The only teams that did not sit well with them were the Lethbridge Cougars, who wore their green jerseys at 90% of all their home and road games, and the Saskatoon Cats were at 90% of both home and road games in white. 

After rumours turned into real news, James Name announced that two new teams would be added to the WCLH. The two teams are from B.C., one from Chilliwack and the other from Surrey. Both got arenas to play in, and the owners successfully put together a staff. The only thing left for them is the expansion draft which will happen after the 1980-81 season; after that, both teams will be ready for the 1981-82 season.

The 1980-81 season marks the Lethbridge Cougars' 75th anniversary. Once started as an amateur pro club in the early 1900s until 1939, the team lost half of the roster to WW2. To keep the team afloat, they brought in some young players younger than 18. In 1946 WW2 ended, but the amateur pro league they were part of the ceased operation. They decided to change their status as a junior club with nowhere else to go and a roster full of under 18-year-old players. They played different junior leagues until, in 1950, they found a league to stay put known as the WCLH. One year into the WCLH, the Cougars won their first Jade Trophy by beating the league's first champions, the Edmonton Bulldogs; after that, they won four more titles before the league joined with 2 other leagues to form the CIHA. In 1975 the Cougars won their first Valor Cup championship. They will wear unique uniforms just for the 1980-81 season. After that, they will go back to their regular set.

It's official, Gerald Herbco is no longer the owner of the Kitchener Generals; the ownership belongs to Todd Holmes, it took 4 years for Todd to finish the purchase of the team, and with Todd now the team owner, the OMJHA rules go if became the owner of a club that person cannot be GM nor coach of the team with that Todd announced that Tyler Shaw will be the new G.M. of the Kitchener Generals, Tyler used to be assistant G.M. with the Barrie Admirals. The Generals will move forward into the Todd Holmes era without Patrick Herbco as he chose to commit to a pro hockey career as he got drafted by the Ottawa pro hockey club 5th overall.

The Kitchener Generals are not the only team that the ownership changed hands; it was announced that Patrick Tobin has sold the Oshawa Diamonds to Prime Motors, and the President of Prime Motors said in an interview that they are going to rename the team after the 1980-81 season, many fans felt that they should keep the name. Still, at the same time, they understand because Hornet Co. got a vehicle named Diamond.

The day after the OMJHA draft, Franklin Name felt ill after meeting with doctors; he was diagnosed with heart disease. Two days after that, Franklin announced that he was stepping down from his job and named Tom Van Ryan the new President of the OMJHA. Tom is a big-shot lawyer from Toronto who got a good knowledge of the league, but many other owners felt that he is being too distracted over his vision of adding more teams which shows that within two weeks in his job, he said two teams for the 1982-83 season the locations are Brantford and Orillia. Many owners questioned his focus on growing the league than helping teams that had financial problems.

One team that is having financial issues is the Burlington Metros; despite sell-outs, games to even making a profit but for some odd reason, they are losing money which angered the team's owner John Lewis who demands answers on what is going on with the bank company, but Tom Van Ryan told John that everything will be okay and will find answers soon. There are signs that John Lewis could be jumping off the OMJHA wagon and joining the SWOHL; if that happens, it would be a big blow to the league in a bad way.

Paul Name got some good news; he found some businessmen putting some good money into building new arenas for Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda. If things go well, both could start in time for the 1982-83 season. Many questions "what about other cities outside of Quebec?" so far, only one and that one is from Charlottetown P.E.I. the town still got a minor pro hockey team there, but after the 1981-82 season ends, that team will relocate elsewhere, and the town will join the AQHL for the 1983-84 season.

The Sherbrooke Loups office just moved into their brand-new arena named the Arena Commemorative de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke Memorial Arena), with a capacity of 4000. It could add more seats to the arena if they want to. Allen Poulette Jr is happy with the new arena. "Today is a great day; ever since I took over the team from my father, my goal was for this team to get a new arena to be built, and I did just that now with the team is being rebuilt to be the top team in the league we will have a good run in our new arena." Allen Jr. said in an interview with the Sherbrooke Post. The team will also enter their new arena with a new look as the KI-LO jersey deal is required league-wide. The Loups took advantage of it along with other teams across the leagues, as their set will be showcased during the 1980 CIHA Valor Star Tournament.

1980 Off-season part 1: League Drafts and Expansion Draft

 1980 OMJHA Expansion Draft

With the addition of two new teams from the Toronto area, first Chris Warner came on stage and officially named his team the "Neon" after his company. Along with GM Paul McKeegan and head coach Warren Coyle, the trio went down to business and started drafting. Meanwhile, Herb Pickard has named his team the "Hornets" along with naming Rick Van Allen as GM and Gary Clancy, the team's first head coach. The Hornets went to work on building a dynasty.

Toronto Neon

1. Michael Campbell, F (Barrie)

2. Alex Myers, G (Oshawa)

3. Shane Lane, F (Orangeville)

4. Ian Henry, F (Oshawa)

5. Stan Chapman, D (Peterborough)

Toronto Hornets

1. James Colby, D (Barrie)

2. Adam Newhook, F (Waterloo)

3. Will Stell, F (Orangeville)

4. Collin Mitchell, F (Legionnaires)

5. Leo Berezan, D (Generals)

1980 WCLH Draft

GMs, Coaches, and Owners came together to pick the right players in hopes of improving to become champions. As many hockey reporters expected that defence Drew Eastwood from Regina, SK, got picked 1st by the Billings Trains, it is a first for the club to ever draft a defenceman in the first round. After losing two goalies, one from the pro hockey draft and one committed to college, the Hawks select goalie Sam Abbot from Portage la Prairie, MAN. The Hawks would draft another goalie in the 5th round after drafting three defencemen in hopes to improves the defence after a painful losing season. After missing the playoffs for the first time since 1960, the Cats need a rebuild, but unlike other teams that rebuild within 2 years and only last for 2 to 4 years to do it again, this time, the Cats will take time and put the pieces together starting with forward Nathen Faulk from Calgary, AB that could be one of many keys to the Cats chance to get themselves back on top. The surprised draft pick was made was the 1980 Valor Cup champions Abbotsford Forest Kings select forward Jon Hedberg; he lives in Calgary after he and his family moved from Tampere, Finland, to excel in his hockey career, he became the first European player to be drafted in the first round in WCLH history.

1. Billings – Drew Eastwood, D (Regina, SK)

2. Medicine Hat – Sam Abbot, G (Portage la Prairie, MAN)

3. Saskatoon – Nathen Faulk, F (Calgary, AB)

4. Swift Current – Denny Holbrook, D (Surry, BC.)

5. Moose Jaw – Jason Napier, D (Thunder Bay, ONT)

6. Portage la Prairie – Zachary Natyshak, F (Roseau, MIN)

7. Brandon – Peter York, F (West Fargo, ND.)

8. Lethbridge – Karl Fuhr, F (Winnipeg, MAN)

9. Fargo – David Favell, D (Prince Albert, SK)

10. Nanaimo – Greg Lalonde, G (Fort McMurry, AB)

11. Abbotsford – Jon Hedberg, F (Tampere, FIN)

12. Kenora – Luke Hay, G (Burnaby, B.C.)

1980 OMJHA Draft

In the aftermath of the expansion draft, teams scramble from trading players for draft picks to trading lower draft picks for a 2nd round pick. The Oaks selected an Oakville local forward, Jake Dahl, who tops all-Ontario hockey in scoring with 50 goals and 2nd highest points total of 132, "this kid is going to be big and will lead the Oaks to the top." Oaks head coach Leon Cowern said after drafting Jake. Bees GM Ryan Byron Jr. has been making good moves to get good picks, including trading a top player to the Kitchener Generals for a 1981 1st round pick and trading another top player to Owen Sound for another 1981 1st round draft pick which gives the Bees three 1st round draft picks for next year, for now, they only got one 1st round pick this year. They choose defence Floyd Currie from Hamilton; with that, the Bees are hoping for better goals against the average for the 1980-81 season. North York young gun forward Pat Fogolin is what the Peterborough Braves need to score more goals and hope to get themselves out of the bottom of the standings. The Burlington Metros successfully drafted defence Vic Housley after many OMJHA teams tried to recruit his brothers in the past, but their rival league, the SWOHL, took them.

1. Oakville – Jake Dahl, F (Oakville)

2. Buffalo – Floyd Currie, D (Hamilton)

3. Peterborough – Pat Fogolin, F (North York)

4. Milton –Paul Foote, G (Pickering)

5. Kitchener Legionnaires – Shane Stillman, F (Mississauga)

6. Kitchener Generals – Kevin McVon, F (Brampton)

7. Orangeville – Dave Fortier, D (Scarborough)

8. Owen Sound – Dirk Graves, G (Vaughan)

9. Oshawa – Adam Howell, F (Whitby)

10. Burlington – Vic Housley, D (Etobicoke) 

11. Waterloo – Nick Ross, F (St. Catharines)

12. Barrie – Ty Joly, F (Orillia)

1980 AQHL Draft

The first round was interesting. The first five picks featured top players from Quebec, three picks from Nova Scotia, one from New Brunswick, one from PEI, one from Maine, and one from New Hampshire. Drummondville selected forward Lou Baillargeon from Verdun, QC, who played very well in the Jr.B level; his 60 goals and 109 points are what the Les Rouges need to get back on top. The Laval Tigers got themselves a scoring forward from Levis, QC. Alex Chouinard is the Tigers' pick in the process of a rebuild after losing six players from Pro Hockey drafts to collages; in the next two years, the Tigers will be contenders again. The Shawinigan Voltages take defence Shawn Meighan from Longueuil, QC; his enforcer style could help the Volts get themselves out of the bottom of the standings next season. Moncton Bears lost their goalie Herb Hoy as he committed to McGill University; they need a strong goalie in a big way, and they got one from Waterville, Maine, Seth Taylor, who was supposed to be in the top 3 for this year's draft after winning 26 out of 35 games with 8 shutouts, to even consider to be the first goalie to be drafted but Keith Rice was taken by the Trois-Rivieres Titans.

1. Drummondville – Lou Baillargeon, F (Verdun, QC)

2. Laval – Alex Chouinard, F (Levis, QC)

3. Shawinigan – Shawn Meighan, D (Longueuil, QC)

4. Manchester – Roy Messier, F (Sainte-Foy, QC)

5. Fredericton – Dave Messier, F (Sherbrooke, QC)

6. Trois-Rivieres – Keith Rice, G (Oromocto, NB.)

7. Portland – Ron Renaud, D (Truro, N.S.)

8. Moncton – Seth Taylor, G (Waterville, Maine)

9. Sherbrooke – Lenny Tardif, G (Dartmouth, NS.)

10. New Glasgow – Brad Edmundson, D (Windsor, N.S.)

11. Cape Breton – Neil Eaton, F (Cornwall, P.E.I.)

12. Verdun – Mark Klatt, F (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)