1981 CIHA Off-season

WCLH Expansion draft

The expansion draft came and went for both the Chilliwack Alpines and the Surrey River Dogs as they started to build a team that could be, one day down the road, becoming champions.

The River Dogs were focused on defence more than offence. Most of the top 5 are going into their 2nd season in the WCLH; Head Coach Alexander Adams said, “Our goal is to give them a chance to score goals as they already show that they can defend and with the rest of the staff and I will make them into scorers.”

Meanwhile, the Alpines got most of their picks forwards as they would draft defencemen and goalies at the 1981 WCLH draft. “We need good offence so we can work on developing and nurture some defencemen and goalies; that’s why in our expansion draft, we selected mostly veteran forwards; it’s a risk, but I believe in the coaching staff, we can pull it off,” Alpines GM Bert Broda said after the expansion draft.

Chilliwack Alpines

1. Eric Greiner, F (Saskatoon)

2. Rick Cofilin, F (Abbotsford)

3. Gordie Miami, F (Billings)

4. Dan Zachary, F (Moose Jaw)

5. Bruce Cornwall, D (Portage la Prairie)

Surrey River Dogs

1. Sam Abel, G (Swift Current)

2. Steve Patrick, D (Fargo)

3. Jeff Blue, D (Nanaimo)

4. Mitchell Matthiessen, D (Kenora)

5. Bill Gervais, F (Lethbridge)

1981 CIHA Off-Season

WCLH Draft

From the expansion draft to the league draft, teams try to fill the holes they lost to two new teams. Saskatoon Cats got themselves a forward that can score goals in Fred Adams, who have been under the pro hockey league scouts’ radar since he was 12 years old. The Medicine Hat Hawks took Ross Featherstone from Vancouver, that got the potential to be a top forward in the WCLH. From Seattle, WA, defence Mike Dalman has become the first Seattle native to be drafted in the top 3 and could hopefully help the Nanaimo Sharks avoid hitting last place. The draft spotlight was defence Glen Sasakamoose, a nephew of the Saskatchewan pro hockey club's current GM Herb Sasakamoose was selected by the Billings Trains to improve the results better than last season.

1. Saskatoon Cats – Fred Adams, F (Powell River, B.C.)

2. Medicine Hat Hawks – Ross Featherstone, F (Vancouver B.C.)

3. Nanaimo Sharks – Mike Dalman, D (Seattle, WA) 

4. Fargo Owls – Jack Plaxton, F (Minneapolis, MN)

5. Moose Jaw Wings – Colin Fernando, G (Moose Jaw, SK)

6. Brandon Buffalos – David Hartford, F (International Falls, MN)

7. Portage la Prairie Magic – Marc Sasser, D (Calgary, AB)

8. Billings Trains – Glen Sasakamoose, D (Prince Albert, SK)

9. Swift Current Battalion – Eric Wilcox, F (Everett, WA)

10. Kenora Pioneers – Jason Classen, F (Victoria B.C.)

11. Abbotsford Forest Kings – Aaron Boyer, D (Salem, OR)

12. Fargo Owls (from Lethbridge Cougars) – Frank Cupolo, F (Grand Forks, ND)

OMJHA Draft

This year's draft had “risk” written all over from the Bee's first three picks, a player from Alberta and picking a player from their rival territory in the southwest. The Bees took forward William VanDean, goalie Sam Dempsey, and defence Greg Dahlstrom; these three could turn Buffalo from rock bottom to the top of the mountain. The Neon made a bold draft move by picking Frank Grant from Erie, PA, a forward that had been targeted by many teams from the SWOHL, but the Neon took the chance and believed that it could lead them to championships.

1. Buffalo Bees (from Owen Sound Arrowbirds) – William VanDean, F (Niagara Falls, ONT)

2. Buffalo Bees – Sam Dempsey, G (Hamilton, ONT)

3. Buffalo Bees (from Kitchener Generals) – Greg Dahlstrom, D (Syracuse, NY)

4. Toronto Hornets – Leon Jay Jr. F (Markham, ONT)

5. Milton Micmacs – Kurt Jenkins, F (Vaughan, ONT)

6. Kitchener Legionnaires (from Toronto Neon) – Alex Aurora, D (Cambridge, ONT)

7. Toronto Neon (from Kitchener Legionnaires) – Frank Grant, F (Erie, PA)

8. Peterborough Braves – Rick Collin, G (Sudbury, ONT)

9. Oakville Oaks – Jake Johannsson, D (Edmonton, AB)

10. Burlington Metros – Leo Mair, G (North Bay, ONT)

11. Orangeville O’s – Dan Nowak, G (Ottawa, ONT)

12. Oshawa Gems – Keith Patrick, D (Beaverton, ONT)

13. Barrie Admirals – Lester Starr, D (Newmarket, ONT)

14. Waterloo Maroons – Tom Zehr, D (Parry Sound, ONT)

AQHL Draft

With the expansion draft coming next year, many teams are trying to get ready as some players on their roster could be taken by one of two new teams. The Titans took Glenn Pageau from Quebec City, who is the so-called best scorer in Quebec; it is a great pick to turn the Titans around after a terrible last-place finish. Fredericton used their pick to improve the defence core, and Ed Thibault from Bangor, ME, is just what they needed. During the 1980-81 season, scouts for the Laval Tigers told everyone at the front office that Christian Felix was the one that could help them in turning the team around. The spotlight in this year's draft was Roman and Simon; the Klatt brothers got drafted in the first round Roman will be in the net for the New Glasgow Highlanders, while Simon looks after the blue lines for the Verdun Knights.

1. Trois-Rivieres Titans – Glenn Pageau, F (Quebec City, QC)

2. Fredericton Vikings – Ed Thibault, D (Bangor, ME)

3. Laval Tigers – Christian Felix, F (Terrebonne, QC)

4. Manchester Americans – Ted Dill, G (Plattsburgh, VT)

5. Drummondville Les Rouges – Garry Cambridge, D (Saint John, NB)

6. Verdun Knights (from Shawinigan Voltages) – Frank Young, G (Verdun, QC)

7. Portland Clippers – Paul Gamble, F (Moncton, NB)

8. Cape Breton Warriors – Mike Gamble, F (St. John, NL)

9. Moncton Bears – Eric Gall, D (Halifax NS)

10. Manchester Americans (from Sherbrooke Loups) – Kevin Gassoff, F (Quebec City, QC)

11. New Glasgow Highlanders – Roman Klatt, G (Cornwall, ONT)

12. Verdun Knights – Simon Klatt, D (Cornwall, ONT)

News

CIHA

Many had been waiting for news of who is hosting the 1982 Valor Cup tournament; after numbers of votes by owners, GMs, and even coaches that were, the tournament is officially headed to Sherbrooke, Quebec, just beating Cape Breton by just one vote. “It’s an honour to have this tournament here and play in a brand-new rink!” Allen Poulette Jr said at the press conference after his team was named the 1982 Valor Cup tournament host.

Reporters ask about when the next Valor Star tournament is; CIHA president Randy Howard said that they have no plans for now, but he said that come the 1984 off-season, they’ll consider putting the tournament back up for 1985, the location is either in Toronto or in Montreal there are some talks that some teams are placing bids to host the tournament.

AQHL

With the additions of 2 new teams for the 1982-83 season, both teams presented their new names. They are called the Val-d’Or Monarchs and Rouyn-Noranda Firebirds. Both teams will be in the Quebec division, making the total number of teams in that division 8 while the Atlantic division stays at six; the word is over at P.E.I. the contract between Charlottetown Arena and the Minor pro hockey club ends after the 1981-82 season became official after negotiations fell through, once their season ends the city will put good money in giving the arena some upgrades mainly the press boxes as one was torn down last year after it fell apart and landed all over some empty seats during the off-season. There is also a local businessman who has a high interest in owning a team; history tells that he’s been trying to buy an AQHL team but failed to do so, but he hopes that he gets a team in P.E.I this time.

The town of Moncton got some great news from the Bears. The team is getting a new arena after the Reese brothers purchased land that once was an old town hall that got burned down many years ago, and it has been empty since then. That will change as the Reese Brothers show off the blueprint of what the new arena would look like, and the number of seats is where everyone thought it was unthinkable. This new arena will have 5000 seats. The new arena will be built and ready for the 1984-85 season.

OMJHA

The Peterborough Braves lost one of the club members, Michael Hawk, the club president, as he passed away peacefully. He had a great 15 years of his pro hockey playing career, including becoming the first Indigenous hockey player to win a pro hockey league MVP title, making a pro hockey league record of 50 goal season 5 years in a row and getting inducted into the pro hockey hall of fame. In 1977 he was named the team’s president, and the reason for naming the team the Braves after an all-indigenous army group that served in World War II. With his passing, the owner of the club, Nathen Runnels, announced that the 1981-82 season would be the last for the team to be called the “Braves” as they would open a “name a team” contest; the reason is he felt that he can’t move forward with the current name no matter what.

During the Valor Cup tournament, the Oshawa Gems revealed the new logos and new colours for the 1981-82 season; the feedback about the new look was so bad that the owners decided to go ahead with the new name but scrap the new look and just keep the current look from the beginning the same for now.

The 1981 Valor Cup Tournament was so successful that Guy Perry is in talks with the city of Waterloo about putting in good money to build a new arena in hopes of hosting any future Valor Cup tournaments to increase the city's economies in a big way.

WCLH

With two new teams added for the 1981-82 seasons, both the Chilliwack Alpines and the Surrey River Dogs are put in the west division, with that the Moose Jaw Wings are now in the east division, so no one can question anything about why the Wings was in the west division what’s so ever.

The league is now at 14 teams; many ask, “Will more teams be added?” WCLH President James Name said, “As of right now, we are laying low on it, but some businessmen are talking to some of their hometowns about putting good money on upgrades to even building new arenas.” One of them is Thomas Hendricks, a former promoter for a wrestling company called “Edmonton Championship Wrestling” (ECW), who made many top stars that many other wrestling promotions want to get their hands on; recently, his promotion has been losing money after many of his top stars have been taken by big-time wrestling promotions one of the most significant loss was his number 1 star Scott Chambers signed with Frontier Wrestling Federation, with that signing Thomas decides to close his promotion and invested his money in to bring a WCLH team in his hometown Red Deer, Alberta.

Jersey Changes

Lethbridge Cougars: After the team’s 75th anniversary season, the Cougars returned to their previous seasons with the addition of coloured yokes on both home and away sets.

Peterborough Braves: For the 1981-82 season, the team is wearing a memorial patch to honour Michael Hawk, the team’s first president of the club; after that, the team will reveal their new name for next season.

New team’s jerseys

 Surry River Dogs: A round corner square logo with a “SURRY” above the dog sitting with navy and light blue stripes behind it with orange trim around it, the logo on the road is vice versa. The jerseys got a thin orange stripe and a thick stripe on the cuffs and the hem. The nameplate is just one solid colour, but the numbers are light blue with navy and orange trims that stay the same on both the home and the road.

 Chilliwack Alpines: A diamond shape with the letter “A” on the top and underneath it a mountain upside down in sky blue, grey, and a touch of green trim for a logo. The home and road design has two thick stripes with a thin green stripe. The team was going to have sky blue pants, but after the team did a photo shoot on the ice, it looked like they were wearing white pants, so the team changed them to green.

1981 CIHA Valor Cup Tournament

 

Many came for this year's Valor Cup tournament at the Maroon Auditorium in Waterloo, Ontario, as four teams battled for a chance of becoming the 1981 CIHA Valor Cup Champions. The host team, the Waterloo Maroons, started hot in a big way and finished the round-robin perfect 6-0-0 record with 12 points thanks to Larry Arsenal, who made a record of 18 goals, 36 points, and made a record of scoring 3 goals in every 6 games in what everyone calls it “the six hat-tricks,” also Pat Hudson made history by getting 4 shutouts out of his 6 wins but also set a record for the fewest goals against with only letting in just 3 goals. The WCLH’s Lethbridge Cougars may lose 2 games to the Maroons, but they won 4 games, including 2 key overtime wins over the Loups, as they finished 2nd place, but Jack Burk kept the team in the tournament with 9 goals and 20 points. Sherbrooke Loups got 2 wins, but those came from the Oshawa Diamonds. The rest are losses, with 2 heartbreaking overtimes by the Cougars and 2 ugly, painful losses to the Maroons. The Diamonds played very poorly, barely scoring only 3 goals and finishing in last place with 6 losses. The rule goes that they are eliminated if the 4th seed team does not win at least 2 games. With that rule, the Maroons would get a bye in the semi-final, moving on to the finals waiting for who wins the Cougars Loups semi-finals.

Semi-finals

Lethbridge Cougars vs. Sherbrooke Loups

Both teams are aiming for a date with the Maroons; as the first period started, the Loups came firing shots at Cougars goalie Shawn Hoff like crazy until 3:31 left in the first, the Loups finally scored a goal made by Shawn Thomas, as the first period ends there is a shoving match between the two then Shawn Hoff fell and twisted his blocker arm, with that questions are up in the air on if Shawn can be 100% for the second period. As both teams came back on the ice, on the Cougars' end, the goalie that standing in front of the net was not Shawn Hoff but Greg Finley, the son of the Cougars' GM Frank Finley, the Loups believed that this was an easy scoring spree, but as the second period pass the 10:00 mark, it became opposite as Karl Fuhr, Jack Burk, and Wes Roy each scored a goal for the Cougars. When the second period ended, it was 3-1. In the third period, the Loups couldn’t find a way to score as Greg was a brick wall and holding his ground solidly as the Cougars added two more goals before the third ended. The clock hit zero to end the game with a 5-1 Cougars win, and they are headed to the Valor Cup Finals to face the Waterloo Maroons.

Valor Cup Finals

Waterloo Maroons vs. Lethbridge Cougars

During the national anthem, Maroons Larry Arsenal and Cougars Jack Burk were eyeing each other. As the puck dropped, both were determined to outplay one another Larry may not be as good as Jack, but Larry has teammates helping him out more like Larry helping them as he made three assists in the first period to take a 3-1 lead. The Cougars bounced back by scoring two goals, but 20 seconds after a 3-3 tie game, Larry scored a goal to give the Maroons a 4-3 lead as the second period ended. In the third period, the Cougars ran out of gas as the Maroons added three more goals, two of them were by Larry Arsenal, as the Maroons celebrated along with the fans at the Maroon Auditorium, winning the 1981 Valor Cup Championship with the score of 7-3. Larry lifted the Valor Cup along with the MVP award of the tournament.

1981 AQHL Playoffs

 

1st Round

1st Verdun Knights vs. 8th Drummondville Les Rouges

The Drummondville Les Rouges made an ugly history as they went through all four games without scoring a goal. Even thou the Knights blew the Les Rouges in the first two games (7-0 and 9-0), the last two were more painful for Drummondville as the total shots on goal in those last two games was 14 (game 3: 9 shots, game 4: 5 shots) as the game clock hit zero the Verdun Knights win the series in four games all shutouts.

2nd New Glasgow Highlanders vs. 7th Shawinigan Voltages

The Highlanders played very well in the first three games until, in game four, the Volts came back from a 3-0 score midway through the second period. Then Christian Gaudreau scored the overtime winner for the Volts. In game five, the Highlanders' Kyle Patrick scored a hat-trick to finish off the Volts for a win and the series 4 games to 1.

3rd Sherbrooke Loups vs. 6th Portland Clippers

The Clippers knew that they had no chance of winning the series, but that didn’t stop them from giving the Loups a hard time in all four games, all of them in overtime, including game four when Christian Dupont scored two goals to tie the game to force overtime for the fourth game in a row, late into the second overtime Christian Dupont scored the winner and give the Loups the four-game sweep over the Portland Clippers.

4th Moncton Bears vs. 5th Cape Breton Warriors

Both teams went back and forth in the first four games, going into game five with the series tied at 2 games apiece. The Bears Andrew Jones scored two key goals to give them a win. Andrew Jones would score two more goals, including an overtime winner to win game six and the series over the Warriors 4 games to 2.

Round 2

1st Verdun Knights vs. 4th Moncton Bears

The Verdun Knights were on top of their game as they took games one, two, and three in a dominant way. Going into game four, the Knights believe they got this series in the bag, leading the whole game 3-0 when a minor penalty on the Bears became an event that everyone calls “the murdering two minutes” as Andrew Jones 1 goal, 3 points game playing help the Bears tie the game headed into overtime and the Bears forward Alec Dahlin scored the winner to stay alive. Thanks to the OT win, the Bears would keep going by winning games five and six to force game seven. The last game of the series, and a lot of pressure was on the Knights to finish the series, but however, rookie goalie Seth Taylor was a brick wall all game letting in just one goal as the Bears scored two goals to take the lead, as the clock ticks away the sold-out crowd at the Verdun Arena were in a state of shock and witness the Verdun Knights season came to an end as the Bears became the first team in AQHL history to win a playoff series after being down 3-0 to win the series 4 games to 3.

2nd New Glasgow Highlanders vs. 3rd Sherbrooke Loups

In game one, both teams battled all the way to the third overtime as Josh Winter scored the winner for the Loups. After game one, the Highlanders took both games two and three, but bad news hit the team as four key players have been called up by both the pro and minor-pro hockey teams as they’re making a push for the playoffs. The Loups would take games four and five in a close game, but as game six came, the Loups rookie goalie Lenny Tardif was a brick wall, and the fans at the Arena Commemorative de Sherbrooke celebrated as the Loups won game six 4-0 to win the series 4 games to 2 and punch their ticket to the 1981 Bronz Cup Championship.

1981 Bronz Cup Championship

3rd Sherbrooke Loups vs. 4th Moncton Bears

Lenny Tardif and Seth Taylor are both rookie goalies got a lot to prove by playing like veterans that could lead their team in winning this year's Bronz Cup Championship. The Sherbrooke Loups are prime and ready, while the Moncton Bears had a big momentum swing after coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. In game one, both teams battled all the way to the last minute of the third period, tied 2-2 until the Loups Christian Dupont scored the tiebreaker to give the Loups a 3-2 win. Game two was the same as game one but tied at 3-3. Both headed into overtime, and 12:48 into it, the Bears took the win thanks to Alec Dahlin setting up a play that led Andrew Jones to score, and the series is even at 1. At Moncton, the Loups got one goal in mind “win games three and four,” and that is what they did as they took a 4-0 lead after the first period. The Bears scored goals but not enough, as the Loups took game three 4-2. In game three, the Loups did again by taking a big 4-0 lead after the first, but unlike game three, the Bears tooth and clawed their way back to tie it and force overtime. The first overtime didn’t resolve, nor did the second not end anything. 7:19 left in the third overtime Loups got themselves in a pickle as two players of theirs ended up in the penalty box, so the Bears got a 5-on-3 powerplay; everything was all Bears shooting until Lenny Tardif got the puck and flicked it over both defencemen and out of nowhere defence Shawn Thomas sneak pass by them got the breakaway and beat Seth Taylor for a 5-4 third overtime win. As game five began, both teams were firing shots at each other at the end of the second period, it was tied 2-2. In the third period, the Loups scored two key power-play goals. The Bears did everything that they could to get back in the game, but it wasn’t enough as the clock hit zero, and both the Loups and the fans at the Arena Commemorative de Sherbrooke celebrated as the Loups won game five 4-2 to take the series win 4 games to 1 and Josh Winter lifted the Bronz Cup over his head as the Sherbrooke Loups are the 1981 Champions, and for the first time since 1974 they going to the Valor Cup tournament and hopes to win it all like they did before.