Expansion Draft
Four teams joined the CIHA (2 in the OMJHA and 2 in the AQHL) as they put their team together, hoping to get great results two to three years later. In the OMJHA, the Brantford Skyflyers didn’t take any top players in their picks, only some 2nd liners that want a crack at the 1st line. The only best pick they got is goalie Dale Hulse, the backup for the Waterloo Maroons in his third season in the league. Dale hoping to get noticed by the scouts. Orillia Lakers picked up some good forwards, but they hit a good defenceman from the Kitchener Generals, Greg Ford, who could put the Lakers on target for a deep run for the playoffs. For Rouyn-Noranda Firebirds, they got their hands on forward Rich Johansson from Manchester. Val-d’Or Monarchs' top pick was Mark Tremblay from New Glasgow, who could help lead the team to a decent first season.
Brantford Skyflyers
1. Dale Hulse, G (Waterloo)
2. Alex Darby, F (Legionnaires)
3. Edward Murry, D (Oakville)
4. Shawn Imlach, D (Buffalo)
5. Anton Riley, D (Tor Hornets)
Orillia Lakers
1. Peter Washburn, F (Tor Neon)
2. Nick Osgood, F (Oshawa)
3. Greg Ford, D (Generals)
4. Jamie Mills, F (Barrie)
5. Frank Cole, F (Oakville)
Rouyn-Noranda Firebirds
1. Rich Johansson, F (Manchester)
2. Leo Klee, D (Drummondville)
3. Keith Lapointe, F (Cape Breton)
4. Chris Rochefort, G (Verdun)
5. Norman York, F (Sherbrooke)
Val-d’Or Monarchs
1. Trent Yake, D (Sherbrooke)
2. Mark Tremblay, F (New Glasgow)
3. John Riendeau, F (Shawinigan)
4. Steph Raymond, G (Portland)
5. Robert Flower, D (Manchester)
1982 AQHL Draft
For the first time in 15 years (before the establishment of the CIHA), a defenceman got picked 1st overall and that D-man is Aaron Mellanby from Montreal, QC, drafted by Trois-Rivieres last season Aaron made history by scoring 40 goals in a season; by a defenceman while playing for the Montreal AAA club. Drummondville scored a forward from Chatham, NB Shawn Merkosky; he improved scoring between last season and two seasons ago while playing for the Moncton Jr C club. One of the big head turners made in the draft, New Glasgow drafted Aleksey Filimonov, a forward who lived in Halifax, NS, for most of his life after his family left their home in Moscow. But their hockey blood lives within, and he played very well; that caught many scouts' eyes. He could be the next big star in the pros, and the Highlanders is the team built for him to be part of it. The dark horse of the draft is the Sherbrooke Loups, who drafted a goalie named Timothy Moreau from Rimouski, QC, after talks that after next season, Lenny Tardif could go pro into the pro draft when he was named number 3 of the top 10 goalie prospect for the pro league with Lenny gone that could hurt themselves in the goalie department more than 2 seasons down the road.
1. Trois-Rivieres Titans – Aaron Mellanby, D (Montreal, QC)
2. Drummondville Les Rouges – Shawn Merkosky, F (Chatham, NB)
3. New Glasgow Highlanders (from Manchester) – Aleksey Filimonov, F (Moscow, USSR)
4. Portland Clippers – Tom Hislop, G (Shawville, QC)
5. Laval Tigers – Matt Nasreddine, F (Shawinigan, QC)
6. Shawinigan Voltages – John Orlando, D (Terrebonne, QC)
7. Cape Breton Warriors – Franklin Olson, D (Moncton, NB)
8. Fredericton Vikings – Wayne Daoust, F (Rouyn-Noranda, QC)
9. Laval Tigers (from Verdun) – Alan Mallaby, D (Hull, QC)
10. Moncton Bears – Shawn Metcalfe, G (Moncton, NB)
11. Sherbrooke Loups – Timothy Moreau, G (Rimouski, QC)
12. Portland Clippers (from New Glasgow) – Frank Orr, F (Saint John, NB)
1982 OMJHA Draft
With the Metros gone, the first round is only 13 teams drafting players; many teams felt different without the Metros, but they had no choice but to move on. The Generals started by presenting their new GM, William Darby, who had grand experience as a GM for the Minnesota Pro Hockey Club for 10 years. The reason for his departure from them was that he wanted to be close to his hometown of Woodstock, Ontario, and the Kitchener Generals is where he can bring them back to the glory days of winning championships. The plan begins with drafting Matthew Bellows from Hamilton, a real solid defenceman who can help the Generals with their defence issues. The Toronto Hornets took forward Tim Bear, who made a name for himself as one of the top scorers in the Metro Toronto area hockey league and could be the one the Hornets need to move them up to playoff contenders next season. Buffalo strikes a trade deal with the Toronto Neon to receive the third overall pick, and they choose Todd Zemlak as part of the improvement to the defence core in the hope of a back-to-back title for the Bees.
1. K. General – Matthew Bellows, D (Hamilton, ON)
2. T. Hornets – Tim Bear, F (Penetanguishene, ON)
3. Buffalo (from T. Neon) – Todd Zemlak, D (St. Catharines, ON)
4. Oshawa – Jason Yoke, F (Sudbury, ON)
5. K. Legionnaires – Terrence Wright, G (Orangeville, ON)
6. Peterborough – Herb Wyrozub, D (Omemee, ON)
7. Owen Sound – John Wylie, F (Mount Forest, ON)
8. Barrie – Joe Wilson, F (Markham, ON)
9. Milton – Travis Warrener, G (Brampton, ON)
10. Orangeville – Alex Richmond, F (Woodstock, ON)
11. Oakville – Vince Olson, F (Oakville, ON)
12. Buffalo – Mark O’Reilly, F (Niagara Falls, NY)
13. Waterloo – Vernon Fetisov, D (Barrie, ON)
1982 WCLH Draft
The WCLH draft this year was almost all forwards, with 10 in the first round; also, there are two players from the Euros. Saskatoon takes Matthew Goodfellow from Winnipeg to give more scoring depth within the roster. Clint Abgrall won many faceoffs during his time with the Prince George Jr.B club; that ability is what Chilliwack needs to improve compared to last season. The Surry River Dogs picked Pat Lemelin after turning heads at the WCLH training camp in Vancouver with his stick handling that could help the team move up and get into the playoffs. The Dark Horse of this year's draft was Mike Lessard from Portland, Oregon, who was named top goalie in all Oregon states for the second year in a row; it was good enough for the Forest Kings to pick him and could lead them back to the top of the mountain.
1. Saskatoon - Matthew Goodfellow, F (Winnipeg, MB)
2. Chilliwack – Clint Abgrall, F (Prince George, BC)
3. Surrey – Pat Lemelin, F (Red Deer, AB)
4. Medicine Hat (from Fargo) – Henry Richardson, F (Edmonton, AB)
5. Nanaimo – Isaac Schmidt, F (Regina, SK)
6. Brandon – Clarence Langkow, D (Moose Jaw, SK)
7. Abbotsford – Mike Lessard, G (Portland, OR)
8. Moose Jaw – Kurt Lscroix, D (Seattle, WA)
9. Portage la Prairie – Mark Daneyko, F (St. Paul’s MN)
10. Swift Current – Jake Benoit, G (Calgary, AB)
11. Medicine Hat – Max Gustafsson, F (Umea, Sweden)
12. Kenora – James Matthews, F (Kindersley, SK)
13. Billings – David Lemay, F (Fargo, ND)
14. Lethbridge - Anders Krzysztof, F (Berlin, Germany)
News
The Canadian International Hockey Association Announced that the Medicine Hat Hawks will be the host for the 1983 CIHA Valor Cup tournament. Medicine Hat tops the votes to be the host over Lethbridge, Swift Current, Billings and Fargo. With such great news, Hawks owner Jack Grin could offer deals with the city about putting good money into a new arena soon to replace the old Medicine Hat Auditorium.
Many from other leagues were shocked over the Burlington Metros departure, which means there is a whole new voting to determine which OMJHA team to host the 1984 Valor Cup Tournament; the candidates are Oshawa, Orangeville, Oakville, Barrie, and Buffalo.
The CIHA is in talks of putting patches on teams to represent their own leagues; normally, patches are on the upper left chest; however, others wish to have them on the shoulders, which most teams don’t have secondary logos on them, for now, the tenth-anniversary Valor Cup patch will be on the Medicine Hat Hawks jersey and three other teams that make it to the tournament.
There were other talks that all three leagues could make their season from 50 to 60 games, but the increase won’t happen until the 1985-86 season if the votes are unanimous. As of the 1982-83 season, all players must have visors on their helmets to protect their eyes from injuries. Lastly, the league decided to go with a trial run with long pants from a company called “Lite-sonic” that was made only for roller hockey, but they sold it to six CIHA teams, the Manchester Americans, Val-d’Or Monarchs, Peterborough Bolts, Toronto Neon, Kenora Pioneers and Moose Jaw Wings will wear them 1982-83 season.
Rumours about the Manchester Americans cleaning house became true as John Rome let go of everyone in the office and started building it from scratch by hiring Nick Yankton as the team’s GM, who had good GM experience in the lower tier junior A team in Concord, New Hampshire. Nick wasted no time as he had a good knowledge of the Manchester hockey program and hired Randy Reinhart, who was a big star in both Manchester Minor Pro and Boston Pro club’s heyday in the ’60s; Randy started coaching many teams and stacking up wins along the way with his coaching skills and bringing his assistant coach Trever Wales and goalie coach Mitch Zachary into the mix the Americans will have a good run down the road.
With both Val-d’Or Monarchs and Rouyn-Noranda Firebirds ready for their first season to start in the 1982-83 season, a new team is ready to set up shop, and that is the town of Charlottetown P.E.I. They will be ready for the 1983-84 season as they announced they are called the “Charlottetown Greens,” named after the Island’s story, Anne of Green Gables. The team’s colours are green, blue, and red; they will show off the logo and the jerseys next year off-season.
The Rouyn-Noranda Firebirds showed off their logo and the jerseys at the re-opening of the upgraded Centre Firebird as it once had a seating cap of 1000, now 3000, as team owner Vincent Maurice presented to the crowd team’s GM Willie Bouhard, Head Coach Frank Allen and some players that got picked up from the expansion draft. The logo is the bird's head with wings and a fire sitting on top of the bird’s head in red, light red, yellow and black. The jerseys have thick stripes on the arms and hem with thin black trims in red, gold, and black.
Bill Lamoureux, the owner of the Val-d’Or Monarchs, is ready for their inaugural season by showing off their gear. The Monarch's logo is the giant “V” with an “M” on top of it in navy as the team’s colour. The jerseys have simple trims, nothing too over the top.
With the Metros no longer part of the league, it is now a 15-team league, including Brantford Skyflyers and Orillia Lakers. As for the division, the Skyflyers are part of the Hero division, while the Lakers are in the Steel division.
From ending one drama to the next one, it’s the Kitchener Legionnaires, as they haven’t received any total payout from the league’s bank, just part of it. Once again, questions were all over Tom Van Ryan as he has been dodging reporters and owners about these problems which if he doesn’t find a way to fix it, chances are the Legionnaires will fold after the 1982-83 season.
The Micmacs could leave Milton soon as Harold MacFarland is planning on retiring, but his plans on handing over the team to his son Mitch MacFarland turned upside down as Mitch offered a GM deal from the Calgary Pro Hockey Club after spending 8 seasons with the club as assistant GM if he signs this deal than Harold will put the team up for sale to any local business will have 1 or 2 years to buy and keep the team in Milton if not he will sale to anyone that will buy and move the team to their own location.
The only good news for President Tom Van Ryan was he contacted two businessmen named Isaac and Abram, the Wall brothers, putting a team in Niagara Falls; they are working on getting land to build an arena for a team to play in.
The Brandford Skyflyers showed off their set. Angle stripes on the arms while the hem are normal, all in green and white.
After letting go of Edward Gore, the Saskatoon Cats looked for a new head coach. They got themselves a former Saskatoon Cats top player, Shawn Billiton, who was part of the Cats dynasty that won three titles in a row from 1966, 1967 and 1968 (years before the Est of the CIHA); after the juniors, he had success in the pros winning 3 pro hockey championships with the Montreal Pro hockey club in the 70s, then he went on doing coaching jobs around the Quebec City area in hopes of getting a job with an AQHL team, but it didn’t happen until a job open from the Cats came in, and he took it. “I am happy to return to a team where I got my career started in the biggest way possible; once I get my staff put together, the build for a dynasty begins.”
With being named the host of the 1983 Valor Cup Tournament, the Medicine Hat Hawks are putting together their roster better than before. “All I can say is the pressure is on for us to enter the tournament with momentum on our side; if our season doesn’t go well, we will be in trouble.” Hawks GM Leon Franklin said in an interview with a local radio station.
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