As the new season began, there were silents around the league in the aftermath of the departure of the Metros. The next problem was the Kitchener Legionnaires, whose owner, John Rupert, had been in the league. President Tom Van Ryan asked how many teams haven’t received any money to question his role. The rent for the Kitchener Memorial Centre went up this season, and Generals owner Todd Holmes claims that he is paying more than John Rupert Todd threatened to sue, but Tom tried to fix the problem, but the city demands more money from Todd than John, with that Todd Holmes file a lawsuit on John Rupert, even thou John had better evidence, but for some unknown reason there were no payment records, John Rupert said that it was stolen but the court found John Rupert guilty. The Court forced John Rupert to hand over the Legionnaires team to Todd Holmes; after that, Todd announced that after this season, both the Generals and the Legionnaires would merge into one team, and the Generals would add red to their jerseys soon down the road. Unhappy with the outcome, many fans in Kitchener have made it clear that they won’t go to any Generals home game until Todd Holmes tells the truth that he is stealing money from other teams, but there is not enough proof that others will start supporting the Waterloo Maroons next year.
The Orillia Lakers are also in the news that their first home game of the season was a dud. The attendance wasn’t good for the Lakers, who had an average of 300 out of 1500 capacity Orillia Arena seating. “This is a joke. Not even our fans came along with us to play against the Lakers; it is sad to tell you the truth,” Milton Micmacs Jesper Nelson said in an interview with a radio station in Milton.
The 1982 Smyth Cup Champions Buffalo Bees finally topped the Steel division for the first time, also for the time they topped the league. “It was the best season we ever had, and let me tell you, we got plenty more to show.” Bees GM Ryan Byron Jr. said at a press conference after the last game of the season. The Waterloo Maroons had a slow start after losing Nick Ross to injury at the beginning of the season, Nick made up for it by finishing this season with 29 goals and 56 points run within 35 games, but the Maroons finished 2nd place. With the right moves and good coaching by Warren Coyle, the Toronto Neon jumped from last to 3rd place, and they are hoping for a deep run in the playoffs. After a challenging number of games, the Owen Sound Arrowbirds took 4th place, and hopefully, they will be in better shape come playoff time. Rounding off the Steel Division are the O’s in 5th place, Legionnaires in 6th place, 7th place belongs to the Bolts, and last place is the Lakers.
Over at the Hero Division, the Oakville Oaks made it to 1st place after making 12 a game-winning streak helped by Jake Dahl’s 38 goals 75 points. The performance did wonders and showed everyone that this team is going back to the Smyth Cup finals, and this time, they will win it. Taking 2nd place is the Barrie Admirals, as they had a slow start with losing 8 of the first 10 games, but Ty Joly finally shows why he should be in the top 10 NIHA draft this year. With news about the team being up for sale soon the Milton Micmacs is showing their value by finishing third place, hopefully they have a buyer will have the idea of buying the team and keep it in Milton. The Toronto Hornets won 10 of the last 15 games to finish 4th place, making their first playoff appearance in team history. Brantford Skyflyers in 5th, Oshawa 6th, and the Kitchener Generals in last are rounds off the division.
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