1984 OMJHA Playoffs

 

Round 1

Hero Division

1st Oakville Oaks vs. 4th Milton Micmacs

The Oaks had a three-game to-none lead until game four, when the Micmacs won in overtime and did it again in game five. However, in game six, the Oaks finished them off with a 5-2 win to move on to the second round. Meanwhile, the fans inside the Milton Auditorium sadly said goodbye to the Micmacs, as the team will move to Newmarket next season. The Oaks won the series 4-2.

2nd Toronto Hornets vs. 3rd Barrie Admirals

Both went back and forth, with the Hornets taking games one and two while the Admirals won games three and four. However, the Hornets took the last two games to win the series thanks to Leon Jay Jr., who scored 7 goals in games five and six. The Hornets wins the series 4-2.

Steel Division

1st Toronto Neon vs. 4th Waterloo Maroons

The Toronto Neon really put to work in this series. It may take them five games, but their star player, Frank Grant, leads the team by scoring 10 of the team's 16 goals in the series, along with 6 assistants, to make 16 points as the Neon is heading to the second round. The Neon wins the series 4-1.

2nd Buffalo Bees vs. 3rd Owen Sound Arrowbirds

The Bees put the Arrowbirds down, but it took them five games because of the game three overtime loss, which made Bees owner Ryan Byron Sr. unhappy. Many believed that he was overreacting to everything, even though they felt that Senior blaming Junior for everything was not a good sign for the club. The Bees wins the series 4-1.

Round 2

1st Oakville Oaks vs. 2nd Toronto Hornets

The Oaks got themselves a rude awake with a 5-2 loss in game one to the Hornets, they would bounce back in game two with a 3-1 win. The Oaks had rough games three and four in overtime at the hands of the Hornets, But in game five, the Oaks were trialling 5-1 going into the third period, where Keith Dunn made 4 points (2G-2A) push to tie the game and force overtime, no shots were made by each team until Jake Johannsson scored the winner as for the third year in a row the Oakville Oaks are heading to the Smyth Cup finals. The Oaks wins the series 4-1.

1st Toronto Neon vs. 2nd Buffalo Bees

It was like any other matchup, a back-and-forth series, but this one was tearing unity apart between Ryan Byron Sr. and Junior as the Bees barely won their games in overtime while the Neon won their games in regulation. In game seven, the Bees came back from a 4-1 behind before the end of regulation to force overtime. The first overtime was deadlock with even numbers of shots by both teams, including a shot by Neon’s Michael Campbell, who had an open for a winner, but it hit the post. 3:57 left into the second overtime the Bees had a 5 on 3 powerplay until Frank Grant got the puck and took all the way and beating two defencemen and the goalie to score the overtime winner 5-4 and heading to the Smyth Cup finals. The Neon wins the series 4-3.

Smyth Cup Finals

Oakville Oaks vs. Toronto Neon

After four years of being in the league, the Toronto Neon is in the championship for the first time. While the Oakville Oaks are looking for their first Smyth Cup title since 1975. Game one was a big one for the Oaks as Jake Dahl made history with five goals and five assists with ten points in one game, leading the Oaks 11-2. In game two, Jake Dahl did again, this time with three goals, seven assists, and ten points in a 10-3 Oaks victory. After two blowout losses, the Neon finally won one over the Oaks 4-3 overtime, with Kenny Barkersons as the OT winner. Game four: The Neon had a 3-1 lead going into the third period when the Oaks came back thanks to Vince Olson scoring three goals for a 4-3 win and one win away from rising the Cup. The Oaks took over game five, where Jake Dahl, Vince Olson, and Warren Burk each scored three goals as the third period came to an end with a score of 9-3, and the fans in Oaks Centre celebrated as the Oakville Oaks becomes the 1984 Smyth Cup Champions, and most of all they are heading to Buffalo New York for the Valor Cup Tournament.

1983-84 OMJHA Season

 

With the Legionnaires gone, the league downsized from 15 teams to 14, as the league was hoping to expand from two to three divisions, but that didn’t happen. Midway into the season, Lakers owner Tim O’Connor announced that the team will fold after the 83-84 season as the deal for a relocation to Belleville fell through as the Ottawa Guardians (NIHA) kept their minor pro team in Belleville long term, for the OMJHA it’s the third year in a row that a team folded after the season ended.

Another team will be gone after this season but in a relocation way. Harold MacFarland officially sold his team to Leon Littlestone, the owner of Canpress Trucking, a shipping company that delivers goods across Canada and North America. Leon will have the team play in a 1900-seat Newmarket Memorial Forum in Newmarket, Ontario. He will announce the team’s new name during the 1984 off-season.

Once again, the Oakville Oaks took first place in the Hero division. With the right players put together and getting the right wins, the Oaks are once again ready to make a deep playoff run this time around. Taking second place is the Toronto Hornets, which surprised many critics as they predicted them to be 4th place, but they were wrong. The Barrie Admirals take third place after a big last ten games of the season (8-0-2), mainly after rough mid-season issues where two of their top players got called up to the pros. After a rough first 25 games to even news of them being relocated after this season, the Milton Micmacs came back to win many critical games and even beat the Brantford Skyflyers at the last game of the season to take the fourth-place spot. Rounding out the rest from fifth to seventh are Brantford, Oshawa, and Kitchener.

Led by many veterans from the beginning, the Toronto Neon takes the Steel Division in a big way with a 78-point performance (38-10-2) and skyrocketed to the top with no issues whatsoever. “We play this season great; now it’s time for us to turn to the next level, the playoffs.” Neon head coach Warren Coyle said after the team’s practice days before the playoffs. The two-time Smyth Cup Champions, the Buffalo Bees, had some highs and lows from the start, but they won a good number of games to finish 2nd place but the big story was that word that the partnership between owner Ryan Byron Sr. and Ryan Byron Jr. who has 20% ownership of the team and current GM is falling apart despite successful seasons, and well put together team of talented players, but problems between the two could come to a head sooner than before the 1984 Valor Cup Tournament that the Bees are hosting. During off-seasons, the Arrowbirds made some questionable trades here and there, including trading away 1984 2nd, and 3rd-round picks to the Kitchener Generals for a 1984 1st-round pick, then they traded 1985 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-round draft picks to the Brantford Skyflyers for a 1985 1st round pick; lastly, the Arrowbirds gave 1986 3rd, 4th, and 5th round picks to Barrie for a 1st round and forward Greg McBill a 2nd-year player who got drafted in the forth round. As the 83-84 season came and went, Greg played like a first-rounder and helped the Arrowbirds to a third-place finish. The Waterloo Maroons have kept pace in staying in playoff form, but after losing 7 of the last 10 games, some concerns from the Maroons offices had a bad feeling that they are on the verge of a rebuild for the first time since the late ’50s. But never did the team get 60 points to get fourth place locked and ready for the playoffs. Finishing fifth, sixth, and seventh are Peterborough, Orangeville, and Orillia.