1985 Valor Star Tournament

 

The second edition of the Valor Star went very well, and fans are delighted with it. At this event, the standings switched to the international points system: three points for wins, one point for ties, and zero for losses. Team OMJHA finished in first place for the second time, with John Getliffe, Ben Topeka, and Mark O’Reilly leading the way, even with a 4-1-1 record; 13 points is good enough. Team CIHA went from finishing last in the first Valor Star to a 3-2-1 record and second place, with help from international stars like Mathieu Burakovsky, Curt Holik, and Anders Krzysztof. Just like the first Valor Star tournament, Team WCLH finished in third place, but not many good players are playing in this tournament; only the top stars are playing. Luke MacIsaac, Luke Catred, and Harold Richmond are able to play after not getting drafted in the NIHA. Hopefully, scouts can think twice without passing them over. Finishing last place was Team AQHL, despite having Matt Nasreddine, Bill Boyle, and Shawn Metcalfe; it posted a 1-4-1 record.

Semi-finals

Team CIHA have a chance to head to the finals, but Team WCLH has another idea, as Leon White scored two goals with three minutes left in the third period. Team CIHA poured on the shots, but Nick Yoke held off until the clock hit zero, and Team WCLH wins it 4-2 and moves on to the finals. Team OMJHA started the first period very hot as Ben Topeka scored three goals along with three assists, becoming the first player in the Valor Star history to score 6 points in one period, after that Team AQHL had a hard time trying to catch up for the rest of the game but in the end Matt Nasreddine scored the team’s only goal and Team OMJHA heads to the finals with a 6-1 win.

Finals

The battle was intense between the two, back and forth in both the first and second periods with a 4-4 tie, in the third period John Getliffe scored a goal to give Team OMJHA a 5-4 lead with five minutes left Team OMJHA played comfortable, too comfortable for their own good, 45 seconds left out of nowhere Luke Catred took the puck and skated into a breakaway and scored to make it 5-5 with 10 seconds to go, Team OMJHA tried to make a hail mary shot but missed the net and time is up for the first time the Finals one of these two teams would win it in overtime, ten minutes into overtime Nick Hope was winding up for a slap shot when P.J. McLister took the puck away from Nick and took it to a breakaway up against Sam Dempsey, P.J. went left and put on the brakes while Sam lost his footing and slide away from the net and P.J. put the puck in the net and it was over Team WCLH wins the 2nd Edition Valor Star with the final score of 6-5.

1985 Valor Cup Tournament

 

This season's tournament could be anyone's first Valor Cup win in the CIHA. In the round robin, the Saskatoon Cats took first place by winning the last three games after the first three were a one-loss, two-tie split. The Moncton Bears started the first three with wins but then lost the next three, finishing in second place. Both Oakville Oaks and Fredericton Vikings finish with two wins, three losses, and one tie. Even though both had the same record, the Oaks took third place because they beat the Vikings twice, while the Vikings beat both the Bears and the Cats to get their two wins, enough to play in the semi-finals.

Semi-Finals

The match-up between Saskatoon and Fredericton was supposed to be a one-sided game in favour of the Cats, but the Vikings had other ideas. In both first and second periods was Cats pure game play to give them a comfy 4-0 lead going into the third period, around 15 minutes left of the game Dave Messier did something that no player could ever do in any Valor Cup tournament, as he scored four goals to tie it up and force overtime, despite numbers of shots made by the Cats the Vikings needs one to win and that shot was made by Bill Boyle after Dave Messier passed it to him while the Cats players were all over Dave, with that the Fredericton Vikings became the first fourth seed team in the Valor Cup Tournament history the advance to the finals.

The Oakville Oaks played very well as Vince Olson led the team with two goals and four points in a 4-2 win over the host Moncton Bears to advance to the Valor Cup Finals. After the game, sadness washed over the arena as John Handley and Eric Gall said goodbye to the Bears fans, knowing that, after the 1985-86 season, they would begin their pro careers. Also, after 15 years behind the bench, coach Chris Culdee said goodbye too, as he took the offer to coach the NIHA’s Chicago Lancers next season. “It’s a hard thing to feel right now. I try to keep this news as low profile as possible until we finish the tournament.” Bears GM Gordon Hill said in an interview after the semi-final game.

Valor Cup Finals

Oakville Oaks vs. Fredericton Vikings

As the puck dropped to begin the first period, out of nowhere, Vince Olson skated to the net and scored for the Oaks, but the Vikings got their goal made by Dave Messier to tie it up, and it was like that as the first period came to an end. The second period started with Ted Savage score a goal to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead, until Leonard Ellsworth tied it up for the Oaks, then the turning point was when Ed Thibault got a boarding penalty which the Oaks could get a powerplay goal but Bill Boyle got the puck and speeded thru the Oaks defencemen for a breakaway and scored a penalty kill goal and the second period ends with the Vikings take a 3-2 lead. Third period started hot as Warren Burk scored two goals to give the Oaks their first lead of 4-3, but it didn’t last long as Wayne Daoust score to tie it up then Bill Boyle score again to lead and Ted Savage would scored one more for the Vikings, then the Oaks would score a goal made by Leonard Ellsworth but it was too little too late as the clock hit zero to end the finals as the Fredericton Vikings are the 1985 Valor Cup Champions with the score 6-5 over the Oakville Oaks. The Vikings would be the second-lowest-seeded team to win it, just a rank higher than the 1973 Valor Cup Champion Nanaimo Greyhounds. CIHA President Randy Howard presents the Valor Cup MVP to Bill Boyle, then Randy Howard hands the Valor Cup to Dave Messier as he raises it up in front of his teammates, and the Vikings celebrate.

1984-85 AQHL Season

 

One of the big news items in the AQHL was three trades titled "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." The good trade was made between Manchester and Sherbrooke, the Americans had top three goalies and need to find a way to down size before things go downhill and need a forward, while the Loups need scoring and need to light up the defence lines, so the Americans traded their goalie Mike Saunders with 1985 2nd and 1986 4th round picks, while Loups traded forward Miro Sandstrom along with 1985 4th and 1986 2nd round picks. The result was great for both: the Americans improved their scoring, kept pace to finish 2nd in the Atlantic division and 3rd overall, while the Loups got back on track after a 10-game losing streak and squeezed into the final playoff spot. While both New Glasgow and Verdun trades were bad, the Knights traded overaged Simon Klatt to the Highlanders for Aleksey Filimonov; both teams struggled and missed the playoffs. Neither team traded their draft picks, which was the only positive outcome of the trade. The ugly was the moment that the entire league and the hockey world will forever remember for was the “Fake gold trade” between the 1984 Bronz Cup champions Moncton Bears and the Shawinigan Voltages, before the trade was made Vols owner Pierre Leflar was not happy with the roster telling everyone about the way he treating the coaches like garbage, Pierre told them to shut up about it and decide to make an example out of it, with no good players to trade Pierre decides it was a good idea to trade draft picks, so he made a deal with the Bears, The Vols got goalie Mike Fishen a third stringer, while the bears got not one, not two, but three 1st round draft picks from 1985 to 1987! The Bears would finish 1st place in the league, as for the Vols, two words: Rock Bottom!

 The ugly trade was the final straw that broke the camels back for Paul Name as he had an emergency meeting with owners and with a landslide vote the league stripped the ownership off from Pierre and the Vols now belongs to the AQHL for now until a new owner is found, if there are no one want to buy the team to keep them in Shawinigan then the team will be open for anyone to take the team outside of Shawinigan.

With a well put-together roster and three 1st picks in the next three years in tow, the Bears took 1st place in the league with no issue. Trois-Rivieres Titans take not only the Quebec division again but also 2nd place in the league, thanks to goalie Dale Holst winning 30 out of 35 games with 10 shutouts. In 3rd place, the Manchester Americans made some good moves, resulting in some shake-ups on the lines, and the result was great for both the team and the city. The Portland Clippers may lose some players, but they have some young core clicking very well to finish 4th. With losing 2 top forwards, the Laval Tigers had a slow start but got back on track with some key wins to take 5th place. After missing the playoffs for two years, the Drummondville Les Rouges got back in the playoffs by winning 9 of the last 12 games to clinch 6th. The Fredericton Vikings returned to the playoffs by finishing 7th after winning their last 7 games. Both the Sherbrooke Loups and the Cape Breton Warriors went back and forth for the last playoff spot, but key injuries hurt the Warriors, and the Loups won the last game of the season over Val-d’Or, while the Warriors ended their game with Charlottetown in a tie. Rounding out the rest after the Cape Breton Warriors are Charlottetown, Rouyn-Noranda, Verdun, Val-d’Or, New Glasgow and in very last place, Shawinigan.

1985 AQHL Playoffs

Round 1

This round was a short one for all four series. The Moncton Bears swept the Loups, even though there was a one-goal win in game three for the Bears. The Reds had no answers to even avoid being swept by the Americans; the Ames performed very well and hopes to go all the way. Laval Tigers dominated the Clippers in the first two games, but Portland fought back, and the Tigers won both game three and four in overtime. The whole league would witness a big upset as the Vikings with only 22 points less than the Titans, the first game ended in overtime, while in game two and three the Titans blew a two goal lead to lose with seconds remaining, and game four the Titans had the big lead 5-0 going into the third period where out of nowhere both Wayne Daoust and rookie Bill Boyle both score goals, Wayne’s hat-trick tied the game up to end regulation and with five minutes left into the first overtime Bill scored the winner making it for the first time in AQHL history that two players scored three goals each to win a game, as the Vikings move on to the second round, the Titans management had to go back to the drawing board.

Round 2

The series between the Americans and the Tigers have been the best, back and forth in the first three games but the Tigers took the last three games big thanks to their duo defence of Tom Meighan and rookie Shawn Montpelier as they not only held the line but also score goals including Tom’s OT winner in game five and Shawn’s hat-trick to give the Tigers a series win over the Americans to punch their ticket to the Bronz Cup finals. On paper the Bears got this series in the bag but in game three and four the Vikings push themselves to the next level and won both of them in overtimes, the Bears won game five but in game six the Vikings came back from being behind 4-0 to win it in overtime, game seven was the game no one never thought it would happen, leading 5-3 in the third Dave Messier scored 2 unanswered goals to tie it up and heading in overtime, 12:42 into overtime the Bears got a 5 on 3 powerplay until they had puck ready to score but it hit the post were Ted Savage got the puck than took the biggest gamble of his career skate it into a open gap for a breakaway and scored a overtime winner to shocked the whole crowd at the Brown Bear Memorial Centre, and the Fredericton Vikings are heading to the Bronz Cup for the first time since the 1975-76 season.

Bronz Cup Finals

Laval Tigers vs. Fredericton Vikings

It’s the ultimate battle between two teams that were predicted to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, who are in hopes of winning the Bronz Cup. On one end, the Laval Tigers are making their first cup appearance since the 1972-73 season and are hoping to win the cup, having become the first Bronz Cup champion in 1971. While the Fredericton Vikings try to win their first cup in team history. Game one was all Tigers, led by Matt Nasreddine with two goals and five points, for a 6-2 win over the Vikings. The Vikings got payback in game two, with Dave Messier and Bill Boyle scoring two goals each to even the series with a 4-2 win. The Vikings made it two wins in a row in game three, but in overtime, they came back from being down 4-0 in the third period. In overtime, Ed Thibault made a point shot that somehow, someway went in the net despite so much traffic in front of the net. Game four was a rough one for the Tigers; the Vikings were all over them all game, but in the end, Alex Chouinard scored the only goal for a 1-0 win for the Tigers to even the series two games apiece. Throughout the fifth game of the series, it was scoreless until 1:20 left in the third, when Matt Nasreddine scored, and the Tigers went on to win game five 1-0. Unlike game five, game six was a goal fest between the two; however, it went to overtime, 6-6, after 2 overtimes and 12:56 into the third. Wayne Daoust made a breakaway to the net and scored the winner with the final score of 7-6 to tie the series 3 games apiece. Game number seven was for all the marbles, in the first period the Laval Tigers were all over the Vikings with 19 shots on goal but no goals was made, in the second period Fredericton had their turn but with 23 shots on goal but just like the first period no goals were made,  early into the third period out of nowhere Matt Nasreddine scored two goals within 5 minutes into the third period to give the Tigers a chance to win it all, however 8 minutes left in the final period Dave Messier scored two goals to tie it up, 2:10 left in the final period Dave Messier got the breakaway and scored the tie-breaker, despite the Tigers pour on the shots but the Vikings held their ground and at last the clock hit zero and the Fredericton Vikings are the 1985 Bronz Cup Champions winning the series 4 to 3.

1984-85 OMJHA Season

The Toronto Neon takes the Steel Division for the second season in a row, big thanks to their star player Frank Grant, who topped the league in scoring, breaking records and caught many scouts' eyes, mainly from the Minnesota Nationals scout, hoping to get Frank as the first pick at the 1985 NIHA Draft. Frank Grant was not the only one who got noticed; both Kenny Barkersons and Ben Topeka were on everyone’s radar for the draft pick as well. The trio could top the first three picks; it’ll be the first time that has ever happened for the OMJHA. Slowly but surely the Owen Sound Arrowbirds is hitting all the issues from the past and able to finish 2nd place, what give the team more life to it is that both them and the town have agreed to build a fresh new arena to replace the old Arrowbird Rink that been in repairs for quite some time and can’t keep up with modern systems, what’s even more up lifting is that the team is going to change their look come next season. Even thou there are signs a downfall is coming, the Buffalo Bees were able to finish 3rd in the Steel Division, even with backlash on Ryan Byron Sr. after turning his back on his son Jr. as Sr. takes the reign of the team, little did everyone know that this team needs a good GM and not Sr. to run the team. Struggle is the word for the Waterloo Maroons, who lost many key players during the offseason; however, Nick Hope stepped up to take the captain role, turned the team around, and won 6 of the last 10 games to take 4th place and the last playoff spot. The Peterborough Bolts got a new look, but the roster wasn’t good at all as they finished 5th place, and the Orangeville O’s ended last place in the Steel Division.

The Hero Division was all Oakville Oaks for the 4th year in a row, even though they lost two key players (Jake Dahl and Jake Johannsson) to the NIHA Draft, but there are good key core players that carry the weight with no issues and could go deep into the playoffs and win another Smyth Cup. Taking 2nd place is the Toronto Hornets. They may finish six points less than last season, but they work hard to maintain 2nd place in hopes of going all the way to the finals. After a long rebuild, to backlash from many fans off the ice, the Kitchener Generals are back in the playoffs after winning eight of the last 10 games of the season to finish 3rd place. The newly relocated Newmarket Express played so well that it drew fans without any issues, but it lost its last three games and finished 4th. Brantford Skyflyers takes 5th place, Barrie Admirals 6th, and Oshawa Gems 7th and last in the league.

1985 OMJHA Playoffs

Round 1

The first round of the playoffs saw all four series finish in four games. The Newmarket Express may be a new team and put up a good fight, but against the Oakville Oaks, the Oaks kept their game right and swept the Express. The Hornets were losing in game two when the Generals almost won, but the Hornets came back to win in overtime, and the last two games were all Hornets. The Neon and Maroons series was insane, as all four games went to overtime; in the end, the Neon won the series in four games. Many Bees fans were not happy with the outcome of the Sr. and Jr. fallout, but they began to see signs of a downfall after being swept by the Owen Sound Arrowbirds in four games. To make matters worse, all four of them were shutouts for the Arrowbirds.

Round 2

The second round was drama written all over. The Neon vs. Arrowbirds series was nothing but penalties, mainly against the Arrowbirds, that made many critics question the referee’s calls in a big way and believe it might come back to bite not just the Neon but the referees involved as well. The Oaks vs. Hornets was a all seven game series, in game seven the Hornets was going to win with a 3-1 lead halfway into the third period until Warren Burk scored 2 goals to tie the game up and force it into overtime where 12 minutes in overtime Warren scored the winner and head to the Smyth Cup for the fourth season in a row.

Smyth Cup Finals

For the second year in a row, the Smyth Cup final match-up is between the Oakville Oaks and the Toronto Neon. In Game one, The Oaks blew the Neon with 3 goals, 5 assists performance by Warren Burk for a 6-0. The Oaks blanked the Neon again, this time only 4-0, with Vince Olson scoring all four of the goals. Game three was a reversal as the Neon’s Frank Grant scored 3 goals in a 5-0 win, which is just what the Neon needed to back into the series. The Oaks thought they had game four in the bag with a 3-0 lead, but the Neon came back with the combination of both Frank Grant and Kenny Barkerson's goals to force overtime, where Ben Topeka scored the winner to even the series 4-3. The Oaks Leonard Ellsworth scored only two goals, but it was enough for a 2-1 win to go to Toronto in hopes of winning the Smyth Cup. Game six was all Neon as three players scored 2 goals in a 7-0 win to force a game seven. It all came down to this, game seven for both the Smyth Cup and a trip to Moncton. The first period was all shots until in the last five minutes were both the Neon and the Oaks scored a goal each, in period number two the Oaks score two goals, one of them was by Warren Burk, the Neon did came back in the third period with Kenny Barkersons scoring two goals to tie it up but however in the last minute of the third period Warren Burk scored the game winner 4-3 with the clock went to zero the team and the fans celebrated as the Oakville Oaks are back-to-back Smyth Cup champions and heading to Moncton for the Valor Cup Tournament once again.